This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/world/iran-blog/2015/jul/13/iran-financial-sanctions-relief-nuclear-deal
The article has changed 3 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Iranians desperately await relief from financial sanctions as nuclear deal nears | Iranians desperately await relief from financial sanctions as nuclear deal nears |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| Like most small business owners in Tehran, pharmacy owner Morteza has faced a nightmarish scenario since 2011, when international sanctions on Iran’s financial system impeded the flow of drugs and medical equipment into the country. Aside from a drop in profits, Morteza is haunted by a daily procession of terminally ill customers who fail to find the medicines they are prescribed. “I can’t even count how many of my own customers and customers of my colleagues died of cancer because we didn’t have the drugs they needed,” he says. “At night, I dream of customers coming to the store looking for drugs we don’t have. They curse at me. They think it’s our fault.” | Like most small business owners in Tehran, pharmacy owner Morteza has faced a nightmarish scenario since 2011, when international sanctions on Iran’s financial system impeded the flow of drugs and medical equipment into the country. Aside from a drop in profits, Morteza is haunted by a daily procession of terminally ill customers who fail to find the medicines they are prescribed. “I can’t even count how many of my own customers and customers of my colleagues died of cancer because we didn’t have the drugs they needed,” he says. “At night, I dream of customers coming to the store looking for drugs we don’t have. They curse at me. They think it’s our fault.” |
| As the nuclear negotiations between Iran and the 5+1 reach the final stages, members of the Iranian public are shifting their attention to domestic policy. While recent research suggests that a majority of Iranians support a nuclear agreement and an end to crippling economic sanctions, they also expect the deal to quickly alleviate the daily tribulations they have faced as a result of their government’s insistence on Iran’s right to nuclear enrichment. In return for significant concessions in the international negotiations, they anticipate an improved standard of living, better access to foreign medicine, and significantly more foreign investment. | As the nuclear negotiations between Iran and the 5+1 reach the final stages, members of the Iranian public are shifting their attention to domestic policy. While recent research suggests that a majority of Iranians support a nuclear agreement and an end to crippling economic sanctions, they also expect the deal to quickly alleviate the daily tribulations they have faced as a result of their government’s insistence on Iran’s right to nuclear enrichment. In return for significant concessions in the international negotiations, they anticipate an improved standard of living, better access to foreign medicine, and significantly more foreign investment. |
| “If these expectations are not realized as a result of this deal, Rouhani will be left with the unpleasant task of explaining who has pocketed the benefits of the deal and what Iran got in return of rolling back the nuclear program,” says Amir Farmanesh of IranPoll.com, an independent Toronto-based opinion research firm. | “If these expectations are not realized as a result of this deal, Rouhani will be left with the unpleasant task of explaining who has pocketed the benefits of the deal and what Iran got in return of rolling back the nuclear program,” says Amir Farmanesh of IranPoll.com, an independent Toronto-based opinion research firm. |
| Related: Iran nuclear talks: comprehensive deal could be done by Monday | Related: Iran nuclear talks: comprehensive deal could be done by Monday |
| If the sanctions are lifted, Rouhani will face pressure to implement a host of reforms to stymie unemployment, kick-start development and adapt the long-isolated economy to the global market. Unlike the previous administration of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, which formulated its policies to fit the demands of its support base of low-income Iranians, the Rouhani government has pledged to improve economic conditions for all social strata. | If the sanctions are lifted, Rouhani will face pressure to implement a host of reforms to stymie unemployment, kick-start development and adapt the long-isolated economy to the global market. Unlike the previous administration of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, which formulated its policies to fit the demands of its support base of low-income Iranians, the Rouhani government has pledged to improve economic conditions for all social strata. |
