Which two changes are cited as leading to the revolutionary crisis?

• A. 10% decline in oil prices and 20% rise in consumer prices
• B. 5% decline in oil prices and 15% rise in unemployment
• C. 20% rise in oil revenue and 10% fall in consumer prices
• D. 2% decline in oil production and 25% inflation

Answer: (A)

Economic hardship grows when a country’s main revenue source falters while everyday costs rise. In Iran’s context, oil earnings fund government spending, subsidies, and public services, so a decline in oil prices reduces the state’s ability to finance these supports. At the same time, a sharp rise in consumer prices squeezes households, lowering real wages and leading to widespread discontent. Put together, these two changes create a powerful combination: less government capacity to manage the economy and greater pain for ordinary people, which fuels revolutionary sentiment and mobilization. The other scenarios mix different elements—unemployment, production drops, or only price changes without the revenue shortfall—but they don’t simultaneously reflect both a hit to the state’s oil-based revenue and a broad rise in living costs, which is why the pair describing a drop in oil prices and higher consumer prices best signals the revolutionary crisis.