{"id":7699,"date":"2020-03-05T16:18:54","date_gmt":"2020-03-05T13:18:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/?p=7699"},"modified":"2020-03-05T16:18:57","modified_gmt":"2020-03-05T13:18:57","slug":"impact-of-covid-19-on-the-economy-iaea-irans-uranium-stockpile-five-times-over-the-jcpoas-limit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/monitoring-and-translation\/iran-in-a-week\/impact-of-covid-19-on-the-economy-iaea-irans-uranium-stockpile-five-times-over-the-jcpoas-limit\/","title":{"rendered":"Impact of COVID-19 on the Economy; IAEA: Iran\u2019s Uranium Stockpile Five Times over the JCPOA\u2019s Limit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Iran Isolated due to\nCOVID-19 and FATF<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The editorial of Setareh Sobh focuses on how Iran has become\nincreasingly isolated due to its non-ratification of FATF legislation and the\nspread of the coronavirus in the country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Expediency Council\u2019s failure to ratify the FATF bills\nwill not create any obstacles for importing medicines. This is because the\nSwiss government, the US Secretary of State and the US Secretary of the\nTreasury have announced that they won\u2019t create any problems for Iran in\nimporting medicines to combat the coronavirus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But in other cases, Iranian banks and financial institutions\nhave been facing difficulties, as not ratifying FATF bills is a kind of\ninternational self-sanctioning. Sanctions that do not need to be passed by the\nUN Security Council are imposed on Iran which will have a negative impact on\nits economy, and they will increase the volume of non-transparent financial\ntransactions and smuggling into Iran. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

FATF bills have certain requirements such as countering\nmoney laundering and terrorist financing. Now the question is: is Iran going to\ntransfer money to terrorists? Is it going to engage in money laundering? If the\nanswer is no, then not ratifying the bills will not benefit the country; it\nwill rather cause damage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now with the outbreak of the coronavirus in Iran, the\ncountry has become more isolated. Currently, Iran faces problems in the international\nsphere. For example, the Iranian flight going to Turkey had to return to Iran\nas it wasn\u2019t permitted to land. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now Iranian officials must find a solution in order to normalize\nIran\u2019s relationship with the world. Don\u2019t they know how dangerous the situation\nis? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, there are political reasons for the current\nisolation of Iran. As we know, other countries that are dealing with the coronavirus\nare not as isolated as Iran. About 50 countries are fighting the coronavirus,\nbut the question is: why is only Iran isolated?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Setareh Sobh<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Impact of\nCOVID-19 on non-oil Exports<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The editorial of Eskenas deals with the consequences of the coronavirus\non Iran\u2019s non-oil exports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the main goals of the Sixth Export Development Plan\nwas to reach a 22 percent annual growth in non-oil exports. The most\nsignificant regional markets for exporting Iran\u2019s food items are Russia, Iraq\nand Oman. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iraq is the first and foremost importer of products from the\nIranian food industry. Iraq\u2019s demand for imported goods has always been\nsignificant, and Iran has played a significant role in providing Iraq with\nfood. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Commercial trade between Iran and Iraq has been disrupted\nsince last week, as a result of which commercial trucks have been stuck at the\nMehran border and have not been able to unload their cargos. According to the\nCustoms Office, Iranian and Iraqi truck drivers have been waiting on both sides\nof the border for Iraqi officials to make their decision. Due to the closing of\nthe Mehran border, 1,000  trucks carrying\nexport goods have been halted at the border. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Bazargan border was closed on Sunday by the Turkish\ngovernment. According to the Customs Office spokesperson, closing the border\nwas a measure to safeguard the health of Turkish citizens and Turkey itself\nwill suffer losses as a result. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the outbreak of the coronavirus in Iran, some\nneighboring countries have closed their borders with Iran, thus creating\nsetbacks for non-oil exports. Importing and exporting goods will depend on how\nlong the coronavirus will last in Iran. But it will certainly have\nrepercussions for Iran\u2019s economy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the deputy head of the Iran-China Joint Chamber\nof Commerce, currently, there is a ban on importing 1,400 products from China\nand other countries. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now the containment of the virus to prevent it from\nspreading all over the country can be decisive in averting an economic crisis\nin Iran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the budget for next year relies heavily on the non-oil\neconomy, the government must carefully plan to prevent harm to non-oil exports\nin case of a crisis like the outbreak of the coronavirus. So the government\u2019s\nagenda must be to prevent the spread of this disease and to take strong safety\nmeasures against it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eskenas<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prioritizing People\u2019s\nHealth Over the Economy<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The editorial of Jahan Sanat focuses on the outbreak of the coronavirus\nin Iran and why the government must take necessary measures to prevent its\nfurther spread \u2013 no matter how costly they will be. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When people\u2019s health and lives are endangered by the\noutbreak of a virus, government policies are obviously directed towards\npreventing the further spread of the virus in society. So far it seems that\ndoctors and the Health Ministry in Iran have done their best to prevent the\nspread of the coronavirus in the country. Nevertheless, stories shared on social\nmedia in this regard have generated fear in society and they will have negative\nrepercussions on Iran\u2019s economy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iranian officials have not yet quarantined the cities where\nthe coronavirus is more widespread, but if the rate of those infected goes\nabove the Health Ministry\u2019s indicators, then quarantining cities will be on the\ngovernment\u2019s agenda. Evidently, this will have certain costs and will impact\nthe domestic economy and businesses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under these circumstances, many businesses will lose their\nincomes and many economic actors will suffer losses. But when society\u2019s health\nis at risk, the government must pay the price and shut down public centers. So\nfar, the government has taken measures such as closing schools, economic\/social\nforums, and universities, as well as canceling music concerts, and cultural\nactivities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet despite the costs that society and the government have\nto pay, the main issue is people\u2019s health and lives. Under the current\nconditions and despite its huge costs, the economy shouldn\u2019t be the government\u2019s\nmain concern. Rather, the priority is preventing the spread of the virus and\nmaintaining society\u2019s health. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, it is said that Chinese and Iranian flights still\ncontinue. It is said that the flights aim at transferring cargo. But this seems\nsuspicious as transferring cargo by air is the most expensive method in the\nworld which is why cargo transfer is done by ships between Iran and China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is important now is to recognize when it is the right\ntime to put cities under quarantine \u2013 without considering how much harm it will\ninflict on the country\u2019s economy.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jahan Sanat<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Poor Crisis\nManagement<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the outbreak of the coronavirus in Iran, the editorial\nof Siasat Rooz focuses on weaknesses in crisis management in Iran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each crisis has certain requirements; one cannot compare\nnatural disasters like floods and earthquakes to the spread of a virus like the\ncoronavirus. Managing each crisis is essentially different. Whenever something\nhappens in Iran, foreign media play a significant role in reporting on it, and\ncyberspace becomes even more active than foreign news agencies and satellite\nnetworks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are weaknesses in crisis management in the country. If\nthere were no such weaknesses and related organizations did their jobs\naccurately and properly, public opinion wouldn\u2019t be impacted by foreign media\nreports. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crisis management needs a center for decisions, making\nstatements, and implementing decisions. Under critical conditions, no\nindividual or organization other than that center should talk about the crisis.\nWhen anyone and everyone comments on the crisis, it will be used by foreign\nmedia to intensify propaganda against the country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

