Iranian President Hassan Rouhani held a televised meeting in which he argued that the Islamic Republic stood to experience fewer negative effects than other OPEC nations in the wake of a sharp decline in oil prices caused by the coronavirus. But Rouhani’s remarks appeared to gloss over the prior impact of US sanctions and domestic mismanagement, both of which have left the Iranian economy so badly damaged that global downturns are less likely to register as a significant change. Rouhani did seem to acknowledge that sanctions had diminished the country’s ability to sell oil to foreign buyers, but he promptly suggested that this had actually been beneficial insofar as it reduced reliance on those exports. “The more countries rely on oil, the greater they suffer,” he said. “But as our reliance on oil income has decreased, willingly or unwillingly, either by our own will or by the imposition of the enemy, our losses will certainly be...(Read Full Post)