![\"\"](\"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/03\/234.jpg\")
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Iranian Government\u2019s Monopoly<\/span><\/strong> Lack of Transparency in the Field of Trade<\/span><\/strong> A Shadow of Bankruptcy hanging over the National Development Fund<\/strong><\/span> The Twitter War between Trump and Zarif<\/span><\/strong> Calls for Civil Disobedience; Undermining the Islamic Republic<\/span><\/strong> No Money for the National Development Fund Next Year; An Unprecedented Budget Deficit<\/span><\/strong> Rouhani: We will not Ask Permission from Anyone to Build Missiles<\/strong><\/span> Ahmad Khatami: We have the Formula to Make an Atomic Bomb<\/strong><\/span> Iranian Government\u2019s Monopoly The editorial of Jahan Sanat deals with the monopoly of the Iranian government over the automobile industry and its consequences. The Iranian government is in a dilemma: it cannot entrust the automobile industry to the private sector, nor can it carry on as such. Two problems are imposing a heavy burden on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":6281,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[2983,635,2979,2982,2980,12,38,2981,1031,633,1693],"class_list":["post-6275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-iran-in-a-week","tag-ahmad-khatami","tag-budget","tag-budget-deficit","tag-build-missiles","tag-development","tag-iran","tag-rouhani","tag-slamic-republic","tag-trump","tag-twitter","tag-islamic-revolution"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6275"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6275\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6285,"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6275\/revisions\/6285"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nThe editorial of Jahan Sanat deals with the monopoly of the Iranian government over the automobile industry and its consequences.
\nThe Iranian government is in a dilemma: it cannot entrust the automobile industry to the private sector, nor can it carry on as such. Two problems are imposing a heavy burden on this industry: limitation in production and the government\u2019s monopoly over the automobile industry. On the other hand, due to being unaccountable to customers\u2019 demands, people are losing their trust in the automobile makers.
\nThe editorial goes on to say that, the government monopolizes the automobile industry. Due to economic conditions such as an increase in the price of foreign currency, raw materials, and the impact of car dealers on the car market, no entity can control prices and quality. The lack of a proper coordinated strategy has made it impossible for this industry to produce cars at fixed prices and with good quality. As a result of the government\u2019s consecutive decisions to regulate prices this industry is in the worst condition.
\nThe monopoly of the government and limitations in production are two issues that are devastating to this industry. Currently, other countries are producing high-quality vehicles that are safe, and environment-friendly for different groups of people. However, in Iran, people have to buy vehicles with poor quality.
\nThe editorial concludes by stating that the best way to help the automobile industry in Iran is to entrust it to the real private sector. It is only then that we can talk of competition and mass production of vehicles with good quality.
\nJahan Sanat \u2013 February 13<\/a><\/p>\n
\nThe editorial of Kasbokar newspaper deals with the lack of transparency in the importing field in Iran and its impact on the market.
\nOne of the problems is a lack of transparency. Certain inadequacies or official neglect increases the likelihood of committing certain violations and corruption. Nevertheless, the government hasn\u2019t planned any system to control this issue, and corruption is on the rise.
\nThe editorial adds that currently there is no difference between economic actors who work transparently and those who don\u2019t. The reason behind it is the lack of decisive action taken by officials against violators in the market. Many of the current problems in the market are due to the same problem, as, during the past months, certain goods were imported that were not among the people\u2019s essential needs.
\nThis means a large amount of foreign currency was spent on importing luxury goods. This not only shows state negligence in the field of foreign trade but points to a lack of transparency in Iran\u2019s economy.
\nKasbokar \u2013 February 13<\/a><\/p>\n
\nThe editorial of Ghanoon Daily focuses on how Rouhani\u2019s government is pushing the National Development Fund towards bankruptcy by overdrawing from it to compensate for its earning deficit.
\nThe National Development Fund is a state entity and it plays an important role in foreign exchange reserves in Iran. It was established in 2010, and its aim was to save a part of the revenue of oil, gas, natural-gas condensate and other oil products as a share for future generations from oil and gas sales.
\nThe editorial states that even though the head of Iran\u2019s Inspection Office said the balance of the Fund is $54.5 billion, some sources and former officials claim that its balance is between 32 to 50 billion dollars. The purpose of establishing the Fund was to build a future for the future generations, but the fund has in actuality become the governments\u2019 piggy bank to make up for its financial deficits.
\nThis has been going on in different governments but it has now reached its peak during the 12th government, and the Parliament Research Center has reported that if this situation continues, we will see the bankruptcy of the Fund. Despite the warning of the Parliament Research Center regarding imminent bankruptcy of the Fund, it doesn\u2019t seem that Rouhani\u2019s Government intends to change its approach towards the Fund.
