PHOTO: Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

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Trying to maintain Iran’s freedom of action versus the West, the Supreme Leader has repeated his command to the Government to implement a “Resistance Economy”.

Ayatollah Khamenei introduced the concept in February 2013, promoting Iranian self-sufficiency to resist the pressure of US-led sanctions. Even though a nuclear deal with the 5+1 Powers was completed on July 14, Khamenei has continued to promote the Resistance Economy as part of his demand that all US and European Union sanctions be removed soon — and to show defiance if those sanctions remain in place.

On Tuesday, the Supreme Leader set out four guidelines in a letter to 1st Vice President Eshagh Jahangiri, including the demand that the Resistance Economy must not be separate from the Sixth [5-Year] Development Plan” presented by the Government to Parliament last week.

Khamenei said, “Society must be mobilized and its role determined [to] participate in economic activities and to strengthen them and to use all of the country’s capabilities, especially the youth. The plans should not only concern government sections.”

The Supreme Leader’s command has very little detail on how to improve production, investment, and employment, to reduce inflation, and to maintain the Iranian currency. The Government is trying to address these areas in its Development Plan and its 2016-2017 budget; however, it is facing a large deficit and hardline resistance to some of its initiatives, including the attraction of foreign investment.

The Government’s position has been further complicated by hardline criticism of implementation of the nuclear deal, which is essential for sanctions to be removed. Last week, the challenge forced the Government to withdraw its statement that the dismantling of uranium centrifuges had begun.

Journalist Ikdar Given 3-Year Sentence

Journalist Solmaz Ikdar was given a three-year prison sentence on Tuesday on charges of insulting the Supreme Leader and propaganda against the state.

Ikdar has worked for newspapers such as Farhikhtegan, Mardom-e Emruz, Aseman, Bahar, and Sharq. She was stopped at an airport on June 18 and denied the right to travel abroad. She had planned to study overseas after being expelled from university in 2008 over an earlier charge of propaganda against the regime, for which she given six months in a probation facility.

The journalist has been detained since June because her family was unable to post bail.