Iran after the US election: We suffered US economic terror for three years

The US walked away from the Iran deal in 2018 and has put “maximum pressure” on Iran led by men like Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and Iran czar Brian Hook and Elliott Abrams.

By SETH J. FRANTZMAN
A woman walks in front of new murals of the former US embassy in Tehran, Iran November 2, 2019 (photo credit: REUTERS)
A woman walks in front of new murals of the former US embassy in Tehran, Iran November 2, 2019
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said his country has suffered years of US “economic terrorism,” but now after the US election, it hopes the US will learn the lesson that Iran will not “submit” to US pressure.
Iran’s regime is calculating that US President Donald Trump has lost the election and is portraying itself as self-sufficient and strong in front of years of US pressure.
The US walked away from the Iran deal in 2018 and has put “maximum pressure” on Iran, led by men like US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Iran “czar” Brian Hook and Elliott Abrams. Abrams took on the Iran file from Hook in August. A hawk on Venezuela, Abrams has barely settled into his role.
Now it looks like these powerhouses of US President Donald Trump’s administration will be leaving office, and Iran faces some tough choices. Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif was sent to Venezuela to shore up Iran’s role there and carve out some influence.
Iran calculates on several frontlines at once. It wants the US to leave Iraq. It wants to open new relations with China. It has a pro-China lobby, which argues that Rouhani should not grovel to the new US administration. It also wants to work with Europe and Russia, but it knows that Europe lacks substance and is mostly virtue-signaling.
That leaves Iran with several options. It is suffering economic pressure and putting on a brave face while it builds new missiles and drones, hoping that the end of an arms embargo will mean it can sell its wares.
“Our people have been facing economic terrorism for the past three years, and in this regard, they have shown remarkable resistance, patience and unparalleled resilience,” Rouhani told the public on Saturday.
Iran uses the term resistance to refer to its campaign to defeat US “arrogance” in the region and also to “resist” the US, Israel and US allies in the Gulf. Iran is nonplussed about Israel’s new friendships with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. Along with Turkey, Iran also funds and supports Hamas.
“The decision of our country is always clear, and in any situation, our nation will continue its resistance and patience so that the other side will bow down before the law and regulations,” Rouhani said. “We hope that this three-year experience will be a lesson for them [the US] that, God willing, the future US government will submit to the law and regulations and return to its obligations and our dear people. Our people will receive the reward of their patience, endurance and perseverance.”
That means he hopes US President-elect Joe Biden’s future administration will return to the 2015 Iran deal. However, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps wonders if Iran even needs that, and it has urged Zarif not to grovel toward that goal.

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Rouhani said Iran is under a new wave of COVID-19 and that people will implement the policies of the government accurately and intensely to confront the pandemic.
“We need to observe social distance, and in order for communities to decrease the spread, for physical distance to increase,” he said. “The problem we have now is family gatherings and periods, especially in winter, when the nights are longer and we Iranians have a tradition of having more gatherings.”
“Our people have rights, the same citizenship rights – travel is free, short-term or long-term residence – and participation in society and communities is free,” Rouhani said. “But all these rights have one condition, and that is that these rights are important to the extent that they do not harm the health of people and society. It is important to note that means maintaining the health of society.”


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