TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran’s presidential candidates on Tuesday discussed the impact of economic sanctions imposed by the Iranian government on their country.
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran’s presidential candidates on Tuesday discussed the impact of economic sanctions imposed on Iran by the United States and other Western countries and unveiled plans to revive the country’s nuclear deal with world powers.
It was the second and final live debate on state television between little-known reformer Massoud Pezeshkian and hardline former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili ahead of Friday’s runoff election to choose a successor to the late President Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash last month.
Pezeshkian said Western-imposed sanctions have hit the Iranian economy hard. “We live in a society where many people are on the streets begging,” he said, citing a 40 percent inflation rate over the past four years and rising poverty rates.
Pezeshkian, a cardiac surgeon, vowed that the Iranian government would immediately work to lift sanctions and “fix” the economy. He said he would find a solution to revive the nuclear deal with world powers by discussing plans in the Iranian parliament and finding alternatives. “No government in history has been able to thrive in a cage,” he said of the impact sanctions have had on Iran’s deteriorating economy.
Former President Hassan Rouhani, a relative moderate, forged a nuclear deal with world countries in 2015 that limited Iran’s uranium enrichment in exchange for lifting sanctions, but then President Trump withdrew the U.S. from the landmark agreement in 2018 and abruptly reinstated tough sanctions against Iran.
Jalili, Pezeshkian’s hardline rival, is a vocal opponent of the 2015 nuclear deal and said at Tuesday’s debate that the United States must honor its commitments “as much as we have.” He criticized his rival for not having a plan to lift sanctions and said he would resume talks on the nuclear deal.
Known as a “living martyr” after losing a leg in the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s and known among Western diplomats for his preachy speeches and tough stance, Jalili also promised to support Iran’s stock exchange by insuring shares and providing financial support to local industries.
Both candidates promised to revive the economy, provide energy subsidies to the poor and boost auto imports while supporting the domestic auto industry. They did not elaborate on the funding they would need to achieve their pledges.
Iran will hold a presidential runoff election on Friday, its second since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Turnout last week was just 39.9% of eligible voters. More than one million of more than 24.5 million votes were later discarded, a classic sign of people feeling obliged to go to the polls but wanting to reject all candidates.
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