Critic Asks Iranian Cleric: How Many Meals A Day Do You Have?

Reformist commentator Abbas Abdi told clerics to "stop adding insult to injury" in their sermons and statements after a clergyman said Iranians eat too much.

Abdi told the clerics in an article in Etemad newspaper: "If you cannot solve any of the people's problems, at least do not put more burdens on their shoulders."

Abdi's comments appeared to be a response to Expediency Council member and conservative cleric Gholamreza Mesbahi-Moghaddam who lashed out at the people for causing high inflation and told them on Sunday: Learn to live like the people of China who have only two meals every 24 hours."

He also claimed that the people of Iran have more resources than the Chinese, but the Chinese are content with what they have, and Iranians are expecting more every day. 

Abdi responded by asking: "How many meals do you have in a day?

Mesbahi-Moghaddam’s comment came at a time when food prices have risen by around 100 percent since May 2022. Meat, dairy and fruit consumption has drastically decreased due to high prices.

Abdi also criticized the Friday Imam of Mashhad, the firebrand Ahmad Alamolhoda and father-in-law of President Ebrahim Raisi for saying "The more you pay Iranian workers, the more demands they will come up with."

Abdi said, the clerics usually interfere in many areas but the economy is not a subject in which the they can express unsubstantiated opinions. Abdi further charged: "There is no pay increase for the workers. The inflation rate was 48 percent last year and it is going to be around 55 to 60 percent this year. Have you added that much to the workers' wages?" 

Meanwhile in another response the Chairman of the Sino-Iranian Chamber of Commerce Majid Reza Hariri said: "May I respectfully tell his Excellency Mesbahi-Moghaddam that the Chinese have four meals a day."

Only to be fair with Mesbahi-Moqaddam, Rouydad24 quoted him as having told Jamaran News that "People expect the inflation rate to rise, and this expectation coupled with the news about Iran's relations with the West and the failure of nuclear talks lead to an increase in the inflation rate."

In another development, former vice president Massoumeh Ebtekar wrote in Etemad newspaper: "Rising prices have broken the people's back," adding that "The people are tired of seeing the government prioritizing the issue of hijab over the problems of inflation and rising prices."

Ebtekar added: "A majority of Iranians just want to live a simple life and benefit from what the world can offer them. They do not wish to be dependent on the West or rely on the East. They are against lawlessness and promiscuity and at the same time they are against rigid rules of social life that the hardliners wish to impose on them.” 

Ebtekar argued that "What people want is stability. An economic stability without sudden political changes that give rise to inflation, and political stability to ensure that laws do not change every day [to protect the interests of a certain group].

She said: "People hate lies in the corridors of power, they do not like the impossible promises politicians make, they hate powerful men playing with their state of mind and insulting their intelligence. They do not like to be humiliated and abused. They are tired of politicians who deny the impact of years of sanctions and rising prices."

Ebtekar who was a staunch revolutionary in the early years of the revolution and one of those who took American diplomats hostage, insisted that "The people are tired because their criticisms remain unheard and they see that the government has no plan for the future of young Iranians. Every time they have voted to improve the situation, powerful elements entered the scene to turn their joy into bitterness."