A Tehran resident told Israeli public radio on Sunday that soaring food prices are forcing Iranians to skip meals to survive. He said many ordinary people are watching Israel's election in the hope that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will win and bring down the regime.
The man, identified only as Behnam, spoke to the "Bachatzi Hayom" program on Kan Reshet Bet.
"Life in Iran has become shocking and unbearable," Behnam said. "People are suffering from poverty and severe hunger, and food prices rise every day. If it were houses, cars or electronics getting more expensive, we wouldn't be bothered, but it's food. A person needs to eat 21 meals a week, and we give up four, five or six just to stay alive. The ayatollahs are destroying us."
Asked what daily life looks like, he compared it to the darkest chapters of history and to disaster-stricken countries. "We have reached the end of the road. The films of the First and Second World Wars are repeating themselves, this time in Iran. Even in Afghanistan the situation is better than ours, and even in Somalia there is more food than we have. We have nothing to eat."
He said despair over the economy and the regime now outweighs fear of a wider military conflict. "Citizens in Iran are no longer afraid of the war resuming. There is nothing worse than hunger," he said.
Behnam said many Iranians are looking to Israel for an intervention that would topple the regime. "Our hope is Benjamin Netanyahu, because he doesn't kill the people but the heads of state. Ordinary people in Iran's markets follow the elections in Israel to see who wins and pray it will be Netanyahu, so he will come and kill the ayatollahs and the Revolutionary Guards, so that we can breathe freely."
