World
Iran’s coupons and taxes: Giving with one hand, taking with the other
Tehran, Iran – Iranian authorities are rolling out an electronic coupon scheme in recognition of the dire economic conditions under sanctions, but they are also hiking taxes across the board to cover budget deficits.
As the busy shopping and travel season of Nowruz, the Persian New Year, approaches, the government of centrist President Masoud Pezeshkian has revived the coupons scheme for at least a few more months, this time online.
The first use of coupons in Iran dates back to World War II when the country faced dire economic conditions and famine under British and Soviet occupation, which ended in 1946 after five years.
But coupons are mostly remembered for their widespread use in the aftermath of the 1979 revolution. Neighbouring Iraq invaded Iran with support from global and regional powers to counter the new theocratic Iranian establishment, and an eight-year war squeezed the population.
The coupons
Starting this week, low-income and middle-class Iranians are being given up to 5 million rials (just over $5) per person that can be used to buy limited quantities of food like red meat, chicken, eggs, milk, cooking oil, rice and sugar at government prices. About 60 million people are eligible to use the credit.
People can buy only 11 items from a list of select suppliers and shops across the country, and the credit purchases are separate from monthly government cash handouts that currently amount to about $4.85 per person.
The goal is to marginally alleviate short-term pressure on families who have been watching their purchasing power dwindle for years as a result of local mismanagement and all-encompassing Western sanctions.
The government of late President Ebrahim Raisi, which was in office from 2021 to 2024, implemented electronic coupons schemes twice, in 2023 and 2024, for short periods to ease pressure as well.
His immediate predecessor, President Hassan Rouhani, also publicly considered resorting to coupons in the aftermath of the 2018 withdrawal of the United States from Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers and imposed harsh sanctions on the country.
On the other hand, taxing everything
The Pezeshkian administration, which lost two key members to a political dispute with hardliners last week, has been trying to cut costs and increase revenues to grapple with a budget crunch.
The government’s approved budget for the Iranian calendar year 1404, which starts on March 21, shows considerably increased taxes and costs of services – in many cases much higher than Iran’s current 35 percent inflation rate.
Successive Iranian governments have been pushed to find new revenue sources, including through tax increases, to decrease the country’s dependency on oil revenues, which have been hit by the “maximum pressure” tactics by the US.
The Pezeshkian government said this month that it pays for 73 percent of its current expenses, excluding infrastructure expenditures, using tax revenues.
According to a February report by Iran’s Parliament Research Center, total government tax revenues are expected to go up 53 percent in the fiscal year 1404 compared with the previous year, the highest jump in a decade.
The budget foresees a 73 percent surge in total government earnings from corporate income tax compared with the year before and a 68 percent increase in income from personal income taxes.
The research arm of the parliament foresees a 36 percent rise compared with the previous year in wealth and property taxes.
Taxes on imports are to go up 85 percent as well with a significant part of the increase linked with government revenues from imports of new or used foreign vehicles after a years-long ban was lifted in 2022.
During the holy Muslim month of Ramadan, restaurants and hotels need to pay for permits to be able to operate while making sure no one publicly breaks their fast by eating, drinking or smoking, something that is considered a crime under Iran’s Islamic laws.
Taxes are increasing months after Iran raised the age of retirement for men by two years to 62 and increased the years of service required to receive full pensions for men to 35 from 30. That was aimed at reducing alarming pension fund deficits that have threatened financial sustainability and exerted more pressure on the government.
Amid another currency freefall and a lingering energy crisis, the embattled government has also been accused by hardline lawmakers of intentionally devaluing the national currency to make short-term gains.
Making services more expensive
Along with boosted taxes, the 1404 budget makes a long list of government services offered to Iranian and foreign nationals much more costly while ramping up financial penalties for offences.
Fees to issue national IDs and passports are up, and it will be more costly to register vehicles and motorcycles. Several fees linked with universities and technical and vocational exams are expected to rise.
Especially with Nowruz prompting millions of Iranians to travel this month, authorities are expecting much higher revenues from traffic fines because they will be hiked by up to 30 percent until early April.
