Admitting it hurts

by Gareth Smith October 1, 2012

written by Gareth Smith October 1, 2012

After months of denial that this year’s new United States and European Union sanctions were having any effect, Iran’s leaders have changed their tune and are acknowledging that moves to stifle oil exports are biting. In August, state media reported rahbar (‘leader’) Ayatollah Ali Khamenei calling for an “economy of resistance” to use “the nation’s full potential” to “break the illusions of the arrogant powers”. The theme was taken up by many analysts in the Iranian media, and last month Mohsen Rezaei, a weathervane loyalist and former commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, spoke of a “new economic system” involving barter deals with other countries, lower taxes and reduced dependence on oil. It would have been impossible to deny much longer the effects of US sanctions that threaten to bar from the American market any country or entity dealing with Iran’s central bank, the usual conduit for trade including

Gareth Smith

Gareth Smith was a distinguished journalist who reported from the Middle East for over two decades. He served as the Financial Times correspondent in Tehran, where he was the chief Iran correspondent from 2003, following his earlier role as Lebanon correspondent. Throughout his career, Smith covered Middle Eastern affairs for leading media outlets, including The Financial Times, The Guardian, and the BBC. He also contributed as an editor to Executive magazine. His work as a freelance journalist in the 1990s, focusing on the politics of Iran and Iraq, paved the way for his appointment at the FT. In 2009, he relocated to the west coast of Ireland, where he balanced freelance journalism with his passion for nature and the land.

Admitting it hurts

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