Iran’s economic jihad
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by Gareth Smith April 3, 2014

written by Gareth Smith April 3, 2014

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei addresses a crowd in February

Fighting talk is nothing new in Iran, and cries of ‘economic jihad’ have revived since February’s decree on the ‘resistance economy’ from Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Despite November’s Geneva interim agreement on the nuclear issue, Iran’s leader is aware of the continuing damage of western sanctions, especially United States and European Union measures that have halved oil exports to 1.1 million barrels a day. After two years of contraction, Iran has every reason to want to improve economic performance, and Khamenei’s decree offers a vision of a ‘resistance economy’ based on higher production, reduced imports, higher investment of energy revenue, financial reform, greater transparency and creating ‘knowledge-based’ industries. Khamenei first used the term ‘resistance economy’ in 2010, emphasizing Iran becoming more self-sufficient and resilient to outside shocks. Little in the decree — other than perhaps a checklist for state bodies — is new. So why now? According to some observers, the

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.

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Iran’s economic jihad
EN AR