Many malnourished children in Iran’s rural and nomadic schools set out on long morning walks without breakfast, leaving some to collapse from weakness during school line-ups and unable to learn during long school days, Shargh newspaper reported on Wednesday.
“These children in practice have no fuel for learning, and teachers and principals, because there is not even a single grocery store near the school, cannot provide them with food and often have no choice but to send students home after such incidents,” the report said.
Ronak Rostami, a social activist, told Shargh that malnutrition has become a serious problem in schools. “Many children suffer from stomach aches, abdominal pain, and general weakness, which prevents them from making effective use of classroom time,” she said.
Students in villages often leave home around six in the morning with only dry bread and a little dried yogurt to eat on their way, she added.
Broader warnings
This is not the first time media in Iran have raised alarms about child malnutrition. A study published by the daily earlier this month, based on data from non-governmental organizations and volunteers, found that only 1.7 percent of households consume protein daily, while more than a quarter consume none at all.
Among households dependent on temporary jobs, 93 percent reported eating protein less than once a week or not at all.
Dairy consumption was similarly scarce. According to the report, just 2 percent of children receive dairy daily, while half receive none at all, even in households with stable jobs.
No one thinks of breakfast in rural areas
Poor families lack both time and resources for breakfast, explained a civil activist in Khuzestan, southern Iran, who was not named in the Shargh report.
“These children do not eat breakfast, and the reason is the type of life they are accustomed to and the compulsion they face,” he said. Parents leave early for farm or livestock work, while children either help or care for siblings.
Another activist in Ilam province said: “Here no one thinks of breakfast anymore. Even if they do, they cannot afford it, and a child who has no proper nutrition during the day goes to school without breakfast."
In classrooms where children must engage both mind and body, “they have no fuel to burn,” he said, recalling repeated instances of students fainting during school line-ups.
A study published in the Journal of Health, Population and Nutrition in January, titled “The prevalence of malnutrition in children under 6 in Southern Iran from 2018 to 2023: a population-based study,” found that malnutrition remains a serious concern, particularly among children in rural provinces of Iran, where it has led to conditions such as stunting — impaired growth caused by chronic undernutrition.
“This is the first time we know of that the government has used text messages to order confiscations,” Farhad Sabetan, spokesperson for the Baha’i International Community (BIC) told Iran International.
“What we are witnessing is nothing less than economic strangulation of the Baha’i community—families are deprived of their livelihoods overnight, without due process, without even a court order.”
Bahais constitute the largest religious minority in Iran and have faced systematic harassment and persecution since the Islamic Revolution of 1979.
Iran does not recognize the Baha’i faith as an official religion, unlike Christianity, Judaism, or Zoroastrianism. Authorities label it a “cult” with alleged foreign ties—charges its followers reject.
The BIC said the seizures included homes, vehicles, and other assets, carried out under Article 49 of Iran’s constitution, a clause designed to reclaim property gained through illicit activities such as theft or drug trafficking. In practice, Sabetan said, it is being misused “to plunder the possessions of citizens who have committed no crime other than being Baha’i.”
According to the BIC, families were ordered by text to present themselves to court or face arrest. Some later discovered blocked bank accounts, frozen business transactions, and restrictions on selling property. In several cases, court files were not recorded in Iran’s official judicial notification system, preventing defendants and their lawyers from reviewing them.
The confiscations come as Iranian authorities step up pressure on Baha’is, accusing them without evidence of spying for Israel. While thousands of Baha’i-owned properties have been seized since the 1979 revolution, rights groups say the new reliance on digital notices reflects a more brazen, impersonal stage of repression.
Sabetan said that the majority of those targeted in Isfahan are women—many engaged in teaching and community service. “It may not be coincidental,” he said. “After the Women, Life, Freedom movement, the government has been cracking down on women broadly. Now Baha’i women are being targeted in the same way—mothers and educators denied the ability to care for their families or live normal lives.”
According to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), Baha’is account for more than 70 percent of all documented violations against religious minorities in Iran over the past three years. At least 284 Baha’is have been arrested in the past five years, receiving a combined 1,495 years in prison sentences.
“What the Iranian government is doing amounts to a gradual death sentence,” Sabetan said. “They may not execute Baha’is as they did in the early years of the revolution, but by stripping them of work, property, and dignity, they are trying to erase our community.”
The Reformist Front’s 11-point statement, released just weeks after the 12-day war with Israel, demanded sweeping shifts in both foreign and domestic policy, including reconciliation with the West and curbs on the IRGC’s role in politics and the economy.
The appeal was the boldest in years from a faction once central to Iranian politics but now largely marginalized.
Hardline outlets responded with fury.
Kayhan daily branded the proposals “capitulation,” while IRGC-linked Tasnim News Agency warned of a “Gorbachev moment” that could unravel the state. The backlash underscored how sensitive the demands were, cutting at the very pillars of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s power structure.
Alex Vatanka of the Middle East Institute says that reformists are testing the waters precisely because they sense the Islamic Republic is battered by sanctions and the war with Israel.
“The Islamic Republic is under strain like never before,” he told Iran International, “but reformists don’t have the street behind them.”
The moderates are laying the groundwork for further challenges if ignored, Vatanka said, insisting the letter should not be read as mere symbolism but as a signal of intent.
“This is just the beginning,” he added, cautioning that without broad public support, their leverage remains limited.
Others place the statement in the context of succession politics.
Historian and author Arash Azizi described it as part of a “post-Khamenei world,” with rival factions already maneuvering for influence after the 85-year-old leader.
By openly calling for suspending enrichment and curbing the Revolutionary Guards, he argued, reformists are staking out ground in anticipation of change at the top.
They are not naïve,” Azizi said. “They know these demands won’t be met tomorrow. But they want to shape what comes next.”
But the gulf between elite politics and public sentiment remains wide.
Behnam Ben Taleblu of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) cautioned that while such statements attract attention in Washington, they resonate little inside Iran.
“This is politically significant in the sense of who said it, but it won’t have impact,” he said.
For many Iranians, he added, the reformist project has lost credibility after years of unmet promises.
A vision beyond hardline rule
The Reformist Front’s roadmap also included calls to end the house arrests of Green Movement leaders Mir-Hossein Mousavi and his wife Zahra Rahnavard.
Whether such demands gain traction will depend on whether they can move beyond closed-door debates and find resonance in a weary society.
Meanwhile, pressure on Tehran is mounting.
European governments have threatened to trigger the UN’s snapback sanctions if nuclear talks stall, a move that could plunge Iran deeper into recession.
Inflation and power and water shortages are already hitting daily life, while the war with Israel exposed vulnerabilities in Iran’s defenses and weakened its standing abroad.
Despite the boldness of their demands, few expect Iran’s ruling elite to bend.
The Supreme Leader has shown little tolerance for compromise, and the Revolutionary Guards remain entrenched across politics and the economy.
Yet Azizi argues the statement with its sweeping demands should not be dismissed as irrelevant.
“It is a mini earthquake,” Azizi told Iran International. “Even if it doesn’t lead to immediate change, it tells us how reformists are imagining a post-Khamenei Iran.”
Whether the letter proves to be a turning point or just another forgotten appeal may depend less on reformist leaders than on whether ordinary Iranians are willing to rally behind them.
