Cutting Disability Benefits Shows Tehran Funds Repression at the Expense of Its Most Vulnerable Citizens

Alireza Sadeghat, an Iranian opposition figure and economic analyst, said the suspension and delay of living and nursing allowances for thousands of people with disabilities represents one of the harshest consequences of Iran’s economic collapse. He said the regime is shifting the cost of its financial failures and corruption onto citizens who often have no alternative source of income and depend on these payments for food, medicine, and essential medical supplies.

Sadeghat argued that claims of insufficient funding within Iran’s state welfare system cannot be separated from the government’s broader budgetary priorities. A state that allocates vast resources to security institutions, missile and nuclear programs, proxy militias, and regional intervention cannot credibly claim that it lacks the funds to provide dressings, catheters, medication, and basic care for people with severe physical disabilities and spinal cord injuries.

He noted that the crisis goes beyond the reduction or suspension of allowances. Prices for rehabilitation services, medical equipment, and daily healthcare supplies have risen sharply, in some cases doubling or tripling. When support payments remain unchanged or are cut altogether, patients are forced to choose between debt and deprivation or abandoning treatment and risking life-threatening infections and complications.

Sadeghat added that the situation is even more severe in poorer provinces and remote areas, where medical facilities are inadequate, rehabilitation services are scarce, transportation costs are high, and charities are increasingly unable to provide assistance because of widespread inflation and declining donations.

He stressed that the problem cannot be resolved through temporary increases in nursing allowances or new administrative promises. The deeper issue is an economic system designed to preserve the ruling establishment rather than protect society, with military and security spending consistently prioritized over healthcare, dignity, and social welfare.

Sadeghat concluded that Iran does not lack resources; its resources are misappropriated and misdirected. Protecting people with disabilities, he said, requires accountable democratic governance that redirects national wealth from repression and foreign conflict toward healthcare, rehabilitation, social insurance, and the basic dignity of citizens.