A severe economic crisis gripping Iran has driven many citizens to sell burial plots they had purchased and reserved for themselves and family members in order to finance basic living expenses. The sharp rise in burial costs has transformed end-of-life arrangements into a financial burden that many families can no longer afford.
At the Behesht-e Zahra cemetery in southern Tehran, burial plots are being offered on the private market for approximately 30 billion rials, roughly $15,000. This stands in stark contrast to the official rate set for 2026 of about 3.47 billion rials, making the market price more than eight times higher than the government tariff.
Iran's minimum wage currently stands at approximately 166 million rials per month, equivalent to just $83. This means a worker earning minimum wage would need to save their entire salary for more than 15 consecutive years to purchase a burial plot at free-market prices.
Beyond the plot itself, funeral expenses include transportation, shrouds, headstones, ceremony costs, and refreshments for mourners, totaling up to 1.8 billion rials. These escalating costs have led many families to shorten mourning periods or transport their deceased to distant villages where burial incurs no fees.
The phenomenon is not limited to the capital, extending to other cities including Kermanshah, Kerman, and Mashhad. In several cases, courts have even seized burial plots and auctioned them off to cover residents' outstanding debts.
One seller in Tehran offering a plot intended for his mother explained that "thank God, our mother is alive, and right now we need this money more." Another seller noted he preferred to use the funds for his children's needs rather than worry about how easily they might visit him in the future.
Alongside economic pressure, families of protesters killed by authorities report extortion by security apparatus. In various cases, families have been required to pay billions of rials to authorities to receive the bodies of their loved ones or to learn where they were buried.
