Persian Empire 1845

Chapter 589 State of Emergency

On June 2, Nasser al-Din Shah declared a state of emergency nationwide in accordance with the charter. He announced a crackdown on food speculators, with violators facing up to the death penalty.

The usual cacophony of haggling was replaced by a tense silence as uniformed soldiers inspected the grain merchants' ledgers, the scimitars at their waists contrasting sharply with the price lists in their hands. Two grain merchants from Tabriz who had hoarded three hundred sacks of wheat were publicly executed; their bodies, hung on the city gates, became the most direct testament to the Shah's iron fist.

At the same time, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry ordered the release of grain from national granaries to suppress grain prices. It also imposed controls on products such as sugar and tobacco, and established the National Economic Council, personally led by the Shah, to be responsible for formulating major economic policies.

The printing presses were printing new banknotes day and night and delivering them to banks across the country. The Iranian Industrial Bank was the first to announce that it would remain open even on holidays and would do everything in its power to meet customer demand.

Following this, other banks also issued announcements stating they would do their utmost to serve the public and protect their assets. Even Murad himself appeared, visiting banks across the country and interacting with depositors queuing up. He also announced a series of tax cuts and spending reductions, with even the royal family cutting back by 25%. This made the public feel that the Shah was truly benevolent, willing to share their hardships. Fewer people went to the banks to withdraw money, ultimately achieving a balance.

With confidence stabilized, the next step is to halt the economic decline and ensure food security. Under the state of emergency, the Agricultural Adjustment Act was implemented as quickly as possible. For farmers who voluntarily convert their cotton fields, orchards, or other cash crop land to grow staple crops such as wheat and barley, the government will cover 50% of the cost of seeds and fertilizers required for the conversion. Furthermore, during the harvest season, the government will purchase an unlimited amount of their produced grain at a pre-announced guaranteed price.

Agricultural public works projects have also been launched, including the renovation of the irrigation system in Khuzestan province and the construction of 50 new simple sluice gates to streamline water control. This will immediately improve irrigation conditions on 30 hectares of farmland and is expected to increase next season's wheat yield by more than 20%.

At the pass of the Elburz Valley, 20 small dams were built using local stone to create reservoirs that store snowmelt in the spring. Additionally, granaries were built or expanded in various cities to increase grain storage capacity.

It was specifically stated that food and daily necessities would be paid as wages. Immediately, a large number of people signed up; these were their lifeline after losing their jobs.

The opposition parties also mobilized, expressing their support for these policies. However, they opposed the expansion of government powers due to the state of emergency and demanded that opposition members be added to the Economic Committee.

Inside the parliament building, smoke filled the air as opposition leaders argued heatedly. Liberal Party leader Mohamed Karroubi slammed his fist on the table, his voice fervent: "We support the government's policies to stabilize the economy and ensure food security, but we cannot tolerate the government's power being used to expand unchecked under the guise of a state of emergency! We must have a seat on the Economic Committee; this is a right given to us by the people!"

"The rights given to you by the people?" Haruniya Party MP Farouk slammed his silver hookah on the table. "Last week, Khuzestan province was recruiting workers, and within three days, 20,000 unemployed people showed up with their certificates to work—that's the voice of the people! You want seats on the Economic Committee so that people who don't even know how to repair a sluice gate can interfere with the plan to increase wheat production by 20% next season?" "Your Excellency Farouk, have you been to the construction sites in Khuzestan?" Kalubi's voice was filled with suppressed anger. "The workers carry stones for ten hours a day, but they receive 20% less in food stamps than the government promised. The government even miscalculated the 'guaranteed price' list of grain purchases three times, almost causing farmers in Yazd to refuse to switch to cotton!"

Members of Parliament on both sides of the hall immediately descended into chaos. The Haris Party MPs waved food price reports and chanted, "Stabilize food supplies before talking about checks and balances!" The Liberal and Whig Party MPs held up cotton farmers' credit receipts and demanded that "power must be exposed to the sunlight of Parliament."

"Silence!" Speaker Hussein Khan slammed his hammer.

The door to the side hall was suddenly pushed open, and a palace guard strode in, whispering a few words in the speaker's ear. His expression changed drastically, and he held up a letter in his hand: "I just received news that the grain merchants in Kerman have gone on strike, saying that the government's controlled prices are too low, and they would rather bury their grain in the ground than sell it to the people! His Majesty the Shah said that if Parliament cannot come up with a solution today, he will order the gendarmerie to take over all the grain stores!"

These words struck like a thunderbolt in the center of the hall. The members of parliament turned pale; many of them had relatives in Kerman who ran grain stores. The opposition panicked as well; if the gendarmes really did take over the private grain warehouses, their image as "speakers for the people" in the eyes of the voters would completely collapse. At this moment, Karubi spoke; his voice was not loud, but it silenced everyone:
“I have a proposal.” He walked to the podium and spread the blueprints of the dam construction site on the table. “The Economic Committee will give the opposition four seats, but we promise not to interfere with the specific implementation of irrigation projects and grain procurement, only to check the accounts—such as the purchase price of building materials for the Khuzestan sluice gate and the timing of subsidies for Yazd farmers. As for the grain merchants in Kerman, the parliament can establish a ‘Grain Price Mediation Committee’ to allow opposition members to negotiate with the grain merchants and raise the controlled price by 10%, but require them to distribute ten days’ worth of rations to the poor free of charge per person.”

He paused, his gaze falling on the members of parliament: "His Majesty the Shah's 25% reduction in royal spending is intended to show the people his sincerity in overcoming difficulties together; our fight for seats on the Economic Committee is not for power, but to ensure that this sincerity is not destroyed by corruption and negligence. Just like the dam in Alborz, which must both block floods and allow snowmelt to flow into farmland—Parliament and the government should be each other's dams, not obstacles in each other's way."

That evening, Parliament finally reached a compromise. As the Speaker walked out of the building with the signed resolution, he encountered Shah's envoy—who brought with him a verbal order from Shah: agreeing to allow the opposition to enter the Economic Committee, but demanding that Parliament resolve the Kerman grain merchants' strike within three days.

The parliamentary infighting has temporarily subsided, but the checks and balances of power have never ceased. The opposition has repeatedly used this incident to challenge the government, and despite the state of emergency, they will continue to use their channels to fight back.

Kerman's strike was resolved through connections with various members of parliament, especially grain merchants, who were all required to sell at the government-set prices, thus stabilizing the people's most basic needs.

(End of this chapter)