\nRouhani\u2019s government says the decrease in the income of oil exports is to be blamed for overdrawing from the Fund. In addition, some domestic conditions such as current expenses and the defense budget, as well as international conditions such as the US sanctions, distrust in European cooperation, and the decrease in productive investments have increased the percentage of revenue being withdrawn from the Fund.
\nThe editorial concludes by stating that such behaviors are rooted in Iran\u2019s rent-seeking economy. Regardless of the natural and human resources, there is no resolve for making Iran\u2019s economy non-rent seeking. As far as Rouhani\u2019s government is concerned or any other government they follow the same oil and rent-seeking economic model, meaning that overdrawing from the Fund or any other funds is going to happen again and again.
\nGhanoon \u2013 February 12<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/02\/TRUMP.jpg\")
\nThe US President Donald Trump and the Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif had a Twitter war over the failure of the Iranian Revolution. On the 40th anniversary of the Iranian Revolution, President Trump called the Revolution a total failure in a tweet \u201c40 years of corruption. 40 years of repression. 40 years of terror. The regime in Iran has produced only 40 years of failure.\u201d
\nIn response, Zarif tweeted \u201c40 years of failure to accept that Iranians will never return to submission. 40 years of failure to adjust US policy to reality. 40 years of failure to destabilize Iran through blood and treasure. After 40 years of wrong choices, time for Donald Trump to rethink the failed US.\u201d
\nBefore Trump\u2019s tweet, the US National Security Advisor John Bolton had written on his Twitter account \u201cAfter 40 years, the Islamic Republic of Iran has failed to fulfill its promises to uphold and safeguard the rights of its citizens. The 40th anniversary of the Islamic regime only serves to highlight four decades of failure and broken promises.\u201d
\nThe US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also took part in this Twitter war \u201cIn 1979, Ayatollah Khomeini sold the Iranian people a prosperous future. 40 years later, Iran\u2019s corrupt regime has delivered nothing but broken promises.\u201d Along with the tweet, he released a video clip, showing worsening economic and human rights conditions in Iran during past 40 years, as well as an increase in unemployment, a drop in the value of Iran\u2019s national currency vs the dollar, and security confrontation with religious dissidents and protesters.
\nPompeo later tweeted again saying that even the Iranian President Hassan Rouhani admits to the Iranian regime\u2019s 40 years of failure: \u201cIt didn\u2019t need to be this way, but your ruling regime has always prioritized ideology over the interests and well-being of the Iranian people.\u201d
\nOn the 22nd of Bahman (Iranian calendar month), state-backed rallies were held in some cities of Iran. Eye-witnesses told VOA Persian that due to a low turnout rate in some cities, the state-run TV had to use archive images from the past.
\nBBC Persian<\/a>
\nVOA<\/a><\/p>\n
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/02\/Reza-Pahlavi.jpg\")
\nAlong with the 40th anniversary of the Iranian Revolution in Iran, Reza Pahlavi, the former Crown Prince of Iran, issued a statement on social media urging civil disobedience to achieve a comprehensive reconstruction of Iran.
\nIn the statement, Reza Pahlavi asserts that the Islamic state and Velayat-e Faqih means nothing but destroying Iran.\u00a0 A large part of the statement addressed the Iranian youth, emphasizing new choices and reconstructing the country.
\nReza Pahlavi urges that the way out of the current crisis in Iran is to shape a new force based on \u201cIranian identity\u201d for reconstructing Iran and for the welfare of Iranians. He stresses that after overthrowing the Islamic Republic, it will be time for the comprehensive reconstruction of Iran, including its national identity.
\nShirin Ebadi, Iranian Nobel Peace Laureate, too, called for international pressure to weaken the Islamic Republic through measures such as banning the broadcast of Iranian state-run TV channels through satellites.
\nIn an interview with Reuters News Agency on the 40th anniversary of 1979 Revolution, Shirin Ebadi pointed out that from the very first day of the victory of the Revolution, human right violations began, with former officials presented before kangaroo courts and executed.
\nEbadi warned against the fallout of intensifying sanctions or military attacks against Iran while asking western countries to avoid cooperating with the Islamic Republic. She also backed sanctioning the foreign trips of the Islamic Republic\u2019s officials and confiscating their assets in western countries.
\nAfter last year\u2019s unrest, Ebadi had asked the Iranian people to stop paying their utility bills and their taxes telling them to withdraw their money from Iranian banks to put pressure on the regime to force it to give in to their demands and to stop violent measures against them.
