Regime Blames Protests For Iran's Economic Woes

The Iranian regime has blamed the country's economic woes on the Woman, Life, Freedom movement and the nationwide demonstrations since September.

Iranian government spokesperson Ali Bahadori Jahromi alleged that the protests, in the wake of the death in morality police custody of Mahsa Amini, led to an increase in the exchange rate and capital flight, ignoring the likes of global sanctions for its nuclear program, which have only worsened since it was revealed the regime has been supplying drones to Russia in its invasion of Ukraine.

Jahromi simply blamed the uprising on international influence, which he called a “conspiracy” by the United States, one of the country's arch-enemies. Jahromi's remarks come as the rial has experienced a tenfold drop in value over the past five years, with the economic situation further deteriorating before the protests occurred.

The rial has proven to be highly sensitive to news surrounding the nuclear talks which recently saw a closed-door revival with the Biden administration's attempts to bring Iran back to the table. The currency began to steeply fall in early 2018, prompted by former US president Donald Trump's indications of withdrawing from the Obama-era nuclear accord, known as the JCPOA.

The impasse in the talks has further strained Iran's economic situation, with its crude oil exports remaining sanctioned by the US, and its banking system isolated from the international financial system.

In a bid to disguise the dire situation where a huge portion of Iranians are now living below the poverty line while money is still funnelled across the region to the regime's military proxies, Jahromi made the unsubstantiated claim that "all indicators show we are moving towards reducing the inflation rate".

He meanwhile mockingly urged people "not to get the wrong information from Ayatollah Google", suggesting the government spokespeople are the only reliable sources to trust.