Iranians Criticize New Sanctions

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

The New York Sun

TEHRAN — Despite the government’s insistence that American and U.N. sanctions aren’t causing any pain, some leading Iranians have begun to say publicly that the pressure does hurt. And on Tehran’s streets, people are increasingly worried over the economic pinch.

The sanctions have heightened resentment of America among some in the public. But they are also fueling criticism among Iranian politicians that President Ahmadinejad is mismanaging the crisis with hard-line stances that worsen the standoff with the West.

Washington announced new sanctions yesterday, targeting Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards, which America accuses of supporting terrorism by backing Shiite militants in Iraq. The sanctions ban American dealings with the extensive network of businesses believed linked to the Guards — and put stepped-up pressure on international banks to cut any ties with those firms.

The sanctions come at a time when Iran’s economy is struggling, with dramatic price rises this year. The cost of housing and basic foodstuffs like vegetables have doubled or even quadrupled. The government also has imposed unpopular fuel rationing in an attempt to reduce expensive subsidies for imported gasoline.

Word of the American move angered people in Tehran.

“The sanctions will damage us, our children and our people and not the government. Prices of everything increased up to double after former sanctions by the U.N.,” a 45-year-old teacher, Morteza Morovvati, said. “Who in the world and the Iranian government is going to care about ordinary people?”

A retired clerk for an electricity equipment company, Hashem Nazari, said that even before the new American sanctions on some Iranian banks, his son living in Germany could not send him money through the banks.

“For the past two months, he has sent me money through private money exchangers,” Mr. Nazari said.

Still, much of the anger appeared focused at the West.

“This will be another step by (President) Bush toward igniting war in the region,” a graduate student in political science, Mansour Rasti, 28, said of the new sanctions.

A 37-year-old government bureaucrat, Marzieh Aghai, said she would support her country no matter what. “They (the Americans) don’t know the Guards. We are proud of them.”


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