Raisi’s Lies, Rouhani’s Faults
Raisi’s Lies, Rouhani’s Faults: In his press conference, Ebrahim Raisi made numerous remarks on various topics, but his comments about reducing inflation have caused a stir, except among his supporters in conservative media.
Meanwhile, in a survey conducted by ISNA among political activists regarding Raisi’s one-year performance, almost all pointed to the uniformity of power as an advantage of Raisi’s government but accused him of lacking a practical plan to solve problems, having ineffective ministers, being unable to reduce inflation, being uncoordinated in the economic team, and failing to fulfill election promises.
Although Raisi, as is customary for presidents in their first year at Pasteur’s seat, blames the previous government and president for existing problems, this idea seems to no longer resonate with the public. The situation has become so dire that even a provincial judiciary chief has abandoned the principle of separation of powers and appears as an auxiliary to the government.
The head of the judiciary in Hamedan, regarding the city’s water cuts and public protests last week, stated that these issues are not only about water but in all areas, they have been imposed on the thirteenth government by the previous one, and the current government is forced to respond to all the previous administration’s failures. If this had happened during Rouhani’s government, at best, it would have been met with silence from the judiciary head, and in other cases, there would certainly have been some criticism or sarcasm directed at the government of the time for its inability to solve people’s problems.
Our Iran and Their Iran
A few days ago, the Asr Iran website and the Shargh newspaper wrote about an Iran in which Raisi and his conservative supporters live, seemingly miles apart from the Iran where the rest of the people reside. Asr Iran, referring to an article in Kayhan newspaper claiming that the country’s economic indicators are improving and that Iran’s economy has been experiencing continuous improvement over the past three years.
It was written that one cannot fault Kayhan because it lives in the second Iran, and it is obvious that any criticism, warning, or protest regarding the country’s economic and social situation is considered blackening, conspiracy, and deception by mysterious forces seeking to destroy the current grandeur, growth, and all-encompassing development of the country.
Those living in the first Iran who are dissatisfied with their situation have only two options: either change their mind, thoughts, and perspective to view the world and issues like Kayhan does, to see the reality of Iran, or follow the suggestion of the female presenter of the Ofogh network, which is that anyone who doesn’t think like Kayhan should pack up and leave Iran, period.
Shargh, in response to Raisi’s press conference, wrote: To be honest, I am seriously considering writing a letter to Mr. Raisi and asking him to take me to the place where he lives. The reality is that Mr. Raisi lives in one Iran, and we, the people, live in another. In Mr. Raisi’s Iran, the country is at its best in terms of management, and even records have been broken there. In the people’s Iran, however, the situation needs no description, and we are living it.
Shargh continued to criticize the repetitive idea of Raisi’s advisors to blame the previous government, noting that his advisors resorted to the same old idea of other presidents, naming predecessors as the cause of inadequacies. The difference is that Mr. Raisi played the same tune for all his predecessors without distinguishing between any of them, oblivious to the fact that he himself had previously said that we should not constantly blame the previous government and attribute inadequacies to former presidents, but rather say what we have in store for running the country.
The Bandwidth Lie
Azari Jahromi, the former Minister of Communications, also responded to Raisi’s comments about the lack of infrastructure development in the previous government as the reason for the current slow internet speed, by conducting a survey in which 78% of respondents disagreed with the president.
He wrote on his personal channel: For us, it is enough of an achievement that notions like 128 kbps internet being sufficient for the Iranian people, or the development of third and fourth generation mobile networks being considered against sacred law, or bringing the internet to villages being labeled as executing the 2030 agenda, have been changed to the slogan of multi-hundred Mbps internet for homes. It is a cause for joy that the thirteenth government considers the previous government’s actions insufficient. May God assist them in implementing what they have spoken of.
Amir Nazemi, Azari Jahromi’s deputy, also responded to the accusation made by Seyed Ebrahim Raisi about the reduction in internet speed due to leftover infrastructure problems from the previous government, writing on his Twitter: Today, when the heavy burden of online education is no longer on the internet network, and in recent months the peak bandwidth usage by operators and network load has decreased, how can you attribute people’s complaints about internet quality to past shortcomings?
Moazzi, the communications director of the twelfth president’s office, also tweeted: A detailed explanation refuting the recent claims of the thirteenth government’s officials regarding the reasons for the significant decline in internet quality over the past year is available in Azari Jahromi’s interview with the Sekkeh podcast. What matters in this context is paying attention to the public’s demand and resolving internet disruptions.
The Inflation Lie
Raisi’s comments about reducing inflation have not only provoked his election rival but also a political activist and journalist. Abbas Abdi, in response to Raisi’s statement at the press conference that inflation had dropped from 60% in September 2020 to 40% this September, wrote: Such reporting is not worthy of any government official. The point-to-point inflation in September 2020 was 44%, and this year’s September has not ended to announce its statistics.
This year, inflation was 54% in July and 42% in August. Hemmati, the former governor of the Central Bank, also tweeted: I had previously said that the slowdown in the inflation rate in August after the inflation shock of removing the 4200 currency in June and July is the natural behavior of shock discharge in the economy. These types of inflationary shocks, which mostly stem from cost pressures, quickly subside after a surge. The trend of the persistent part of inflation will be the basis for evaluating the government’s role in controlling inflation.
Meanwhile, the government newspaper Iran, which is forced to support the policies of the incumbent government regardless of whether it is reformist, moderate, or conservative, attributed the protests and criticisms of Raisi to the demolition of the government, writing: As soon as the thirteenth government’s press conference with the media began, the demolitions started from some well-known critics of the government.
A look at the tweets of the demolishers in the virtual space shows malice and merely an effort to criticize the government, as both their understanding of the president’s remarks is wrong and the statistics they have provided are incorrect.