TEHRAN, Iran – Iran in recent months has been beset by economic problems despite the promises surrounding the 2015 nuclear deal it struck with world powers.
Its clerically overseen government is starting to take notice. Politicians now offer the idea of possible government referendums or early elections. Whether change can come, however, is in question.
Even Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei acknowledged the depths of the problems ahead of the 40th anniversary of Iran's Islamic Revolution.
Iran today largely remains a state-run economy. It has tried to privatize some of its industries, but critics say they have been handed over to a wealthy elite that looted them and ran them into the ground.
More than 3.2 million Iranians are jobless, government spokesman Mohammad-Bagher Nobakht has said. The unemployment rate is over 11 percent.