Iran Prepares Trump 2.0

Iran's economy has already been crippled by a mix of bad management, corruption and existing sanctions

As well as fighting fuel smuggling. Factories are in the throes of "a deep recession," Mahmoud Najafi Arab, the head of the chamber, which represents some of Iran's biggest companies, said in a statement on the chamber's website. "The activities of these enterprises can't be economically profitable" at current utilization rates, he added.

The energy shortage has idled 22 cement plants and slowed pharmaceutical production, according to the semiofficial Iran Labour News Agency. Power issues are also set to hurt Iran's harvest this year by shutting down water pumps and disrupting the supply of natural-gas-dependent fertilizers, Ali Gholi Imani, head of the National Wheat Farmers Association, told business newspaper Tejarat News on Wednesday.

Spiraling food prices The energy crisis has fueled inflation, which was running at an annual rate of 37% in November, according to the country's central bank. Food products have been hit the hardest. In the past three years, the price of meat has quintupled and potato prices have more than doubled, Iran's Statistical Center said on Dec. 31. About 32 million Iranians—more than one-third of the population—are now living below the poverty line, according to the chamber of commerce, compared with 18 million people in 2017.

The sorry economic state worries Iran's leadership. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the paramilitary force tasked with protecting the Islamic Republic, warned on Dec. 30 of further unrest and criticized "attempts to portray the system as ineffective, and fearmongering within society."