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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Iranian President scrambling to sell nuke deal as 'Win' |
| 2017-01-16 |
| Iranian President Hassan Rohani was riding a wave of optimism one year ago. The long-negotiated nuclear deal with world powers he had sold to Iranians as an end to their economic woes was finally being implemented. But as the first anniversary of implementation day approaches on January 16, Rohani has been saddled by the high expectations he set, as Iran's economy continues to struggle and the great boost in foreign investment and other benefits he envisioned has so far failed to materialize. With hard-liners seizing on the opportunity to criticize Rohani for a deal they opposed from Day One, the relatively moderate president is once again scrambling to sell the advantages of the deal to the Iranian people. Rohani has been accused of overhyping the agreement and being duped by Washington and five other world powers at the negotiating table. In many ways, it mirrors the situation in the United States, where supporters have fended off consistent opposition to the Joint Comprehensive Plan Of Action (JCPOA), in which Tehran agreed to curtail its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief, since it was signed in July 2015. With President-elect Donald Trump preparing to take office, his campaign promises to rework a deal he portrays as poorly negotiated and bad for the American people have cast a pall on the future of the JCPOA. Rohani, who is expected to run for another term in Iran's May presidential election and who has banked a lot of his political capital on the deal, has responded to his critics by touting the agreement's "win-win outcome." He has urged Iranians to remain patient, promising that the benefits of the deal are "appearing." Indeed, the main economic indicators point to improvement in Iran. Economic growth is projected to reach 4.3 percent and 4.8 percent in 2016 and 2017, respectively, compared to 0.5 percent in 2015. The effort to bring inflation to under two digits has seen success and the fiscal deficit has fallen. But that is only part of the picture. The Iranian currency, the rial, hit a record low against the dollar in recent weeks, prompting fears that efforts to boost the exports of industrial goods will suffer and anticipated foreign goods will be prohibitively costly. The unemployment rate is on the rise, reaching 11.3 percent in 2016 compared to 10.8 in 2015. In a nutshell, the limited economic progress Rohani's government has made has yet to trickle down to the average Iranian household in terms of jobs, salaries, and the prices of basic goods. This is something that none other than Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has pointed out, saying in August that Iranians had yet to see a "tangible effect" in their daily lives. Rohani has had to contend with internal resistance from hard-liners, including clerics, the judiciary, and the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), which is estimated to control much of the economy. Meanwhile, Khamenei has sharpened his criticism. He has continued to emphasize a "resistance economy" aimed at boosting domestic production for export and warned against Western "infiltration" by way of the agreement. "Rohani is the lightning rod for the economic issue and the nuclear deal, so if they ever go south, the supreme leader can blame Rohani, and that's where we are right now," says Scott Lucas, an Iran specialist at the University of Birmingham in the U.K. "The two men had a pragmatic relationship where each needed the other at a certain point. But the value of each to the other is quickly running out." |
| Posted by:Pappy |
| #1 With hard-liners seizing on the opportunity to criticize Rohani for a deal they opposed from Day One, the relatively moderate president is once again scrambling to sell the advantages of the deal to the Iranian people. this smells of ValJar/Obama's argument that they are supporting the "Moderatesâ„¢" in the face of possibly worse. Bullshit |
| Posted by: Frank G 2017-01-16 09:58 |