Many major traffic offences had already seen their penalties tripled about eight months ago with several others, including dangerous or drunk driving, expected to be hiked another 50 percent next year.
Authorities plan on charging Iranians more for trying to leave the country too with departure levies up by about 30 percent. Repeated departures would incur more costs.
The state continues to impose financial penalties on and open criminal cases against people who are deemed to have violated mandatory hijab laws. Vehicles can be fined and impounded for weeks if they are repeatedly reported for hijab offences.
The Iranian government plans to make services offered to millions of migrants and refugees across the country more expensive as well, including costs of issuing or renewing travel and work permits.
Tehran Municipality announced last month that costs of services offered to foreign nationals will be 54 percent higher in the next Iranian year.
These price rises will mostly impact migrants and refugees from neighbouring Afghanistan, whose numbers in Iran swelled in the aftermath of the Taliban takeover of the country after the US withdrew in 2021.
Iranian authorities acknowledge at least six million Afghans live in Iran, a country of about 90 million people, but some estimates are several million higher.
Shops and schools shut in northern Israel as residents protested a 10-day ceasefire with Lebanon that took effect on April 16, saying “nothing was achieved”. Israeli officials say operations may continue, with forces still deployed inside southern Lebanon.
Published On 19 Apr 2026
World
Pope Leo says remarks about world being ‘ravaged by a handful of tyrants’ were not aimed at Trump: report
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Pope Leo XIV said Saturday that remarks he made this week in which he said the “world is being ravaged by a handful of tyrants” were not directed at President Donald Trump, a report said.
The pope, speaking onboard a flight to Angola during his 10-day tour of Africa, said reporting about his comments “has not been accurate in all its aspects” and his speech “was prepared two weeks ago, well before the president ever commented on myself and on the message of peace that I am promoting,” according to Reuters.
The news outlet cited the pope as saying his comments were not aimed at Trump.
“As it happens, it was looked at as if I was trying to debate the president, which is not in my interest at all,” the pope reportedly said.
’60 MINUTES’ ACCUSED OF USING LEFT-LEANING CARDINALS TO BAIT TRUMP INTO FEUD WITH VATICAN
Pope Leo XIV answers journalists’ questions during his flight from Yaoundé, Cameroon, to Luanda, Angola, Saturday, April 18, 2026. (Luca Zennaro/Pool Photo via AP)
Vice President JD Vance later took to X to thank the pope for clearing the record.
“While the media narrative constantly gins up conflict — and yes, real disagreements have happened and will happen — the reality is often much more complicated,” Vance wrote. “Pope Leo preaches the gospel, as he should, and that will inevitably mean he offers his opinions on the moral issues of the day.
“The President — and the entire administration — work to apply those moral principles in a messy world,” he continued. “He will be in our prayers, and I hope that we’ll be in his.”
The vice president’s comments came days after he told Fox News’ Bret Baier on “Special Report” that it would be best for the Vatican to “stick to matters of morality.”
“Let the President of the United States stick to dictating American public policy,” Vance said Tuesday.
Trump last Sunday accused Pope Leo XIV of being “terrible” on foreign policy after the pontiff criticized the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.
“He talks about ‘fear’ of the Trump Administration, but doesn’t mention the FEAR that the Catholic Church, and all other Christian Organizations, had during COVID when they were arresting priests, ministers, and everybody else, for holding Church Services, even when going outside, and being ten and even twenty feet apart,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.
“I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon.”
POPE LEO SLAMS THOSE WHO ‘MANIPULATE RELIGION’ FOR MILITARY OR POLITICAL GAIN, TRUMP RESPONDS
Pope Leo XIV and President Donald Trump (Simone Risoluti/Vatican Media via Vatican Pool/Getty Images; Salwan Georges/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
During a speech in Cameroon on Thursday, the pope said, “We must make a decisive change of course — a true conversion — that will lead us in the opposite direction, onto a sustainable path rich in human fraternity.
