Is it the sanctions which is breaking the backs of the poor people or is it the mismanagements of Iran's government? And wasn't it the Iranian foreign policy, which has made the west to sanction Iran? Yes, it was, undoubtedly.
"But why the hell is the west sanctioning the medicine and how shall such sanctions weaken the Iranian regime?", you probably have heard this or similar questions. And such question leads many people to ask: "Is the US really on our side?!". You may think that the West is hoping that the bad economy would lead people to the streets.
I was talking to a manger of a fabric, who was trying to tell me what the sanctions have affected to it's workers. He told me that some basic materials of his fabric were made by the US and that those products haven't been delivered since the last embargo. If they would buy the same materials from an Iranian fabric, they would cost three times more than the old products. Their product couldn't be sold any more because of it's high prize. Many of his workers are unemployment now and they answer the first question with "both of them". I didn't ask him what his fabric is producing, since I didn't want to break his anonymity. It was unexpectedly enough, that he was telling me such tough stories. Just hours ago a friend introduced him to me and I was asking myself: "Is Iran still the most pro-American country"
The manager continued: "imagine if the US would remove all the sanctions. No one could say any more that the miserable economical situation is because of the hostile US policy. It would be obvious that they [if one is talking about they, he is talking about the government] are ruining workers' lives. And they couldn't beaten down the demonstrations so easily by labeling it as pro-American demonstration. It would at least make the gaps inside them [the government] much bigger than it is at the moment".
And as I told him that it is impossible for the US at the moment to remove all the sanctions, he agreed with me and said: "Yes, but guess what would happen, if they cut some important sanctions and the regime wouldn't change it's current foreign policy. And guess what would happen if the US would remove some sanctions and Iran would change it's policy [He wanted to tell me that in both cases it would be the end of the regime]. You will see in the future, how a part of the regime will try to break the upcoming nuclear talks".
Politics is not as easy as that manager tried to explain to me, I think. But his words were part of the reality. And more importantly: many people think like him in Iran. Some may be neither managers nor workers, but could be unhappy with not being able to download android apps with their smartphones.
I don't want to end this note too black and white: I think, most of the Iranians still like the US and dream of living there. With some good reasons, they are just a little bit more suspicious about it's policies.
