BRICS, SCO opportunity for Iran’s economy
Raeisi: Enemy failed to isolate Iran
Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi said alliances like BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization are a very good opportunity for Iran to increase its economic capacities and confront the West’s unilateralism.
Speaking during a news conference in Tehran on Tuesday, Raeisi said that relations with the alliances’ great economies will surely help the economy’s growth in Iran.
Back in July, Iran gained full membership of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), which is a political organization with eight members, namely, Russia, India, Pakistan, and the Central Asian countries of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan.
The BRICS group of emerging economies also approved Iran’s full membership in the organization last week.
President Ebrahim Raeisi said that efforts by the enemies to isolate Iran and drive the Iranian people to despair have failed, whereas all indicators attest to growth and progress in the country.
Enemy’s failed policy
“Relations with Latin America, Africa and many Asian countries, becoming active in the Eurasian Economic Union and membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and, recently, in BRICS all show that the enemy did not succeed in its policy to isolate Islamic Iran, and our political, commercial and economic situation shows the failure of the enemy in this strategy.”
Raeisi added that Iran has also forged strong relations with Islamic and like-minded countries, its enemies are also knocking on the door after initially trying to ditch the country when riots broke out following the death of Iranian girl Mahsa Amini last September.
“The enemy tried to follow two strategies of isolating Iran in the world and disappointing the people inside, and it failed in both.
Raeisi was referring to sanctions imposed on Iran since the United States torpedoed the nuclear deal in 2018, as well as protests that erupted in September 2022 over the death of Mahsa Amini in custody.
“That is because we follow numerous agendas in our foreign policy all at the same time, one of which is the JCPOA,” the president said, referring to the 2015 nuclear deal, which is on life support after the US withdrawal.
“We’ve followed relations with neighboring countries as well as Islamic and aligned states, and improved the level of political, economic and commercial relations, where commercial ties have grown 14 percent over the previous government,” he said.
Economic ties
“In the area of regional trade ties and business measures, in which some believed little can be done, the government broke the record and it turned out that there are many capacities in the country,” Raeisi added.
The president said the people’s efforts and hope have increased day by day, as shown by production, science and technology indicators and knowledge-based initiatives of Iranian youths.
“Today is the day Islamic Iran is known as an advanced and technological country,” he said.
US media reports have said the Biden administration has been negotiating quietly to open diplomatic channels with Iran. The indirect talks, they say, reflect a resumption of diplomacy between the United States and Iran after the collapse of more than a year of negotiations to restore the 2015 nuclear deal.
The Iranian side has not commented on such claims, but President Raeisi said on Tuesday, “We have not abandoned the negotiating table for removing the sanctions”.
“The other side left the negotiation table, and now they regret it, stating that they are ready to negotiate.”
But, he added, “We are not tying the country’s economy to the wishes of Western countries”.