Continued Rise in Prices and Inflation; Ali Khamenei: Nuclear Industry is Essential for Improving People's Lives

As inflation daily shrinks the households of Iranians and the prices of essential goods continue to rise, Ali Khamenei, during a visit to the Islamic Republic's "Nuclear Achievements" exhibition, deemed the nuclear industry as "essential for improving people's lives." On Sunday morning, Khamenei met with a group of experts and officials from the Islamic Republic's nuclear program, labeling the West's "nuclear weapon pretext" as a "lie" and emphasizing that "they themselves know we do not want to pursue weapons based on our Islamic principles." He asserted that if this were not the case, they would not be able to stop it. The Supreme Leader also stated that having a nuclear industry is one of the necessities for improving the living conditions of the people. Khamenei claimed that the nuclear industry brings "dignity" to the country and "makes life better for the people." He declared the nuclear power as significant for the Islamic Republic in terms of "global and international political weight." He stressed that "anyone who loves Iran, anyone who loves the Islamic Republic, anyone who loves the nation must pay attention to nuclear energy." Regarding rumors of an agreement with the West, he noted that "an agreement is not a problem" but that the infrastructure of the nuclear industry "must not be tampered with." He warned the government not to violate the strategic action law of the parliament. The Supreme Leader claimed that this law is "good and does not create problems" and that the government must act in accordance with this law in granting access to the agency and providing information. According to Khamenei, cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency "must be maintained within the framework of safeguard regulations." He stated that nuclear energy is a 20-year challenge that has brought many achievements for Iran, one of which is that "we learned not to trust the promises of the West." Accordingly, he claimed, "we have suffered greatly from misplaced trusts." The Supreme Leader also emphasized the development of nuclear energy, stating that "at least twenty thousand megawatts of the country's electricity consumption must be nuclear." It is noteworthy that the cost of constructing the Bushehr nuclear power plant with a capacity of producing one thousand megawatts of electricity was over 10 billion dollars, and recently the Atomic Energy Organization announced the construction of two more new power plants. It is important to mention that the cost of producing one thousand megawatts of electricity from solar energy is one billion dollars, with maintenance costs less than 5 percent compared to other electricity production models. Essential goods are on the rise; some items in the livelihood basket have become more expensive. Zarif spoke online about the JCPOA, Israel's policies against Iran, and "cooperation with NIAC." The dance of teenagers on the anniversary of Khomeini's death; Khamenei called the protesters "ignorant, malicious, and the enemy's foot soldiers." A prominent economics professor rejected the Islamic Republic's official statistics; the real inflation rate is one and a half times the announced figure. The expansion of ideological education; Khamenei's advisor: The "Soleimani School" course will be taught in universities starting in October.