Iran :the 14 million Iranians live below the poverty line and the nuclear program

Iran :the 14 million Iranians live below the poverty line and the nuclear program

At least 14 million Iranians live below the poverty line, according to a central bank report quoted by the press on Monday, adding to concern about the welfare of those worst off in Iran as prices soar.

"If an urban family of four makes less than four millions rials (425 dollars) a month then the family is under poverty line," it said. 

Social Security and Welfare Minister Abdolreza Mesri said around 9.2 million people were living in poverty, 10.5 percent of the population in cities and 11 percent in villages.

Mesri also said that two million people live in extreme poverty in Iran, earning less than 650,000 rials (70 dollars) a month.

The latest figures come amid increasing concern over soaring prices in Iran, which have hit the poor and state employees on low incomes particularly hard. Teachers, for example, earn less than 300 dollars a month.

Since Iranian new year in March, the prices of basic foodstuffs, especially fresh vegetables and poultry, as well as services such as taxis have jumped. 

Iran's inflation rate - which has aroused much criticism of the economic policies of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - topped 26 percent in June, according to the central bank.

Ahmadinejad has been blamed by many economists for directly fuelling the price rises by ploughing huge amounts of cash into the economy to fund local infrastructure projects. 

The government insists, however, that it has inflation under control and that booming oil receipts allow it to splash out on necessary infrastructure projects. 

Iran, the second biggest oil exporter in OPEC, last year enjoyed oil revenues of 60 billion dollars in the last Iranian year to March.

But there has been a sharp increase in money supply growth -- a key indicator of future inflation trends -- to almost 40 percent during the years of the Ahmadinejad presidency. 

He was elected in 2005 on a platform of making the poor feel the benefits of Iran's massive oil wealth, and he has made implementation of economic "justice" the main government slogan. 

The amazing things that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Insist to continue the  nuclear program of Iran which was launched in the 1950s with the help of the United States as part of the Atoms for Peace program

The support, encouragement and participation of the United States and Western European governments in Iran's nuclear program continued until the 1979 Iranian Revolution that toppled the Shah of Iran

After the 1979 revolution, the Iranian government temporarily disbanded elements of the program, and then revived it with less Western assistance than during the pre-revolution era. Iran's nuclear program has included several research sites, two uranium mines, a research reactor, and uranium processing facilities that include three known uranium enrichment plants.

After delays, an official launch ceremony of Iran's first nuclear power plant, Bushehr I reactor was held on 21 August 2010, and the plant is expected to go on line in the next few months, but now appears likely by the end of 2010

 There are no current plans to complete the Bushehr II reactor, although the construction of 19 nuclear power plants is envisaged.[6] Iran has announced that it is working on a new 360 MWe nuclear power plant to be located in Darkhovin. Iran has also indicated that it will seek more medium-sized nuclear power plants and uranium mines for the future