While the government continues to provide monthly cash subsidies and electronic food vouchers to a large share of the population, many families say these measures no longer come close to covering rapidly rising living costs.
An analysis by economic news website EcoIran comparing official food prices, a minimum nutritional basket and the minimum wage found that the salary of a married worker with one child is now enough to cover little more than the minimum monthly food needs of a three-person household.
The analysis estimated that an individual needed around 78 million rials in June to meet minimum nutritional requirements.
For households relying solely on the minimum wage, it found that almost all monthly income would be consumed by food purchases alone, leaving little for rent, utility bills, transportation, healthcare, education or clothing.
Unrelenting inflation
The squeeze comes as many Iranian families already spend between 50% and 70% of their income on housing costs.
Food prices have continued to climb sharply, with staples including red meat, poultry, dairy products, rice, eggs, cooking oil, fruit and vegetables increasingly out of reach for many households.
According to data cited from the Statistical Center of Iran, annual inflation currently stands at about 66%, while year-on-year inflation has jumped by roughly five percentage points over the past month to exceed 88%.
Food and beverage inflation has climbed above 130%, with some categories recording even sharper increases. Prices of red meat and poultry have risen by nearly 180% compared with a year earlier, according to Iranian market reports, causing demand to fall significantly.
Many Iranians say their personal experience of inflation is significantly worse than official figures suggest.
Economists note that inflation indexes measure a broad basket of goods and services, while lower- and middle-income families spend a much larger share of their income on essentials such as food, rent, transportation and medical care.
Dwindling middle class
Economist Kamran Nadri told Tejarat News that years of sustained inflation have inflicted lasting damage on household finances.
“Economic pressure on low-income groups and the middle class may be tolerable for a short period, but when it persists for years, it leaves broad social and economic consequences,” he said.
“Since 2018, following the United States' withdrawal from the nuclear agreement, Iran has experienced average annual inflation of around 40 to 45 percent,” Nadri said. “During that period, wages did not increase in line with inflation under successive governments, and the purchasing power of the middle class has declined markedly.”
Economists caution that even if Iran reaches an agreement with the United States and the risk of military conflict subsides, inflation is unlikely to fall quickly.
Political economy researcher Kamal Athari told ILNA that even under the most optimistic scenario—including sanctions relief and removal of obstacles such as Iran’s inclusion on the Financial Action Task Force (FATF)—it would still take years for Iran to restore normal commercial relations with the global economy.
“Under such circumstances, inflation could eventually decline, but the process would not be rapid,” he said.
‘It’s all on Pezeshkian’
Growing concern over living standards has prompted renewed calls for additional government support.
Mohsen Bagheri, a board member of the Tehran Islamic Labour Councils' Coordination Council, told Khabar Online that wages, which were set in early April, should be revised upward in the coming months.
He also argued that the value of electronic food vouchers should increase, saying they have remained unchanged despite rising prices and earlier government promises.
The economic pressure has also become part of the wider battle over Iran’s political direction after the war.
Hardline critics who continue to advocate confrontation with the United States and Israel have blamed President Masoud Pezeshkian’s administration for the deteriorating situation.
“Pezeshkian destroyed the country,” one hardline user wrote on X. “He created limitless inflation. He allowed us to be deceived by the enemy three times. Zero achievements, countless losses.”
Others have pushed back, arguing that continued calls for confrontation ignore the country’s worsening economic reality.
“Families are literally being destroyed, education, healthcare, housing, inflation, employment, and every economic indicator point to a bleak future,” one user wrote. “Yet some profiteers have forgotten the suffering of the people and keep calling for more war.”
