70 per cent of Iranian workers living in poverty, regime admits

 

At least 70 per cent of workers in Iran are living under the poverty line, a leading regime official has admitted.

Many workers can not even afford basic products they need for survival, Rahmatollah Poormoussa, the head of Iran's state labor organization, said.

He told the state-run Tasnim News Agency: "There are many workers who can not buy basic products they need for a normal life, and many of these items are now considered a luxury."

Workers' main expenditure goes on health and housing, with housing alone taking up 50 per cent of income, he said.

Iran's economic crisis has plunged a majority of the population into poverty, affecting even people who are holding down more than one job.

The purchasing power of workers fell by 73 per cent this year, while the minimum monthly salary is 608,000 tomans (170 dollars). But to survive in Iran, a family of 4 needs at least 1400.000 tomans (400 dollars).

The Iranian Minister of Labour and Social Welfare, Ali Rabi'i, said recently that 12 million people suffer from 'food poverty' in Iran.

Deputy Health Minister Ali-Akbar Sayari has said that he 'regretted' that 78 per cent of Iranians lack fruit and vegetables and do not have a good diet.

In a speech on the occasion anniversary of the 1979 revolution, Mrs Maryam Rajavi, the president-elect of the Iranian Resistance said on February 8 in Paris: “Iranian households suffer from hunger due to poverty and destitution. Twelve million sleep hungry each night. Previously, the general problem was poverty. Now it is hunger. At no time in Iran’s history has class disparity been as large as during the mullahs’ reign.”

She added: “If the mullahs ignore the economic implosion, it would lead to the eruption of popular protests. And if they decide to contain it, they will have to reduce the budget for domestic suppression and the export of terrorism, rendering the totality of the regime defenseless and will pave the way for realization of people’s will.”