TEHRAN - When Donald Trump announced that he was re-imposing sanctions on Iran, and even intensifying them, the future began to look bleak and uncertain for me and the large population of Iranian youth. 

In 2018, As Trump stood before journalists and spoke of the “maximum pressure campaign”, the Iranian public was sent into a furor. Those who had experienced years of sanctions under Barak Obama and had finally breathed a sigh of relief with the inking of the JCPOA, thinking they would finally be free of punishing sanctions, began to await the worst.

For us, an even harsher round of sanctions seemed impossible to survive. By the end of 2019 over 100 foreign companies had left Iran and the national currency was already tailspinning—the U.S. move to choke off anything the Iranian nation relied on for living sent inflation skyrocketing to rates never experienced before. 

While we all knew that we would enter a period of unprecedented economic turbulence, we still had more to worry about than our squeezing pockets. I remember hearing that we would no longer be able to keep at par with regional countries in the energy sector and sufficiently tap into our God-given resources. That the long lines at pharmacies were only going to grow longer with all medications eventually becoming scarce and that all sorts of different sectors would soon begin to grapple with acute shortages. 

Some parts of our horrid expectations ended up becoming reality. Sanctions compounded Iran’s economic woes and many households could no longer rely on single or double incomes. Rent, food, and almost everything else became much more expensive, forcing people to adopt more cautious spending habits. But a lot of what we feared also never ended up happening. 

During the years, most of what we have heard in the media has been revolving around the JCPOA and efforts to revive the deal. Several politicians have been arguing that anything we do and own hinges on the accord. While it is true that the sanctions have baleful effects on people’s everyday lives, it seems that a large part of what we have been able to achieve in the face of the sanctions is deliberately being sidelined. 

I only began to realize the depth of Iran’s efforts in the past decade when I got to visit an exhibition showcasing Iranian-made products at the Imam Khomeini Hussainiyah, close to where the Leader of the Islamic Revolution lives. 

Before journalists were allowed to visit the site, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei spent a good four hours viewing the products and speaking to the manufacturers.  He visited 40 knowledge-based booths and discussed how the country can further boost domestic production with a focus on science. 

The Leader then expressed disappointment with the fact that most Iranians had not been made aware of the domestic achievements. I could not agree more with him when I got to personally view the products and speak to the entrepreneurs who have been spearheading Iran’s fight against a project aiming to bring the country to its knees. 

People from all sorts of sectors (namely energy, oil, automotive, mining, communications, technology, food, agriculture, medicine, transportation, housing appliances, and textile industries) were present at the exhibition to tell the story of the blood, sweat, and tears they have been putting in to save their country from starring down the barrel of destitute. 

“The truth of the matter is that Iranian scientists and experts couldn’t get the chance to shine before the sanctions. As the Leader said, we have not only managed to eliminate threats but to turn them into opportunities,” said Mehdi Abbasi who is an advisor with the Iranian oil ministry. “At least 500 knowledge-based companies have been established in the oil and gas sector in the past few years. They have even come up with innovations and products that have never been made in our country before,” he added. 

Before I had spoken to these entrepreneurs and representatives, it did not make sense to me how sanctions could manage to help our country in some ways. To me, sanctions were equivalent to pain, poverty, and hardship. It never struck me that even the toughest of situations could prove beneficial with faith and perseverance.

Others at the exhibition seemed to be of the same mind as Abbasi. An engineer who has taken part in the development of Iranian satellites now orbiting around the Earth told me that everything is only going to get better from here. “There are a handful of countries that have the same space capabilities as we do. We think that in the future, Iran will be the one launching satellites for other countries, instead of Russia and the U.S.,” Mohammad Salari explained. 

As I got back home that day, I felt the need to dig deeper into Iran’s major domestic achievements.  Phase 11 of the South Pars Gas Field, the Persian Gulf Star Oil Refinery, and the booming industries of home appliances, fashion, automobiles, and pharmaceuticals all spoke to the same fact: It seems that we have finally managed to take part of the sting out of the U.S. sanctions, and slowly but surely begun to move towards a promising future.  

“Even if we want to sit at the negotiating table with the West, we would only be able to reach a mutually beneficial deal when we are powerful enough to not feel threatened. Tying our whole existence to the sanctions puts us in a more vulnerable position. We should try to talk to the West while making sure that we wouldn’t crumble if they decide to betray us again,” warned a Western-based Iranian journalist back in November of 2022, when the U.S. announced that it was halting talks with Tehran on the 2015 Iran deal.