Iran: Resistance and Economic Reform Are the Response to US Pressure

WANA (Sep 06) – Iran’s Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance, Seyed Ali Madanizadeh, has stressed that responsibility for reforming the country’s economy rests with the Iranian government and people, not Washington, in response to recent remarks by the US Treasury secretary on tightening sanctions and increasing economic pressure on Iran.

Madanizadeh said Iran’s response to US economic pressure would be a combination of “economic resistance and reform,” emphasizing that there is a significant difference between bearing economic costs and surrendering economically. He said the Iranian people have paid a heavy price in recent years but would not surrender to external pressure.

The Iranian economy minister described the country’s economy as a broad network of people, businesses, entrepreneurs, producers, exporters, traders, farmers and other economic actors. He said they had found new ways to maintain production, trade and financing even under the most difficult sanctions conditions.

Madanizadeh said that, rather than focusing on economic pressure and weakening Iran’s economy, the government is pursuing structural economic reforms, higher productivity, expanded trade and production, greater investment and stronger economic ties with regional countries and other trading partners.

He identified diversifying trading partners, expanding regional trade, strengthening the private sector, reducing dependence on oil revenues, increasing non-oil exports, reforming the banking system and controlling inflation as key elements of the government’s economic strategy.

“We run Iran’s economy for the livelihood of the Iranian people, not for Washington’s satisfaction,” Madanizadeh said, adding that Iran’s economic future would be determined by its own people based on their interests and plans.