Translated material
Iranian lessons
The Islamic Republic of Iran has been living under international sanctions since its formation. What is the end?
Sanctions against Iran were imposed back in 1979, when the United States broke off diplomatic relations with Tehran because of the capture of American diplomats hostage. Then, all Iranian Avauars were frozen in American banks, American companies were forbidden to conduct business in Iran, primarily in the oil and gas production sphere.
With the outbreak of Iran-Iraq war of 1980-1988, sanctions were tightened. In 1984, the United States banned any insurance and credit transactions in Iran to American companies. In 1996, the American Congress adopted the “Law on Sanctions against Iran and Libya”, according to which any state cooperating with Iran in the field of energy, the oil and gas industry could itself become the object of Washington’s sanctions.
The tightening of sanctions occurred in 2006, when the UN Security Council of the UN 1737 was adopted, developed in response to Iran’s refusal to suspend the enrichment of uranium and prohibiting the supply of nuclear technologies and materials. Also, the UN Security Council resolution froze the accounts of companies and individuals related to the Iranian nuclear program.
Over 35 years of sanctions, the country transferred accents from foreign consumer markets to internal resources. Most of Western companies that collaborated with Iran created subsidiaries within the country that satisfy the demand for raw materials and bypassing prohibitions and sanctions. Iran began to trade with the countries of Asia, in particular, with China.
The “black knights” (or “Allah’s hand”) also played a large role - this is the name in Iran hundreds of commercial organizations that supply the country forbidden goods bypassing sanctions. The network of such companies has been formed since 1979 and has been operating so far. At the same time, most of the imported goods pass through structures close to the Corps of the Islamic Revolution Guardians, which turned from the military wing of the Ayatol regime into a powerful business corporation.
In addition, large European concerns tried to prevent competitors from Asia to the Iranian market, primarily China. So, for example, in the automotive industry, Iran occupies a leading position in the region, but most cars assembled in the country until 2011 are licensed by Peugeot and Renault. In order not to fall under the sanctions, French companies worked under the pretext of “preventing the dilapidation of equipment” (that is, French experts ensured maintenance of machine tools). The same algorithm was used by German concerns - in the mining industry.
By the end of the first decade of “zero years”, Iran, which ranks third in the reserves of oil and gas in the world, was generally able to fill the vacuum that arose with the departure of Western companies. So, for example, already in 2010, Singapore, Chinese, Japanese firms occupied the export market of Iranian oil -containing products. The lack of gasoline was replenished with supplies from the UAE, India, Turkmenistan.
In 2010, Iran began to finance the development of the private sector in the banking sector. Many new banks served as covering up the sanctions of government agencies.
However, powerful sectoral sanctions adopted by the United States and the EU in 2010-2012, which introduced the embargo to Iranian oil, and also completely cut off the Iranian banks, including the Central Bank of Iran, from the global financial system, were the new serious obstacle to the development of the Iranian economy. In 2012-2013, due to the oil embargo, the Iranian economy annually lost $ 40 billion, $ 100 billion was blocked in international banks. The Iranian currency - RIL - fell by 70 %in two years, the total inflation rate was 44 %, and unemployment lasted at 25 %.
The catastrophic position of the Iranian economy, hungry riots, flashing since 2010 in different regions of the country, forced Tehran to make concessions to the world community in a nuclear dossier. In November 2013, Tehran accepted a number of conditions of international intermediaries in the person of the Six countries, in particular, agreeing to a chemical stage of the development of nuclear weapons and the restructuring of a heavy-water reactor in Arak in an easily water. In response, the regime of sanctions against Tehran was suspended for six months. After this period, negotiations in a positive way were continued.
On July 21, 2014, the EU Council extended the moratorium on the action of sanctions against Iran until November 24, and on August 2, the United States temporarily lifted the ban on the purchase of petrochemical products from Iran.