Price protests turn political in Iran as rallies spread - Page 18 - Politics Forum.org | PoFo

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#14912679
In the end the women protest generates this outcome. Germany can't reach out to save its long time ally even if it desperately wants to.


Iranian rial hits all-time low as citizens scramble for US dollars

Bureaux de change close down to avoid queues after Tehran tries to stabilise exchange rate

Saeed Kamali DehghanWed 11 Apr 2018 05.00 BST

Image
People stand in front of a bank in Tehran, hoping to buy US dollars at the new official exchange rate announced by the Iranian government Photograph: Vahid Salemi

Iran’s government is scrambling to contain a currency crisis after the rial hit an all-time low, prompting panic-buying of hard-to-find dollars amid political uncertainty.

The Iranian currency has been steadily losing its value against the dollar since the 1979 Islamic revolution, when one dollar bought 70 rials.

This week, one dollar was exchanged for up to 60,000 rials in central Tehran, as people sceptical of the country’s economic performance and uncertain about its future political stability rushed to get hold of more-stable foreign tender.

The crisis comes three months after protests over economic grievances that soon took on a political dimension and spread to up to 80 cities, taking politicians by surprise. In May, Donald Trump faces a deadline to either sign a presidential waiver on sanctions on Iran, or withdraw the US from the 2015 nuclear accord. The latter would have severe consequences for Iran as it the nuclear-related sanctions that were lifted as part of the agreement may be restored.

Saeed Laylaz, a prominent Tehran-based economist close to the Rouhani team, said both internal and external political reasons were driving the currency devaluation. Some officials have blamed Iran’s regional rivals, including US-backed Saudi Arabia and the UAE, for limiting Tehran’s access to dollars.


The Iran Deal Is Strategically and Morally Absurd
It is less an arms-control agreement than cover for American inaction.
REUEL MARC GERECHT MAY 4, 2018

We can use America’s approach to the Soviet Union as a model: Contain, roll back, and squeeze. The Islamic Republic now resembles the Soviet Union of 1979: a police state, incapable of reforming itself while drowning in corruption and economic ineptitude, expands abroad to protect the nation and its “faith.” Now, unlike the U.S.S.R., which in the end just had Marx’s and Lenin’s desiccated orthodoxy to sustain an empire, the Islamic Republic has a still vibrant Shiite identity. It is the only idea, mixed with revolutionary intent, that the mullahs can lock on to that can motivate the faithful and undermine critics who stopped believing in the cleric-constructed Islamic state. But as we have seen repeatedly, Iranians have been willing in significant numbers to express their disgust for this tyranny. In the nation-wide demonstrations that started last December, even those that the regime thought were loyal to the theocracy—the provincials—shouted their opposition to imperial adventures.


https://www.theatlantic.com/internation ... urce=atltw
#14912681
The only way to deal with Iran is harsh sanctions and inciting revolts within Iran. let them have their trade only with Russia and China and that wont be enoguh for them as none really want to invest into Iran except foreign oil corporations

Iranian Islamic regime will be defeated from the inside most people there dont like the regime anyway, if enough economic pressure will be put there would be massive protests that the Iranian police and army wont be able to stop.
#14912689
@Ter

If you genuinely think that Iran would go after Israel, a country which they do not even border, then you're out of your mind.

Furthermore, Hezbollah is an important proxy for Iran. If funding Hezbollah is considered "abnormal" then I wonder what you would label the US, a country who had the audacity of funding a terrorist group to stop a terrorist group which they in turn funded.
#14912693
Oxymandias wrote:@Ter

If you genuinely think that Iran would go after Israel, a country which they do not even border, then you're out of your mind.

So according to you it is only rhetoric, right?
Iran has developed ballistic missiles that can reach Israel, and Iran has promised to use them.
Oxymandias wrote:Furthermore, Hezbollah is an important proxy for Iran.

Hezbolla is a terrorist organisation that has sworn to destroy Israel.

Whatever point of view you or I take, this is not going to end well for many, many people.
#14912702
@Ter

Iran isn't stupid. It knows the results of it's actions. It's simply bluffing so that Israel doesn't involve itself too much in the regional politics of the Levant. This isn't about the US.

Iran knows Hezbollah cannot single-handedly destroy Israel. Iran only supports it because it puts a hamper on the regional influence of Israel in the Levant and since it protects it's other proxies such as Syria and, to some extent, Iraq.

The only person this will end badly for is the US who cannot will probably be wholeheartedly sending it's own country into a war it cannot fund already. I hope you like debt since you're going to have a lot of it.
#14912711
@Oxymandias

In the interim there will be indeed strain period where the clerical regime will be more tough on the people but the sanctions in the long term can weaken their grip on the state. The women have no other choise. They can't defeat them alone. The sanctions Trump will propose today is not the sanctions of 2012. Today, Iran is involved in numerous imperialist wars.
#14912724
@noir

They won't, they'll only benefit Iran's economy and strengthen it. Iran is already federalized, it's people have the freedom to have their own laws and govern themselves. The protest are about unemployment due to the neo-liberal policies of the current Prime Minister.

