Iran Wants Regional Currency After Decades of US Sanctions
The New Arab alerts us that Iran, facing ever-tightening US sanctions, has proposed a regional currency to boost trade with its Economic Cooperation Organization partners. This isn't groundbreaking news, nor is it an act of inexplicable defiance. It's an entirely predictable response to Washington's sustained economic warfare, a strategy that's seen Iran's oil exports repeatedly targeted since
1979, with unilateral US sanctions intensifying dramatically after the 2018 withdrawal from the JCPOA (OpenSecrets shows hawkish think tanks like FDD, who pushed for maximum pressure, receive significant defense contractor funding). One might wonder if decades of financial strangulation are designed to encourage global monetary pluralism or simply to make a target country's economy scream uncle.
Perhaps the West's 'rules-based order' only applies when the rules benefit the dollar. When 'sanctions bite,' as The New Arab delicately puts it, nations tend to seek alternative dental plans. How many different ways can a country be economically isolated before it—gasp!—develops a work-around?