IranWire

As Iran's scorching summer approaches, millions of citizens are bracing for a season of rolling blackouts, economic hardship, and widespread disruption to daily life.

The electricity crisis is so severe that the government has declared Thursdays as days off and shortened working hours to 6 AM–1 PM from May 10 to September 22.

Fatemeh Mohajerani, spokesperson for President Pezeshkian’s administration, expressed regret over the measures and offered sympathy to a population already struggling with economic challenges.

She said the government was aware of the pressure power outages place on the people, claiming there is simply “no choice but to accept this reality.”

But whose reality is it? And who truly bears responsibility for a crisis that threatens both household comfort and national economic stability?

The government’s explanation follows a familiar pattern: blame the people.

Official statements cite high consumption by citizens, stagnant electricity pricing over many years, and unauthorized cryptocurrency mining as the primary causes of the energy deficit.

This narrative shifts responsibility away from the government and onto ordinary Iranians.

But the explanation doesn’t hold up. According to Mohammad Allahdad, who leads the government's crackdown on illegal cryptocurrency mining, around 2,000 megawatts of electricity are stolen daily, 2.5 times more than what the Bushehr nuclear power plant can produce.

Mining a single Bitcoin requires more than 300 megawatt-hours of electricity, equivalent to the daily consumption of 35,000 residential units.

With an estimated 700,000 mining devices operating around the clock in Iran, cryptocurrency experts are skeptical that such massive power consumption could be attributed to ordinary citizens or even private businesses.

“Ordinary people and even private companies don’t have access to the electricity needed to operate and cool this volume of miners,” said an activist in the cryptocurrency mining sector.

Only industrial-scale operations could account for this extraordinary electricity consumption.

At the center of the crisis is a man whose career trajectory reveals the deep entanglement of Iran’s political and economic structures: Abbas Ali Abadi, the current Minister of Energy and former Minister of Industry, Mines, and Trade in the Ebrahim Raisi administration.

Before his cabinet appointments, Ali Abadi served as CEO of MAPNA Group, a quasi-governmental company affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

Under his leadership, MAPNA invested millions in building a massive combined-cycle power plant in the Syrian port city of Latakia.

While Iran’s domestic power infrastructure deteriorated, resources were diverted to projects abroad in countries like Syria and Iraq.

Now, as energy minister, Ali Abadi blames the power crisis on low rainfall and urges citizens to conserve electricity by turning off “extra lights.”

In a recent statement, he likened unauthorized crypto mining to “putting a hand in others’ pockets,” calling it “an ugly and unpleasant theft,” while stressing that “we are a nation with civilization.”

Ali Abadi served for years in the IRGC as a commander, university president, and CEO before his governmental appointments.

His close ties to an organization now implicated in industrial-scale cryptocurrency mining operations raise serious questions about his current messaging to ordinary citizens.

International reports have increasingly linked Iran’s energy crisis to large crypto-mining projects run by entities connected to the IRGC.

These reports suggest that cryptocurrency mining has become a vital tool for Iran to bypass international sanctions.

Blockchain analytics firms have identified Iran as one of the world’s major Bitcoin producers in recent years.

The Associated Press reported that both the U.S. Treasury Department and Israeli intelligence have targeted Bitcoin wallets tied to IRGC operations, which are reportedly used to fund proxy groups involved in regional conflicts.

What makes cryptocurrency particularly attractive for sanctions evasion?

Two key features stand out: the possibility of direct, intermediary-free transactions and the relative anonymity of participants.

Unlike traditional bank transfers, which require multiple verifications and leave clear audit trails, crypto exchanges happen directly between digital wallets without central oversight.

Unlike the transparency and traceability of conventional banking systems, the two-way encryption that underpins cryptocurrency transactions enables parties to remain largely anonymous.

Perhaps the most telling thing is the gap between how electricity is handled publicly and privately in Iran. While regular citizens face blackouts and have seen a 38 per cent increase in electricity bills since October 2024, certain institutions continue to enjoy special privileges.

The 2025 budget bill exempts many Basij centers, all IRGC bases and headquarters, museums commemorating the Iran-Iraq War, and mosques from paying for electricity, gas, and government service charges.

In effect, while citizens are penalized for electricity consumption, these institutions receive it for free.

This contradiction became even more pronounced on March 1, 2023, when the Parliament’s Reconciliation Commission officially exempted IRGC and Basij facilities, police stations, and “Holy Defense” museums from

paying for electricity connections - an arrangement critics describe as “a perfect setup for using free electricity to generate millions in cryptocurrency.”

Adding to the irony, Iran has continued to export electricity to neighboring countries, even at the peak of its domestic blackout crisis.

Government officials and energy executives often boast about Iran’s leadership in regional electricity exports, seemingly ignoring the glaring contradiction of sending energy abroad while facing severe shortages at home.

Critics argue that these exports benefit well-connected companies linked to the state, while everyday people and independent businesses suffer.

Favored firms receive cheap electricity and profit in dollars, while others bear the brunt of unprofitable outages.

The human cost of this crisis is often overlooked.

Families endure stifling summer heat without reliable air conditioning, small businesses lose customers and inventory during blackouts, and major industries face production delays that ripple through supply chains.