Government Resolution to Increase Bread Prices by Up to 30%

On Thursday, newspapers focused on the parliamentary vote of confidence for Mohammad Farhadi, the fifth proposed candidate for the Ministry of Science. Iran newspaper reported: "Mohammad Farhadi received the vote of confidence from the representatives of the parliament to replace Mohammad Ali Najafi in the Ministry of Science, who had been in charge of the ministry after the impeachment of Faraji Dana." Etemad newspaper also highlighted in its Thursday edition with the headline "Supporters Against, Opponents in Favor" that the vote of confidence for the fifth candidate disrupted the ranks of the parliament. However, Javan newspaper stated in its Thursday headline: "Mohammad Farhadi garnered the support of 197 parliament members with his anti-riot positions," while Resalat and Kayhan newspapers dedicated their front pages to Farhadi's statements in parliament, quoting him: "Leadership is our guiding principle, and the riot is our red line." Etemad newspaper assessed the parliament's vote of confidence for Mohammad Farhadi as a "conditional vote for managing the university" and noted that Farhadi's biggest challenge in the Ministry of Science would be "appointments." Donya-e-Eqtesad reported a "change in the inflation rate" and stated: "The latest statistics published by the Central Bank regarding inflation indicate that despite a decrease in average inflation in November, an alarming situation has arisen concerning inflation indicators, and the inflation outlook for some upcoming months has increased." Vatan-e-Emruz announced the details of the cabinet's resolution to increase bread prices and approved a "30% increase in bread prices." Etemad also confirmed the cabinet's approval of the bread price increase in a report titled "Bread Stuck Between Inflation and Stability." Shahrvand newspaper published a report about "informational and currency rent of import mafia in the past five years," stating: "After the end of the ninth and tenth governments, official and documented reports about extensive economic violations during this period have been revealed, but the report of the investigation into the performance of the Ministry of Industry, Mine, and Trade regarding the import of strategic goods and their distribution, recently published by the ninth parliament, unveiled a mafia that has held the pulse of imports and the market for essential goods in the country for years and has left no effort unturned for profit-making. Iran newspaper reported on the government's economic decision for 1394, quoting Mohammad Baqer Nobakht, the government spokesman, that "employees' salaries will increase according to inflation." The role of "Supporters Against, Opponents in Favor" in the vote of confidence for Mohammad Farhadi was emphasized by Iran newspaper, stating: "Mohammad Farhadi received the vote of confidence from parliament members to head to Pasteur to replace Mohammad Ali Najafi in the Ministry of Science, who had been in charge of the ministry after the impeachment of Faraji Dana." This newspaper emphasized that "predictions regarding the vote of confidence for the fifth proposed minister turned out to be correct, as he managed to secure 197 votes in favor, 28 votes against, and 10 abstentions out of a total of 235 votes cast." Iran newspaper noted that despite the parliament's vote of confidence for Mohammad Farhadi, on Wednesday in the open session of parliament, "unpredictable and unexpected events also occurred. There, Ali Motahari, a representative supporting the eleventh government, spoke against the proposed minister, while Elias Naderan, a prominent critic of the government, spoke in favor of him." Etemad newspaper also highlighted in its Thursday edition with the title "Supporters Against, Opponents in Favor" that the vote of confidence for the fifth candidate disrupted the ranks of the parliament. According to this newspaper, Ali Motahari, who had supported all four previous candidates for the Ministry of Science since the beginning of the eleventh government and even opposed the impeachment of former Minister Reza Faraji Dana, took the stage as an opponent on Wednesday and urged representatives not to vote for Mohammad Farhadi. In contrast, Elias Naderan, known as a critic of the government, spoke in favor of the proposed minister. Etemad emphasized that "Ali Motahari's speech against the vote of confidence for Farhadi was more of a symbolic opposition than a serious one. He essentially wanted to challenge the parliament's action in not granting a vote of confidence to Jaafar Mili Monfarid, Mahmoud Nili Ahmadabadi, and Fakhruddin Danesh Ashtiani, the previous candidates for the Ministry of Science," and he claimed he wanted to defend the "endangered conservative discourse." Etemad also published parts of Ali Motahari's speech in parliament, quoting him: "We labeled Nili Ahmadabadi as a riot-maker for signing the 88 professors' protest against the Supreme Leader regarding the incident of some individuals attacking the technical faculty of Tehran University and assaulting and arresting riotous students, and we did not grant him a vote of confidence. We also labeled Danesh Ashtiani as a riot-maker for signing a critical letter during the events of 88, and despite his claims of being unaware of that letter and being listed as a signatory without his knowledge, we did not accept it and said it was too late now. Motahari continued, stating that we also considered Danesh Ashtiani unqualified for the ministry due to his collaboration with the anti-regime Participation Party. Now, Mr. Dr. Farhadi has been introduced as the proposed minister of science while having a political record of signing a letter along with Mr. Khatami, Mousavi, and Karroubi and dozens of other university professors and political activists addressed to religious authorities protesting the way security and law enforcement agents dealt with protesting people." Javad Heydarian, in the editorial of Etemad newspaper titled "What the Minister of Science Should Know," emphasized that "the university and the Ministry of Science, as evidenced by the parliament's insistence on previous votes, are the main battleground of the two official and existing political ideologies in the country," stressing that "the minister must not forget the demands of academics and students; the living discourse of the university." However, Javan newspaper stated in its Thursday headline: "Mohammad Farhadi garnered the support of 197 parliament members with his anti-riot positions." This newspaper also reported: "The decisive vote of confidence from the parliament to Farhadi demonstrated that months of attacks and criticism against the principlist parliament were unfounded, and