Primary Causes of Poverty and Popular Uprisings in Iran

The Enormous Cost of the Regime's Warmongering, Terrorism and Domestic Suppression

January 2018

As the uprising against the clerical regime engulfed various Iranian cities, protestors' slogans expressed some aspects of the cause of that movement, namely grueling high prices and economic strains on an array of social sectors. Giving rise to these circumstances is the fact that the religious dictatorship has channeled Iran's human resources and economic reserves toward domestic suppression, warmongering and expansion of terrorism abroad, leading to increasing poverty and deprivation among the population in Iran.

The cost of war and terrorism: Not declared in official state budget

According to assessments conducted by the Iranian Resistance and international experts, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has spent close to $15B to $20B a year in Syria over the past six years.1 The regime's warmongering and fatal intervention in Syria alone cost the Iranian people at least $100B between the start of the war to the end of 2017.

In addition to Syria, Tehran has used its military and terrorist arm, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), to interfere in conflicts in Iraq, Yemen, Lebanon, and Afghanistan while exporting terrorism to dozens of other countries in five continents around the world.

The cost of manufacturing weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles, and of acquiring illicit material and equipment for the nuclear program can also be factored into the regime's overall expenditures. A high-level assessment reveals that the regime spends at least $25B to $30B in these arenas from sources that are not declared in its official annual budget.

In order to pay for its warmongering and domestic suppression, the regime has created a private network outside of official state structures. Particularly after 2005 (during the presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad), Khamenei expanded his economic reach considerably by transferring the ownership of state enterprises, taking control of the financial market, and eliminating state subsidies.

With the help of his enterprises and institutions, which operate through front organizations masked as private companies, Khamenei has taken over the bulk of Iran's economy. This is how Khamenei pays for the undeclared and unofficial costs of war and suppression. These organizations and institutions, which include the IRGC, now control over 50% of Iran's Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Official state institutions have no control or oversight on these entities' sources of revenue or expenditures. They are also either exempt from taxes or simply do not pay them.

Some of the most important of these entities include but are not limited to the following2: The IRGC's Khatam al-Anbia Construction Headquarters, other IRGC-affiliated economic powerhouses, Khamenei's Setad (Headquarters for Executing Imam's Orders), the Mostaz'afan (Oppressed) Foundation, Astan-e Qods Razavi (religious foundation in Mashhad), Shahid (Martyr) Foundation, Emdad (Aid) Committee, IRGC Cooperatives Foundation, Bassij Cooperatives Foundation, Qadir Investment Company (tied to the Ministry of Defense), the Armed Forces Social Welfare Organization (SATA), Khatam al-Osia Base (tied to the Ministry of Defense), State Security Forces Cooperatives Foundation (NAJA), and the Islamic Republic Army Cooperatives Foundation (BTAJA).

https:// www.ncr-iran.org/en/news/iran-protests/24191-primary-causes-of-poverty-and-popular-uprisings-in-iran

Iranians to Hold Annual Gathering in Paris Calling for Regime Change in Iran

The annual grand gathering of the Iranians will take place on June 30, 2018 at the Villepinte Exposition center north of Paris – France.

This year's gathering will be held circumstances of unceasing nationwide protests and uprising of the people from all walks of life and all segments of society against the religious tyranny ruling Iran and demanding regime change.

This gathering will express solidarity with the Iranian people’s long quest for freedom and democracy, and support for the democratic alternative to the current dictatorship in Iran.

https:// www.ncr-iran.org/en/news/iran-resistance/24715-iranians-hold-annual-gathering-calling-for-democratic-change-in-paris

On June 30, the World Will See an Alternative Iran

What’s often missing in discussions of Western policy on Iran is the role of the Iranian people and their desires. A comprehensive policy must before all else take into consideration events on the ground in Iran or else it would yet again fail to address one of the most crucial foreign policy issues of recent times.

The wave of protests which started at the end of last year and continued through the New Year shook not only the regime in power but the entire world. The people of Iran poured onto the streets across the country rejecting the clerical regime in its entirety. Chants of “death to Khamenei and Rouhani” and “reformists, hardliners, the game is over” left no doubt that the people of Iran want regime change and nothing short of that. The people called for a republic and a free Iran. To the surprise of many Iran experts and governments in the West, the core of the people on the streets of over 140 cities were the same sector of the society which were wrongly thought to be the power base of the clerical regime. Indeed, the entire nation is demanding regime change.

On June 30, 2018 Iranians from across the world, free from the yoke of the mullahs, will join in Paris, in an extraordinary event “Free Iran; The Alternative.” Tens of thousands are expected to participate in the gathering. Each Iranian attending the rally represents dozens, if not hundreds or thousands, of brave Iranians inside the country who are protesting for regime change. The event has already been publicized inside Iran through social media, and messages of support for the event are coming from civil society. The people of Iran see the June 30 event as the echo of their own cry for freedom.

The annual gathering of Iranians in previous years had drawn some 100,000 participants. However, this year’s event, given the domestic situation and the international developments, is unique. The event heralds the dawn of freedom for the people of Iran and an end to the nightmare of spread of Islamic fundamentalism and instability in the region.

Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), which includes the largest resistance force inside Iran, the PMOI (MEK), said in the 2017 annual gathering that regime change in Iran is necessary and within reach. The wave of protests proved the correctness of the message which at time was confronted by some skepticism by governments and many ‘Iran experts’. The message this year is short but very precise: Iran has a democratic alternative - thus, setting aside the misguided notion, advocated by the Iranian regime’s lobby, that regime change would lead to chaos.

https:// www.ncr-iran.org/en/news/iran-resistance/24749-on-june-30-the-world-will-see-an-alternative-iran