Iran to Tackle Economic Issues as Officials Warn of “More Painful” Response

Reuters

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.

Iran said it would step up efforts to address problems caused by US sanctions that are crippling its economy, while a senior Iranian official warned of a “painful response” if the country comes under further attack.

After a pause in military action for much of July, tit-for-tat strikes have resumed. US Central Command said it struck three Iranian tankers on Saturday in response to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps launching ballistic missiles at two US Navy ships.

Following the attacks, Iran's Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said on Sunday that the U.S. should understand that the rules of the game in the war against Iran have changed "before it is too late".

"From now on, any attack against Iran’s interests and security will receive a faster, heavier and more painful response,” he said in a speech published on his Telegram channel.

Six months after U.S.-Israeli strikes against Iran, the war appears to be at ‌a stalemate. A preliminary ceasefire accord reached in June has unravelled and little progress has been made in diplomatic efforts to get the peace process back on track.

Tehran has shown it still retains the capability to attack ⁠U.S. interests in neighbouring countries and to shut down oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of global oil supplies flowed prior to the conflict.

However, the U.S. campaign to throttle Iran's economy by blockading its oil exports and stopping sanctions evasion is growing increasingly difficult to withstand, three senior Iranian sources have said, according to Reuters.

In his speech on Sunday, Ghalibaf added that alongside the military front, Iran’s main battle was now over production and people’s livelihoods.

He cited sharp currency fluctuations, inflation, unemployment and market management as major challenges, adding Iranians could tolerate hardship but not mismanagement or inaction and expected the government to act quickly.

Iran's Economy Minister Ali Madanizadeh said that Tehran planned to respond to U.S. economic pressure with reforms and rejected the idea that sanctions would cause it to change course, according to state media on Sunday.

“They speak of economic pressure and isolation, of breaking off financial ties and they think that by pressuring the economy of a country they can change the decisions of its people,” Madanizadeh said.

“I have to clarify one point: the responsibility of reforming Iran’s economy is with its government and people, not with the U.S. Treasury."

Separately, Economy Ministry deputy Morteza Zamanian said on Sunday that the ministry's “Economic War Headquarters” was doubling down on its work to resolve problems caused by the war, ‌according to ⁠the semi-official Tasnim news agency.

Iran is the third-largest producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and exported 90% of its crude via its Kharg Island export hub before the war. Flows have been disrupted since a U.S. blockade of Iranian oil exports began in mid-April.



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