Jump In Bread Prices Raises Alarm At Friday Prayers Across Iran
Dozens of Friday Prayer imams in Iran have urged the government to sort out economic problems, saying people are suffering under the pressure of rising prices.
Dozens of Friday Prayer imams in Iran have urged the government to sort out economic problems, saying people are suffering under the pressure of rising prices.
Some clerics and para-military organizations have warned that the sudden rise in the price of items such as bread could lead to protests and riots.
Meanwhile, journalists in Tehran Friday reported on Twitter that the price of bread has risen nearly five-fold in Tehran despite statements by economic officials that higher flour prices would not affect traditional bread bought at neighborhood bakeries and the rise will be limited to baguettes and other western-style rolls.
The Friday Prayer Imam of Tehran, Mohammad Hassan Abutorabi Fard, said in his sermon that the government should focus its efforts on improving the nation's livelihood. He called on the government to explain the reasons of recent price increases and to make sure people understand that the government strives to compensate the higher cost of living by introducing economic reform.
On Tuesday, in Eid al-Fitr sermons, other clerics including firebrand Ahmad Khatami promised that the economic situation will improve but did not say how. Kazem Seddiqi, another prayer leader in Tehran had also expressed concern over the consequences of rising prices.
On Friday, imams in cities including Dayyer, Bojnourd, Zahedan, Shar-e Kord, Bushehr, Kermanshah, as well as many other cities warned the government that people are suffering from rising prices of bread and other everyday necessities.
In Tehran, the commander of the students Basij militia of the IRGC warned President Ebrahim Raisi on Thursday that the situation could lead to a major riot in the country. Meanwhile, prominent reformist cleric Mohammad Taqi Fazel Maybodi also warned Raisi that "if the rise in prices is not controlled Iran should wait for riots more dangerous than a revolution."
Social media users in Iran on Friday shifted from complaints about the scarcity and high price of pasta to more serious complaints and warnings about the possible impact of the rising prices of all sorts of bread in Tehran.
Somaye Naghi, an economic journalist in Tehran wrote that they sent someone from the newspaper’s office to buy traditional stone-baked bread called Sangak, but they were told that the price has increased from 60,000 rials to 250,000 rials ($1) per loaf. She pointed out that's this comes while Raisi's Minister of Agriculture had promised the day before that the price of traditional bread will not rise and it will impact "luxury western-style" rolls.
In the meantime, many Iranian journalists have interpreted Vice President for Executive Affairs Solar Mortazavi's strong defense of doing away with cheap government dollars for importing essential commodities, including flour, as a sign that the living conditions for workers, teachers, pensioners and low wage earners will dramatically deteriorate.
The government has resorted to rationing bread in some cities and the general perception is that the practice is going to be widely introduced all over the country. Journalist Ameneh Mousavi wrote on Twitter that rationing has started in Zanjan.
None of the clerics who spoke about the rising price of bread on Friday talked about the impact of sanctions apparently because they find it difficult to explain why the country is under sanctions and why Iranian officials cannot negotiate with the United States to have the sanctions lifted. They fear this will offend Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei who is responsible for major decisions, including the talks with the United States.
The non-public conversation (link to audio) took place in the past two weeks after a scandal broke out about the family of the speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, travelling to Turkey for luxury shopping, but the exact date is not known.
The influential hardliner is cleric Mehdi Ta’eb, brother of the Revolutionary Guard’s (IRGC) Intelligence Organization chief Hossein Ta’eb. He oversees a propaganda outfit promoting the cult of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
In the recording Ta’eb is speaking with an unnamed reporter who asks him why Ghalibaf visited Turkey on several occasions. First, Ta’eb denies it, but when the reporter says he accompanied him once, the cleric says Ghalibaf was assisting the Qods Force and its former commander Qasem Soleimani, who was killed in January 2020 by a US air strike in Baghdad, Iraq.
It is well-known that Soleimani was close to the former mayor of Tehran and the current parliament speaker over the years, and both had support from Khamenei, but this is the first claim that he was helping Soleimani to carry out Qods business.
Ta’eb also confirmed reports in Iranian media and social media that the disclosure about Ghalibaf family’s scandalous trip to Turkey amid rising poverty in Iran was leaked by circles close to President Ebrahim Raisi. He said that the brother of Raisi’s son-in-law engineered the leak.
Videos emerged in April showing Ghalibaf’s wife and daughter returning from a shopping trip to Istanbul, allegedly with more than 20 pieces of luggage. The revelation coincided with rising prices that are further impoverishing millions of Iranians and it led to a political shock. Many called for his resignation from the post of parliament speaker.
The scandal got worse as a whistle blower claimed that during the trip, Ghalibaf’s wife had bought two apartments in Istanbul for $1.6 million.
A few days after the scandal broke, some Ghalibaf supporters claimed that the “an intelligence organization”, presumably the intelligence ministry controlled by Raisi was behind tracking the Ghalibaf family during the trip and publishing the videos and images.
Ta’eb in the recording says he is not certain if the intelligence ministry was involved in revealing the Ghalibaf scandal. He also said that the family first traveled to Syria and from there to Turkey.
Ta’eb also defends Ghalibaf, saying that former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s supporters, the ultraconservative Paydari front, religious elements calling themselves “seekers of justice” and Iran’s “reformists” have joined forces to prevent him from getting re-elected as speaker in mid-May.
However, Ta’eb says that Khamenei had sent a hand-written note to some hardliners last year saying that Ghalibaf should be speaker of parliament.
The cleric also mentions Turkey in the recording and says that Ankara cooperates with Iran in circumventing US sanctions. He claims that despite Turkish pronouncements of acting forcefully in Syria, when Iran wants, Ankara retreats in Syria’s Idlib, where Turkish supported rebels have their last refuge.
Ta’eb also says that Turkey is dependent on oil imports and “in case of a war Iran can hit Turkish ports with [ballistic] missiles and it won’t have fuel for its tanks.”