TEHRAN – Hossein Alaei, an expert on strategic affairs, has suggested that the new administration of Ebrahim Raisi to devise new strategy for challenges facing the country.

In an interview with the IRNA news agency published on Friday, Alaei said the cabinet makeup and political issues or of great importance to the public and the people show high sensitivity toward it.

The people want those with managerial posts in the government will be able to do reforms and resolve problems and counter challenges, he remarked.

He said the governments have “come and gone” but the problems have remained unresolved.

Now that a new government has come to power it can with the help of its ministers resolve issues which have turned into “macro problems” in the areas of water, drought, environment, unemployment, etc. the expert suggested.

 If only the “persons” are changed, the wrong policies and the problems will persist, he remarked.

The problems are clear and the ways that have been adopted to resolve them have not produced the desired results therefore it is necessary to “revise” those policies, Alaei pointed out.

The expert on strategic affairs said those who have drafted the 2025 Outlook Plan should explain how they want to achieve those goals and if not, why don’t they change the policy?

Alaei said why do countries near and around Iran have succeeded to resolve their problems but we have yet been able to do so.

He asked why do countries which don’t have energy resources have been turned into the hub of energy and people from Europe are living in “dry” neighboring countries but why are people leaving certain areas in the country?

So far as there is will be no change in macro policies the challenges will remain unresolved and even if a minister is more active than the other, he will push the country more toward the “wrong path”.

Alaei, a university professor, said one of the challenges of the country is inappropriate intervention by governments in economic issues including setting prices.

Governments interfere in the market so that people can have access to goods at a lower price but it will produce the opposite result, he pointed out. For example, he said the government put pressure on chicken farms and the result was a sharp rise in chicken prices as producers reduced their production.

“State economy has no result other than costs for the country,” he opined.

He also called on the new government to follow a balanced foreign policy.

It has been stated in the constitution that Iran should make efforts to establish relations with all countries with the exception of the Zionist regime because it will meet the country’s national interest.

The slogan of the Islamic Revolution is “neither East, nor West, the Islamic Republic” and there should be a balance between them, he pointed out.

“For example, we should not allow the East use Iran as a tool in its dealings with the United States and neither the United States use Iran as a tool for its management of the East,” he suggested.

The expert added, “We should make use of international capacities for development of Iran and therefore we should reduce political differences and and expand relations with the world.”

Alaei, the former IRGC commander, went on to say that the founder of the Islamic Revolution reached the conclusion in 1988 that the continuation of the war with Iraq will not benefit Iran and he made a U-turn and ended the war.

“This model can still serve as a model for us and if necessary, we should use it in a calculated way.”

For example, he said, in facing the United States “we should act in a way that make ourselves strong and not make them strong… these are the major issues that the government should take into consideration.”

On the United States’ hostile moves against Iran, the former military commander said, “The nuclear challenge reached its height during the Donald Trump presidency. The greatest economic and political pressure were put on Iran in the history of mankind.”

No time the U.S. has been in such a great hostility toward Iran, he added.

The administration of Trump formally applied the “maximum pressure” against Iran by making use of all the historical experiences in sanctioning other countries so that it could make Iran submit to its demands, said Alaei, a professor of strategic management at Imam Hussein University.

He said it was expected that the U.S. rejoin the JCPOA – the official name for the 2015 nuclear deal – immediately as he called Trump’s policies wrong and unequivocally called his exit from the JCPOA a reckless act, however, the Democratic administration of Biden has linked return to the JCPOA to “negotiations and a new agreement”.

All expected that the nuclear deal talks reach a conclusion soon and the U.S. lift sanctions but the Biden administration refused to immediately lift sanctions, he said. On the other hand, he added, Iran sought assurances and verification that the United States would not stubbornly withdraw from the JCPOA again and return sanctions.

Now despite the fact that six months have passed since Biden has come to power nothing except negotiations have happened and therefore one of the challenges of the new government in Iran is the Vienna talks, he added.

“U.S. is the greatest hurdle to Iran’s progress”

The Americans have shown over the past four decades that they are the greatest obstacle to Iran’s progress and even without the nuclear dispute the issue of relations between Iran and the United States will remain one of the challenges, he said.

Through its arrogant policies the United States is preventing commercial ties between Iran and other countries to the extent that even friendly countries are not ready to formally enter business dealings with Iran and return Iran’s assets and this is also another challenge for the Raisi government, he elaborated.

The first commander of the IRGC Navy suggested that Iran should weight costs and benefits of its foreign policy.

“I believe that as we did not have a good relationship with the Soviet Union but there was a revision at the end of the imposed (1980-88) war the issue of reducing tension with the U.S. should also be revised with the consideration of Iran’s national interests.”

He suggested that relations with China and Russia is necessary with regard to the JCPOA “but it not enough”.

“One cannot and should not look at any country as an ally.”

The senior analyst also said many countries don’t want the issues between Iran and the United States to be settled because they know that if tensions between Tehran and Washington are reduced, they will lose their significance for the U.S. and the West.

If Saudi Arabia has become important for the U.S. it is because of hostility of the U.S. toward the Islamic Republic, he remarked.

On the normalization of relations between certain Arab countries and the Zionist regime, he said, “Most Arab countries see their survival dependent on the U.S. and the U.S. has been trying for years to resolve relations between the Zionist regime and these countries.”

 “Of course,” he said, “Different administrations in the U.S. have adopted different tactics in this regard. They all have been seeking relations between Arab countries and the Zionist regime.”

PA/PA