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Eurasia
September 28, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 19
could modify its sanctions to encompass any new system. Hardly a day goes by without a major European company announcing it is pulling out of Iran because it is exposed to secondary sanctions threatened by the Americans.
Trump is intent on wreaking such economic destruction in Iran that Tehran will come to the table to renegotiate its role in conflict-torn parts of the Middle East including Syria and Yemen, its approach to the existence of Israel and its ballistic missile and nuclear development programmes.
On September 25, Trump took to the podium at the UN General Assembly and again castigated the Iranians, claiming "Iran's leaders sow chaos, death and destruction". Calling on other countries to completely isolate Iran, he added: "They do not respect their neighbours or borders or the sover- eign rights of nations. Instead, Iran's leaders plunder the nation's resources to enrich them- selves and spread mayhem across the Middle East and far beyond."
Tanking rial
Prior to Trump’s speech, the Iranian rial (IRR) tanked further to an all-time low of 170,000 to the
dollar, making it 74.8% weaker against the USD in the year to date.
Critics saw the American president’s speech
as bombastic and terribly simplistic and one- sided. For instance, in speaking of the conflict in Syria he blamed Iran, but made no mention of Russia, which has provided crucial air support
for the Damascus regime. And his comments on how he sees Iran’s leaders as sowing death and destruction and embezzling “billions of dollars” were made just hours after he sent a tweet saying that, while he would not be meeting him, he was sure that Rouhani was an “absolutely lovely man”.
But whatever the rights and wrongs of US policy on Iran, there is no question that it is driving the country back into recession. Protecting as much trade – especially lucrative oil trade – as possible over coming months will be crucial to Tehran’s attempts to resisting Trump’s strategy.
IMF figures show that last year China was the top re- cipient of Iranian exports at a value of towards $16bn. The EU was second at nearly $10bn, India third at around $8.5bn, South Korea fourth at slightly over $6bn and Turkey fifth, also at slightly over $6bn.
Prepare for snap elections ‘People’s PM’ tells Armenians
bne IntelliNews
Armenia’s ‘People’s PM’ Nikol Pashinian is set to move for snap parliamentary elections.
Ex-anti-corruption activist Pashinian said he wanted to see the poll place take place “very soon” following his bloc’s September 24 landslide victory in the mayoral race in Yerevan.
The weekend vote showed that the present National Assembly, still dominated by Republican
Party (HHK) loyalists of longtime but toppled leader Serzh Sargsyan, does not reflect the popular mood in Armenia, Pashinian said in his latest video address to the nation aired on Facebook.
“The political events showed that preterm elections must be held very soon because political uncer- tainties hamper new investments in our economy. I think that these elections also showed that in effect the existing parliament does not have a [popular]