The latest increase in bread prices, already implemented in many cities across the country, has not satisfied bakers but instead triggered a wave of concern, anger, and protest among the people. Bread—long the main staple in the food basket of low-income families—now stands at the frontline of the government’s inflationary policies and economic mismanagement.
While bakers have long complained about price suppression and demanded substantial rises in bread prices, the government’s 52% increase has neither met the bakers’ demands nor eased people’s economic burden. This decision is part of a broader project in which the authorities, through subsidy cuts and price liberalization, shift the cost of deep structural crises onto the shoulders of the working class and the poor.
In cities such as Mashhad, Hamedan, and Isfahan, bread prices have now risen to as much as 1,600 tomans per loaf. Meanwhile, people’s purchasing power has collapsed under the weight of inflation, unemployment, and recession. Bread—already the last line of defense in the diets of millions—now risks being taken away. As people ask: when meat, rice, and dairy are gone from our tables, must even bread disappear?
Low Quality, High Prices, Uncertain Future
A member of the National Standard Committee for Flour and Bread admitted that this path will only worsen the crisis of poor bread quality, rising waste, and the departure of skilled bakers. In practice, the price hike has neither improved quality nor stabilized bakeries—it has only pushed the public closer to hunger and famine.
By holding bread and food hostage, the government is enforcing a harsh and ruthless policy that turns workers’ livelihoods into a tool of economic pressure. Each day brings a new burden on the working people: subsidy cuts, rising prices, collapsing healthcare services, and the suspension of pensioners’ and workers’ wages.
But the people will not leave this policy unanswered.
Bread is our right.
Livelihood is our red line.
Editorial Board of Pezhvak-e Kar Iran (Echo of Iran’s Labor)
