by shahbod noori
07/06/2026
Last week, reports of corruption arrests involving Iraqi officials once again reminded the people of the Middle East of a painful reality: in our region, public money too often disappears into private hands, while ordinary citizens are left to struggle.
For Iranians, this is not just an Iraqi story. It is a reminder of a much larger tragedy.
For more than four decades, the Islamic Republic has spent the wealth of the Iranian people beyond Iran’s borders. Under the slogan of “regional influence” and “strategic depth,” billions of dollars were directed toward Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Gaza, and other political projects.
But what about Iran?
While money was being spent abroad, the people of Iran faced inflation, unemployment, collapsing currency, unsafe schools, broken roads, shortage of medicine, poverty among retirees, and hopelessness among the young generation.
Iran was never a poor country.
Iran was made poor.
A nation with some of the world’s richest oil and gas resources should not have millions of people struggling to pay rent, buy medicine, or feed their families. A country with such talent, history, and natural wealth should not watch its youth dream only of leaving.
The leaders of the Islamic Republic often call these foreign expenses “security.” But if all this money was spent for Iran’s security, why is Iran today more isolated, more economically broken, and more divided than ever?
True security begins at home.
It begins when a child studies in a safe school.
It begins when a patient can afford medicine.
It begins when a worker receives a fair wage.
It begins when young people believe they can build a future in their own country.
The people of Iran have the right to ask: where did the nation’s wealth go?
Where did the oil money go?
Where did the people’s sacrifices go?
And if even part of that money had been spent on Iran itself, what kind of country could Iran have become today?
The tragedy is not that Iran lacked resources. The tragedy is that the priorities of those in power were never the people.
One day, history will judge this era. It will ask why a government allowed its own citizens to suffer while spending national wealth on foreign ambitions and ideological projects.
The future Iran must be different.
It must be a country where the first duty of government is to its own people. A country where national wealth is treated as a public trust, not a political weapon. A country where the money of Iran is spent on Iranian children, Iranian workers, Iranian hospitals, Iranian schools, and Iranian dreams.
The greatest victory for the people of Iran will come when the wealth of their country finally belongs to them again.
— Shahbod Noori
Editor-in-Chief
Tehran International Weekly Magazine