TEHRAN – The parliament will throw its weight behind the Rouhani administration in its drive to fight anti-social ills, Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani promised on Monday.

Iran has been taking a lot of trouble dealing with a wide range of social plagues such as unemployment, addiction, and high divorce rates.
The country has already implemented five six-year development plans in hopes that Iranians enjoy better economic, political, cultural, and social indexes.
However, after 25 years since the first plan was implemented, Iranians are still grappling with the challenges.
“Battling social ills necessitates a national will and the Majlis (parliament) will do its utmost to help the government,” IRNA quoted Larijani, who was reelected speaker in the new parliament, as saying.
Larijani’s promise to share the burden of social problems with the Rouhani administration comes after Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli briefed the parliament the same day on malignant social tumors.
According to Fazli, almost one third of marriage registrations end up in a breakup, more than 3.5 million have no jobs, nearly 1.5 million are bogged down in addiction, and almost 11 million live in outlying areas.
Although preventive measures have been taken, outcomes have been disappointing.
“In the previous Iranian year (ended on March 19), more than 560 tons of opium was seized and a success rate of 10 percent was achieved in terms of drug prevention and treatment programs,” Fazli exemplified.

While having the parliament on board is good news for the Rouhani cabinet, initiatives to address the issues have been mothballed by the lack of a long-term blueprint.
Moreover, the country is just emerging from years of sanctions and stuck in stagnation, making it more difficult to create jobs for the unemployed.

AK/PA