Both Right And Left In Iran Bash President For Economic Failure
Both ‘reformist’ and conservative press in Tehran continue to criticize the Raisi administration's inability to control inflation and improve the economy.
Both ‘reformist’ and conservative press in Tehran continue to criticize the Raisi administration's inability to control inflation and improve the economy.
They point out that the hardliner president cannot have any political excuses because all power is concentrated in the hands of Iran’s conservative, loyalist camp.
In an article in the reformist daily Etemad, economic columnist Albert Boghossian reminded readers that during the presidential election campaign in 2017 when Ebrahim Raisi and Hassan Rouhani were the leading candidates, Raisi suggested a debate with Rouhani "to put an end to blaming previous governments for current problems."
Apparently, Raisi wanted to defend the performance of ultraconservative President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who had preceded Rouhani and stop the incumbent president from blaming Ahmadinejad for the shortcomings during his first term of office (2013-2017).
However, the Boghossian observed that Raisi is still blaming his predecessor for the ongoing economic problems of Iran. He pointed out that this is because Iran lacks a growth model and a sustainable development plan. With such a plan, the coming and going of various governments will not dramatically affect the country's growth and successive governments will not behave diagonally different from each other.
The article argued that the Raisi administration still has not offered a strategic plan, nine months after taking office.
The price of one kilogram of rice which was 300,000 ($1.20) rials at the beginning of Raisi's term of office is now 1,100,000 rials ($4.40). Likewise, the price of one kilogram of meat has risen from 1,300,000 rials to 2 million rials ($8). The cheapest Iranian-made car, Pride, which is an unsafe 1990s compact model, was sold for 1,400,000,000 rials when Raisi took office in August 2021. Its price is over 2,100,000,000 rials ($8,400) now.
Thus, this trend shows that not only Raisi has not been able to harness rising inflation, but its inability to offer a development plan has further worsened the economic situation, Boghossian argued.
However, the article, like many others, made no mention of the diplomatic deadlock in resolving Iran’s nuclear and other disputes with the United States and the serious impact American sanctions have on the worsening economic crisis.
Meanwhile, conservative daily Jomhuri Eslami on Sunday carried a commentary by Gholamreza Bani Asadi, who criticized Raisi for failing to follow the teachings of Shite imams in running the affairs of the state.
"How can those who constantly create problems for the people and instil anxiety in their everyday life prove that they are the followers of Imam Ali, the first imam of the Shiites sect?" asked Bani Asadi without naming Raisi. The writer then accused today's officials of boasting about their plans before their election and blaming previous governments for problems in the people's livelihood.
He wrote: "Of course the previous governments are partly responsible for the problems, but all the roads have been left open for you to tackle the problems. What happened to all those claims about defeating the world powers?"
He added: "You are still instilling anxiety among the people and the workforce even worse than the previous government. Was this how you wanted to amaze the whole world with your performance?"
The writer added that the outcome of the government's inability to solve the country's economic problems can be seen on social media where one can witness how Iranian's belief in God has weakened. "And while the people are looking for transparency and honesty, you are simply trying to restrict their access to social media," the Jomhouri Eslami observed.
Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf in a meeting with government representatives on Sunday said, “Rising prices in the country have become indefensible,” and “people face hardship.”
A scandal broke on April 20 when videos and images emerged that Ghalibaf’s wife and daughter visited Turkey and allegedly bought luxury items for the baby his daughter expects. His son and chief aide tried to smooth things over by apologizing but the Speaker remained silent.
A journalist also made a more serious allegation that the family bought two luxury apartments while in Istanbul for $1.6 million.
Many politicians and ordinary Iranians have criticized Ghalibaf, some even calling for his resignation as he and other top officials constantly speak of ‘resistance economy’ and people’s resilience in the face of United States’ sanctions, but their families take foreign trips for shopping.
The scandal has also revealed a rift among ‘revolutionary’ hardliners or “principlists” as some like to call themselves. Reports in the media say that ultra-hardliners in the parliament representing the Paydari group may have even been involved in exposing the Ghalibaf family’s trip to Turkey.
Vahid Ashtari, a journalist who first revealed the scandal, is considered a “principlist” who say they campaign for justice.
But other hardliners have come to Ghalibaf’s defense, attacking his critics. One hardliner quipped that “The enemy has planned to weaken unity among government institutions,” a reference that conservatives and hardliners control both the presidency and the legislature. He added that “The revolutionary forces are more alert than to be deceived by these kinds of conspiracies.”
Mohammad Aghamiri, another hardliner, tried to defend Ghalibaf by saying that his family went to Turkey “with four bags and returned with five,” while Ashtari insists he has evidence the family returned with more than 20 pieces of luggage.
Aghamiri went on to say that there is nothing wrong with a young enthusiastic couple travelling to Turkey “and buying a few things that were on sale.”
However, critics ask how Ghalibaf’s family can afford a foreign trip and luxury shopping when the Iranian currency has substantially dropped, and many people do not have enough food to eat.
Ghalibaf has been involved in numerous financial corruption cases over the years, especially during his tenure as Tehran mayor from 2005-2017. As a former Revolutionary Guard general, in many of his corruption cases there is a thread connecting to other high ranking IRGC figures, including Qasem Soleimani, the Qods Force commander killed in a US drone strike in Baghdad in 2020.
Fars news agency affiliated with the IRGC attacked Vahid Ashtari and others who have exposed and pursued Ghalibaf’s scandal. “Psychologists believe that an identity crisis and an urge to be noticed…” leads to “deviations”, it said.
