Iran's 'Marriage Crisis' Threatens Ahmadinejad

Iran is grappling with a “marriage crisis” that could cost Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a key demographic in Friday’s presidential election, Azadeh Moaveni writes in Time. The government’s international standing already has young people—35% of the population—seething; on top of that, those hoping to tie the knot are facing a major roadblock in high inflation and booming housing prices.

“We aren't lazy, and we aren't aiming for anything so high,” said a couple that can’t afford to marry. Whoever the young judge best to fix the crisis may win their votes—and Ahmadinejad’s government already made a failed attempt. Young people who couldn’t afford marriage should get hitched, but remain in their respective homes, the government said—a pronouncement it had to backtrack on after it drew public fury.
(More Iran stories.)