Vol. 74/No. 23      June 14, 2010

The president was addressing a gathering of several hundred to commemorate the 1982 liberation of Khorramshahr from Iraqi troops during the eight-year Iraq-Iran war. The Iraqis occupied Khorramshahr for 18 months before their expulsion, a turning point in the war.

The population of Khorramshahr is half Arab. The city was devastated by the Iraqi occupation and has never recovered economically.

As workers insistently chanted about the need for jobs, Ahmadinejad did not respond directly to them, but kept on promising that the government will uproot unemployment in Khorramshahr and Khuzestan Province “with the help of young people of the province.”

The Iranian media focused its coverage of the event on a new water supply system inaugurated in Khorramshahr by the president, which will provide potable water to 21 cities in the region.

Kaleme, the Web site of Mir Hossein Mousavi, who ran against Ahmadinejad in last year’s elections, reported May 24 that a year ago Ahmadinejad also traveled to Khorramshahr and promised to end unemployment and improve the quality of the drinking water. “But nothing has come out of it,” the Web site commented.

While the Iranian government says unemployment throughout the country is 11 percent, most estimates place it closer to 25 percent. Inflation also runs very high. The impact of the world capitalist economic crisis and of UN and U.S. sanctions that hinder much of Iran’s trade is cushioned somewhat by government subsidies put in place after the 1979 revolution that significantly affect basic necessities like fuel, food, and transportation.

On September 23, however, the government is cutting $20 billion in subsidies, leading to predictions that prices will rise anywhere from 15 percent to 60 percent. The government is promising low-income Iranians they will receive a cash payment to help cope with the higher prices.
 
 
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