{"id":348519,"date":"2026-10-03T22:12:49","date_gmt":"2026-10-03T21:12:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/?p=348519"},"modified":"2026-10-03T22:12:49","modified_gmt":"2026-10-03T21:12:49","slug":"rial-hits-268500-as-lawmaker-says-drug-crisis-is-killing-patients-and-gas-deliveries-fall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/news\/iran-protests\/rial-hits-268500-as-lawmaker-says-drug-crisis-is-killing-patients-and-gas-deliveries-fall\/","title":{"rendered":"Rial Hits 268,500 as Lawmaker Says Drug Crisis Is Killing Patients and Gas Deliveries Fall"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_291167\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-291167\" style=\"width: 1000px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-291167\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/iran-old-men-waiting-gas-shortage.jpg\" alt=\"Men in a rural village in Iran wait to have their gas cylinders refilled\" width=\"1000\" height=\"589\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/iran-old-men-waiting-gas-shortage.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/iran-old-men-waiting-gas-shortage-300x177.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/iran-old-men-waiting-gas-shortage-768x452.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/iran-old-men-waiting-gas-shortage-150x88.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/iran-old-men-waiting-gas-shortage-696x410.jpg 696w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-291167\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Men in a rural village in Iran wait to have their gas cylinders refilled<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em><strong>Three-minute read<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Iran\u2019s domestic economic crisis produced several unusually stark admissions on October 3, 2026, as the free-market dollar climbed to another record, the National Gas Company acknowledged a substantial fall in gas delivered to the national network, and a senior parliamentarian said people were dying because medicines and treatment had become unavailable or unaffordable.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The dollar opened the day sharply higher and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tgju.org\/news\/3919063\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reached about 268,500<\/a> tomans, roughly 9,300 tomans above the previous session according to Iran\u2019s Gold and Currency Information Network. KhabarOnline had recorded it at 266,000 earlier in the day, alongside a euro near 300,000 tomans and a pound above 352,000. The rise came even as banks began implementing the Central Bank\u2019s plan allowing adults to purchase as much as $10,000 in cash dollars with a national ID\u2014a measure that <a href=\"https:\/\/nournews.ir\/fa\/news\/349737\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">failed to prevent<\/a> the market from opening roughly 10,000 tomans higher.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Tehran stock index simultaneously approached a new nominal record, but the picture underneath was less reassuring: domestic reporting recorded roughly 4.1 trillion tomans in individual-investor money leaving the market, while hundreds of shares reversed from positive to negative during the session.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Iran\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/hashtag\/economy?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#economy<\/a> is breaking at the household level. The dollar jumped from ~60,000 to ~258,000 tomans in two years. <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/IMFNews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@IMFNews<\/a> sees ~69% inflation in 2026 and a contracting economy. Bread, meat, oil, and medicine have surged far faster than wages\u2014so families buy half a loaf and\u2026<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/iran_policy\/status\/2106030735744209196?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 2, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.x.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\">Parliament Calls Livelihood a Matter of \u201cNational Defense\u201d<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Perhaps the more revealing development was how officials themselves described the economic pressure. Babak Negahdari, head of parliament\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.isna.ir\/amp\/1405071106948\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Research Center, declared<\/a> that protecting purchasing power was \u201cpart of national defense,\u201d warning that economic pressure could turn daily life into a source of eroding \u201chope and trust.\u201d He called for protecting the household essentials basket, keeping production running and reducing economic uncertainty\u2014not simply as social policy, but because, in his words, doing so would strengthen the country\u2019s ability to withstand pressure.<\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<div>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The significance is less the professed concern for household welfare than the recognition that deteriorating living standards can become a threat to political stability. By explicitly connecting food, jobs and purchasing power to \u201cnational defense\u201d and public confidence, Negahdari was effectively treating popular discontent as part of the regime\u2019s security equation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">That framing comes after several days of unusually explicit security warnings inside the establishment. State-aligned <a href=\"https:\/\/vista.ir\/2609\/289\/tdsfu\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>Mardomsalari<\/em> recently drew attention<\/a> to a claim by Expediency Council member Ali Aghamohammadi that trained armed groups had entered Iran, alongside written parliamentary demands that Basij forces be urgently provided with urban-warfare equipment. The claims themselves remain unverified, but the newspaper asked openly whether the signals pointed toward the possibility of \u201cstreet war.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Hours of fighting in Rask. An MOIS office attacked in Nokabad. A separate roadside bomb kills a regime-aligned fighter.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, the dollar reaches 263,000 tomans, factories warn of power and <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/hashtag\/financing?