April 19, 2019
In his annual Now Ruz message, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenehi acknowledged, “The main challenge for the country continues to be economic problems.”
His solution this year (as last year) is for the country to produce more goods itself so as to become self-sufficient and avoid any dependency on any other country. This is a solution that almost all economists around the world consider to be economically disastrous.
As he does each Now Ruz, Khamenehi proclaimed his slogan for the New Year. The slogan for 1398 is: “The Year of Boosting Production.” The slogan for last year was: “The Year of Support for Iranian Products.”
Khamenehi has frequently said economic challenges are paramount, and blamed other countries, chiefly the United States, for causing those problems. But polls show fewer Iranians believe the bad economy is chiefly caused by outsiders and more and more tend to blame the regime for mismanagement and corruption.
Khamenehi recognized that in this year’s message, saying, “Part of these problems is related to inefficient management in the area of economic matters.” He did not mention corruption, though he has cited the evils of corruption in recent weeks.
He cited three specific economic challenges in his Now Ruz message—the collapse of the rial; the loss of purchasing power by the public, a synonym for inflation; and the closing of many factories, which appeared to be his way of acknowledging unemployment without using the word.
The Statistical Center of Iran reported inflation for the just ended year at just under 50 percent, among the worst in the world; the International Monetary Fund has forecast that Iran’s economy will shrink this year by 3.6 percent, also one of the worst rates in the world.
Khamenehi began his message by denouncing the United States and Europe for imposing harsh sanctions on Iran. But he did not attempt to say that all of Iran’s problems stemmed from sanctions.
However, in President Rohani’s Now Ruz message, broadcast after Khamenehi’s, the president put much greater blame on sanctions and the United States for Iran’s economic woes. He said Iran’s economic problems began when the United States left the nuclear deal last May and re-imposed sanctions. But inflation was rising and the rial was falling even before President Trump spiked the nuclear deal. The problems accelerated after that, but did not begin after Trump acted.
Khamenehi took after the Europeans as well as the United States. He called the EU proposal for a mechanism to promote Iran-EU trade a “joke” and added, “They stabbed us in the back and we can’t expect them to do much.”
Foreign Minister Moham-mad-Javad Zarif said Iran will overcome sanctions by teaming up with countries that “are equally tired of being bullied by the United States.” He didn’t name any such countries, but the ones that have echoed Iran’s complaints of American bullying over the years are Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Syria and North Korea.
He didn’t explain how he thought those countries would help the Isamic Republic counter US sanctions.