Rejecting any talks with the U.S. to renegotiate the Iranian Nuke Deal, Iran’s 79-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ruled out war with the United States. Saying “death to America” since the 1979 Iranian revolution, Khamenei made it clear he wants no part of the U.S. after President Donald Trump cancelled former President Barack Obama’s Iranian Nuke Deal May 8. Trump cancelled the P5+1 agreement, including the U.K, France, Russia, China and Gemrany, to limit Iran’s nuclear enrichment program. Trump cancelled the agreement because of Iran’s aggressive behavior supplying arms-and-cash to Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip, Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia and Yemen’s Houthi rebels. Trump contends that had Obama not given Iran billions of cash, the Iranian regime would not have embarked on an aggressive military path in the Middle East.
Khamenei said that he will neither renegotiate the Iranian Nuke Deal nor will he pursue war with the United States. Only last week, Iran was threatening to shut down the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s busiest sea-lanes moving oil from Iran and other Gulf States to Europe and beyond. When Iranian President Hassan Rouhani threatened July 22 to shut the Strait of Hormuz, Trump responded, saying the U.S. would keep the shipping lanes open for commerce. “Negotiations with the U.S. would definitely harm us and they are forbidden,” Khamenei said. “Negotiation with the bully and very eager government of the U.S. means giving it an instrument through which it can add to its hostility.” Khamenei didn’t hesitate to blame Rouhani, not U.S. sanctions, for Iran’s economic woes. “Management problems unrelated to the sanctions,” said Khamenei, were crippling Iran’s economy.
Khamenei changed Rouhani’s threat to shut down the Persian Gulf, saying he would not accept war with the U.S. Canceling the Iranian Nuke Deal, Trump hoped to pressure Iran to stop its proxy war in Yemen with Saudi Arabia. Saudi Defense Minister Mohammed bin Salman slammed Tehran for supplying medium-range ballistic missiles to Yemen’s Houthi rebels. Trump wants Iran to stop its proxy war with Saudi Arabia and to halt supplying rockets to Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip. Recent Hamas rocket attacks into Israel threatens to destabilize an already volatile region, teetering on war. Gaza’s southern neighbor, Egypt, wants no part of any ongoing war with Israel. Like Turkey, Iran likes to blame its economic woes on the U.S., when, in fact, it’s due, as Khamenei says, to poor management. Ultimately, it’s due to Khaemenei’s authoritarian regime.
No country with authoritarian rule that doesn’t permit a free press can expect much traction from a free-market economy. While China seems like an exception, there’s plenty of government control over the economy, putting a damper on Chinese growth. In Russia, Turkey and Iran, the authoritarian system discourages international businesses from investing in the economies. Since the failed July 15, 2016 coup, no business is safe from Turkey’s secret police, accusing it collaborating with foreign and domestic enemies. Russia isn’t much different, where President Vladimir Putin thinks that foreign businesses warrant careful FSB [successor to the KGB] scrutiny, despite staying clear of the Kremlin. Global businesses don’t want to respond to arbitrary and capricious investigations by government entities. Authoritarian regimes drive most global businesses out.
Iran’s big problem economically comes from the Supreme Leader’s unwillingness to surrender power for the good of the country. No matter how much the Ayatollah plunders Iran, there’s little prospect of Iran breaking loose from the Mullahs’ grip anytime soon. Khamenei wants to blame Iran’s economic problems on Trump but economists know what happens when authoritarian regimes clamp down on the population. With threats from Rouhani about closing the Persian Gulf, it’s no wonder global businesses want to stay away. Talking only about new missile systems and more war-making material, Khamenei and Rouhani discourage foreign investors from taking part in the economy. Defense Minister Gen. Amir Hatami boasted about new surface-to-air missiles but not new businesses investing in Iran. Watching Saudi Arabia hit by Iranian-made Houthi fired missiles, tells the whole story.
If Khamenei and Rouhani want the international community to invest in Iran, they need to stop supplying arms-and-cash to Yemen’s Houthi rebels. Iran can’t supply Hamas and Hezbollah rockets and expect any global business to invest in the Iranian economy. With Iran increasing the range of its ballistic missiles to 2,000 kilometers [1,250 miles], there’s little out of Iran’s range. While Khamenei and Rouhani like to blame Trump for everything wrong with the Iranian economy, it’s far more related to Iran’s authoritarian state. Supplying arms and cash to Yemen’s Houthi rebels, sending rockets to Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, Iran continues to destabilize the Middle East. With Iran running wild, Trump had no choice but to cancel the Iranian Nuke Deal, re-impose economic sanctions and get leverage over Iran’s proxy war with Saudi Arabia before forcing the U.S. to intervene.