The ultra-hardliner Kayhan newspaper financed by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said that the scandal is the creation of “anti-revolutionaries abroad”, reformists and “deviant forces”, an indirect reference to followers of former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The Paydari group in parliament is made up of mostly former Ahmadinejad officials, although the former president has not spoken about the scandal.
Some lawmakers have also insisted that the revelations about Ghalibaf are a “political and security project” aimed at damaging his reputation and political standing.
Ashtari has responded on Twitter, telling Ghalibaf’s supporters to end duplicity in their lives “and everything will be solved.”
An Iranian journalist living in Turkey, Amirhossein Miresmaili, tweeted on April 21 that speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf’s wife, daughter and sone-in-law who had gone shopping in Istanbul bought two luxury apartments in a famous complex for a total price of 400 billion Iranian rials or $1.6 million.
Miresmaili told Iran International that three days after he revealed the real estate purchase, the Ghalibaf’s have not denied the report, although another journalist residing in Iran has repeated the allegation. He insisted that Iranians in Turkey had seen the family at the Sky Land high rises in Istanbul and the apartments were bought in someone else’s name.
The Ghalibaf family scandal broke when videos emerged that they were having arguments in Istanbul airport for overweight luggage, and it became clear that they had bought luxury items for a baby on the way for Ghalibaf’s daughter. Later a journalist in Iran who had first exposed the shopping trip said that Ghalibafs had returned with more than 20 pieces of luggage.
The parliament speaker’s son and assistant went into damage control mode, expressing regret and Fars news agency affiliated with the Revolutionary Guard tried to deny the shopping trip, but no one believed the denial and the attempt soon died down. Calls for Ghaliaf’s resignation rang out loud in Tehran, but the final arbiter of such issues, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has remained silent.
Ghalibaf has been involved in numerous financial corruption cases, especially during his tenure as Tehran mayor from 2005-2017. As a former Revolutionary Guard general, in many of his corruption cases there is a thread to other high ranking IRGC figures, including Qasem Soleimani, killed in a US drone strike in Baghdad in 2020.
Iran is in a four-day religious holiday and newspapers are not published while politicians and most journalist enjoy the free time probably on the Caspian seashore, far away from the capital. To what extent the apartment shopping allegation will gain traction once the holiday is over, is hard to say, but serious damage has been done to both Ghalibaf and the domestic image of the Islamic Republic, already mired by numerous previous cases of corruption and embezzlement by top officials and regime insiders.
One of the interesting public debates that ensued after the news about Ghalibaf’s scandal was a view expressed by political commentator Sadeq Zibakalam, a former revolutionary turned regime critic, who said luxury shopping abroad is not a crime in itself and many Iranians aspire to live a better life. The issue he said is with whose money such adventures are financed. Nevertheless, many on social media criticized Zibakalam for apparently defending Ghalibaf, which he subsequently denied, saying he simply did not want to kick him while he was down.
But apparently there are others who would not hesitate to stab Ghalibaf while he is wounded. Soon there will be a vote to elect a new parliament speaker and ‘revolutionary’ hardliners would be happy to steal the seat from Ghalibaf.
Speaking in Tehran on Friday, Khatami warned that "the people cannot plan for their future as they do not know what may happen tomorrow and this could lead to unrest."
Also on Friday, a leading conservative politician said that the current government led by Raisi is incompetent and that it is the outcome of the non-competitive presidential election in 2021.
According to Khabarovsk Online, Abolghassem Raoufian, the Leader of the Iran Zamin Party said that "now the supporters of Raisi's administration should also be held accountable for establishing a government that lacks the potential, experience and knowledge needed to run the affairs of the state."
Political observers in media have said on various occasions that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was the main supporter of Raisi’s candidacy and the Guardian Council under his jurisdiction disqualified capable candidates from other political factions to facilitate Raisi's victory in the election.
Raoufian charged that the Raisi refuses to work with reformists, independents and even conservative politicians who are not a member of his camp. His insistence on working only with "young revolutionaries" has been costly for the country, said Raoufian. As a result the president has failed to deliver on his campaign promises.
Raoufian said that public opinion and reformist activists were right to be against the widespread disqualification of candidates in the 2021 election. He called for a major reshuffling of the government to give a chance to others to come forward and contribute to solving the country's problems.
Meanwhile, Reformist politician Ali Sufi told Khabar Online that parts of Iran's conservatives have now turned into staunch critics of Raisi. This marks the failure of the conservative's "consolidated government" policy advocated by conservative figureheads in Iran.
Sufi said that the Iranian state television fabricates statistics to show Raisi in a good light, adding that some of his ministers are actively involved in fabricating "positive" statistics.
Confirming Sufi's remark of fabricated statistics, Lawmaker Gholamali Jafarzadeh Imanabadi added in an interview with Rouydad24 that "the people are suffering because of the poor performance of the Raisi administration.” Like Raoufian, Imanabadi also said that "Those who have engineered the 2021 presidential election should be held accountable for the poor performance of the Raisi administration.
Imanabadi asked: "How can you hand over the affairs of the state to a President who is just beginning to understand the economy?"
Khabar Online on Friday carried an article that asked: "Who gives these distorted figures to the President?" The article pointed out that for instance, the inflation figures Raisi has recently announced are far from the truth. The article added that because the president is not fully familiar with economic terms, sometimes his comments damage public confidence.
The report also argued that the problem of inflation cannot be solved by shouting orders at officials, and added that it is impossible to bring prices down by punishing a few shopkeepers.
The report quoted the Aftab News website as saying that since most of Raisi's experience was in the judiciary, he should have sought assistance from economic experts, but his economic team is damaging the people's trust in the government by offering baseless figures.
The report stressed that Raisi's economic team should at least be able to explain why the inflation rate in Iran has been constantly on the rise since 2018.