Iran launches fundraiser to sacrifice 10,000 sheep for supreme leader's health

The health of Iran's supreme leader: 10,000 sheep and 1.5 million euros

Clerics close to Iran's regime have launched a fundraiser to finance the sacrifice of 10,000 sheep for the health of the supreme leader. According to information published on August 21, the ritual would cost around one and a half million euros, provided the money is actually spent on the promised purpose. The initiative, spearheaded among others by Abdulkarim Abedini, the supreme leader's official representative in Qazvin province for a decade, has sparked considerable skepticism on social media and in the digital public sphere.

The cost of the sacrifice, should the funds be used as promised, works out at around 150 euros per sheep, a figure that contrasts with the economic needs of a country under international sanctions and with inflation that keeps eroding Iranians' purchasing power. Meanwhile, the organizers present the cause as an act of devotion required to preserve the health of the top leader, an argument that taps into a long tradition of ritual sacrifice in the region.

The inevitable question is whether such spending reflects sincere faith or is a popular mobilization mechanism that ends up, in practice, funding the whims of the theocracy. Analyses circulating online point out that the cost of the 10,000 animals could cover the budget for basic services for months, an argument the ritual's promoters dismiss as interference in religious affairs.

All the same, the fundraiser remains open and, for now, no official figures on the amount collected are known. What is clear is that, for a country where the regime's priorities make front-page news, the sacrifice of an entire flock for the health of a single person is an episode that, seen from the outside, stretches the line between the picturesque and the deplorable.