Iranian authorities are investigating fresh details in two of 173 cases of disputed land allocations in Damavand and Shemiranat, Tehran province, judicial and semi-official news agencies reported on Sunday.
The judiciary’s Mizan news agency said it had reopened inquiries into decades-old land transfers involving national property. Tasnim, a news outlet affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards, said the cases concern valuable land originally allocated under “olive cultivation” and “orchard development” schemes.
In one case, Tasnim reported, 15 hectares of land in the Lalan area of Shemiranat were sold at a discounted price of 150 million rials (about $150 in today’s rate) on instalments to a company described as belonging to a “well-known figure.”
The outlet said no payments were made, and the property lies within an environmentally protected zone where sales were prohibited.
In another case, ILNA news agency said 80 hectares in the Cheshmeh Magasi area of Damavand were transferred at half price to a buyer under a “fodder cultivation” project allegedly backed by a state official.
No crops were planted, the report said, and after legal challenges the contract was annulled and converted into a lease. Subsequent rulings ordered the Ministry of Agriculture to reimburse the buyer at market value plus expenses.
The Cheshmeh Magasi region has also been the focus of a long-running land dispute involving the Kayhan newspaper, which operates under the supervision of Iran’s Supreme Leader.
In early 2024, local media reported the newspaper had not returned 200 hectares of land allocated in the 1990s for “tree planting and livestock farming” despite a court ruling. Kayhan rejected the allegations at the time, calling them politically motivated.
Many with monthly incomes of 200 to 300 million rials ($200-300) can no longer afford routine purchases or modest leisure activities.
One young woman told the paper her salary had risen sixfold in four years but her quality of life had deteriorated. “I clearly struggle to make ends meet each month,” she said, explaining that social outings had shrunk to small gatherings at friends’ homes.
A married couple said they had stopped buying basic items like coffee, while another respondent described cutting back on skin-care products and restaurants out of fear of running out of money before month’s end.
Other interviewees echoed the theme. A newly married couple said that after a short trip to Kish Island in southern Iran, they had no money left for the rest of the month.
Once accustomed to filling their cart with extras at chain stores, they now only buy essentials. A bookstore owner recounted earning 500 million rials ($500) a month but said higher household costs meant “in my youth I am constantly thinking about money problems, not joy.”
A teacher who once traveled frequently told Shargh he could no longer afford even budget trips to neighboring Turkey. Rising rents forced him and his friends to abandon a shared home outside Tehran.
“Even though all of us earn more than last year, our quality of life has clearly gone down,” he said.
Psychological strain
The loss of economic security is driving chronic anxiety among young professionals, psychologist Nasser Ghasemzadeh told Shargh.
He said financial stress discourages marriage and childbearing and undermines collective morale: “A young person who compares himself with peers abroad feels defeated. That sense of failure reduces hope in life.”
Without economic reforms, insecurity will continue to erode both individual mental health and wider social cohesion, he warned.
The problem is rooted in inequality and state neglect, economist Hossein Raghfar told the daily. Wage-earners, unable to offset inflation through pricing power, bear the brunt of rising costs, according to him.
Raghfar cited a 60–70 percent jump in car prices last winter as proof of government failure to regulate markets.
He cautioned that frustration is fueling crime and social unrest. “These young people look at the decision-making system and see it as the main cause of their failures—and to a large extent they are right.”
Once a political force, the middle class now feels powerless, he added, drained of energy for civic engagement by daily financial stress.
The insecurity facing young, educated workers is no longer a private matter but a collective threat to Iran’s social fabric and future stability, Shargh concluded.
Iran faces one of the highest inflation rates in the region. According to the International Monetary Fund's estimates, the annual inflation rate has averaged above 42% since 2020.
Sanctions, corruption and economic mismanagement have contributed to widespread economic hardship and market instability as Iran's currency the rial has lost over 90% of its value since US sanctions were reimposed in 2018.
A poll by Iran's leading economic newspaper Donya-ye Eqtesad last month showed that a vast majority of Iranians are dissatisfied with the government's economic policies, as costs of living soar and the value of the Iranian currency slips.
