![\"Ahvaz-Protest-gathering-of-pensioners\"](\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Ahvaz-Protest-gathering-of-pensioners.jpg\" "\\"Ahvaz-Protest")
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On May 1, Sajad Padam, the head of Iran\u2019s Social Security Organization, acknowledged another aspect of the country\u2019s economic crunch and the regime\u2019s role in creating it.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe will reach a point soon to sell Qeshm and Kish Islands to pay retirees\u2019 pensions. We are in such a critical situation that if we sell three million barrels of oil daily and earn its full revenue by evading sanctions, we cannot solve the retirees\u2019 problems,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n His acknowledgments caused much stir in the regime and further angered Iranian pensioners and workers who have been protesting their deplorable situation and meager pensions. Fearing a public backlash, the regime\u2019s president Ebrahim Raisi fired Padam. While leaving office, he said,<\/a> \u201cI am leaving, but you have sacrificed clarity and honesty since you don\u2019t like it.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Of course, Padam\u2019s revelations were part of the regime\u2019s increasing infightings over more share of power. Nevertheless, his admission further elucidated the ruling kleptocracy\u2019s role in devastating Iran\u2019s economy.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In a May 4 article titled \u201cPadam is gone, but a time bomb is still there,\u201d the state-run Etemad newspaper wrote: \u201cPadam only repeated the reality and problem that economists and other experts have been warning about. The pension funds\u2019 future is bleak. Yet, the government couldn\u2019t accept the reality from one of its appointed managers.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Iran\u2019s Social Security Organization (SHASTA)<\/span><\/a> has been bankrupt for years. Shasta is a holding company that oversees 187 companies spanning diverse sectors such as oil, gas, petrochemicals, medicine, cement, ceramic tiles, electricity, energy, banking, insurance, land, and sea transport, agriculture, and food.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Although owned by workers and retirees, its CEO and board of directors are appointed by the Minister of Cooperatives, Labor, and Social Welfare, leaving the true owners without a managing role. While not a government entity, Shasta is public property and went private under Hassan Rouhani’s order, with shares sold on Tehran’s Stock Exchange. Unable to pay its debt to the Social Security Administration, Rouhani\u2019s government started selling Shasta’s shares. This ultimately resulted in the bankruptcy of some pension funds, leaving workers and retirees in a difficult financial position.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The ruling theocracy’s rapacious need for funds to fuel its illicit activities both at home and abroad has led to the egregious plunder of workers’ and retirees’ hard-earned money. The crisis facing Iran’s pension funds is not a recent phenomenon but rather a longstanding issue. Established in the early 1900s after Iran’s Constitutional Revolution, the pension fund was designed with the primary objective of securing retirees’ pensions.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Retirees and Social Security Pensioners Rally in Tehran, Tabriz, Isfahan, Rasht, Khorramabad, Kermanshah, Qazvin, and Ahvaz#Iran<\/a> #IranProtests<\/a> https:\/\/t.co\/JKD0JcGsjz<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/GT0wxzqXPO<\/a><\/p>\n — NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) January 17, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n