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Iran’s deepening economic crisis is becoming increasingly evident in statistics and reports published by state-run media. Even domestic media, operating under the restrictions of the regime, are reporting figures that reveal how rapidly inflation, currency depreciation and falling purchasing power are pushing ordinary Iranians towards poverty.
One of the clearest examples came in a recent report by the Iranian economic outlet Arman Eghtesadi. Despite a 60 per cent increase in the minimum wage at the beginning of the Iranian year, the publication reported that workers had effectively lost much of that gain within just six months as the prices of food, foreign currency and other essentials soared.
According to figures cited in the report from Iran’s Statistical Centre, annual inflation had reached 73.6 per cent, while point-to-point inflation stood at an extraordinary 89.8 per cent in September 2026. The situation was even worse for food and beverages: annual inflation in this category reached 108.5 per cent, while point-to-point food inflation was reported at 121 per cent.
These figures describe something far more serious than an abstract rise in a consumer price index. They represent a rapid destruction of household purchasing power.
Iran’s domestic crisis is increasingly about containment: Azadi workers protested after three months without pay, pension arrears remain unfunded, South Pars facilities are still being rebuilt, Karbaschi was found guilty in a press case, and hardliners are escalating attacks on rivals as the state keeps nightly loyalty rallies going.
By @HakamianMahmoud
https://t.co/sDozU9ephn— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) October 20, 2026
Arman Eghtesadi reported that the estimated cost of the basic living basket for a working family had risen to 91.3 million tomans. Only months earlier, when wages were being determined, the officially calculated figure was 42.9 million tomans. Even that earlier figure had been criticised by labour representatives as significantly understating the true cost of living.
The minimum wage tells an equally stark story. A married worker without children was receiving approximately 22.3 million tomans a month. In March, that income was worth roughly $155 at the prevailing exchange rate. By the second half of the year, its value had fallen to around $84. In other words, the dollar purchasing power of the minimum wage had been almost halved in a matter of months.
The deterioration is perhaps even easier to understand through basic food prices.
According to the same domestic report, the price of beef and veal rose from around 915,000 tomans per kilogram in December 2025 to approximately 1.776 million tomans by September 2026 — almost doubling in less than a year. Chicken increased from 149,000 to approximately 305,000 tomans per kilogram over the same period, meaning its price more than doubled.
A worker earning the minimum wage could therefore buy dramatically less food with the same monthly salary. Purchasing power for beef and chicken continued to decline even after the large nominal wage increase. The price of cooking oil provides another striking example: a kilogram that cost roughly 105,000 tomans in December had risen to more than 481,000 tomans by September — an increase of more than four and a half times in just nine months.
This is not merely an inflation crisis. It is accompanied by the structural deterioration of the wider economy.
Tehran’s response to the rial’s slide past 270,000 tomans isn’t restoring confidence—it’s rationing it. A $2B dollar sale that fades in days. A $10k purchase scheme that requires 2.5 billion tomans most people don’t have. A crackdown on #Tether and gold. All while chasing $21B in unrepatriated export earnings. When the regime’s main tools are more controls, the crisis isn’t just #financial. by @MansoreGolestan
https://t.co/DoUuh0lUBH— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) October 17, 2026
Even the state-run Mehr News Agency has warned of entrenched “stagflation”. Citing World Bank projections, Mehr reported negative economic growth and described structural budget deficits, declining investment, expansion of liquidity and dependence on the banking system as major sources of continuing inflation. It also reported that the real purchasing power of Iran’s minimum wage had fallen sharply over recent years.
The significance of these reports is difficult to ignore. These are not statistics produced by opponents of the regime. They are figures being published inside Iran, under a system that tightly controls the media and routinely attempts to minimise the scale of domestic crises.
For millions of Iranians, the issue is no longer whether they can maintain a comfortable standard of living. It is whether their wages can cover food, housing, medicine and the other minimum requirements of survival. The regime’s own economic figures now provide some of the clearest evidence of that reality.