How do US sanctions affect the lives of Iranians?
Less than a month has passed since the US reimposed sanctions against Iran, and the country's residents are starting to feel the effects of the move.
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| Tehran, Iran. |
Sputnik spoke to Iranians, including some businessmen, asking about the impact of sanctions on their lives and businesses.
Insurance
According to Mahmud, an insurance salesman, the consequences of the sanctions have an indirect impact on the sector:
"Sanctions do not directly affect my field of activity — this is an indirect impact. What is commonly called "event prediction".
Experts say that the business community immediately reacted to the news that the US intends to re-impose sanctions. As a result, foreign exchange rates and gold prices increased:
“Of course, the general price level has also increased. Although this information appeared a few months before the US re-imposed sanctions in August.”
Tehran, Iran. Photo: AP.
According to him, among the effects of sanctions are the inability of Iranians to conduct transactions with foreign companies, the value of insurance contracts affected by inflation has increased, for example, the value of car insurance contracts, health care insurance has increased because the prices of medicines and medical equipment have increased.
Machinery manufacturing industry
According to himPouriya Ebnrahimi, an expert in the field of machine building,Now the conditions for the development of the automotive industry are much better than they were before the signing of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA):
"The volume of car production has increased, the presence of French groups Peugeot and Renault in the Iranian auto industry plays an important role. In general, I can say that the sanctions have not had a strong impact on the industry. Although in the free market car prices have increased significantly, and production facilities are facing difficulties in the sales process."
Experts predict that after the US fully implements sanctions, car production volume will decline:
"After French companies leave the country and the United States fully implements sanctions, car production volume will drop significantly, and some companies will lose the ability to produce cars domestically."
French group Peugeot in Iran. Photo: AFP.
In addition, many people are working in the auto industry, and they may lose their jobs due to sanctions, the expert said. Answering the question: is there a risk of Iran returning to the pre-JCPOA period due to the new sanctions, the expert said:"There is no definitive answer. On the one hand, both the United States and Iran have experience in working with sanctions, and they can rely on this experience. On the other hand, the United States imposes unilateral economic sanctions against Iran. Europe and the world community criticize the US withdrawal from the agreement with Iran, the negotiations of which have been going on for a long time. Iran's advantage is its partnership with Russia and China."
Publishing industry
GrandfatherHamed Kani, book and newspaper publishing expert, said that the sanctions have caused negative changes not only in the country's economic life, but also in the publishing industry, and that affects the social mood:
"A serious problem we are facing due to the sanctions is the worsening of the social mood. As a result, economic instability can be seen in all sectors, and this destroys progress. The exchange rate increases, commodity prices rise, leading to an increase in production costs. The fever also affects the stock market. There are two prices in the market: free prices and state prices, which also have an impact on book publishing. The purchasing power of books decreases, and sales also decrease. Small print runs make books more expensive. When the number of copies decreases, prices increase. If customers are more interested in buying books, books become cheaper."