Expansion of 'Secret' Governance; Oil Production Statistics Also Marked Confidential

An oil media outlet in Iran reported that the Minister of Oil has ordered the oil production statistics to be classified as 'confidential.' The website 'Miz Oil' stated that while contradictory statistics regarding oil production are announced by oil managers, the Minister of Oil has instructed his deputies and subsidiary companies to censor the announcement of Iran's oil production. The report indicated that over two years into the thirteenth government, various figures for oil production have been announced, leaving it unclear which are correct and which are not; these figures were released by officials of the Ministry of Oil to the media. The main reason for classifying oil production statistics is the government's promotional maneuver regarding the increase in oil exports and 'achievement-making' in this area, which, according to this oil website, has now been confirmed by reports of 'decreased daily oil exports from Iran' and 'failure to achieve half of the oil revenues in the 1402 budget law,' forcing the Minister of Oil to announce in a letter that the amount of oil production in Iran should not be disclosed under any circumstances. However, as stated in this report, the Minister of Oil wrote this letter under the pretext of 'pressure from OPEC members on Iran' to stabilize oil production. This reason cannot be considered close to reality, as previous reports indicate that Iran has been exempted from a specific production quota in OPEC, making such a reason illogical. Over the past year, the Islamic Republic has limited or halted the publication of certain statistics, including price changes in food items or inflation in areas such as automobiles and housing, which are on the rise. The prevention of the publication of real statistics and free information dissemination in the Iranian government is not limited to economic sectors; even in public cases such as 'social harms,' security institutions like the 'National Security Council' have intervened, monopolizing the announcement of related information to specific government sectors like the Ministry of Interior of the Islamic Republic. The circle of contradictory or prohibited statistics for public release has also reached the health, treatment, and health sectors of Iranians. Currently, the Iranian economy faces major crises, including massive corruption in government entities related to large-scale trade and commerce, extensive government intervention in markets, lack of independence of guild institutions, banking sanctions (due to the controversial behavior of the Islamic Republic), and stagflation, where the absence of accurate and credible statistics has posed challenges to any possibility of operational analysis and planning. Ahmad Alavi: The inflation rate in Iran is confidential, and the government does not announce real statistics. Governance behind closed doors; Raisi called for 'non-public' sessions of the parliament. Restrictions have also reached 'statistical analysis'; the head of the Central Bank called for 'analysis' of statistics while respecting 'national interests.' The crisis of trust in official statistics in Iran; a government official stated: The statistical gap between the Central Bank and the Statistical Center 'questions the legitimacy of the data.'