Unity, Understanding Could Help Blunt Intense US Pressure

EghtesadOnline: President Hassan Rouhani called on all political factions to join hands to resist the United States' political and economic pressure that he described as a "full-scale and unprecedented war".

News ID: ۷۴۷۳۲۰

13 May 2019

"Today, we are in difficult times, but I do not despair and have great hope for the future and believe that we can get through these difficult conditions provided we remain united," he said in an address to a group of political activists in Tehran on Saturday.

He suggested that the current conditions might be even harder that those during the 1980s Iran-Iraq war, in which Iran incurred an estimated economic loss of $627 billion, according to Financial Tribune.

"At the time of the war [with Iraq], we did not face issues related to banking, oil sales, imports and exports, and the only sanction was the arms embargo," he was quoted as saying by his website.

Iran's economy is becoming increasingly troubled as a result of sanctions imposed by the US, following its withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear accord last year.

US President Donald Trump's administration argued that the deal was defective and initiated a so-called "maximum pressure campaign" against Tehran to force it into a new round of negotiations that would cover all areas of dispute, including the country's missile program and regional activity.

The first set of sanctions prohibited Iran's purchase of US dollars and precious metals. In November 2018, Washington banned the purchase of Iranian oil but gave temporary waivers to eight countries. It revoked all the exemptions in early April, aiming for the stated goal of bringing the country's crude exports to zero.

As the next step of its campaign, the US administration terminated earlier this month two of the nuclear waivers that allowed other countries to conduct civilian nuclear cooperation with Iran.

Trump's latest blow targeted Iran's revenue from the export of industrial metals, namely iron, steel, aluminum and copper, which are the largest source of Iran's non-petroleum export income and account for 10% of the country's export economy.

Call for Better Rapport

Rouhani said in his speech that conditions during the 1980s war years were "not ideal but rather good" because people agreed that their country was invaded and did not hold the government responsible for the problems.

"People helped address the problems. Today, we need to manage the conditions with the same concurrence and understanding," he said.

Highlighting the participants' familiarity with political affairs, he called on activists to help find the best and most efficient solutions to the problems.

"We should not surrender and we should find solutions," he said.

Rouhani stressed the importance of effective cooperation among all entities and branches of government such as the executive and legislative bodies.

"If we stand together and agree that no thinking and faction can be eliminated, we can move past the difficult times."

The political activists expressed their views on the prevailing issues and put forward their suggestions to overcome the present economic crisis.

Promoting unity among all factions, reducing the country's dependence on oil, improving the government's relations with political parties and parliament, managing the country's money supplies efficiently, reforming the banking system and energy prices, and controlling inflation to improve people's livelihood were among the experts’ recommendations.