🇮🇷 How to Fight Sanctions: The Iranian Experience

On September 9, the Valdai Discussion Club presented the report “Neither East, Nor West: How Iran’s Economy Copes With Sanctions”.

💬 The discussion was moderated by Ivan Timofeev, the Club’s programme director, who noted that Iran remains one of the key cases for those studying the use of sanctions, and that Iran’s experience is extremely important for Russia. Timofeev emphasised that, while this experience cannot be copied literally, it requires careful, unbiased, and objective study.

💬 Adlan Margoev, a researcher at the Institute of International Studies at MGIMO and a co-author of the report, briefly outlined some of its key points. Margoev analysed Iran’s reaction to the sanctions, noting that Tehran was simultaneously trying to reach an agreement with the initiators and adapt to the terms of the sanctions. According to him, the results of Iran’s attempts to reach an agreement show that sanctions are a “one-way ticket.” Even if at some point it is possible to remove or soften them, it is very difficult to ensure the sustainability of this deal. The analyst noted that Iran, despite colossal sanctions pressure, is coping with its basic needs - and this is certainly a positive experience - but it cannot yet scale this success to the entire economy.

💬 Maxim Baranov, Acting Director of the Second Asian Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry, noted that the approach outlined in the report is of interest both from the point of view of assessing the development of modern Iran and from the point of view of survival under sanctions. The diplomat named the need for far-reaching work to create a regulatory framework for combating sanctions. The corresponding declaration signed by Russia and Iran is becoming a basic document for interaction with other countries and can serve as a basis for transferring anti-sanction cooperation from a bilateral to a multilateral format. "Sanctions are not our choice. But we can choose how to fight them," Baranov added.

💬 Kayhan Barzegar, Senior Academic Advisor at the Institute for Political and International Studies (IPIS), acknowledged that sanctions have caused serious difficulties for the Iranian economy, but added that Iran is capable of coping with them and will not collapse under any circumstances. Sanctions put pressure on the Iranian people, especially the middle class, but they cannot alter the country's strategic approaches and priorities. Barzegar noted that Iran is now actively involved in regional politics, using its advantageous geographical location, and this has delivered extremely positive results. The reorientation towards countries in the Global South helps it protect its national interests.

💬 Sumbula Sultanova, Executive Secretary of the Russian-Iranian Business Council, described the Iranian "resistance economy" as a well-coordinated mechanism aimed at maximising the use of internal resources - human, financial and natural - as well as resisting external pressure by creating reserves of necessary goods. Counteracting the sanctions regime falls under the jurisdiction of state institutions. “The timely adjustment of the economy by the state allows Iran to stay afloat again and again,” Sultanova said.

💬 Lana Ravandi-Fadai, Senior Researcher and Head of the Eastern Cultural Centre at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, noted that the development of the Iranian economy can be called relatively successful. In her opinion, banking plays a key role in overcoming sanctions. She puts the oil industry in second place. Another important point, according to Ravandi-Fadai, is the development of relations with neighbours, both those under sanctions and those not under sanctions. In addition, she believes it is necessary to take into account the influence of domestic policy, including the creation of free economic zones.

https://valdaiclub.com/events/posts/articles/how-to-fight-sanctions-the-iranian-experience/

#Multipolarity_and_Connectivity #valdai_report #Iran #sanctions

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🌍 As never before in more than five centuries, Western hegemony is being challenged on economic, spiritual, military, social and technological levels simultaneously by the global majority.

The Western world’s development model is based on a parasitic approach to all resources (human, financial, raw materials, etc..), and is incapable of adapting to embrace a symbiotic approach in which all parties have to trade off (‘you give me some, I give you some’, instead of ‘I take everything and give you crumbs’). 

As a result, the West faces an existential threat: preserve its current hegemony at all costs or be forced to become “regular” countries that must trade with the rest of humanity on a more equitable basis.

Just like 1917, 1945 and 1991, 2022 was a defining moment in human history. However, unlike the previous century, when the socialist/communist ideology grew as an alternative to Western domination, expanded and then collapsed, the geopolitical storm of the third decade of the 21st century challenges Western hegemony at its core, writes Ibrahima Diagne.

https://valdaiclub.com/a/highlights/bridging-africa-and-the-world-the-rebirth/

📍 This is the first part of his reflections on the emerging multipolarity and Africa’s role in this process.

#GlobalAlternatives #Africa #multipolarity

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⚓️ The Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS) is an international regional organisation which was created on a wave of romantic fascination with the end of the Cold War. It has gone through several stages of searching for a programmatic and organisational identity.

A wonderful chance to decisively address truly common problems on the scale of the entire region at the intergovernmental level was not realized: the collective search for areas of collective efforts was unsuccessful - it was not clear whether the CBSS would evolve into a regional OSCE (human rights, democratic institutions and procedures, security), or a regional UNESCO (cultural heritage and education), or some other hybrid version of the existing forums, councils and initiatives, writes Igor Zhukovsky.

https://valdaiclub.com/a/highlights/council-of-the-baltic-sea-states/

#Multipolarity_and_Connectivity #BalticSea

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⛔️ On July 22, Hungary, already holding the EU presidency, together with the other 26 member states of the bloc, unanimously extended the sectoral sanctions against Russia until January 31, 2025,  and also supported all other decisions of the EU Council on sanctions against Russia. 

But if Trump wins the election and after his inauguration cancels Biden’s Order 14024, Hungary may quite openly follow the same path and vote against another extension of one of the anti-Russian sanctions packages.

Sergey Glandin addresses the issue of legal tools for lifting or easing anti-Russian sanctions available to the US President and Viktor Orban, who will chair the European Council until the end of 2024.

https://valdaiclub.com/a/highlights/if-trump-returns-to-the-white-house/

#Multipolarity_and_Connectivity #sanctions

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📆 ANNOUNCEMENT: On October 18 at 11:00 a.m. Moscow time, the Valdai Club will host a presentation of the new report “BRICS+ Energy: A Mover for the New World Order” on the eve of the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia. 

At the meeting in Nizhny Novgorod as part of the current Russian chairmanship, the BRICS foreign ministers agreed to develop mutual energy cooperation. In a joint statement, they emphasised that universal access to energy resources is the most important foundation for economic development, social stability, national security and the well-being of all countries.

❓How will joining the community of Middle Eastern powers change the balance of power in the energy market?
❓What are the prospects for BRICS consolidation in energy?
❓What role will the energy agenda play at the upcoming summit in Kazan?

The author of the report and the participants in the discussion will try to answer these and other questions.

🎙️ Speakers:

🇷🇺 Alexey Grivach, Deputy Director General for Gas Problems of the National Energy Security Fund (NESF) (author of the report)

🇮🇳 Nivedita Das Kundu, Professor, Faculty of International Relations, Uzbekistan State University of World Languages  

Moderator:

🗣 Ivan Timofeev, Programme Director of the Valdai Discussion Club

https://valdaiclub.com/events/announcements/valdai-club-to-present-a-report-brics-energy-a-mover-for-the-new-world-order/

Working languages: Russian, English.

ℹ️ Information for the media: In order to get accredited for the event, please fill out the form on our web site. If you have any questions about the event, please call +79269307763

Links to the live broadcast of the discussion will be posted on all online platforms of the Valdai Club: on the website, X (formerly Twitter), VK, Telegram and Dzen. 

#Multipolarity_and_Connectivity #BRICS #energy

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