the parliament is willing to support an efficient candidate with appropriate management experience, prioritizing interaction and understanding between the two powers." Resalat and Kayhan newspapers also dedicated their front pages to Mohammad Farhadi's statements in parliament, quoting him: "Leadership is our guiding principle, and the riot is our red line." According to these newspapers, Farhadi also stated during the vote of confidence about how he would select his managers in the Ministry of Science: "The general conditions for selecting managers are that they must be knowledgeable, religious, and aligned with the system and the revolution, and I will have a committee for appointments, and of course, alongside that, I will consult with the parliament, the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution, and the office of the Supreme Leader in universities regarding cultural issues." The challenge of appointments in the Ministry of Science with a "conditional vote" was assessed by Etemad newspaper in its Thursday edition, stating that the parliament's vote of confidence for Mohammad Farhadi, the fifth proposed candidate by Hassan Rouhani for the Ministry of Science, was a "conditional vote for managing the university," noting that "the Wednesday session of parliament had many strange phenomena; stranger than Ali Motahari's opposition to the proposed candidate of the president was Elias Naderan's support, and stranger than all of them was Hamid Rasai's positive vote for the government's candidate." This newspaper recalled that three months ago, Hamid Rasai celebrated the dismissal of the former Minister of Science by raising a placard stating "Lari Jani's doping did not work," but on Wednesday, he raised his positive vote for making the same ministry a ministerial position. Etemad also noted: "Ali Motahari has previously registered opposition against the government in his record; a prominent example is giving a yellow card to the Minister of Interior. However, the Stability Front came out in full support of the government for the first time. The most critical opponents of the government became supporters of the proposed minister." This newspaper also referred to Elias Naderan's speech as "Farhadi's acquittal decision," stating that this representative of parliament emphasized that "Farhadi was not present in any radical circle, whether participatory or non-participatory." Etemad wrote: "The parliament listened to Naderan's speech in relative silence until he announced his 'conditional vote' for Farhadi, a vote that was also the vote of many others." This newspaper also reported in another article titled "The Challenge of Appointments in the Ministry of Science" that Farhadi's biggest challenge these days in the Ministry of Science is "appointments." "Appointments" remain a concern for parliament members, and Elias Naderan, a supportive representative in the vote of confidence session, emphasized that the representatives' vote is "conditional." Etemad noted that Mohammad Farhadi had gone to the Education Commission a few days before the vote of confidence, stating: "Reports indicate that the main focus of discussion among the educational committee members was 'appointments' in the ministry. Media pressures for changing the deputies and appointed directors from the past year began after the vote of confidence for 'Farhadi,'" while Mohammad Farhadi also mentioned from the very first days of being introduced by the government that he would bring a "new management team" to the ministry, and on Wednesday, after entering the Ministry of Science building, he stated: "Anyone who comes must do their job and assemble their team." The change in the inflation rate in November; inflation returning to the forbidden zone was reported by Donya-e-Eqtesad, stating: "The latest statistics published by the Central Bank regarding inflation indicate that despite a decrease in average inflation in November, an alarming situation has arisen concerning inflation indicators, and the inflation outlook for some upcoming months has increased." This newspaper noted that previous predictions "indicated that the declining trend of inflation would continue towards 15% by the end of the year (1393)," but due to high monthly inflation rates in recent months, the declining trend of inflation has stopped, and this index is moving towards an increase. If "monthly inflation rates in the coming months are similar to those of recent months, there is a potential for inflation rates to return towards 20% by the middle of next year." Milad Mohammadi in Donya-e-Eqtesad pointed out that "the most important statistic regarding inflation data is the index known as monthly inflation, which indicates the one-month growth of the general price level, and according to the Central Bank's statistics, the general price level in Iran's economy in November was about 1.5%." This newspaper reminded that "this monthly inflation rate has been recorded after registering rates of 1.7%, 1.4%, 1.3%, 1.4%, and 1.4% since June 1393, indicating two issues: the monthly inflation level has generally been 'high' in recent months, especially since June, and the second issue is that the monthly inflation of November, reaching a level of 1.5%, has approached the red and warning zone." According to this newspaper, "the year-on-year inflation rate" also increased in November after a four-month halt in the 14% range, returning to 15.1%. This index, after reaching a level of 45% in June of last year, was on a downward trend from July until it reached 14.6% in June of this year, but in November, it returned to 15.1%. Donya-e-Eqtesad attributed the "increase in monthly inflation rates" to "high liquidity growth in some recent months," stating: "It seems that in recent months, with inflation rates nearing 20%, many individuals and groups pressured the Central Bank to implement policies that would create monetary expansion, paving the way for stopping the declining trend of inflation or even increasing inflation. Among these policies, which the Central Bank has resisted most, are measures such as reducing the statutory interest rate, unreasonably lowering reserve rates, and granting credit lines to commercial banks and some government agencies." This newspaper quoted economic experts stating: "One of the important pillars of the independence of the Central Bank is 'independence in tools,' meaning that after the Central Bank has chosen an independent target, such as the goal of 'single-digit inflation,' it is necessary for it to remain independent in choosing tools and policies to achieve its goals away from the pressure of external entities such as some government-affiliated agencies, parliament representatives, or powerful businesses and groups.