Economic woes, corruption, military spending, and intervention in neighboring countries were among the main reasons that triggered the unrests in Iran in late December. Erupting shortly after Iranian President Hassan Rouhani introduced his government’s budget for the Persian New Year (starting in March), which increased the military budget by 90 percentwhile cutting subsidies on the poor, the protests quickly turned into a nationwide uprising that called for the overthrow of the ruling regime in its entirety.
Following the protests, Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, made the rare admission that the people had genuine grievances that must be answered. Under such circumstances, you would expect Iran’s regime to take steps to fix the country’s bankrupt economy and improve the livelihoods of its people to avoid further provoking their anger.
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However, Khamenei’s answer to the public outcry has so far been to further increase military spending. The supreme leader recently authorized the withdrawal of $4 billion from the National Development Fund, the country’s foreign currency reserves, $2.5 billion of which will be allocated to the military. Another $150 million will go to the state-run television networks, the regime’s main implements for spreading propaganda and fake news. The stated aim of the NDF, which was formed in 2000, was to make sure that coming generations of Iranians get their fair share of benefits from the country’s natural resources in case of a sharp drop in oil prices.
But that share will now be spent to fuel wars in Syria and Yemen, and to bolster the country’s security apparatus in its capacity to suppress domestic protests. Like every other financial reserve in Iran, the NDF has become a tool for embezzlement and misappropriation by Iranian authorities, and a source of funding for the Iranian regime’s terrorist and extremist agendas.
The Iranian regime has a long-standing history of putting its survival and hegemonic ambitions before the interests of the welfare of its people. Even during the presidency of Rouhani, who touts himself as a moderate, Iran’s military budget has more than doubled.
A recent report by the National Council of Resistance of Iran reveals the details of the regime’s spending on weapons programs and supporting terrorism around the globe, which costs the Iranian population more than $55 billion every year.
In the recent uprisings, Iranians shouted, “Let go of Syria! Do something for us!” And with good reason.
According to the report, the regime spends $15-20 billion on its meddling in Syria, about the equivalent of the country’s healthcare budget ($16.3 billion). This includes paying foreign mercenaries $600-700 per month to fight Iran’s wars abroad, which is around ten times the $70 stipends handed out every month to Iranians living under the poverty line. Khamenei's latest decision will further increase those figures.
This further proves that the regime of Tehran has neither the intention nor the capacity to address the most basic grievances of its people. It has so far quieted those protests through sheer brutality, imprisonment, and murder. The international community must hold the Iranian regime to account for its crimes against its people and the squandering of the country’s wealth on terrorism and extremism. By cutting economic ties with the Iranian regime and imposing targeted sanctions, states can help prevent funds going to individuals and institutions involved in the suppression of dissidents and peaceful protesters.
The rage of the marginalized and disenfranchised Iranian people will re-emerge sooner or later. And when it does, the international community must do all it can to support the Iranian people and prevent the regime from shutting their voices down.
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