People see shortages in the market and naturally buy health\nproducts in bulk, thus disrupting the market. There have always been those who\ntake advantage of such crises. But more importantly, if there is control and\naccurate supervision of the market, this can most certainly prevent the\nintensification of the crisis and anxiety in society. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is a sign of weak media management when a parliamentarian\nclaims that 50 people have lost their lives due to the coronavirus and it is\ncovered by domestic media agencies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At times of crisis such as the outbreak of the coronavirus,\nofficials in charge of managing the crisis do not know how to do so; domestic\nmedia agencies do not have adequate knowledge to cover and manage the crisis;\npeople do not have enough media literacy; as a result, a problem which is going\nto turn into a pandemic becomes a big problem in the country.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Siasat Rooz<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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IAEA: Iran\u2019s Uranium\nStockpile Five Times Over the JCPOA\u2019s Limit<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) announced\nIran\u2019s uranium stockpile is five times over the limit set in the nuclear deal\n(JCPOA) between Iran and the P5+1. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the IAEA\u2019s report, Iran\u2019s stockpile increased\nto 1,510 kg, while according to the JCPOA, Iran is permitted to have 300 kg of\nuranium at 4.7 percent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the France news agency, some nuclear experts\nhold that Iran\u2019s new stockpile is enough for building a nuclear bomb.\nNevertheless, there are several stages left to reach this end, including\nincreasing the level of enrichment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The IAEA\u2019s report says Iran has increased the level of\nenrichment above the 4.5 percent limit. Uranium enrichment of more than 90\npercent is needed for building a nuclear bomb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The United States pulled out of the nuclear deal in May 2018\nand put severe sanctions on Iran. Despite the fact that the other five\ncountries remain committed to the JCPOA, Tehran has breached its obligations\nunder the nuclear deal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

