In Iran’s Economy, Everything Everywhere Is Falling Apart

Iran keeps insisting it is ready to strike a powerful blow against the Americans if they are stupid enough to dare to attack the mighty Islamic Republic. The Iranian rulers are like those frogs that inflate their lungs with air to puff up their bodies, making themselves appear much larger, more intimidating, and harder for snakes or birds to swallow. These include the Blunt-Headed Burrowing Frog (balloon frog), the Tomato Frog, and the Black Rain Frog. To which list we may now add the Tehran Warrior Frog.

But Iran’s economy is collapsing, and the Tehran Warrior Frog’s inflating of its lungs to scare away its enemies isn’t working. More on Iran’s economic degringolade can be found here: “Iran’s Deepening Water Crisis Threatens 35 Million as Economy Buckles Under US Pressure, Mounting Domestic Strain,” by Ailin Vilches Arguello, Algemeiner, May 11, 2026:

As talks with the United States over a possible deal to end the war remain uncertain, Iran’s economy is under mounting strain, with prolonged water shortages, pressure on energy infrastructure, and slowing industrial output deepening what authorities describe as an “economic war.”

With Iran entering the summer months amid a deepening water and electricity crisis, government officials estimate that around 35 million people will face water shortages, intensifying concerns over deteriorating living conditions, mounting economic strain, and daily hardship across the country….

“The Islamic Republic will be forced to impose electricity consumption restrictions for about 120 days, and given the lack of effective means for people to significantly reduce usage, this will result in widespread blackouts,” the Iranian official said in a statement.

Amid growing public frustration over the ongoing crisis, Majid Doustali, a member of Iran’s parliamentary planning and budget committee, called on citizens to cut back on electricity, water, and fuel consumption as part of the country’s resistance efforts in what he described as an “economic war.”

But Iranians have already been cutting back on electricity, water, and fuel consumption. There is nothing more to cut.

“Every effort by the public to save resources represents a direct challenge to the enemy’s economic conspiracy,” Doustali said….

Is the sixth year of drought the result of “the enemy’s economic conspiracy”? No, it is the result both of the hotter temperatures due to global warming, that cause evaporation of the water in Iran’s lakes, and of the leaks in the pipes that were put in decades ago and that the government, spending so much of its time and money on its nuclear program and ballistic missile manufacturing, has failed to replace. Some estimates suggest that Tehran, Iran’s capital, loses nearly one-third (approx. 30%) of its treated water through aging, defective pipes, leaks, and illegal connections, according to reports from late 2025. In Tehran, this equates to roughly 22% of drinking water lost annually, with about 11% stemming specifically from infrastructure failures. In addition, as of late 2025, over 19 major dams have nearly dried up, and Tehran’s water reserves dropped by almost half, leading to nightly water pressure cuts and rationing. Don’t blame the Great or the Little Satan. It’s an overheated Mother Nature that is to blame.

In order to remain in power, meanwhile, the regime in Tehran has cut off internet access. This means that Iranians can’t get any reliable reporting on the attacks from the U.S., Israel, or even the UAE and Saudi Arabia, or on local protests and their violent suppression. Instead, all their news comes from government television stations and newspapers. But shutting down the internet also has economic consequences: no more information can be easily accessed about goods for sale, or services offered; no access to stock market news around the globe, no access to the market price of commodities, or the latest values of Iranian currency, which has now sunk to a scarcely believable 1.8 million rials to the dollar, no convenient way to advertise, or apply for, jobs. Just imagine the economic consequences to you if the internet were to be shut down in the United States.

According to a CNN estimate, Iranians have spent roughly $1.8 billion on internet access over the past two months.

Not all of that money stays in Iran. Of the almost a billion dollars a month that Iranians are spending to get internet access, how much is going abroad for software to restore internet access?

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