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#financing<\/a> crises, and regime figures clash over who had authority to negotiate.\u2026<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/iran_policy\/status\/2106091573419114643?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 2, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.x.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cIf They Become Ill, the End Is Death\u201d<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The most severe domestic criticism of the day came from Salman Eshaghi, spokesman for parliament\u2019s Health Commission. Speaking to ILNA, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.didarnews.ir\/fa\/news\/206330\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">he said<\/a> authorities had effectively \u201cclosed our eyes to people being killed\u201d because medicines were unavailable and treatment costs had become prohibitive. He added that conditions had deteriorated to the point that officials could only hope people did not fall ill because \u201cthe end\u201d for some patients was no longer treatment, but death.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">More significantly, Eshaghi rejected attempts to explain the medicine crisis principally through war. He said access to medicines and pharmaceutical raw materials \u201chas nothing to do with the war\u201d if authorities make the correct decisions and combat corruption. He contrasted shortages of medicine with the continued import of luxury products and said some pharmaceutical and medical-equipment companies had doubled profits during wartime conditions.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">His allegations went considerably further. Eshaghi claimed $100 billion handled through trustee networks had not been returned, including $20 billion associated with one bank, while the health system needed only about $3.5 billion annually from those resources. He also said insurers were effectively bankrupt but refusing to acknowledge it publicly, transferring the financial consequences to patients instead.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Clashes outside Zahedan, and a security officer killed in Rask\u2014an incident authorities initially downplayed.<br \/>Meanwhile, a senior parliamentary figure says Iran\u2019s economy is \u201cconsiderably worse,\u201d food <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/hashtag\/inflation?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#inflation<\/a> has topped 121%, and energy shortages are disrupting production.\u2026<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/iran_policy\/status\/2105751491910729938?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 1, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.x.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\">Energy Supply Adds Another Constraint<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The energy picture also deteriorated. National Gas Company chief <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mehrnews.com\/news\/6966119\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Saeed Tavakkoli said<\/a> gas delivered to Iran\u2019s national network during the first six months of the year was about 14% lower than during the same period last year. The company said it had nevertheless maintained gas at around 85% of the fuel supplied to power plants and claimed that major steel and petrochemical industries were currently facing no gas restrictions.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">That qualification does not erase the significance of the decline. The government is entering the colder half of the year with substantially less gas entering the network, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/news\/economy\/irans-winter-of-smog-and-shortages-deepens-the-regimes-crisis\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">after previous winters<\/a> forced reductions in deliveries to power plants and industry. Today\u2019s official statement itself referred to problems affecting refining facilities and South Pars while emphasizing emergency efforts to keep the system stable.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Taken together, October 3 was revealing less for any single statistic than for the vocabulary now being used by the establishment itself. The currency requires extraordinary retail-dollar intervention; a parliamentary health official says patients are dying while accusing institutions of failing to recover enormous sums; national gas deliveries are down; and parliament\u2019s own research chief now describes household purchasing power as part of national defense.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">That is an implicit acknowledgment that the domestic front has become strategically consequential. When medicine, factory energy, the price of the dollar and a family\u2019s ability to buy necessities are discussed in the language of national resilience, economic deterioration is no longer being treated merely as an economic problem\u2014it is being recognized as a potential source of political vulnerability.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Three-minute read Iran&rsquo;s domestic economic crisis produced several unusually stark admissions on October 3, 2026, as the free-market dollar climbed to another record, the National Gas Company acknowledged a substantial fall in gas delivered to the national network, and a senior parliamentarian said people were dying because medicines and treatment had become unavailable or unaffordable. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":69,"featured_media":291167,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,10,5450],"tags":[130,269,5482],"class_list":["post-348519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-iran-protests","category-economy","category-iranian-regime-infighting","tag-iran-protests","tag-iran-economy","tag-iranian-regime-infighting"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Rial Hits 268,500 as Lawmaker Says Drug Crisis Is Killing Patients and Gas Deliveries Fall - NCRI<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Three-minute read Iran\u2019s domestic economic crisis produced several unusually stark admissions on October 3, 2026, as the free-market dollar climbed to\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, 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