France, Britain, and Germany have threatened to activate the\nso-called \u201ctrigger mechanism\u201d in the deal, which means referring Iran\u2019s nuclear\nfile to the UN Security Council and putting new sanctions on Iran. Also, Europe\ncan target Iran with more sanctions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the Reuters news agency, the IAEA also plans to\nissue a second report about Iran\u2019s nuclear activities, rebuking Iran for not\nallowing the IAEA access to at least one undeclared nuclear site in Iran. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every three months, the IAEA issues a report about Iran\u2019s\nnuclear activities and its commitment to the nuclear deal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Radio Farda<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is COVID-19 Doing\nto Iran\u2019s Economy?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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These days Iran is dealing with one of the biggest social crisis\nin its contemporary history. The outbreak of COVID-19 has disrupted ordinary\nlife in Iranian society. Many small and large businesses have been affected by\nthe virus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several streets in Tehran and other big cities are empty;\nschools and universities are closed; working hours have decreased in many\ncities including Tehran. Images from shopping centers and markets show that\nsmall and big stores are either closed or half-closed. People do not leave\ntheir homes unless it is an emergency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This reality can have a devastating impact on the economy of\nany country, but this impact is deeper in Iran. COVID-19 is not the first big\ncrisis in Iran, but it is the last thing a crisis-stricken country like Iran\nneeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given the closure of schools and offices in big cities and with\ncommercial life disrupted, we can predict that half of Iran\u2019s economy will stop\nworking due to the coronavirus, which will cost Iran about 3,625 billion tomans\nper day. It is not clear how Iran\u2019s fragile economy can bear such damage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If this number is divided across the entire population of\nIran, it will amount to 1,300,000 million tomans for each person per month,\nwhich is only a little less than a worker\u2019s wage per month. It must be noted that\nthe damage will not be equally distributed. For example, damage to travel\nagencies, shopkeepers, industries will be much more than others. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apart from that, COVID-19 will be very costly for the people\nand the government. It is not clear how Iran\u2019s crisis-stricken economy will\ndeal with this crisis. Iran\u2019s economy wasn\u2019t in a good condition before the coronavirus,\nbut is now dealing with a severe crisis. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iran Wire<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Discrimination in Testing\nfor the Coronavirus <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Iranian officials are being tested for free and there is\nnews of the positive results of their tests in the media every day. But for\nordinary Iranians, testing for COVID-19 is only carried out under certain\nconditions like high fever. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the IRNA, with the spread of COVID-19 in Iran,\nlawmakers have received face masks and hand sanitizers \u2013 despite the shortage\nof both products for the ordinary people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Expert Council has postponed its annual meeting and the\nParliament is closed for 10 days. Meanwhile, religious centers and shrines have\nnot closed despite the recommendation and ratification by the Health Ministry. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Discrimination is mostly seen in testing for the coronavirus.\nIranian officials are being tested despite not having the symptoms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the outbreak of COVID-19, the Parliament immediately\nasked lawmakers to be tested, and health workers went to the Parliament in\norder to test them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A doctor told the IRNA that the coronavirus test is\nexpensive, and while members of city councils and the Parliament are not\nshowing any symptoms, testing them is \u2018unethical.\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ordinary people will only be tested for the coronavirus if\nthey have a high fever and experience a severe drop in oxygen levels in their\nblood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As there has been no transparency with regard to the number\nof those infected with the coronavirus, as well as its death toll, Iranian\npeople do not trust what Iranian officials say and the statistics they release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the outbreak of COVID-19, the price of face masks and\nhand sanitizers has multiplied in Iran, and the government says it has taken\naction to counter hoarding and shortage of masks. But these solutions do not\nseem to be enough, and officials must ask for help from the international\ncommunity to save people\u2019s lives and manage the crisis. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

DW<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iranian Authorities\nKnew People were Dying of the Coronavirus Much Earlier Than They Announced<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Iran\u2019s Supreme National Security Council and Health Ministry\nknew people were dying of the coronavirus 12 days before the anniversary of the\n1979 Islamic Revolution but refused to announce it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

An informed source told Iran International that after the\ndeath of some patients with acute respiratory symptoms in the city of Qom, the\ndeputy health minister went to this city to investigate this issue and it\nbecame clear to the Islamic Republic\u2019s authorities on February 3 that the coronavirus\nhad spread in Iran. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, it took them two weeks to confirm the death of two coronavirus\npatients in Qom. The announcement was made two days before Iran\u2019s parliamentary\nelections \u2014 which were not postponed despite the virus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The source who spoke on condition of anonymity pointed out\nthat Iran\u2019s government started registering the coronavirus death toll after its\nofficial announcement and \u201cwith certain considerations.\u201d The actual number of coronavirus\npatients and victims has not been announced yet, added the source. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iran International<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iran\u2019s Crude Exports\nDrop Below 250,000 bpd<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Iran\u2019s oil exports dropped to as low as 248,000 barrels per day in\nFebruary, according to a report by Kpler, a\ndata intelligence firm. This figure was 254,000 in January. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite this reduction, the\nIranian government has included 1 million bpd of oil exports in the country\u2019s\nbudget for next year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Currently Iran sends a major part\nof its crude oil to China and Syria. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iran used to\nexport more than 2.5 million barrels of oil before the US sanctions took\neffect. Besides, prior to\nthe 1979 Islamic Revolution, Iran used to produce 6 million barrels of oil per\nday. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Radio Farda<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Iran Isolated due to COVID-19 and FATF The editorial of Setareh Sobh focuses on how Iran has become increasingly isolated due to its non-ratification of FATF legislation and the spread of the coronavirus in the country. The Expediency Council\u2019s failure to ratify the FATF bills will not create any obstacles for importing medicines. This is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":7700,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[4363,4446,176,1637,3053,430,4433],"class_list":["post-7699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-iran-in-a-week","tag-coronavirus","tag-covid-19","tag-iaea","tag-iran-in-a-week","tag-irans-economy","tag-jcpoa","tag-the-coronavirus-in-iran"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7699","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=7699"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7699\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7706,"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7699\/revisions\/7706"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}