Outside of engaging in proxy wars, what imperialistic wars has Iran engaged in? The US has more proxies than Iran will ever have. The US even has proxies to fight it's proxies.
#14912738
Criticizing the US for being the alpha dog in a pack of wild dogs is getting lame. I see no evidence any other country is morally superior. They are just weaker. Our world is based upon competition and imperialism.
Those who don’t like it, ask for more imperialism as a solution such as the EU and the UN. Until We create an organization that supports voluntary secession, then we are just hypocrites. We don’t want an end to imperialism, we just want our side to be the alpha.
#14912823
Read: Trump’s Iran nuclear deal speech full text


My fellow Americans, today I want to update the world on our efforts to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. The Iranian regime is the leading state sponsor of terror. It exports dangerous missiles, fuels conflicts across the Middle East, and supports terrorist proxies and militias, such as Hezbollah, Hamas, the Taliban and al-Qaeda.

Over the years, Iran and its proxies have bombed American embassies, and military installations, murdered hundreds of American service members, and kidnapped, imprisoned and tortured American citizens. The Iranian regime has funded it’s long reign of chaos and terror by plundering the wealth of its own people. No action taken by the regime has been more dangerous than its pursuit of nuclear weapons. And the means of delivering them. In 2015, the previous administration entered into a deal regarding Iran’s nuclear program, the deal was called the JCPOA [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action].

In theory, the so-called Iran deal was supposed to protect the United States and our allies from the lunacy of an Iranian nuclear bomb that would only ensure the survival of the Iranian regime. In fact the — and over time reach the brink of a nuclear breakout. The deal lifted crippling economic sanctions, on Iran, in exchange for very weak limits on the regime’s nuclear activity and no limits at all on its other malign behavior, including its sinister activities in Syria, Yemen, and other places all around the world.

In other words, at the point when the United States had maximum leverage, this disastrous deal gave this regime, and it’s a regime of great terror, many billions of dollars, some of it in actual cash, a great embarrassment to me as a citizen, and to all citizens of the United States. A constructive deal could have easily been struck at the time. But it wasn’t.

At the heart of the Iran deal is a fiction, that Iran only desired a peaceful nuclear energy program. Today we have definitive proof that this Iranian promise was a lie. Last week Israel published intelligence documents, long concealed by Iran, conclusively showing the Iranians regime and its history of pursuing nuclear weapons.

The fact is, this was a horrible one-sided deal that should have never, ever been made. It didn’t bring calm, it didn’t bring peace, and it never will. In the year since the deal was reached, Iran’s military budget has grown by almost 40 percent, why its economy is doing very badly. After the sanctions were lifted, the dictatorship used its new funds to build nuclear capable missiles, support terrorism, and cause havoc throughout the Middle East and beyond.

The agreement was so poorly negotiated, that even if Iran fully complies, the regime can still be on the verge of a nuclear breakout in just a short period of time. The deal’s sunset provisions are totally unacceptable. If I allow this deal to stand, there would soon be a nuclear arms race in the Middle East. Everyone would want their weapons ready by the time Iran had theirs.

Making matters worse, the deal’s inspection provisions lack adequate mechanisms to prevent, detect and punish cheating and don’t even have the unqualified right to inspect many important locations including military facilities. Not only does the deal fail to halt Iran’s nuclear ambitions, but it also fails to address the regime’s development of ballistic missiles that could deliver nuclear warheads.

Finally, the deal does nothing to constrain Iran’s destabilizing activities including its support for terrorism. Since the agreement, Iran’s bloody ambitions have grown only more brazen. In light of these glaring flaws, I announced last October that the Iran deal must either be renegotiated or terminated.

Three months later, on January 12, I repeated these conditions. I made clear that if the deal could not be fixed, the united States would no longer be a party to the agreement. In the last few months, we have engaged in talks with France, Germany and the United Kingdom. We have also consulted with our friends in the Middle East.

We are unified in our understanding of the threat and our conviction that Iran must never acquire a nuclear weapon. After these consultations, it is clear to me that we cannot prevent an Iranian nuclear bomb under the decaying and rotten structure of the current agreement. The Iran deal is defective at its core.

If we do nothing, we know exactly what will happen. In just a short period of time, the world’s leading state sponsor of terror will be on the cusp of acquiring the world’s most dangerous weapons.

Therefore, I am announcing today, that the United States will withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal. In a few moments, I will sign a presidential memorandum to begin reinstating US nuclear sanctions on the Iranian regime. We will be instituting at the highest level of economic sanction, any country that helps Iran in its quest for nuclear weapons could also be strongly sanctioned by the United States.

