Hussain Hazbavi 
The latest data from the Iranian Statistics Center for October 2025 indicates that inflation for bread and grains has reached its highest level since July 2022, with bread prices estimated to have nearly 100% inflation.
According to Eco Iran, the monthly inflation for bread and grains has sharply increased since December 2024, rising from around 3% to approximately 17% in July 2025 the highest level since 2022. The report notes that bread prices often rose faster than general inflation, placing significant pressure on the poorest households, including Arab families in Ahwaz.
In recent months, bread prices in Ahwaz have risen noticeably with government approval. In one of the latest waves of price increases in Mashhad, the head of the bakers’ union announced a 15% rise for subsidized bread, with warnings that other provinces, including Ahwaz, may see similar increases.
Ahmad Esmaeilzadeh, director of the Community Nutrition Improvement Office at the Ministry of Health, told ILNA on Friday, 21 November, that the price surge has made access to basic food items extremely difficult for low-income households, particularly for income groups 1 to 5. He noted that 35–45% of families are consuming fewer vegetables and dairy products due to the rising costs.
Labor representatives in Ahwaz also emphasized that living pressures on families are severe, with wages below the poverty line and food inflation reaching 64%. Ali Khodaei, a member of the Supreme Labor Council, stated that current wages are not enough even for ten days, intensifying the hardship for working families in the region.
Experts warned that continued price increases, along with the removal of hundreds of thousands from cash support lists, worsen food insecurity in Ahwaz and threaten families’ ability to buy meat and dairy products, deepening food poverty.
The Ministry of Labor reported that 438,000 people were removed from the cash support program in November 2025, further reducing low-income families’ ability in Ahwaz to cope with the rapid surge in basic food prices.
Under these conditions, residents of Ahwaz face dual pressures: rising prices for bread and essential food items and the reduction of government cash support, severely threatening the daily food security of many families.
