Iran battles US sanctions with diverse infrastructure projects

Iran says local manufacturing helped cut imports by $5.4bn

…from PressTV, Tehran

[ Editor’s Note: Iran’s long history of international trade has helped it to soften the impact of the US sanctions. It focused quickly to maximize all efforts to produce everything possible domestically to lessen pressure on spending precious hard currencies on imports.

Iran’s former large oil exports had provided it all the hard currency it needed to purchase imported goods before sanctions, hence the US sanctions to target oil exports was an initial hard blow. But years later, Iran has shown it used old and new methods to soften the blow.

One of its methods was creating a $5 billion fund to buy business assets as foreign subsidiaries that it needed to produce products it did not have, such as medicines.

The US ruthlessly refused to soften the medicine sanctions, including those needed for children. It did so with the goal of fostering domestic discontent against the Iranian regime, despite the problem being caused by the US.

The Rouhani government was careful to monitor unemployment and spread out job creating business investments to create as much trickle down economic benefits as possible.

It knew that high unemployment would feed the opposition elements inside the country that were waiting in the wings to become the new US puppets, if the mullahs could be overthrown. That has not happened, nor are their any signs that it might at this point.

Part of the stimulation mix after the more medium scaled domestic production investments was the long awaited Chinese $500 billion mega deal came through as a 25 year project.

All eyes are on US President Biden to separate his policy on Iran away from what Trump did, with Yemen and Syria waiting in the wings for US support to revive their economies… Jim W. Dean ]

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First published … May 23, 2021

Figures by Iran’s ministry of industries (MIMT) shows that a campaign to launch local manufacturing for imported goods and machinery helped cut the government’s imports bill by around $5.4 billion in the 18 months to late March.

A senior official said on Sunday that the ministry had achieved some 77% of the targets set in the campaign for local manufacturing of products that used to be imported before September 2019.

Mohammad Mehdi Hadavi, who chairs MIMT’s Center for Localized Manufacturing, said that most of the goods that replaced imported products have been parts and components that are widely used in the manufacturing and construction sectors in Iran.

“With the help of expert groups, we managed to launch local production for $5.4 billion or 77% of the parts that are used in the projects,” Hadavi was quoted as saying by the semi-official Mehr news agency.

Iran’s manufacturing sector has experienced a major boom in recent years thanks to growing government support and the increased involvement of private investors.

The boost in manufacturing activity has helped the country offset the impacts of the US sanctions on supplies of goods and services while it has also led to increased number of jobs for Iran’s youth population.

In remarks published on Sunday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani hailed the robust growth in Iran’s manufacturing sector as a sign of utter failure for US policy of imposing sanctions on the country.

“Production growth figures reported in various parts of the country’s manufacturing sector is the best evidence of the futility of the US maximum pressure policy,” said Rouhani.

Jim W. Dean

Jim W. Dean is VT Editor Emeritus.  He was an active editor on VT from 2010-2022.  He was involved in operations, development, and writing, plus an active schedule of TV and radio interviews.  He now writes and posts periodically for VT.

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