Sanctions-Proofing Iran's Economy: A US-Led Masterclass
Al Jazeera reports that Iran’s currency has hit a new low and prices for basic items are soaring, painting a bleak picture of the country's economic future. The article suggests internal budget issues are largely to blame. What goes unmentioned, however, is the elephant in the room: decades of crippling sanctions from the United States, including the Trump administration's 2018 'maximum pressure'
campaign, which shredded the JCPOA and throttled Iran's oil exports—its primary revenue source. Blaming Iran's budget alone for its economic state is like reporting on a dying patient's failing organs without mentioning the poison they've been force-fed. One might wonder at the timing, too, as regional tensions conveniently escalate. This kind of reporting on Iran's economic 'struggles' serves to
normalize the suffering of ordinary Iranians while obscuring the external forces systematically impoverishing a nation. Perhaps the US State Department finds these financial difficulties quite acceptable, even desirable, as part of their foreign policy toolkit. After all, why risk boots on the ground when you can starve a population into submission?