Government Newspaper Attacks Parliament Representatives and Research Center: Unskilled, Trump-Fearing, Daydreamers

The newspaper 'Iran' criticized the Research Center of the Parliament and its representatives, labeling government critics as 'unskilled', 'Trump-fearing', and having 'fantastical' views. As the official organ of the government, Iran newspaper stated that the Research Center's reports are 'biased' and interfere in political matters. It accused the head of the Research Center of making 'Trump-fearing' comments, claiming that 'provocative and irresponsible statements from some parliament representatives and negative signals to the currency market in recent days have turned into headlines for speculative Telegram media.' The newspaper asserted that the government has managed to 'bring the dollar down in price' despite ongoing international developments, thereby creating a defensible record. In this context, Ali Rabiei, the Minister of Labor in Rouhani's government, also reacted to the dispute between the government and the Research Center, stating that closing any think tank or research center opens the door to various crises. Rabiei emphasized that one of the calamities visibly affecting society these days, from water and soil crises to value changes and the virtual space, has been the neglect of social sciences, especially sociology. According to the report, the Research Center of the Parliament has recently published various reports on different areas, including the economy, which contradict the claims of government officials and Ibrahim Raisi. The publication of various reports questioning currency policies, presenting a near-realistic picture of poverty, the ineffectiveness of government policies in poverty alleviation, and the performance report of the Ministry of Health and the consequences of drug shortages are among the issues that have drawn the government media team into the dispute between the two branches. The parliamentary research arm had previously stated in a report: 'Supportive policies in the budget alone cannot reduce the persistent poverty rate.' This center also recently reported a drop in the daily calorie consumption level of the Iranian people below the global standard. In another report, it referred to the crippling healthcare costs in people's expense baskets, stating that 'the occurrence of crippling health costs at the population level was 4.7% and at the disease level was 25.3%.' Reports of this nature have been published while the government and Ali Khamenei have repeatedly claimed to have made 'impactful works' in the country and have evaluated economic and social indicators in line with increasing public welfare and access for the people. Nevertheless, the statistics announced by government officials have continuously faced skepticism from experts, and in many cases, the government has been accused of manipulating statistics and changing indicators for 'achievement fabrication.' A governmental body reported that the targeted subsidies have a deficit of 230 trillion tomans. Approximately 26,000 girls under 15 years old got married in the past year. The Research Center of the Parliament reported that homelessness has intensified in 8 new forms. The Parliament announced the 'intensification of poverty,' while the Minister of Labor spoke of 'significant development' in coupons.