Iran: Sanctions and Neoliberalism

In response to the United States and its European allies’ ‘Maximum Pressure’ sanctions on the Islamic Republic of Iran and the unimaginable suffering and devastating economic problems they have caused, Iran, like many other countries targeted by imperialist states, has been trying to devise an east-oriented “resistance economy.” However, the sanctions strategy itself puts obstacles in this path. While a well-entrenched pro-West neoliberal section of the Iranian capitalist class, which still controls important parts of the Iranian economy, sabotages these efforts, so-called “smart sanctions” —designed to strengthen the private sector against their public sector — are seeking to shift the internal balance of forces in favor of this very section of the capitalist class. The result has been a struggle within the Iranian leadership between the representatives of this entrenched pro-West neo-liberal capitalist class and the supporters of an east-oriented “resistance economy. ” Its outcome will sha