![\"Increasing](\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/09\/Increasing-Poverty-in-Iran-Finding-Food-Has-Become-a-Challenge.jpg\" "\\"Increasing-Poverty-in-Iran-Finding-Food-Has-Become-a-Challenge\\"")
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By\u00a0Mahmoud Hakamian<\/p>\n
Iran is one of the world\u2019s richest, in terms of natural resources; with its gas and oil reserves being the second and third largest, respectively.
Moreover, it ranks the first, second, ninth, tenth, and eleventh, for its Zinc, Copper, Iron, and Uranium, respectively.<\/p>\n
With just 1% of the world\u2019s population, at least 7% of the world\u2019s mineral resources are in Iran. Which would mean that Iranians should all be living a comfortable life now. But this can\u2019t be further from the truth.<\/p>\n
Majority of Iranians are living in extreme poverty and struggling to meet their every day needs. Which is reflected in the ongoing protests, especially the most recent ones; where people are seen complaining about their difficult lives, in some of the state\u2019s own media platforms.<\/p>\n
A resident from Tehran for instance, was recently (September 6th, 2018) asked on TV about his monthly income and whether he could afford his daily needs, to which he replied: \u201cI usually earn 30,000 Toman a day, but sometimes just 21,000 a day\u201d; adding that \u201cwe can\u2019t even afford a single bread; if we\u2019re lucky enough, we spend some of our savings to buy some cheese too, but we haven\u2019t been able to afford even as little as 100 grams of meat or poultry ever since the New Year\u201d.<\/p>\n
In another interview held on the 22nd of August, Azerbaijani workers were also seen complaining about the prices: \u201ceverything has gone up in price by 100%! No one can even afford a single bread. I, as a retiree, only earn 400,000 Toman a month (equivalent to 30-40 dollars) and can\u2019t do anything with this income\u201d.<\/p>\n
Another ordinary citizen comments: \u201cmany of us feel ashamed to go home empty-handed every day, to our wives and children; we haven\u2019t worked for over a month, and it\u2019s been at least 2-3 months that we haven\u2019t been able to afford even fruits for our households. If it wasn\u2019t for my wife and children needing me, I would\u2019ve killed myself by now. Look how old I and this guy next to me look! How old do you think he is? He\u2019s only 35-38 years old! Look how badly we\u2019ve aged with all this pressure!\u201d (September 6th, 2018; Channel 1)<\/p>\n
The crisis Iran is facing now is not only indicated by the ongoing protests especially over the past several days, but also admitted by many authorities themselves, such as Amir Mohebian, a theorist from Khamenei\u2019s regime itself: \u201cWith the growing frustration in people these days, a 7.5 Richter earthquake seems to be on its way now!\u201d (September 7th, 2018; Channel 4).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Mahmoud Hakamian Iran is one of the world’s richest, in terms of natural resources; with its gas and oil reserves being the second and third largest, respectively.Moreover, it ranks the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":52073,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[178],"class_list":["post-25311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-society","tag-save"],"yoast_head":"\n