TEHRAN – Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said on Sunday that Iran’s economic problems are related to mismanagement in “Pasteur and Bahrestan” rather than the result of U.S. election in the states of Arizona, Georgia, or Michigan.

Pasteur is the seat of the president in Iran and Bahrestan is the seat of the Majlis (parliament).

“Although we are happy over [U.S. President Donald] Trump’s defeat but people’s life and livelihood should not be tied to the victory or defeat of anyone in the White House,” Ghalibaf said in remarks at the parliament.

“The most important root of the country’s problems is mismanagement, inaction, not using great domestic capacities and lack of coordination between policy-making and executive bodies,” he said.

The parliament speaker said decisions regarding the housing sector, stock exchange, release of goods from customs, monetary and banking policies, budget planning, profiteering in foreign currency, gold and car markets, and inattention to domestic production as examples of mismanagement. 
It is because of these mismanagements that have not produced desired results in establishing effective trade ties with neighbors, regional countries, and important countries in the world, especially Eurasians, added Ghalibaf, the former Tehran mayor.

Since assuming office in January 2017, Trump has pursued confrontational policies against Iran. He withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal (JCPOA) in May 2018 and imposed the “toughest ever” economic sanctions in history on Iran. Trump’s Iran policy has been described by observers as an abject failure.

In his latest move, the U.S. president notified Congress on Thursday that he was extending the state of national emergency with Iran that has been in place since 1979.

“Our relations with Iran have not yet normalized, and the process of implementing the agreements with Iran, dated January 19, 1981, is ongoing. For this reason, the national emergency declared on November 14, 1979, and the measures adopted on that date to deal with that emergency, must continue in effect beyond November 14, 2020,” Trump wrote in a letter to Congress.

Meanwhile, U.S. President-elect Joe Biden has voiced support for the JCPOA, saying his administration will rejoin the deal.

Ghalibaf, however, emphasized that in order to resolve the country’s problems, the government should focus on domestic capabilities instead of waiting for the new U.S. administration to resolve Iran’s problems. 

“Do not give the wrong address to the people,” he advised the officials.

Ghalibaf added, “It is quite evident that lifting of sanctions should be one of the aims of foreign policy, but to be realistic a lift of sanction without creating opportunities and increasing power is simplistic.” 

The senior lawmaker also said saying something the signals “weakness” to the enemy is just a loss of opportunity. 

He said the Majlis believes that Iran should make economic pressure on the Islamic Republic “costly” for its enforcers.  

The speaker also said it is true that there is a difference between outgoing U.S. President Donald Trump and incoming president Joe Biden but in the best-case scenario, he will act like Barack Obama who introduced “crippling sanctions” on Iran.

“It is true that Biden is different from Trump but we should know that in the best case he will not be different from Obama who was the architect of the so-called crippling sanction.” 

Biden served as vice president in the Barack Obama administration.

“While we know the difference (between Trump and Biden) we believe that the new occupant of the White House has clear aims and his policies have already been implemented,” the parliament speaker remarked.

Addressing Biden, Ghalibaf said, “The Iranian people, quite intelligently, will only look at decisions and not publicity and are only waiting for action and not words, and will give proper answers in accordance to them.”

Ghalibaf said Biden and Obama facilitated the path for the reimposition of sanctions on Iran by the Trump administration. 
He said Biden has a bad record in his policy toward Iran and it for this reason that “Biden’s signature” also does not “guarantee” a normalization of Iran’s economic and trade relations with the outside world.

Ghalibaf said it is Biden’s actions and not words that matter. He said what is important for Iran is export of oil, resumption of banking transactions, and the Iranian companies’ trade with the outside world.

"For us the practical action of the Biden administration is important, and we’ll show goodwill only if we see in action the process of oil sale, bank activities and trade of Iranian companies with the world, even though we not optimistic about it,” the senior parliamentarian asserted. 

He went on to say that the new American president should know that the Iranian people have found their own path and are determined to strengthen their “economy”, “security” and also create strategic opportunities and make any pressure on Iran “impossible and costly”.
Addressing Biden, Ghalibaf said, “The Iranian people, quite intelligently, will only look at decisions and not publicity and are only waiting for action and not words, and will give proper answers in accordance to them.”

Ghalibaf also said the November 3 elections laid bare the reality in the United States.

“The recent U.S. election and the events before and after it were a lesson,” he said. “The U.S., which for years hid its structural, social, political and economic problems with its media power, was exposed to the world's public opinion.”

Ghalibaf said the real picture of the United States showed the declining trend of the country in front of the eyes of the world’s oppressed people.

“As my dear brother Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah said a few days ago, we are happy with the defeat of the killer of Lieutenant General [Qassem] Soleimani and Abu Mehdi al-Muhandis,” he remarked.

“We blame the corrupt regime in the United States for their misdeeds, and they must withdraw their forces from the region,” he added.

In remarks on Wednesday, Rouhani said his administration will make use of every opportunity in order to lift the U.S. sanctions.

“Whenever we see that there’s a situation for the lifting of sanctions, we will make use of that,” he said at a cabinet meeting. “Our goal is that cruel sanctions would be lifted.”

He also said the world is faced with new conditions with the defeat of Donald Trump, adding that it would enable the Islamic Republic to strengthen relations with friends and neighbors.

Iran’s foreign relations are based upon ties with neighbors and friends, he added, noting that the termination of Trump’s administration, which was an obstacle to Iran’s relations with other countries, would pave the way for the Iranian relations.

“We established good relations with certain neighbors such as Iraq, Turkey, Afghanistan, and Azerbaijan over the past years, as well as with other friendly countries like Russia, China and others. I feel that the atmosphere for closer relations with all of our friends is more prepared.”

Rouhani also said the Trump administration that sought the fall of the Iranian establishment has faced a “humiliating” defeat itself.

MH/PA