Iranian Regime Insiders Warn About Growing Discontent And Imbalances – OpEd

Protests by people frustrated with the electricity crisis, which has disrupted lives across various parts of Iran, have sounded alarms among regime officials and insiders. This comes as the voices of different segments of society demanding their plundered rights are growing louder.

In the past few days, there were reports of ongoing protests by nurses, workers, farmers, and retirees against the destructive policies of the clerical regime continued in various cities. Protest rallies over power outages were held in Larestan, Jajrud, Khorramdasht, Dolatabad, and Tehran. In Kashan, a group of merchants closed their shops in protest of the power cuts, workers in Tabas and Ilam staged protests, and the 32nd day of protest marches and rallies by Wagon Pars Company workers continued.

In its August 27 edition, the state-run Entekhab news website expressed concern about the energy crisis and power outages, reporting, “The head of the Coordination Council of Industrial Parks across the country said that power cuts in Tehran’s industrial parks have led to street protests.” He added, “Today, power was out in Tehran’s largest industrial park, and it will be out for 24 hours tomorrow as well. Yesterday, street protests occurred in Khavaran Industrial Park due to the power outage.”

On August 27, the state-run Etemad newspaper also published an article titled “Mr. Pezeshkian; Do You Hear the Alarm Bells of Imbalances?” emphasizing, “Whenever an imbalance reaches a dangerous, dysfunctional, and destabilizing stage, the alarm bells will ring.” It stated, “Imbalance has engulfed all aspects and sectors of our society and has reached a dangerous level. In energy, water, the environment, the budget, employment and unemployment, currency, income and expenditure, the banking system, pension funds, economic inequalities, regional development, and in the relationship between the government and the people in social and political imbalances, including severe gender, media, and other disparities. But more important than the existence of these imbalances is that they are, in most cases, worsening.”

The author of the article eventually admits, “The gap between the government and the people has also exacerbated these imbalances, as governments always fear taking costly actions because they lack the people’s trust and fear their anger, especially since they have not forgotten the events of 2009”.

The author acknowledges that due to public hatred and the explosive conditions in society, social inequalities, economic and political imbalances, environmental issues, electricity and water problems, high prices, and pension fund crises, each could fuel an uprising and set fire to the regime’s displays and charades. Hence, he warns, “Imbalance has engulfed all aspects and sectors of our society and has reached a dangerous level.”

The continuation of social protests and the rebellion of workers, retirees, and nurses, who chant “We will not rest until we get our rights,” attacking the inequalities and imbalances in society, have further frightened and worried the regime.

On June 6, state-run Didar news website quoted economist Hossein Raghfar said in a television interview: “Something must be done to reduce these inequalities and the deep and significant social and economic fissures that have emerged in the country. It seems that our society is prone to much larger protests, even larger than those witnessed in 2022, and the reason for this is precisely these inequalities that our young generation rightly demands to be addressed.”