Sanctions and Household Welfare: How Is the Iranian Citizen Paying the Heaviest Price?

In a study prepared by experts Jamal Ebrahim Haidar and Seyed Mohammad Karimi, and published in The World Economy on the fourth of this month, the researchers examine the harsh living conditions imposed by international economic sanctions on ordinary Iranians, moving beyond political slogans and official statements.

The study does not merely present dry statistics; rather, it delves deeply into people’s everyday lives to explain how economic pressures have penetrated virtually every household.

Key findings and quotations from the study:

Erosion of Household Budgets and the Shift Toward Defensive Consumption:

The researchers explain how declining purchasing power has forced households to alter their spending priorities. The text notes:

“Sanctions have not only increased costs but have also forced households to restructure their limited incomes; expenditures allocated to education, entertainment, and non-essential goods have declined in favor of daily survival expenses such as food and medicine.”

Contraction of the Middle Class and Expansion of Poverty:

The damage is not confined to the most disadvantaged groups. It has also spread through urban communities and the middle class, which had previously served as an economic safety valve. The study points out:

“Persistent inflation and the depreciation of the local currency have eroded the financial margins of the middle class, pushing broad segments of it toward the poverty line without adequate safety nets to protect them.”

A Stark Rural–Urban Divide:

The paper examines how the severity of the shock varies according to where people live. The data showed that urban residents were more exposed to price fluctuations and imported goods, while some rural communities were able to partially absorb the shock through reliance on local and self-sufficient production, although everyone remained affected by the broader economic pressures.

Limitations of Government Support:

The study argues that the government’s cash-assistance programs and social transfers were insufficient to bridge the gap, explaining:

“Government cash transfers rapidly lost their real value in the face of successive waves of inflation, rendering them incapable of compensating households for the material losses resulting from the contraction of the economy.”

Conclusion:

The study concludes that sanctions—regardless of whether their stated objectives are directed at policies or institutions—ultimately place pressure on the weakest link: the Iranian citizen and their family.

They constitute a gradual erosion of quality of life and human development, making the management of daily necessities the overriding concern for millions of families.

These findings also illustrate what the study portrays as a Western strategy of using direct economic pressure and tightening the living conditions of societies in order to generate popular discontent, widen the gap between populations and their governments, and exploit internal crises to achieve political objectives.