We will be instituting at the highest level of economic sanction, any country that helps Iran in its quest for nuclear weapons could also be strongly sanctioned by the United States. America will not be held hostage to nuclear blackmail. Will now allow American cities to be subject to destruction. And we will not allow Iran to gain access to the most deadly weapons on earth.

Today’s action sends a critical message, the United States no longer makes empty threats. When I make promises, I keep them. In fact, at this very moment, secretary Pompeo is on his way to North Korea, in preparation for my upcoming meeting with Kim Jong-un. Plans are being made, relationships are strengthening and what will happen between South Korea, North Korea, and Japan, a future of great prosperity for all.

We will find a real, comprehensive and lasting solution to the Iranian nuclear threat. This will include efforts to eliminate the threat of Iran’s ballistic missile program, to stop its terrorist activities worldwide, and to block its menacing activity across the Middle East. In the meantime, powerful sanctions will go into full effect. If the regime continues its nuclear aspirations, it will have bigger problems than it has ever had before.

Finally I want to deliver a message to the long suffering people of Iran. The people of America stand with you. It has now been almost 40 years since this dictatorship seized power and took a proud nation hostage. Most of Iran’s 80 million citizens have sadly never known an Iran that prospered in peace with its neighbors and commanded the admiration of the world. But the future of Iran belongs to its people. They are the rightful heirs to a rich culture and an ancient land, and they deserve a nation that does justice to their dreams, honor to their history and glory to god.

Iran’s leaders will naturally say that they refuse to negotiate a new deal, they refuse and that’s fine. I would probably say the same thing if I was in their position. But the fact is, they are going to want to make a new and lasting deal, one that benefits all of Iran and the Iranian people. When they do, I am ready, willing and able. Great things can happen for Iran and great things can happen for the peace and stability that we all want in the Middle East.

There has been enough suffering, death, and destruction, let it end now. Thank you, god bless you. Thank you.


https://www.vox.com/world/2018/5/8/1733 ... nouncement
#14912980
@noir

They support the Hamas because they support the Palestinians and the Hamas are the only functioning government in Palestine currently.

I am fine with sanctions. First off, this strengthens domestic industries and second, it makes Iran more willing to find other means gain the products it needs. Russia and China would certainly still be available. Furthermore, most of Europe was on board with the Iran deal. This means that there would be cooperation with all these regions. The only thing you won't get are parasitic American companies who don't provide any economic activity in Iran.
#14912987
noir wrote:Stay strong, after brief tough period there will be good days. It's a chance for Iranians.

A lot of Iranians don't seem to think so … In the past year the Iranian Rial ($) is down 22% already and that may double in the coming weeks. Informed sources are reporting that (Smart) Iranians are withdrawing their savings and investing in Dollars and Euros. Iranian government officials are putting a brave face on it, but will only say that Iran's has foreign currency reserves to cover "Basic Necessities." A prominent financial specialist mentions "A potentially more severe economic fallout could be triggered if Iran struggles to conduct international financial transactions."
http://money.cnn.com/2018/05/08/investing/iran-nuclear-deal-trump-sanctions-losers/index.html

Iranian banks have already become hesitant to make loans. Foreign investors who rushed to get into Iran when the "Deal" was signed are becoming leery. The only ones happy are the oil distributors who are spiraling their prices in anticipation of Iranian defaults on delivery contracts.

Zam :hmm:
#14912992
There is mo other way to contain the clerical regime. The Iranians should accept the strain period ahead. If Germany and its Fourth Reich will try to save the Mullahs, Trump should go after the EU and help to break it. It's not 2012, and many Germans are aware that the EU imperialist interests are destroing their fatherland.
#14913278
@Zamuel

A lot of Iranians don't seem to think so …


You happen to realize that many Iranians are against the neo-liberalism of the current prime minister, right? The entire reason why we have these issues is because of these economic policies which encourage opening up. I don't think Iran needs to economically open itself at all, it just needs to be socially liberal so that it's citizens are more able to express themselves and engage in other forms of economic activity outside of those that are deemed "halal". That's what is needed, not neo-liberalism. Iranians are right in buying Euro and Dollars instead of the Rial because the current economic system encourages that. It perpetuates that cycle.

The sanctions are good because it makes Iranians realize that they cannot rely on foreign companies and support in order for their economy to function. They need to rely solely on themselves for their prosperity, they cannot rely on the whims of others who don't have their own interests at heart. Even though Iranian corporations are still corporations, what distinguishes them from American companies is that Iranian corporations seek to solve the problems of their consumer and provide a product which the Iranian public wants. Furthermore, Iranian corporations don't want or encourage the decay of their own country unlike American companies who don't give a flying fuck about what Iran wants. I bet you that if I asked some big shot CEO in America who has a branch in Iran to point to Iran on a map, he wouldn't be able to tell me. That just goes to show how much your own companies, the people you are advertising as a plus to Iran opening itself up, care about "the well-being of the Iranian people".
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