{"id":258041,"date":"2022-04-21T18:33:04","date_gmt":"2022-04-21T17:33:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/?p=258041"},"modified":"2023-02-04T18:57:41","modified_gmt":"2023-02-04T17:57:41","slug":"how-much-is-a-baby-worth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/news\/economy\/how-much-is-a-baby-worth\/","title":{"rendered":"How Much is a Baby Worth in Iran?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"iran-selling-babies\"
Translation: “Baby, sex: boy, born in April, for sale due to financial problems. Phone… Please spread the word.”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Walking down the streets of Tehran can be very heart-wrenching. Especially when you pass some of the alleys farther South from downtown, where advertisement about selling body organs<\/a> is glued all over the place on the walls and you just can\u2019t ignore the irony that people are literally giving up their health to buy food or other livelihoods to survive.<\/p>\n

But the most disturbing ones are from parents who are trying to sell off their newborns. It\u2019s just unimaginable what problems can drive you to the decision to give away a part of yourself to an unknown fate, just to keep above water and perhaps save the other ones\u2026 for a while.<\/p>\n

\"selling-babies2\"
Persian caption from Borna news agency<\/a>: \u201cTrading babies on Instagram has instigated controversy. People can even see the face of the child and select them, and it seems like there are some hands pulling the strings in this business.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Iran is not the country it ought to be. Stretching from Turkey and Iraq to Turkmenistan and Pakistan, it is the world\u2019s 17th largest country in terms of territory, one of the world\u2019s oldest continuous major civilizations, ranks fourth largest in terms of the world\u2019s proven\u00a0oil reserves, ranking second in the world and accounting for about 17% of the world’s total natural gas reserves, and its mineral reserves currently amount to 25.7 billion tons if officially discovered evidence is to be believed.<\/p>\n

Everyone connected to the internet or anyone who has cared to read the news knows that Iran\u2019s wealth is unfairly distributed and while more than 60% of the population lives under the official poverty line, a tiny 4% monopolizes the 14th richest country in the world and the wealthiest in the Middle East, according to Capgemini’s World Wealth Report<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As the founder of the clerical regime, the former Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini branded himself as the leader and frontrunner of the global fight against American \u201cImperialism\u201d and everything the Western culture stands for. Slogans of \u201cDeath to America\u201d and \u201cDeath to England\u201d has never ceased to be shouted during and after the Friday prayer sermons across Iran, even at the height of the Western appeasement era when the influx of commercial delegations rushed to the country to secure lucrative multibillion-dollar contracts.<\/p>\n

But as hypocrisy is systemically institutionalized in the Iranian state philosophy, so is their enthusiasm for Western countries, particularly the United States of America, as the most cherished destiny<\/a> to send their offspring to study, develop and thrive<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In 2017, when the son of the former Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref said on national TV he owes his glorious success in life to “good genes”, he stirred a firestorm<\/a> among Iranians at home and abroad. The huge wealth gap in society became a hot topic in Persian social media and hashtags such as \u201cgood genes\u201d, \u201cwhere is your kid<\/a>\u201d or any outcast pronoun attached to the officials\u2019 hypocrisy became a hidden trigger, ready to go viral on the spot.<\/p>\n

Images of the Iranian regime\u2019s relatives driving luxurious cars, sunbathing on private yachts, throwing lavish parties, and boasting about their aristocratic lifestyle made headlines. Rival factions at the highest levels of the regime\u2019s hierarchy blamed each other and it even became one of the factors the Guardian Council used to disqualify<\/a> the Supreme Leader\u2019s senior advisor Ali Larijani from running as a presidential candidate in the 2020 elections.<\/p>\n

In the latest incident, on April 19, pictures posted on social media showed Zahra Moshir, the wife of the Iranian regime\u2019s parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, and two other companions returning from Turkey, identified as his daughter, Maryam Qalibaf, and her husband, Mohammad Reza Bahiraei.<\/p>\n

The trio had taken on Flight 4804 on Meraj Airlines and arrived in Tehran Airport from Istanbul with a large volume of cargo, including a hefty and expensive cargo of baby stuff. According to some sources, the substantial cargo that caused trouble with the Turkish airliner had driven the attention and triggered a stir.<\/p>\n

\"iran-qalibaf-family-fiasco\"<\/p>\n

Soon the Persian language social media was flooded with curses and expressions of outrage towards the entire regime, whose officials have continued to call for refraining from consuming<\/a> foreign products and prioritizing domestic production. Many used hashtags like \u201cbaby stuff-gate\u201d or \u201cknowledge-based Turkey,\u201d mocking the \u00a0Supreme Leader\u2019s slogan of the year \u201cknowledge-based growth<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite Qalibaf\u2019s son<\/a> and media advisor trying to insulate the parliament speaker from the controversy by claiming \u201che wasn\u2019t aware\u201d or \u201che was against the trip\u201d, the damage was already done and criticism was all over the state media and some even called for his resignation.<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

\u0639\u062c\u0628 \u062c\u0634\u0646\u06cc \u06af\u0631\u0641\u062a\u0646\u062f \u0645\u062e\u0627\u0644\u0641\u0627\u0646 \u062f\u06a9\u062a\u0631 \u0642\u0627\u0644\u06cc\u0628\u0627\u0641. <\/p>\n

\u0628\u0632\u0631\u06af\u0646\u0645\u0627\u06cc\u06cc \u06a9\u0647 \u062f\u0631 \u062a\u062e\u0635\u0635 \u0634\u0645\u0627 \u0627\u0633\u062a \u0627\u0645\u0627 \u0645\u0647\u0645 \u0646\u06cc\u0633\u062a \u06a9\u0647 \u0645\u0648\u0636\u0648\u0639 \u06a9\u0648\u0686\u06a9 \u0628\u0627\u0634\u062f \u06cc\u0627 \u0628\u0632\u0631\u06af\u060c \u062e\u0637\u0627\u06cc \u0641\u0631\u0632\u0646\u062f \u0631\u0627 \u0628\u0647 \u067e\u0627\u06cc \u067e\u062f\u0631 \u0646\u0645\u06cc \u0646\u0648\u06cc\u0633\u0646\u062f.<\/p>\n

— \u0645\u062d\u0645\u062f\u0633\u0639\u06cc\u062f \u0627\u062d\u062f\u06cc\u0627\u0646 (@ahadian_ir) April 20, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n