RFERL:

A 70-kilogram, gold-plated replica of a ship inscribed with the entire Koran wowed clerics at its unveiling in Iran's holy city of Qom this week.

But some Iranians are shuddering at the opulence on display at the Fatima Masumeh Shrine within weeks of deadly protests that even Iran's president has acknowledged were stoked by public despair over economic injustices.

Moreover, Qom is reportedly just a stopover before the gilded artwork is gifted to an even holier shrine in neighboring Iraq: the Imam Husayn Shrine in Karbala.

Iranians in the country and abroad suggested on social media that the money could have been better spent, and they questioned the timing.

"A gilded Koran! On a golden ship! You unveiled it?! After people's unrest over the pressure of poverty and unemployment?!" user M. Masoumian asked on Twitter. "Now where did you learn this statecraft?"

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