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60 I Eurasia
becomes something bigger," Ebadi, who
lives in exile in London, said.
She reportedly added: "In Iran, and
it is not new, there is a very serious economic crisis. The corruption in the whole country is at appalling levels. The
who graduate each year with no hope of finding a job – it may be a case of too little, too late. One sign came from a senior International Monetary Fund official on December 18 who said Iran’s economy is starting to recover more rapidly from years of international
bne February 2018
She predicted GDP would expand 4.2% in the current fiscal year and that growth could rise toward 4.5%, provided finan- cial reforms are put in place.
The death toll from the protests so far appears to have been modest. Authori- ties confirmed that two protesters had been killed in the western province of Lorestan but denied the deaths resulted from clashes between demonstrators and riot police. The deputy governor for Lorestan, Habibollah Khojastehpour, instead blamed “Takfiri groups” – the term used by Iran for Sunni extrem-
ists – and foreign intelligence services. “Unfortunately in these clashes two citizens from [the city of] Doroud were killed,” he said.
In the latest news of the protests emerging on the evening of December 31 carried by social media, there were reports of young protesters setting alight security posts in Lorestan, while in Tehran security forces were said to be blocking exits from the metro to stop demonstrators swelling the ranks of protests in the city.”
“Guards warned protesters they would face the nation’s “iron fist” if political unrest continued”
end of certain sanctions related to the nuclear agreement with Europe and the United States in 2015 did not bring real benefits to the population, contrary to what many expected. Added to this is the fact that Iran has very high military expenditures. People are not willing to see so much money spent on it."
There are some signs that the green shoots of economic recovery are start- ing to be seen a little more frequently in the Islamic Republic but for many of the poor – not to mention social groups such as the thousands of young people
sanctions but added that the country urgently needs to shore up its banks.
Economic growth leapt to 12.5% in the Persian calendar year that ended on March 20, but almost completely driv- ing that were huge gains in oil exports, made possible after most international sanctions against Iran were lifted under the deal to curb the country’s nuclear program. Catriona Purfield, head of an IMF team which held annual consulta- tions with the Iranian government this month, reportedly said: “Growth has begun to broaden to the non-oil sector.”
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