Cartoon 83: More and More Babies For the Supreme Leader

In several speeches over the past year, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has emphatically demanded accelerated population growth in Iran. “The issue of generation reproduction and preventing the decrease of the country’s young population is a vital issue and it must be actively pursued,” he said at a May 5, 2014 speech. “Our country, with its natural capacity and its geopolitical characteristics, needs more people,” he had said in an October 30, 2013 speech. But in none of Mr. Khamenei’s speeches does he offer any information about how his proposed population of 150 million Iranians will be able to have access to education, medical care, a clean environment, and social services, given that the Islamic Republic of Iran is currently falling short of delivering a sufficient livelihood and proper services to its citizens. Touka Neyestani’s latest cartoon reflects on planning a population boom without proper planning for the nation’s well-being and social welfare.