Another active, ambitious construction project in the Islamic Republic of Iran: Ferdowsi Commercial Complex 2 in Mashhad. These photos are from Fall 2013.
Detail of Ferdowsi Commercial Complex Envisioned are 850 commercial units in 4-storey structure, including 7 levels of parking. Recently completed Ferdowsi Commercial Complex (1) can be seen in this photo immediately beyond construction site.
Recently completed Ferdowsi Commercial Complex (1)
Interior detail of completed Ferdowsi Commercial Complex (1), open for business
Google imagery of Ferdowsi Commercial Complex 2, shaded in red. Recently completed Ferdowsi Commercial Complex (1) is diamond head area below left of shaded area.
It is a mistake to think that sanctions have so badly malled Iran's economy--to the point of ruin, as some pundits are quick to claim--that it has "forced" Iran to the negotiating table over its nuclear program.
ReplyDeleteThis writer could post active construction sites inside Iran for every day of the year, barring editorial constraints.
That sanctions have stunted Iran's economy is a given. However, as the photo and video evidence shows, Iran's economy is not in a state of "ruin."
Iran has been open to negotiating its nuclear program. What that country is not open to negotiating away is its right to the nuclear fuel cycle (uranium enrichment). By now this should be apparent to even the most casual, objective observer.
The effect of sanctions on the country’s economy has not been uniform.
ReplyDeleteLet’s take the example of importers. The sanctions actually benefitted some businesses immensely; among them IRGC-controlled importers which could circumvent sanctions and in the process make huge profits, although they also had to circumvent the country’s own customs and banking regulations. The independent importers, however, were ruined, having no network to “smuggle” needed goods into the country, and no clouts to realize the customs and hard currency benefits of IRGC-controlled businesses. This is the phenomenon that is widely referred to inside the country and by some senior government officials as “sanctions mafia.”
Also there are legitimate byproducts of the sanctions. Because of severe limitations on businessmen to use foreign banks and equity markets, they had to park their cash inside the country; with construction sector and Tehran stock exchange benefiting immensely.
The point is the sanctions did not ruin everything; it helped some to actually increase their profit, legitimately or otherwise. But it did have immense negative effects on the mainstream economy. Practically ruined domestic non-military manufacturing sector, ruined the national currency, raising inflation and growing recession at the same time, creating a serious stagflation that would be difficult to overcome, cutting export revenues to half, creating hardship on ordinary people because of high prices, high unemployment, and lack of medicine, and so on.
Let’s hope all sanctions are lifted soon through finalization of the interim agreement with world powers. All legitimates businesses as well as ordinary citizens will benefit from that, all but the “sanctions mafia.”