Iran Focus

London, 13 Oct – The Donald Trump Administration’s push to pressure Iran through reimposing the second round of nuclear sanctions on Iran in November – this time targeting Iran’s central bank and oil industry – is facing challenges for European allies and even some in the Treasury Department, but the administration is fighting back, according to a leaked document.

A research memo that has been circulated among policymakers argues that cutting Iran off from SWIFT, a service that facilitates cross-border financial transactions, is essential and would be effective. After all, it worked in 2012, when President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton did it.

Iran Focus

London, 12 Oct – In the aftermath of the 1979 revolution in Iran, there was a significant change to the economy and the Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) were able to gradually dominate in that area following the Iran-Iraq war.

Now, the IRGC controls a third of Iran’s GDP, with many of its companies or front companies embezzling hundreds of millions from the Iranian people. This is one of the reasons for the current economic crisis in Iran, which was a trigger cause for the Iranian uprising that began in December.

By Jubin Katiraie

The Iranian economy was expected to grow this year, but thanks to US sanctions, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said that the country has now entered a recession.

The IMF World Economic Outlook report, released on Monday, predicted that Iran’s economy will contract by 1.5% in 2018 and 3.5% in 2019.

Iran Focus

London, 9 Oct – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has estimated that the Iranian economy fell into recession this year, thanks to renewed US sanctions, something that will only get worse next year.

The IMF released its World Economic Outlook late on October 8, which stated that Iran’s oil-driven economy is expected to decrease by 1.5% this year, as a result of falling oil exports, something that will only continue to drop in 2019, leading to a shrinkage of 3.6% in the Iranian economy next year.