Iran: Minister of Labor announced the minimum wage for workers as 10,399,000 tomans for the Iranian year 1404; nearly 3.5 times lower than the cost of the minimum living basket and 24 times less than the salary of a manager at a petrochemical company
The anti-people and plundering policies of the mullahs’ regime are making workers and toilers poorer every day while enriching the criminal leaders of the regime, the IRGC commanders, and the corrupt children of the elite.
Ahmad Meydari, the Minister of Cooperatives, Labor, and Social Welfare, announced the minimum wage for workers for the year 1404 (starting on March 21) at 10,399,000 tomans on the morning of March 16, 2025. Meanwhile, the “cost of the living basket is approximately 35 million tomans or more, and this amount is continuously increasing” (Jahan Sanat, 16 March 2025). In contrast, “the salary of a human resources manager at a petrochemical company is 247 million tomans” (Tabnak website, 28 February 2025).
In a situation where prices for goods are rising sharply, this minimum wage, as reported by government media, does not even cover the weekly living expenses of a three-person family. The rapid increase in inflation and the astronomical rise in the price of basic necessities are shocking, even according to government officials and media outlets.
- The price of medicine and treatment has increased by 400 percent over the past five years… (to the extent that) today we are witnessing the phenomenon of people refusing to buy prescriptions (Arman-e-Melli newspaper, 3 March 2025).
- The price of rice has started to rise from 90,000 tomans per kilogram after the harvest season, and today in Tehran markets, it is sold for over 200,000 tomans (Kayhan, 19 February 2025).
- Ahad Bioteh, a member of the regime’s parliament from Ardabil, said in the open session of the parliament on February 18, 2025: “Unfortunately, in recent months, we have witnessed uncontrollable and excessive price increases of essential goods, especially those items that have the greatest impact on people’s livelihoods… and in less than three months, you have reduced people’s purchasing power by 50 percent” (Regime’s News Channel, 18 February 2025).
- Somayeh Golpour, President of the Supreme Council of Workers’ Syndicates: “The official inflation rate is announced as 32 percent, but this inflation is not real for the working community. The real inflation is what people see in the market. People feel inflation in their daily purchases and the pressure of housing rents. They feel inflation in healthcare, education, transportation, and food, which in some cases exceeds 50 percent…” (Government website Entekhab, 16 March 2025).
- Babak Rezazadeh, a member of the parliament: “Rice, which was bought three months ago for 100,000 to 150,000 tomans, is now sold for 230,000 to 250,000 tomans” (IRNA, 13 March 2025).
- The price of the minimum food basket has increased by more than 340 percent over the past four years. Some basic items, such as sugar, oil, and potatoes, have increased by over 400 percent, and red meat has increased by more than 800 percent (Government website Itel’a Ma, 15 March 2025).
While poverty and runaway inflation continue, Iran’s wealth is being squandered on anti-national nuclear and missile projects, foreign warmongering, and internal repression, or it is being plundered by the regime’s leaders. The vast majority of the economy is under the control of the Revolutionary Guards, and according to Massoud Pezeshkian, 20-30 billion dollars are smuggled out of the country annually, with the Revolutionary Guards and government organizations being the main perpetrators.
As long as this anti-labor and inhumane regime remains in power, the situation for workers and toilers will only worsen. The only solution is uprising and resistance to overthrow the malignant Velayat-e-Faqih system and establish democracy and the people’s rule.
National Council of Resistance – Labor Committee
17 March 2025