Internal Pressure Increasing For Ahmadinejad?

I posted about an article in the Guardian a couple days ago that indicated that internal political pressure against Iran's president appeared to be growing. The Associated Press today notices the same phenomenon. They report that skyrocketing prices for basic food items is really piling the pressure on Mad Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. It couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

Ahmadinejad's government "has been strong on populist slogans but weak on achievement," said Khoshchehreh, who campaigned for Ahmadinejad during the election.

The president has touted himself as a tough anti-Western leader, frequently denouncing the United States. His comments that Israel should be "wiped off the map" and his questioning of the Nazi Holocaust have sparked anger in the West and increased Iran's isolation.

At the same time, he has aggressively pushed ahead Iran's nuclear program, shrugging off U.N. demands that the country halt uranium enrichment. As a result, the U.N. in December imposed sanctions on Iran.

The sanctions were limited to a ban on selling materials and technology that could be used in Iran's nuclear and missile programs and the freezing of assets of 10 Iranian companies and individuals.

But since then the price of fruit, vegetables and other widely used commodities in Iran — already rising — have skyrocketed, apparently because of fears of harsher punishment.

The inflation has hit Iranians hard, along with unemployment, which the government puts at 10 percent but which economists say could be as high as 30 percent. The government also says inflation is 11 percent, but experts estimate it at 30 percent.

Tehran housewife Maryam Hatamkhani, 28, said her family has given up buying potatoes and tomatoes because prices have tripled or quadrupled in the past month. Tomatoes have gone from around 33 cents a pound to $1.50.

"People are really under pressure. We are unhappy. Instead of bringing welfare, this government has given us hardship," she said.

Vahid Yousefi, a factory worker, moonlights as an informal cab driver at night to get by, picking up passengers in his car. He had hoped to buy a modest apartment in downtown Tehran last year but couldn't afford it. In the six months since, home prices have doubled.

"I really can't make ends meet," said Yousefi, the father of two. "I will never be able to live in my own house."

Lawmakers summoned Ahmadinejad's Housing Minister Mohammad Saeedikia to parliament for questioning over the rising prices, which he blamed on increasing demand. He promised a plan to control prices, but gave no specifics.

Since Ahmadinejad's plans to date have been to throw money into an attempt to gain nuclear weapons and to glad hand money to other countries as well as pumping cash and weapons to Hezbollah and Iraq, his domestic programs are likely pretty low on cash. To the extent the US has been able to apply pressure to Iran, we do seem to be adding to his woes. Good. Keep it up. With oil prices falling, his revenue has to be about stretched to the breaking point.

Other Links to this Post

1. Blue Crab Boulevard » Gates: Iran Overplayed Hand — Thursday, 18 January , 2007 @ 12:28 pm