Iran International
Iran has once again tapped its sovereign wealth reserves to fund essential imports, highlighting the growing strain on an economy battered by war, inflation and a rapidly weakening currency.
The government’s Task Force for Food Security and Livelihood Improvement has announced that $1 billion from the National Development Fund will be allocated to import basic goods such as sugar, rice, red meat and animal feed.
The move comes alongside a broader policy decision to continue subsidizing critical imports despite earlier plans to scale back such support. It marks the second time in two years that the fund has been tapped to finance basic imports.
With reserves estimated at around $40 billion, the fund is also expected to help rebuild war-damaged industries, particularly steel and petrochemicals, highlighting growing tension over how these resources are prioritized.
'Nothing left'
For many Iranians, the strain is already becoming unbearable.
Nader, a 42-year-old film industry worker, says he has had no income since January, when nationwide protests began, and is preparing to leave his rental home and move his family into his parents’ house in another city.
“My wife’s job depended on the internet, and she has also become unemployed,” he said. “We’ve been using our savings to pay rent, but if we continue, soon nothing will be left for food or unexpected medical costs.”
The move also marks a reversal of the government’s “economic surgery” policy introduced four months ago to reduce import subsidies.
Authorities are continuing to allocate foreign currency for essential imports, including medicine, at a fixed rate of 285,000 rials per dollar—far below the open market rate of around 1.5 million rials and the official budget rate of 1.23 million.
This subsidized rate, capped at $3.5 billion, applies to critical imports including wheat, medicine, pharmaceutical ingredients and infant formula. An additional $1 billion withdrawal from the sovereign fund is intended to help sustain the system.
Wheat and infant formula remain among the government’s highest priorities because shortages or price spikes could trigger social unrest.
Rising unemployment
To offset price hikes after January’s subsidy cuts on goods such as meat and cooking oil, the government reintroduced a coupon system. Around 87 million people receive monthly vouchers, initially worth 10 million rials per person.
But their value has eroded rapidly. Monthly inflation reached 7 percent and point-to-point inflation 67 percent, according to the Central Bank of Iran.
Consumers describe day-to-day increases in the price of basic goods and services, leaving many households unable to afford necessities.
At the same time, unemployment is rising sharply.
War-related damage to steel and petrochemical hubs has left large numbers of workers jobless and disrupted downstream industries reliant on their output.
'Hunger riots'
A prolonged internet shutdown—now entering its third month—has compounded the crisis, cutting off income for millions. Tourism has also collapsed, with airlines, hotels and local accommodations nearly inactive after the 12-day war.
Even those who remain employed are watching their purchasing power evaporate.
At a petrochemical terminals company in Bandar Mahshahr, representatives for more than 700 workers say their employer has eliminated overtime, holiday pay and welfare benefits.
In some cases, workers report wages have gone unpaid for months.
Political analyst Shahin Shahid-Saless warned that a naval blockade restricting oil exports and broader trade could accelerate the currency’s collapse.
“The national currency will collapse at an unbelievable speed, and hyperinflation will emerge,” he said. “The country may face … hunger riots whose intensity and violence would be entirely different from [recent] movements.”
Tehran’s unveiling of a towering statue depicting the Roman Emperor Valerian kneeling before pre-Islamic Persian King Shapur I has renewed criticism of the Islamic Republic’s appeal to nationalist sentiment following the June war with Israel.
For over forty years, the theocracy purged ancient Persian history from schoolbooks, replacing it with post-Islamic narratives. But after the 12-day conflict with Israel, officials have turned to the distant pre-Islamic past to rally a divided society.
From murals of ancient kings and soldiers to patriotic songs added to Shi’ite mourning ceremonies performed before Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Tehran now embraces imagery once deemed heretical by its own revolutionary ethos.
'Kneel before Iran' campaign
Tehran’s Revolution (Enghelab) Square was the scene of an unusual spectacle on Friday as officials unveiled a massive bronze statue depicting Roman Emperor Valerian kneeling in submission before Sassanid King Shapur I, commemorating Iran’s victory at the Battle of Edessa (260 AD).
The event was held under the slogan “Kneel before Iran,” part of what authorities describe as a campaign to project “national unity and historical pride” following the June war with Israel.
Tehran Mayor Alireza Zakani, a staunch ultraconservative, said on X: “Enmity with Great Iran can only end in kneeling before this historic nation.”
Municipal official Davood Goodarzi said the installation would be accompanied by visual displays depicting “other victories of Iranians over foreign aggressors,” including the defeat of British forces by local commander Rais-Ali Delvari, Mirza Kuchak Khan’s resistance against Russian troops, and Surena’s triumph over Rome at the Battle of Carrhae in 53 BCE.
The goal, Goodarzi said, is “strengthening concepts such as national dignity, social unity, and Iranian identity.”
The statue, he said, would remain temporarily at Revolution Square before being moved to a city gateway “where it will stand as the first emblem of Iran before diplomats and foreign visitors.”
Unveiled women were allowed to attend the unveiling ceremony—an uncommon scene at events organized by Tehran’s ultra-hardline municipality.
The turn to the pre-Islamic past
The sharp reversal also recalls remarks once made by Khamenei. In a 2011 speech, he asserted that “all the great military victories of this nation came after Islam,” dismissing pre-Islamic accounts as “things that are not documented.”
In 1987, he had said that prophets triumphed over kings such as Cyrus and that “nothing remains of these monarchs in history but names remembered with derision.”
Nevertheless, pro-government social media accounts have now gone so far as to circulate posters equating Khamenei himself with Shapur, showing him standing with a staff as Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump kneel before him. The caption reads: “You will kneel before Iran.”
'Hypocrisy'
Pro-government figures have hailed the move as a patriotic success. Conservative political reporter Hossein Saremi posted: “Today’s grand Iranian gathering showed that people and the state share one essence: Iran itself. Nothing can take our homeland away.”
Others, however, called the spectacle “hypocrisy.” Journalist Gholamhossein Pashaei wrote on X: “Every year you close Pasargadae to stop people from celebrating Cyrus Day, yet you unveil Shapur’s statue in Enghelab Square with drums and fireworks during Fatimiyya (mourning period)!”
Dissident commentator Hamid Asafi called the ceremony “a perfect snapshot of the Islamic Republic’s contradictions.”
On Telegram he wrote: “A week ago they closed Cyrus’s tomb out of fear of the crowds, and now they glorify Shapur in the same breath. The Islamic Republic fears living history but poses for selfies with its corpse.”
He added: “They know people no longer respond to rosaries and sermons. That’s why they’ve brought history back to the stage—in a controlled costume. If they can’t erase the past, they’ll try to own it.”
The irony deepened as UNESCO formally recognized Cyrus’s Charter as one of the earliest human-rights documents.
President Masoud Pezeshkian wrote on X: “Iran, the cradle of dialogue, justice, and coexistence, can still inspire peace today.”
Users swiftly replied, questioning how such pride could coexist with a government that blocks access to Cyrus’s tomb each year to those wishing to visit it on his birthday.