Conservative presidential candidate paints bleak picture of Iran

In the first televised interview of the six Iranian candidates approved to run in the presidential election, Ebrahim Raisi, the custodian of Iran’s largest religious endowment, described a dark economic condition in Iran and said he would be able to fix it.

“In my own life I’ve tasted poverty,” Raisi began when asked what his plans are for the poor. “And since I became the custodian of the Astan-e Quds Razavi, I’ve encountered men and women who are dealing with numerous difficulties.” In March 2016, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei appointed Raisi as custodian of the shrine of Imam Reza, the holiest (and wealthiest) site in Iran for Shiite Muslims. Since his appointment, he began taking trips to poor villages outside the northeastern city of Mashhad, where the shrine is located.

Raisi recounted “a man who came with tears in his eyes and talked of his poverty” and a “woman with four children who asked at least one of them to be given jobs.” He said that the many villages he visits are simply depending on their cash subsidy payments as their sole source of income and that this wasn’t sustainable.

Raisi also criticized the high level of unemployment in the country. He said that if one looks at the official numbers, it is stated at just over 12%, but the unemployment rate for those with college degrees is as high as 40% and near 30% for the youth. He blamed the unemployment rate for other problems in society such as divorce and corruption. Raisi questioned how it can be that a country with such status and with a voice on the world stage and such scientific progress is still unable to solve the issue of unemployment.