The Iranian government is selling subsidized meat for Eid al-Adha under restrictions | US-Israel War on Iran News

Eid al-Adhaone of the most important days in the Islamic calendar, comes at a very difficult time for Iranians this year.

Meat from sacrificial animals is often eaten on Iranian tables, but the blockade of Iranian ports and US sanctions have driven up prices across the country.

Unlike Nowruz, a Persian New YearEid al-Adha is not widely celebrated in Iran, but mosques and other institutions still observe the tradition of offering meat, known as qurbani, through official slaughterhouses and slaughterhouses.

Here, animals are sacrificed according to Islamic law in a clean place. But another goal of the network is to control inflation by providing meat at prices lower than market prices.

Meat substitutes

The Tehran municipality announced on Tuesday that each kilogram of sacrificed meat will be sold for 7.4 million rials ($4.30) in selected stores.

The price of the same cut in the market can be more than three times higher, depending on the quality and location of the meat buyers. The minimum wage it is currently less than $100 a month in Iran.

“I usually buy stewed meat or a few dishes around every three weeks; for some families in the neighborhood, it has become a luxury,” said a middle-aged woman, who lives with her husband and son in Tehran.

He told Al Jazeera that chicken, eggs and beans have become substitutes for red meat, but the price of these products has also increased dramatically.

Masoud Rasouli, a representative of the meat industry, told the government-affiliated Mehr news agency earlier this week that the demand for red meat has dropped by 50 percent compared to last year.

He said some animals were imported to offset the effects of the US shutdown, but local demand is so low that “the number of animals available is sufficient for all market needs”.

Information released by the state-linked Iranian Labor News Agency this week showed that the latest price announced by the government for one kilogram of meat on Eid is the same as the price of a 50kg live sheep 10 years ago.

According to a report by the Statistical Center of Iran, annual inflation reached 73 percent in the first month of the Persian calendar year that ended at the end of April.

Iranian rice rose 173 percent and chicken rose 191 percent in that month compared to last year, while liquid cooking oil quadrupled. The figures for the next month are expected to be negative.

Controlling inflation

Price control measures – implemented by the government to combat a decade of high inflation – have failed to provide adequate returns purchasing power is shrinking of Iranian families living under local mismanagement and US sanctions – and now war and blockade.

A young man who works in a butcher’s shop in southwest Tehran said he has raised prices several times in recent months after vendors announced increases.

“Our sales were very high today because of Eid, but we are seeing even our customers who are there more often these days. Most of the discussions with customers are about prices,” he told Al Jazeera.

Iran and the US have been negotiating through regional mediators to end the conflict. But amid heated exchanges and inconsistencies in demands, nothing has been done even though both sides say a memorandum of understanding has been discussed.

Religious messages

Apart from greetings and congratulatory calls to regional partners, Iranian officials have also used this year’s Muslim festival to deliver political messages.

On Wednesday morning in the capital, the authorities organized a large prayer to mark Eid at the University of Tehran, which was led by Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami.

He said that “submission to shame” is an example of “evil” and the height of the conspiracy, at a time when he believes that the other side, the US, wants to surrender to Iran.

“Your enemies, the enemies of the Iranian nation, and this mad enemy sitting in the Black House – which is wrongly called the White House – want to be humiliated. But this madman will take it to his grave,” he said. US President Donald Trump.

Khatami, a member of the powerful Guardian Council and the priests of the Assembly of Experts, also praised the government agents who have been walking every night for almost three months and said that this “unprecedented” event will be repeated on the night of Eid al-Adha.

President Masoud Pezeshkian had a soft approach, but his comments were full of religious symbols.

“In today’s chaotic world, where the fires of brutality, occupation, and arrogance of regimes burn, Eid al-Adha conveys a message of honor, freedom, and fearlessness before the pharaohs of our time,” he said.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in his message on Wednesday that he hopes for unity in the Islamic world, at this difficult time in the region.

“We pray that, with the joy and blessings of this great Eid, we will see the growth and strengthening of the Islamic unity to unite and help each other in the fight against war, discrimination and occupation, especially in the West Asian region, and that our world will return to the path of restoring peace and justice,” he said.