Ebrahim Raisi’s childish opportunistic lies or clever deceit
According to Iran Gate, Ebrahim Raisi, in recent days and simultaneously with the breaking of the 60,000-toman ceiling for the exchange rate of the US dollar, has made some strange statements with the aim of justifying the disastrous economic situation. These statements are mostly contrary to reality, but what is the reason behind raising such false claims and allegations that can easily be tested for truth by the 13th government’s leader?
Last week, Raisi promised to control the exchange rate and curb inflation in the presence of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran. In those days, when he gave an enthusiastic and passionate speech on this topic, the US dollar was traded at about 45,000 tomans. But just a few days ago, the price of the dollar crossed the 60,000-toman range and now fluctuates between 55,000 and 60,000 tomans.
However, surprisingly, instead of apologizing for the country’s economic instability and recent currency price jumps, Raisi blamed foreigners and protesters for these issues. In his statements, he made claims that can easily be proven incorrect in at least two cases. By a simple comparison, one can see that Ibrahim Raisi lied about the increase in the exchange rate since the beginning of the thirteenth government until Aban 1401, as well as the dollar rate when he took over the government from Hassan Rouhani.
The war of narratives with Ibrahim Raisi’s performance
In recent days, Ibrahim Raisi has tried to justify his government’s poor performance in the economic sector by escaping forward and distorting the reality. But the strange thing here is that he even did this unintentionally and once again showed that the manifestation of realities is not of much importance to him and his advisors. In fact, the thirteenth government is trying to create a false narrative and present a distorted version of events, the truth of which can easily be verified by any inexperienced internet user.
Where does Raisi buy dollars from?
The first strange claim by Raisi about the exchange rate of the dollar comes at a time when he took over the presidency from Hassan Rouhani. In his recent speech, he claimed that his government received the country in a condition where the dollar was being traded at 27,500 tomans. This astonishing claim by Raisi is made in a situation where any ordinary social media user can find the dollar exchange rate in a fraction of a minute for the month of Mordad 1400, and test the truth of the claim made by the 13th government’s leader.
The reality is that the dollar was being traded in the price range of 24,000 tomans when Raisi assumed the leadership of the executive branch. In fact, in this speech, Raisi announced an exchange rate for that time period that was 15% higher than the actual recorded rate. Although some social media users have sarcastically asked where Ibrahim Raisi obtains the dollar from, as its rate differs so much from what people observe.
Only 2,000 tomans.
The second false claim made by Reisi is related to the increase in the dollar exchange rate from the month of Mordad 1400 to Aban 1491. He claims that during his government and until before Aban 1401, the dollar only increased by 2,000 tomans. However, a look at the recorded exchange rate table in the Tehran market shows an increase of over 11,000 tomans in the dollar rate during the mentioned period, to the extent that each US dollar was being traded at a price range of 35 to 36 thousand tomans at the beginning of Aban 1401.
A comparison of the actual exchange rates during this period indicates a more than 40% surge in the dollar price. In other words, Reisi only declares a 2,000 toman increase in the dollar rate during the first 14 months of his government, while it actually increased by 11 to 12 thousand tomans.
Why is Reisi lying?
It is understandable that Reisi wants to escape responsibility for the disastrous performance of his economical team and his government in any way possible, given his behavioral history and his followers’ tendencies. It is not even surprising that he blames the increase in the dollar rate on protesting citizens as well.
What is strange is tampering with the real speech plan that can easily be verified for its truthfulness. It is not clear who the economic advisors of Ibrahim Raisi are, who do not even have the ability to compile statistics to evade responsibility.
In the first months, economists believed that the composition of Raisi’s cabinet does not have the ability to confront the various crises in Iran’s economy. But now it has become clear that Raisi’s cabinet cannot even cover up its terrible track record in economic management, something that Ahmadinejad’s government had demonstrated at least in implementing this particular skill.