The Iranian government is attempting risky economic concessions as it tries to meet the escalating demands of protesters seeking fundamental political change, a clampdown on corruption and an easing of the squeeze on living standards of the poor.<\/p>\n
Now entering their ninth day, the protests have spread to 26 of Iran\u2019s 31 provinces, with a US-based human rights group claiming that the death toll has passed 20 and nearly 1,000 people have been arrested.<\/p>\n
A switch in the system of foreign exchange subsidies announced by Iran\u2019s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, may lead to a short-term rise in food prices, but is intended to be ameliorated by a new system of direct subsidies to consumers. Previously the subsidies were given to those importing products from abroad through exchange rate subsidies. But the decade-old system was wide open for corruption and leakage.<\/p>\n
Official figures released on Monday showed that inflation had reached 52.6% in December. Inflation, and a collapse in the value of the rial, led to the protests that began in Tehran\u2019s bazaar, but have now spread to more than 100 towns and cities, including many smaller towns. Police were seen entering the University of Birjand in the south-east of Iran, arresting students inside one of the largest universities in the east of Iran.<\/p>\n
The promise of economic reforms were made as the head of Iran\u2019s judiciary, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, said the period of \u201cconcessions and appeasement\u201d to the protesters were over. Ejei accused the United States and Israel of openly and officially supporting the \u201cchaos\u201d in Iran and said that because of this support, \u201cthe rioters should know that if concessions were made in previous periods, there will be no more such concessions and appeasements\u201d.<\/p>\n
Donald Trump again vowed the US would come to the defence of the protesters if they were attacked, vowing that if Tehran \u201cviolently kills peaceful protesters\u201d the US \u201cwill come to their rescue\u201d. The Iranian foreign ministry accused Trump of \u201cpsychological warfare\u201d on the Iranian people.<\/p>\n
Protesters in Tehran on 29 December. Photograph: undefined\/AP<\/p>\n
But leaders of the Reform Front \u2013 the movement with which Pezeshkian is associated \u2013 demanded action against those in the security services accused of chasing and firing on protesters inside the Imam Khomeini hospital in Malekshahi, Ilam province.<\/p>\n
Azar Mansouri, writing on the X social network, described the incident as \u201ca disaster\u201d. She urged: \u201cAs soon as possible and with justice, address the tragedy that occurred in Malekshahi, Ilam. Identify the perpetrators, introduce them to the public, and bring them to justice so that this wound can heal a little.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to reports on social media, security forces had opened fire on protesters.<\/p>\n
On Monday Ant\u00f3nio Guterres, the secretary general of the UN, called on Iran to respect demonstrators\u2019 right to \u201cprotest peacefully\u201d.<\/p>\n
Guterres \u201cunderscores the need to prevent any further casualties\u201d, his spokesperson, St\u00e9phane Dujarric, said. \u201cHe also calls on the authorities to uphold the right of freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly\u201d and that \u201call individuals must be allowed to protest peacefully and express their grievances\u201d.<\/p>\n
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, claimed the protests had expanded dramatically, adding: \u201cWe may well be at a defining moment, a moment when the Iranian people take their destiny in their own hands.\u201d Many such predictions have been made in the past, only for the theocracy to survive.<\/p>\n
Iran\u2019s future may turn on whether within the confines of continued US economic sanctions, policymakers can find enough room for manoeuvre to tackle corruption, stabilise the currency, reduce inflation and remove the levels of state intervention holding back industrial production. The frequent industrial shut downs caused by electricity and water shortages is also hampering production.<\/p>\n
In remarks on 1 January, Pezeshkian said he was abolishing the system of preferential foreign exchange rates, a complex system of distorting subsidies that he said fuelled corruption and failed to help the poor. Pezeshkian explained: \u201cWe are not removing subsidies, we are delivering them to the final consumers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fatemeh Mohajerani, his spokesperson, said on Monday: \u201cIt is evident that by ending or reducing subsidised and preferential official foreign currency exchange rates, the prices of some items will rise.\u201d<\/p>\n
Revisions to the budget being examined by the parliament include pay rises of up to 43% instead of 20%, a cut in value-added tax to 10% from 12%, and the allocation of $8.8bn in subsidised foreign exchange to curb price rises for basic goods.<\/p>\n
The budget will earmark funds for guaranteed wheat purchases to supply bread and for adjusting pensioners\u2019 salaries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Iranian government is attempting risky economic concessions as it tries to meet the escalating demands of protesters…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":222451,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-222450","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222450","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=222450"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222450\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/222451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=222450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=222450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=222450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}