Iran’s culture minister says the country is facing a "severe shortage" of expert workers who support the regime.

Mohammad Mehdi Esmaili, who threatened all independent artists of Iran with losing their job in recent months, said Tuesday that "in various sectors, when we want to find specialized and committed people, we realize there is a lack of human resources.”

For decades, the authorities of the Islamic Republic have been calling the people who support the regime "expert and committed forces". According to them, in addition to having expertise, they show their commitment and loyalty to the Islamic Republic.

“The authorities have not thought about training such people in different fields for over four decades after the revolution,” he added.

His statements come at a time when the Islamic Republic allocates huge budgets to government educational centers such as Imam Sadeq University, and now many of the current government officials are graduates of this university.

The propaganda apparatus of the regime also spends huge amounts of money to produce works of art in line with the ideology of the government.

During Esmaili’s tenure, a great number of independent artists have been banned from working.

A large number of artists have given their support to the widespread "Woman Life Freedom" protests against the regime.

Last November, a committee affiliated with Iran’s professional film association House of Cinema listed 100 filmmakers, musicians and theater artists who were arrested or banned from leaving the country amid the demonstrations.

In March, the Iranian government imposed a property ban and other sanctions on artists for supporting the protest movement.