RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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See the full story · 5 sourcesReza Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran’s last shah, has criticised the government’s proposed fuel price increases, calling them an “unforgivable mistake” that would worsen hardship for Iranians.
In a post on X, Pahlavi wrote: “While the Islamic Republic squanders the nation's resources on foreign terrorists and domestic oppressors, the regime's officials and their cronies compete with one another in plundering national wealth, and the regime's ineptitude in governing the country has broken the backs of households and impoverished Iranians. Imposing fuel price hikes on the people is an unforgivable mistake and a profound betrayal. Fuel prices cannot be compared to those in other countries when Iranians' incomes are in rials and below the poverty line.
“Fuel and energy issues are managed on a daily basis without crisis in nearly every country in the world, even many with far fewer resources than Iran.”
He continued: “On one hand, the IRGC smuggling mafia siphons off tens of millions of litres of Iran's capital daily through tankers, pipelines, and smuggling docks; on the other, the automotive mafia foists low-quality, high-consumption vehicles on the nation. This criminal sect, incapable of solving the problem, uses its propaganda apparatus to shift the burden of fuel shortages onto the people, portraying them as the cause of increased consumption and fuel smuggling.
“The Islamic Republic is an incompetent, corrupt, and anti-Iranian regime that is itself the root of these disorders and will never be capable of resolving them.”
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