Rohani: Our Main Problems Are Due to American Pressure, No One Should Blame the Government

Hassan Rouhani, the President of Iran, accompanied by a group of government officials, visited the tomb of Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic, on Wednesday, February 10. He stated that "we are facing the greatest economic pressure since the revolution." In this meeting, he also mentioned that "today, our problems mainly stem from the pressure of America and its affiliates; no one should blame the serving government or the great Islamic system instead of condemning America." Rouhani's assertion that the government and system should not be blamed comes as Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic, stated that U.S. sanctions are one of the two main factors of the problems, with the other being "internal and structural challenges in the country's economy." Political and economic analysts have repeatedly pointed to structural problems in Iran's politics and economy. For instance, Mehdi Karroubi, a critic of Ayatollah Khamenei who is under house arrest, wrote in a letter last month: "With this management style, the country has returned to the Qajar era." Many economists have also criticized the management style that has persisted for decades in various letters to the leaders of the Islamic Republic. About five months ago, Khamenei referred to one of these letters and acknowledged that "most" of the proposed solutions were correct. The 38 signatories of the letter that Khamenei referred to identified the recent economic crises in Iran as stemming from public distrust in the Islamic Republic and instability in its positions. In his Nowruz message for the year 1396, Khamenei also stated that "there is a significant gap between the actions taken and the expectations of the people and the leadership." In contrast, Hassan Rouhani defended his government's economic performance in his Nowruz message. Meanwhile, Khamenei expressed doubts about the accuracy of the government's statistics regarding the improvement of people's economic conditions during a meeting with members of the Assembly of Experts on March 19, 1395. Two days prior, Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, the head of the Assembly of Experts and the Secretary of the Guardian Council, had asked Rouhani to report on the government's actions to implement "resistant economy" and to "apologize to the people if it has not acted in accordance with the resistant economy." In response, Rouhani called the question of whether the government has succeeded in the "resistant economy" a "irrelevant question" and "the worst question." Rouhani has consistently defended his government's economic performance and has responded to those who accuse him of "verbal therapy" by stating: "Some say do not engage in verbal therapy. Yes, verbal therapy is not very effective, but hope therapy is effective." Rouhani's government has also faced criticism from some Islamic Republic officials regarding reliance on the nuclear agreement, the JCPOA, and trust in America regarding this issue. On Wednesday, in another part of his speech at the tomb of Ruhollah Khomeini, he addressed critics of the JCPOA, saying: "No one should say that America sat down to negotiate with Iran but trampled on honesty and fidelity to the covenant." He added: "This statement is like saying that the Prophet signed the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah and did not know it would be violated, or Imam Hassan signed a treaty and did not know the other side would breach it." Rouhani continued: "The basis of negotiation is not how long the other side will adhere to its promise, but the essence of conducting negotiations is what matters. Political, moral, and legal victories of negotiations never disappear."