“The world is being ravaged by a handful of tyrants, yet it is held together by a multitude of supportive brothers and sisters.
Pope Leo XIV speaks as he meets with the community of Bamenda at Saint Joseph’s Cathedral in Bamenda on the fourth day of an 11-day apostolic journey to Africa April 16, 2026. (Alberto Pizzoli/AFP via Getty Images)
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“Woe to those who manipulate religion and the very name of God for their own military, economic or political gain, dragging that which is sacred into darkness and filth.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House for comment.
Fox News Digital’s Landon Mion contributed to this report.
Bulgarians headed to the polls Sunday for the eighth time in five years, with anti-corruption candidate and former president Rumen Radev’s bloc tipped to win.
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The European Union’s poorest member has been through a spate of governments since 2021, when large anti-graft rallies brought an end to the conservative government of long-time leader Boyko Borissov.
Eurostat data shows Bulgaria consistently ranks last in the EU by GDP per capita. In 2025, Bulgaria (along with Greece) was at 68% of the EU average.
Radev, who has advocated for renewing ties with Russia and opposes military aid to Ukraine, was president for nine years in the Balkan nation of 6.5 million people.
He stepped down in January to lead newly formed centre-left grouping Progressive Bulgaria, with opinion polls before Sunday’s vote suggesting the bloc could gain 35% of the vote.
The former air force general has said he wants to rid the country of its “oligarchic governance model”, and backed anti-corruption protests in late 2025 that brought down the latest conservative-backed government.
“I’m voting for change,” Decho Kostadinov, 57, told reporters after casting his ballot at a polling station in the capital, Sofia, adding corrupt politicians “should leave — they should take whatever they’ve stolen and get out of Bulgaria”.
Polls are forecasting a surge in voter participation, with more than 3.3 million Bulgarians expected to cast ballots according to the Bulgarian News Agency.
Voting will close at 1700 GMT, with exit polls expected immediately afterwards. Preliminary results are expected on Monday.
‘Preserve what we have’
Borissov’s pro-European GERB party is likely to come second, according to opinion polls, with around 20%, ahead of the liberal PP-DB.
“I’m voting to preserve what we have. We are a democratic country, we live well,” said Elena, an accountant of about 60, who did not give her full name, after casting her vote in Sofia.
Front-runner Radev has slammed the EU’s green energy policy, which he considers naive “in a world without rules”.
He also opposes any Bulgarian efforts to send arms to help Ukraine fight back Russia’s 2022 invasion, though he has said he would not use his country’s veto to block Brussels’ decisions.
Pushing for renewed ties with Russia, Radev denounced a 10-year defence agreement between Bulgaria and Ukraine signed last month – drawing fresh accusations from opponents of being too soft on Moscow.
The ex-president also stoked outrage online for screening images at his final campaign rally of his meetings with world leaders including Russia’s Vladimir Putin.
“We need to close ranks,” he told around 10,000 cheering supporters at the rally, presenting his party as a non-corrupt “alternative to the perverse cartel of old-style parties”.
Borissov, who headed the country virtually uninterrupted for close to a decade, has dismissed suggestions that Radev brings something “new”.
At a rally of his party earlier this week, he insisted GERB had “fulfilled the dreams of the 1990s” with such achievements as the country joining the eurozone this year.
‘No one to vote for’
Radev is aiming for an absolute majority in the 240-seat parliament.
A lack of trust in politics has affected voter turnout, which slumped to 39% in the last election in 2024.
But with Radev rallying voters, high turnout is expected this time, according to analyst Boryana Dimitrova from the Alpha Research polling institute.
Miglena Boyadjieva, a taxi driver of about 55, said she always votes, but the “problem is that there is no one to vote for”.
“You vote for one person and get others. The system has to change,” she told reporters.
Political parties have called on Bulgarians to show up for the polls, also to curb the impact of vote buying.
In recent weeks, police have seized more than one million euros in raids against vote buying in stepped-up operations.
They have also detained hundreds of people, including local councillors and mayors.
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