By David Dolan
DDolan.com
Israeli experts on Iran are closely monitoring growing signs of economic weakness in the Shiite Muslim country. They say that the unemployment rate in Iran has risen to around 25%, which is among the highest figures anywhere on earth. Iran’s financial woes are thought to be largely the result of economic sanctions imposed upon the country due to its ongoing nuclear uranium enrichment program, which could lead to the production of nuclear warheads.
The Iranian government headed by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad recently introduced a series of supposed economic reforms that critics say are being used to punish internal opponents of the regime. Under the new legislation, families and individuals that are deemed enemies of the regime or politically suspect and disloyal are being denied financial benefits that are supposed to be granted to all Iranian citizens. The economic reforms are being partially administered by the hard-line Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corp who carry out the orders of the regime in an often brutal fashion. Meanwhile the Shiite government has jailed an internationally known Iranian filmmaker who is an outspoken critic of Ahmadinejad’s regime.
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