Iran Ministry of Intelligence Issues Internal Alert Warning of Poverty-Driven Uprising

Iran's Ministry of Intelligence issued urgent internal security alerts on May 26–27, 2026, warning senior officials about the risk of widespread social unrest fueled by hyperinflation, shortages of basic commodities, and rapidly deteriorating living standards. The alerts, reported by opposition monitoring groups, indicated the ministry feared 'imminent popular uprisings' as poverty rates approached 40 million people — nearly half Iran's population of 87.9 million. The warning came from economic data presented at a Tehran symposium where leading Iranian economists described an impending 'poverty explosion': projections showed that the absolute poverty headcount was about to surpass 40 million. The situation was compounded by a wage crisis, with workers at major industrial facilities such as Makran Steel in Chabahar reporting nine consecutive months of unpaid wages. The Ministry of Intelligence alert signals the regime's acute awareness that the combination of war damage, international sanctions, and lost oil revenue is generating the conditions for a social crisis comparable to — or exceeding — those that preceded the 1979 Revolution and the 2019 Aban protests.