Iran's Economy Is At Its 'Most Dangerous" Period In Recent History
The Chairman of Iran-China Chamber of Commerce has warned that Iran’s economy is at its “most dangerous historical point” in the past four decades.
The Chairman of Iran-China Chamber of Commerce has warned that Iran’s economy is at its “most dangerous historical point” in the past four decades.
Majid-Reza Hariri, a businessman, who has recently issued other warnings about Iran’s economy and what he called lack of oil sales, told the Iranian Labour News Agency (ILNA) on Friday that inflation is becoming a serious threat. He argued that if the inflation rate rises above the current 50-60 percent rate, it would become much harder to control it.
In the past few months, figures issued by the Statistical Center of Iran show more than 45 percent overall annual inflation, with food prices rising by almost 70 percent compared to last year.
Iran has been delaying nuclear talks with the West since June, when it suspended multi-lateral negotiations and is expanding its nuclear program. New talks are scheduled to start at the end of November, but few believe there will be a quick outcome.
In recent weeks, many other public figures, including senior clerics, have called on the government to take urgent action in containing the current economic crisis that according to some estimates has impoverished close to 50 percent of Iran’s population.
Hariri who in the past, as openly as possible, has called for resolving Iran’s disputes with the West, reiterated that rescuing the economy needs attention to improving foreign relations.
“A great part of Iran’s economy is dependent on oil exports, and it is not possible to cure this economic addiction quickly,” Hariri said, and added that removing the US sanctions should be a priority, but no matter what Iran is willing to do, the final decision, or the other side of the coin is America. Iran cannot be the sole decider in removing the sanctions. The United States must agree.
The other policy should be to shield the economy, as much as possible, from the impact of sanctions, Hariri said, and emphasized the importance of bilateral trade with many more countries than Iran’s current seven main trading partners.
Hariri, who usually speaks like a businessman rather than a government official, said that every decision the government makes it should consider the danger of uncontrolled inflation. “Any policy that could lead to higher inflation should be eliminated,” he said. If prices rise any further, the country can face hyper-inflation, which would be difficult to overcome.
He called on the government to use a wider range of economic experts for advice on inflation and not to narrow its thinking to one group of economists. Hariri mentioned the example of former finance minister Ali Tayebniya, who in the first four years of Hassan Rouhani’s presidency (2013-2017) was able to bring a 47-percent inflation rate down to 11-12 percent.
The head of the supreme labor committee said on Thursday that a basket of essential supplies for a family of 3 has reached 115 million rials. Although in today’s exchange rate that amounts to just $425, a typical worker in Iran receives much less than $200 a month.
Amid this crisis, president Raisi is seen as just issuing orders to his aides to fix a myriad of national and local economic and infrastructure problems. His critics, even among conservatives say the new government has been in power for three months and should start to put its act together.
whiSome 42 years later, many wonder what became of those angry young men with shabby beards and young women, clad in long manteaus with headscarves hiding most of their faces.
One might think that at least some of them rose to positions of power. Yes, they did, but most of them fell out of favor and some even ended up in jail. No one knows exactly how many they were, but 42 years on, only a few of them are still engaged in politics, and most of them are shunned by the Iranian people and politicians alike.
In a November 4 tweet, former lawmaker and outspoken politician Ali Motahari, wrote that it was "an unnecessary move instigated with the provocations of leftist groups to serve the interests of the Embassy of the Soviet Union and the Tudeh Communist Party."
Many others reminded that the seizure of the US embassy in 1979 landed the country in trouble for four decades and imposed a long war with Iraq and back-breaking economic crisis on Iranians. But where are those who are to be blamed?
Their spokesperson Masoumeh Ebtekar was former President Hassan Rouhani's vice president for women and family affairs. She also served for some time as the vice president for the environment. Last week some lawmakers tabled a motion to take her to the top court for failing to protect the environment. Ebtekar is married to another hostage-taker Mohammad Hashemi Esfahani, an Intelligence Ministry operative who was also implicated in illicit oil deals. Ebtekar was known to the hostages as "sister Mary" and was one of the few students who spoke English.
Ebrahim Asgharzadeh, who designed and masterminded the seizure in the first place is still around and is a well-known reformist figure shunned by the reform camp who know him as an insider at Khamenei's household. According to Mashreghnews website, which is close to the Iranian intelligence security forces, he led the hostage takers' ‘central council’.
Abbas Abdi, another member of the council soon left the group. He later became the editor of leftist newspaper Salam and is currently a high-profile reformist commentator. He is the only hostage-taker who met with one of the hostages years later and reportedly apologized for his behavior. Another leader, Mohammad Reza Khatami, is former President Mohammad Khatami's brother and is nowhere to be seen after he fell out with the establishment. Khatami served as deputy Majles Speaker in the 1990s.
Mohsen Aminzadeh, also at the forefront, became a deputy foreign minister with links to the Intelligence Ministry. He was jailed following the disputed 2009 presidential election but is currently out of jail.
Hossein Kamali became Iran's Labor Minister and was close to former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.
The former students used to hold regular meetings at the US embassy building until 1985. They oversaw the translation and publication of embassy documents. In 1985, the Intelligence Ministry took over the remaining documents but no longer published their Persian translation. It was in that year when "The Students Following the Line of Imam Khomeini" decided to no longer exist as a group or political organization.
Some of their members, including Reza Seyfollahi, Aziz Jafari and Hossein Dehghan joined the armed forces. Seyfollahi was Iran's police chief for a few year and then disappeared from the political scene and joined the IRGC Intelligence Organization. Dehghan is currently Iran's Interior Minister and Jafari served as chief commander of IRGC for several years. Alireza Afshar served as the commander of Basij militia and Akbar Rafan was the first commander of the IRGC's air force.Several former students were killed in the course of the war with Iraq in the 1980s.
Habibollah Bitaraf was Khatami's Energy Minister and is currently under fire for the damage his policies did to Iran's environment. Ezzatollah Zarghami also joined the IRGC. In the 1990s he became deputy culture minister and then the head of the state television. He is currently Iran's cultural heritage and tourism minister.
One of the most interesting characters among the students who refused to take part in the seizure of the embassy was Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. According to Hashemi Esfahani, Ahmadinejad told others that the students should attack the Soviet embassy.