| “We have suffered through the inflation and rising prices like everyone else,” says Mohammad, 35, a cleric who offers religious advice to commuters on the Tehran metro during the holy month of Ramadan. “When seminary students don’t have money, we figure out a way to get by, but it’s still terribly difficult.” Together with his wife, a schoolteacher in Qom, Mohammad says he earns around $250 a month. “Many evenings, we had to eat a very meager supper. My wife…would ask me why we have to be sanctioned like this; why did we have to be shamed before our families and before Islam?” | “We have suffered through the inflation and rising prices like everyone else,” says Mohammad, 35, a cleric who offers religious advice to commuters on the Tehran metro during the holy month of Ramadan. “When seminary students don’t have money, we figure out a way to get by, but it’s still terribly difficult.” Together with his wife, a schoolteacher in Qom, Mohammad says he earns around $250 a month. “Many evenings, we had to eat a very meager supper. My wife…would ask me why we have to be sanctioned like this; why did we have to be shamed before our families and before Islam?” |
| Among the top issues Rouhani will have to address if the sanctions are lifted is underdevelopment. His government initially planned to boost job creation by investing in regional infrastructure projects, but was instead forced to focus on anti-inflationary policies. | Among the top issues Rouhani will have to address if the sanctions are lifted is underdevelopment. His government initially planned to boost job creation by investing in regional infrastructure projects, but was instead forced to focus on anti-inflationary policies. |
| At the Rasouli market in Zahedan, the capital of the heavily impoverished southwestern province of Sistan and Balochestan, 51-year-old shopkeeper Bashir follows news on the negotiations closely. Every three months, he travels across the border to Karachi to pick up new stock. To him, it is the Pakistani rupee, whose value against the Iranian has nearly doubled since 2011, that matters. | |
| “Prices have risen so much lately that I’ve lost half of my customers. My income has been cut in half,” Bashir says. “My five-year-old has a blood disease, and the treatments are about 30 to 40 million rials a month. A few years ago the Rasouli market was in good shape. We had students here from Tehran and Mashhad and Shiraz, and they would come spend lots of money at the market. But now it’s like a ghost town here.” | “Prices have risen so much lately that I’ve lost half of my customers. My income has been cut in half,” Bashir says. “My five-year-old has a blood disease, and the treatments are about 30 to 40 million rials a month. A few years ago the Rasouli market was in good shape. We had students here from Tehran and Mashhad and Shiraz, and they would come spend lots of money at the market. But now it’s like a ghost town here.” |
| In a middle-class neighborhood near central Tehran’s Fatemi Square, beauty shop owner Marzieh says she lost two-thirds of her customers in the past two years, along with around 80% of her original monthly profit. | In a middle-class neighborhood near central Tehran’s Fatemi Square, beauty shop owner Marzieh says she lost two-thirds of her customers in the past two years, along with around 80% of her original monthly profit. |
| “People here want to look nice, but they can’t dig the money out from their rent, their gas bill, their electricity bill,” she says. “Hopefully there will be a deal and after four years we will finally breathe. We’ll be happy again.” | “People here want to look nice, but they can’t dig the money out from their rent, their gas bill, their electricity bill,” she says. “Hopefully there will be a deal and after four years we will finally breathe. We’ll be happy again.” |
| If his government achieves a nuclear deal, Rouhani will face a disenchanted electorate eager for change that may not come quickly enough. Until now, Iranian officials had the luxury of blaming Iran’s sluggish economy on “unjust” foreign sanctions, says Farmanesh. “With a diminished scapegoat, Rouhani will be hard pressed, fairly quickly, to explain why he has not been able to turn things around.” | If his government achieves a nuclear deal, Rouhani will face a disenchanted electorate eager for change that may not come quickly enough. Until now, Iranian officials had the luxury of blaming Iran’s sluggish economy on “unjust” foreign sanctions, says Farmanesh. “With a diminished scapegoat, Rouhani will be hard pressed, fairly quickly, to explain why he has not been able to turn things around.” |
| Some 770 kilometers north of Zahedan, 60-year-old Ali sells art supplies on Sajjad Boulevard in Mashhad, Iran’s second-largest city. “There is a fundamental, structural reason why Iran is so broken - financial corruption and organized crime,” he says. “Even if they remove the sanctions and begin selling oil, the money will flow right into the pockets of the fat cats. The economy isn’t going to be fixed so easily. Thirty years ago Iranian leaders were saying that they were ready to rescue the world, but now all of the world has to rescue us.” | Some 770 kilometers north of Zahedan, 60-year-old Ali sells art supplies on Sajjad Boulevard in Mashhad, Iran’s second-largest city. “There is a fundamental, structural reason why Iran is so broken - financial corruption and organized crime,” he says. “Even if they remove the sanctions and begin selling oil, the money will flow right into the pockets of the fat cats. The economy isn’t going to be fixed so easily. Thirty years ago Iranian leaders were saying that they were ready to rescue the world, but now all of the world has to rescue us.” |