Iran: Countering the sanctions through negotiations or out of peoples’ pockets?
Iranian regime officials are concerned over how to compensate for the lack of foreign currency. While international sanctions against the regime ruling Iran increase and every venue for exporting oil comes to a close, the ruling theocracy in Iran is going into a panic mode. Petrodollars, in addition to covering Iran’s hegemonistic ambitions and its export of fundamentalism throughout the Middle East, also provided for part of the government’s budget. Now that the U.S.’ zero-export-policy is firmly implemented, Iranian regime officials are concerned over how to compensate for the lack of foreign currency. This prevailing issue looms large over the already hot internal debates between Iran’s opposing factions inside the ruling elite weighing the right approach towards the international community. In response to the new no-waiver policy for Iran’s oil exports, the mullahs’ Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani claim Iran will sell as much oil as it wa...