What Did the Presidential Candidates of Iran Say About Sanctions?

The issue of how to confront sanctions has overshadowed discussions on resolving Iran's current economic crises and has become one of the primary topics in the debates among candidates for the Iranian presidential elections. As Iran's economy faces the most severe sanctions, what are the positions of the six candidates regarding these sanctions? Recognition After Years of Denial The issue of sanctions in the Islamic Republic is not new. Before the Islamic Republic had even completed a year, the attack on the U.S. embassy in Tehran on November 4, 1979, led to the imposition of the first U.S. sanctions against Iran. Since then, the Islamic Republic has been targeted by various international sanctions, especially from the U.S., due to its behavior, particularly its support for terrorism, gross human rights violations, and its nuclear, missile, and drone programs. A Look at 45 Years of Various Sanctions Against the Islamic Republic Initially, officials of the Islamic Republic tried to ignore the impacts of these sanctions, but for several election cycles now, the issue of confronting sanctions has almost become the main topic of electoral debates in Iran, especially in the presidential elections. In the current presidential election, among the six approved candidates, some clearly speak about the harms of sanctions and efforts to lift them, some claim that Iran's economy can thrive despite the sanctions, and others adopt ambiguous and dual positions on this issue. Acknowledgment of the Harms of Sanctions from Candidates Mustafa PourMohammadi, one of these candidates, along with his daughter, who served as his economic advisor in a television roundtable, explicitly referred to the negative consequences of the sanctions. PourMohammadi stated in a television program: "Sanctions cannot be easily ignored. In the early 1990s, we were on par with successful economies in the region, but in the past 10 to 12 years, we have not had that success. We have self-sanctioned ourselves internally and have strengthened flawed foundations. We have witnessed an increase in rents and the granting of facilities that have led to corruption." Over the past 45 years, Iran's nuclear program, which accelerated during Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's presidency, has played a significant role in the imposition of international sanctions against the Islamic Republic. PourMohammadi, who was himself a member of Ahmadinejad's cabinet, stated that cash subsidies during Ahmadinejad's presidency, which coincided with the intensification of sanctions, did not solve any of the economic problems of the people. Masoud Pezeshkian, who has also spoken about the negative impacts of sanctions in Iran, questioned the claim of increased oil sales during Ebrahim Raisi's presidency and warned that if Donald Trump wins the U.S. presidential election, even the current level of oil sales will not be sustainable. When the signing of the nuclear agreement between Iran and world powers, known as the JCPOA, came up, Pezeshkian sought support from Mohammad Javad Zarif, the former foreign minister who played a major role in the negotiations leading to the signing of the JCPOA. Zarif, in support of Pezeshkian, referred to the opposing candidates of the JCPOA as the cause of the people's "misery". Zarif responded to Jalili, who claimed that Rouhani's government increased sanctions, by saying: "Sanctions are not counted by numbers; when they said 800 sanctions before the JCPOA became 1500 after the JCPOA, two of them were myself. Counting sanctions by numbers misleads the people. Where were our bank, oil, petrochemical, insurance, and shipping sanctions?" On the opposing front, Saeed Jalili, another candidate, explicitly denied the negative impacts of sanctions and called the JCPOA a "bitter experience". In his electoral campaign, he reiterated the claims of current Islamic Republic officials regarding Iran's ability to increase oil sales despite sanctions. Jalili stated: "There were those who emphasized the JCPOA and went down that path but did not achieve results. Now, if some come and prescribe the same solution, it means repeating a bitter experience." Despite the possibility of Trump's victory in the U.S. elections and predictions of worsening economic conditions in Iran, Jalili insists that the past experience should not be repeated and that an agreement with the U.S. regarding sanctions should not be reached. In addition to Jalili, Alireza Zakani, the current mayor of Tehran and another election candidate, attacked Pezeshkian and PourMohammadi regarding sanctions, accusing them of what he called "Trumpophobia" and stated: "The era of Trumpophobia is over." Zakani had previously criticized how the JCPOA was approved in parliament during the signing of the agreement. Amir Hossein Ghazizadeh Hashemi, another election candidate, also denied the impact of sanctions on Iran's oil sales, stating: "In these two years, 210 oil sanctions were added, but they had no effect on oil sales." According to Ghazizadeh, "Iran is currently at the peak of foreign policy." Besides the issue of sanctions, the Islamic Republic's refusal to accept the recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has exacerbated Iran's economic woes. PourMohammadi revealed in one of the debates that Jalili was not fundamentally opposed to these recommendations but only did not want their approval to occur during Hassan Rouhani's government. PourMohammadi's remarks faced widespread reactions, and many on social media protested against Jalili. The revelation about Jalili's opposition to joining the FATF became controversial. Meanwhile, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, who is considered one of the main contenders for victory in this election, has spoken ambiguously regarding sanctions. Qalibaf has pretended to be in favor of negotiating about sanctions while also defending the parliamentary law that paved the way for increasing Iran's nuclear tensions. The "Strategic Action for Lifting Sanctions" law was passed by parliament and approved by the Guardian Council in December 2020. This law obligated Hassan Rouhani's government, in the midst of nuclear negotiations with the West, to begin uranium enrichment at a concentration of 20% and suspend the implementation of the Additional Protocol. The International Atomic Energy Agency, in its latest quarterly report, stated that Iran has increased its uranium enrichment level to 60% to a point where if it continues enriching to 90%, it would have the capability to build three nuclear bombs. Western powers say that such a level of enrichment has no civilian justification, and the IAEA has also stated that no other country enriches uranium to this level without the intention of building nuclear weapons. Despite the candidates' statements regarding sanctions, the overarching policies of the Iranian government, especially those that led to the imposition of sanctions against the Islamic Republic, are made at a level beyond that of the President. As Zarif stated in his recent remarks, lifting sanctions is not solely a decision or task of the government, and in the final months of Hassan Rouhani's administration, he was not allowed to revive the JCPOA. This issue has led some segments of the population to take the candidates' statements on this matter less seriously.