What Share Did the 'Concerned' Have in Economic Austerity?

According to ILNA, the Iranian Labor News Agency, the group known in Iran as the 'Concerned' has had the least share in national austerity. An examination of the budget figures of the cultural, political, and economic institutions under the control of the 'Concerned' shows that despite increasing sanctions in recent years, the budgets of these institutions have experienced significant growth, sometimes by several hundred percent. In fact, the budgets of these institutions have continued to rise, similar to the conditions before sanctions. ILNA writes that supporters of non-agreement and the suffering of the nation must answer the question of what their share in this national austerity is and how this slogan has manifested in the budgets of their organizations. According to this report, some institutions receive a total budget of about 6000 trillion tomans, while the budget of the Environmental Protection Organization is only 174 billion tomans. These 'Concerned' emphasize the unimportance of lifting sanctions, yet given the events of the past eight years under the previous government, it is not unlikely that they will be at the forefront of claiming shares from the released financial resources the day after a nuclear agreement. Ehsan Mehrabi, a journalist and analyst of domestic issues in Iran residing in Germany, does not dismiss this hypothesis but believes: 'There has been a history of contradictory positions from the Concerned groups. Institutions affiliated with these groups or a large portion of the institutions under the leadership that work in cultural or security areas have not only not reduced their budgets but have consistently increased them over time... Even in sanctions conditions, they were unwilling to reduce their budgets to allocate for construction and economic matters.' Although the ILNA article examines the consequences of the economic policies of the two Ahmadinejad administrations concerning the Concerned, a look at the budget bills of Hassan Rouhani's government also shows that it has continued to revolve on the same axis, and there has been no change in the nature of the large shares allocated to the Concerned. IRNA, in a report published on February 16, 2015, regarding the generalities of the 2016 budget bill, pointed out some flaws in this bill, including its disregard for reducing the inflation rate, ignoring youth employment issues and teachers' rights, lack of funds for the revival and rescue of Lake Urmia, and neglecting the rights of workers and retirees, while the shares for matters such as Quranic and religious competitions, promoting and encouraging Quran education, supporting the dissemination of Quranic knowledge, supporting schools and seminary students, and the نور caravan alongside the budget for major plans of the IRGC and the Basij remain unchanged.