Iran’s Grim Economy Limits Its Willingness to Confront the U.S. Fearful of public anger over a plunging economy, Iran’s leaders appear to be turning inward, pulling back from escalation.

New York Times ^ | January 13, 2020 | Peter S. Goodman

[karpov]

LONDON — Iran is caught in a wretched economic crisis. Jobs are scarce. Prices for food and other necessities are skyrocketing. The economy is rapidly shrinking. Iranians are increasingly disgusted.

Crippling sanctions imposed by the Trump administration have severed Iran’s access to international markets, decimating the economy, which is now contracting at an alarming 9.5 percent annual rate, the International Monetary Fund estimated. Oil exports were effectively zero in December, according to Oxford Economics, as the sanctions have prevented sales, even though smugglers have transported unknown volumes.

The bleak economy appears to be tempering the willingness of Iran to escalate hostilities with the United States, its leaders cognizant that war could profoundly worsen national fortunes. In recent months, public anger over joblessness, economic anxiety and corruption has emerged as a potentially existential threat to Iran’s hard-line regime.

Only a week ago, such sentiments had been redirected by outrage over the Trump administration’s Jan. 3 killing of Iran’s top military commander, Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani. But protests flared anew over the weekend in Tehran, and then continued on Monday, after the government’s astonishing admission that it was — despite three days of denial — responsible for shooting down a Ukrainian jetliner.

The demonstrations were most pointedly an expression of contempt for the regime’s cover-up following its downing of the Ukrainian jet, which killed all 176 people on board. But the fury in the streets resonated as a rebuke for broader grievances — diminishing livelihoods, financial anxiety and the sense that the regime is at best impotent in the face of formidable troubles.

Inflation is running near 40 percent, assailing consumers with sharply rising prices for food and other basic necessities. More than one in four young Iranians is jobless, with college graduates especially short of work, according to the World Bank.

[Redcitizen]

The Shah, Khadaffi and Saddam, in a way stabilized things in the Middle East through that ruthlessness. Kahdaffi settled down after Reagan bombed Libya. Saddam made Iraq powerful enough to oppose Iran. The Shah made Iran somewhat western leaning.

[VTenigma]

Either that or they don’t want to become grease stains.

[tomkat]

I won’t waste my time on a seditious NYT article, but one can just sense their tears dripping off the title .. LOL

ESADNYT !

[LS]

Lemme translate NYSlimese:

“Trump won, dammit, and he has forced the Whackadoodle Muslim Jihadists (WMJs) to back down. Dammit.”