\nLast year\u2019s protests took place in many cities in Iran. In the beginning, the protests were mostly related to Iran\u2019s socio-economic conditions, but they then turned political with political slogans. In these protests, more than 20 people were killed.
\nRadio Farda \u2013 February 8<\/a>
\nRadio Farda \u2013 February 9<\/a><\/p>\n
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/02\/Iranian-parliament\u2019s.jpg\")
\nThe Iranian parliament\u2019s Research Center has predicted that no money would be deposited in the National Development Fund next year due to a decrease in the country\u2019s oil sales as well as withdrawals from the Fund for military expenses.
\nA report published by the Research Center says that the National Development Fund of Iran is losing all its wealth because the government is overdrawing from it in recent years.
\nBased on the statute of the National Development Fund, at least 34% of oil revenues must be deposited into the Fund. Nonetheless, the government has only allocated 20% of the oil revenue share to the Fund in the next year\u2019s budget bill.
\nMahmoud Negahban Salami, a member of the parliament\u2019s integration committee for Iran\u2019s fiscal 2018-19 budget, announced that the Islamic Republic\u2019s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei had authorized the withdrawal of $1.5 billion from the National Development Fund of Iran to \u201cbolster the country\u2019s defense power.\u201d
\nKhamenei had also ordered the withdrawal of $4 billion from the Fund last year, $2.5 billion of which was dedicated to military expenses.
\nMeanwhile, the Central Bank of Iran announced that the budget deficit of the country has reached $10,714 billion in the first 9 months of the Iranian year. Such a massive budget deficit is unprecedented in the history of the Islamic Republic.
\nRadio Farda<\/a>
\nRadio Zamaneh<\/a><\/p>\n
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/02\/Rouhani.jpg\")
\nOn the 40th anniversary of the Iranian Revolution, Iranian political and military officials unanimously emphasized on continuing Iran\u2019s missile program, despite international pressure to stop it.
\nIranian President Hassan Rouhani, in his speech marking the anniversary of the revolution, urged that Iran would not ask permission from anyone for building missiles. Pointing to the development of Iran\u2019s missile program in recent years, Rouhani stressed that the Islamic Republic will pursue the same military path.
\nMajor General Mohammad Bagheri, Chief of Staff of Armed Forces of Iran, too, emphasized on the non-negotiability of Iran\u2019s missile program. He added that the Europeans should activate the financial mechanism to solve the Islamic Republic\u2019s problems in doing financial transactions, and they should not raise any new expectations with regard to Iran\u2019s missile program.
\nDuring the state-backed rally on 22nd of Bahman, the IRGC put some of its ballistic missiles on display. Recently, the IRGC announced testing several new missiles, while Iran\u2019s government and military officials repeatedly defended the Islamic Republic\u2019s missile program.
\nThe United States and the European Union have expressed serious concerns over Iran\u2019s ballistic missile program, calling it a threat against peace and stability in the region and asking Iran to stop testing missiles. Recently, the French Foreign Minister warned Tehran that if the talks over Iran\u2019s nuclear ballistic missile turn out to be fruitless, Paris is ready to impose new sanctions on Iran.
\nRadio Farda<\/a>
\nBBC Persian<\/a><\/p>\n
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/02\/Ahmad-Khatami.jpg\")
\nAhmad Khatami, the spokesman of the Assembly of Experts and Tehran\u2019s interim Friday Prayer leader, said, \u201cwe have the formula to make an atomic bomb,\u201d adding that Iran considers it vital to have nuclear energy. Khatami noted Iran has never had the intention to make an atomic bomb. \u201cOf course, it has the formula [to make an atomic bomb], but does not want to use weapons of mass destruction,\u201d he asserted.
\nEven though the Islamic Republic\u2019s authorities have always denied moving towards making an atomic bomb, Ahmad Khatami now admits Iran having the formula for making such bombs. He also mentioned that what keeps Iran under the present condition is the country\u2019s missile capability.
\nIn describing Iran\u2019s missile capability, Khatami pointed to Iran\u2019s \u201cmissile cities\u201d and mid-range missiles. His remarks about an atomic bomb formula and Iran\u2019s missile capability are made a few days after the IRGC unveiled the Hoveizeh ballistic missiles with 1000km range.
\nMeanwhile, Behrooz Kamalvandi, deputy of international affairs of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, announced that the Islamic Republic is ready to increase uranium enrichment to 190 thousand SWU. He added that the necessary conditions have been prepared to increase uranium enrichment from 3% to 20%.
\nDeutsche Welle<\/a>
\nIRNA<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"