{"id":338393,"date":"2025-10-20T14:11:54","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T13:11:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/?p=338393"},"modified":"2025-10-20T14:11:54","modified_gmt":"2025-10-20T13:11:54","slug":"irans-ruling-elite-trapped-between-economic-collapse-and-public-fury","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/news\/economy\/irans-ruling-elite-trapped-between-economic-collapse-and-public-fury\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran\u2019s Ruling Elite Trapped Between Economic Collapse and Public Fury"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A crowded street in Iran<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Three-minute read<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

As poverty deepens and food vanishes from the tables of ordinary families, the Pezeshkian government prepares a massive fuel price hike while new scandals expose the corruption, hypocrisy, and paralysis consuming the clerical regime.<\/p>\n

In late October 2025, Iran\u2019s embattled leadership finds itself engulfed in overlapping political, economic, and social crises that have shattered what remains of its governing credibility. From the prospect of a 300\u2013500% gasoline price hike to soaring food insecurity and a widening gulf between impoverished citizens and ruling elites, the clerical regime is confronting the kind of volatility that once preceded nationwide uprisings<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A Government Preparing to Light the Fuse<\/h2>\n

According to regime media, the Pezeshkian administration is preparing to raise fuel prices to between 5,500 and 12,000 tomans per liter\u2014up to a fivefold increase. Officials justify the measure by citing unsustainable subsidies and the \u201cneed for optimization,\u201d but even parliamentary insiders have admitted it would amount to a social explosion in the making. The Speaker of Parliament recently confessed<\/a> that Iran \u201cbuys fuel at 50,000 to 60,000 tomans and sells it for 2,000 to 3,000,\u201d effectively acknowledging that the state\u2019s economic model is bankrupt.<\/p>\n

Such admissions echo a broader truth: decades of corruption, mismanagement, and institutionalized plunder have hollowed out the national economy. The clerical establishment, dominated by the Supreme Leader\u2019s office<\/a>, the Revolutionary Guards, and their vast economic networks, is now forced to extract more from a society already driven into destitution.<\/p>\n

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#Iran<\/a>\u2019s Class War: Inequality as a Regime Strategyhttps:\/\/t.co\/GgEGSzTdJJ<\/a><\/p>\n

— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) September 18, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n