Are Iranian regimes leaders hiding a severe economic downturn?
Labor unrest and economic anxiety may not be among the headlines coming out of Iran since the controversial presidential election of June 2009, but they could turn out to be critical factors in the fate of the Islamic Republic. Indeed, the regime is so sensitive about the country’s well-being that it has been obfuscating economic statistics — or simply not reporting them.Every week, unofficial sources of information in Iran (that is, blogs and social media) report labor problems. This week, there was a report about a privately owned industrial-parts company in Isfahan, Iran’s third largest city, that has failed to pay 200 of its employees for the past seven months. About 80 angry workers forced their way into a board meeting, compelling company managers to hastily promise an initial payment within days and a settling of all debts by the end of the Iranian year in mid-March — with New Year bonuses as an added sweetener.Similar promises were also reportedly made last week by the director
