Economist: Iran doesn’t understand sanctions structure
As Iranian officials demand that all sanctions be dropped in a nuclear deal, one Iranian economic analyst explains why this is unlikely and how poorly the complex issue is understood in Iran.
One of the key demands of Iranian negotiators and officials in the nuclear talks with the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany (P5+1) is the removal of international sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program. As the Nov. 24 deadline approaches, various Iranian officials have reiterated this point, without specifying which sanctions or in what manner the complex rules should be removed.
Today, Nov. 18, Supreme National Security Council Secretary Ali Shamkhani said, “Certainly the sanctions have to be removed. … Otherwise, the negotiations will be futile and useless.” Ibrahim Aghamohammadi, a member of the parliamentary National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, said, “If the sanctions are not removed altogether, the negotiations have no meaning, because Iran started the negotiations for the injustice of these sanctions to be removed.”
Whether Iran and the P5+1 are heading toward another extension or if a final deal is agreed upon, the immediate removal of all sanctions is unlikely and according to conservative Iranian economic analyst Massoud Barati, the complexity of sanctions is not commonly understood in Iran.
In an interview with conservative Tasnim News Agency, Barati said, “To analyze the negotiations, you first have to understand the international sanctions and their structure and then go to the negotiation table with the Western side.”
