Iran Presidential Candidate: Only 4% of Society Happy With Status Quo
- Tuesday, 18 April 2017 08:18
NCRI - Factional disputes over Iran’s presidency, especially regarding economics, continue as we speak and each faction accuses the other, confessing to the grave public hatred and poor economic and social conditions.
“[Iranian President Hassan] Rouhani speaks of economic conditions improving. But he would be more informed about the economic situation if he took a step out of his office. It would become crystal clear for him that only 4% of the society is happy with the status quo. The truth is that people from all walks of life are very unhappy as small and large production units are forced to shut down one after another,” said Tehran Mayor Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf as he registered his candidacy.
Keyhan daily, known as the mouthpiece of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, wrote a piece specifically in this regard.
“Playing with the phrase ‘average income’ while some people are receiving wages of only 700,000 to 900,000 tomans a month ($200 to $260), and there are others who receive huge salaries, from 50 to 250 million tomans a month, along with numerous bonuses) (from $14,300 to $71,500). Furthermore, at least 12% of the population is unemployed and lacking even the slightest income,” the daily wrote.
“In the ‘moderate’ government there have been records broken and its impacts will not be erased very easily! This government has no will to make any economic decisions!” the state-run ‘Vatan-e Emrooz’ wrote.
In response, newspapers loyal to Rouhani’s factions were seen writing their own pieces.
“Ahmadinejad’s government introduced subsidies and yet suddenly increased energy prices by 400% after being fixed for five years,” the state-run Arman daily wrote.
Without mentioning the names of Khamenei and presidential candidate Ebrahim Raisi, another daily raised attention to the huge salaries of the Astan Quds Razavi foundation, chaired by Raisi.
“Statistics show the wealth of this foundation is truly massive and gigantic. No one is informed about the truth,” according to the state-run Sharq daily.
“Astan Quds Razavi has many endowments. Nearly half of the real estate in the city of Mashhad, most of the real estate in the cities of Chenaran, Sarkhas, Fariman and other towns in the three different Khorasan provinces. This also includes agricultural grounds, city areas, forests, stores, houses, vehicles, portions of factories, hospitals, aqueducts, water wells and … in numerous different cities across the country, including: Isfahan, Tabriz, Kerman, Sirjan, Rafsanjan, Gorgan, Sari, Chalous, Varamin, Tehran, Karaj, Garmsar, Qazvin, Bam, Rasht, Lahijan, Langroud, Yazd, Ravar, Shushtar, Shiraz, Neireez and … also property in the countries of Syria, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, India and
