Rezaei attempted to boast about his political — and military — foreknowledge while speaking about the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988) in a campaign meeting at Iran’s Chamber of Commerce in Tehran on Tuesday (June 1).

“Historical documents dating back to January 1982, when we were gearing up for Operation Fath ol-Mobin, show that I said at the time that ‘we will win the war [with Iraq] but have no doubt that, after the war, they will lay economic siege on us and unite Arabs against us,’” he told the group of Iranian businessmen.

Rezaei, who has been a frequent presidential candidate, also referred to a prediction he made while campaigning in 2013 about a fall in the value of the Iranian national currency, the rial.

In his 2021 presidential campaign, Rezaei has been giving special attention to the economy and the national currency. On Saturday (May 29), he promised to increase cash handouts to the Iranian people from the current monthly 455,000 Iranian rials (1.9 US dollars) to 4,500,000 — an increase of ten times. A day later, he said he would work to make the Iranian rial the strongest currency in the region after the US dollar and the euro.

Iran is holding its 13th presidential election on June 18. Rezaei is running against six other candidates. All of them have been focusing on the economy, battered by sanctions and mismanagement in recent years. Some have been attacking the economic policies of the President Hassan Rouhani administration. The governor of Iran’s Central Bank, appointed to that post by Rouhani in 2018, is also running.

‘The cake is shrinking’

In his Tuesday remarks, Rezaei, who holds a Ph.D. in economics, said the last decade had been one of “missed opportunities.”

“Over this decade, [Iran’s] average economic growth rate went down to zero; the average inflation rate was 24%, it was the worst over the last three years; gross fixed capital grew at an average -5%; and, for the first time in the past 50 years, depreciation of investment property grew at a faster rate than the rate of investment,” he said.

“Statistics show that the economic cake is shrinking,” he added.

Iran struck a deal with six world powers in 2015, in what was hailed by the Rouhani administration as the trigger of an economic boom as a result of the lifting of draconian US sanctions promised under the deal. But the United States unilaterally abandoned the agreement in 2018 and started imposing sanctions on Iran and its partners again, effectively blocking Iran’s access to any dividends from the accord.

‘We shall not allow past administrations to repeat themselves!’

Rezaei then pleaded with the audience not to allow past mistakes to repeat.

“Firstly, we have to stop the mistakes. We shall not allow past administrations to repeat themselves. I ask you to please not allow past administrations to repeat themselves; [otherwise] we will risk reaching the point of no return, which would be below the dignity of the Iranian people,” he said.

Rezaei said everyone was responsible for the stringent economic state of the country, but the administration had to act first.

“For it is the administration and the statesmen who, in spite of having no knowledge of economics, incur damage on the economy,” he added.

Rezaei is a Principlist.

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Referring to the assassination of Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, he highlighted that a new war has begun between Iran and its enemies and this war continues.

As the end of the Trump administration comes to an end, the United States, in cooperation with the Zionist regime, is carrying out a series of actions against Iran, which in any case is another war, and it is natural to have martyrs in this war, but the war is not over yet, he added.

Emphasizing that it is Iran that will end the war, Rezaei said that Iran will punish the Zionist regime so that the Arab compromising countries will realize that they have made a big mistake.

He noted that Iran has started a situation of resistance since two years ago, which has been an effective and constructive resistance so far, pointing to the downing of a US spy drone in the Persian Gulf and the seizure of a UK ship.

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According To Iran News, The Secretary of Iran’s Expediency Council Mohsen Rezaei said that the goal of the US in the region is to take over the world energy resources and the martyrdom of the Quds Force commander led to an international movement against the global Arrogance.

“Supporters of this movement are not just from the regional countries, but many free nations in the world know that the goal of the US in the region is to take over and steal away world energy resources so that American Colonialism can control the global trade,” he added.

“Today, we need an international movement against the presence of US in the region, this movement and the awakening will also lead to the mobilization of other countries outside the region, and ultimately end in the ousting of US from the region,” he noted.

The US terrorist forces assassinated General Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the second-in-command of Iraq’s pro-government Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) — better known as Hashd al-Sha’abi — in an attack at Baghdad’s international airport early on January 3. The Pentagon said in a statement that US President Donald Trump had ordered the attack.

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According To Iran News, Secretary of the Expediency Council Mohsen Rezaei said the two remaining FATF-related bills, namely the Palermo and CFT, are still being reviewed by the Council’s members.

He said the issue was still being reviewed at the Expediency Council and he could not disclose any information about the case at the moment.

“I will talk about the FATF-related bills in the future and after the necessary studies have been conducted. The issue is still being addressed by the Council,” he added.

Asked when the Council would reach a conclusion on the bills, Rezaei said “I don’t know yet. I will talk about it after the issue has been discussed.”

The Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a global anti-money laundering body, has given Iran a final deadline of February 2020 to implement a set of four bills to meet the standards set by the watchdog.

Last October, Iran’s Parliament passed the four bills, but only two of them have so far gone into effect.

The Expediency Council is in charge of deciding the fate of the two other bills, namely one on Iran’s accession to the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, commonly known in Iran as ‘Palermo’, and the other one a bill amending Iran’s Combating the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) law.

Those against the endorsement of the FATF-related bills say the move would impose further restrictions on Iran’s economic relations while the country is under US severe sanctions.

“It is not in the country’s best interest to make its dealings transparent to institutions such as FATF,” Mesbahi Moghadam, a member of the Expediency Council had said.

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“General policies about the US are crystal clear: conducting negotiations with the evil is poisonous,” he added.

Some of Iranian officials, including Rezaie, have made some remarks in reaction to those made by President Rouhani regarding talks with the US.

As reported, members of the Iranian Parliament are signing a statement that condemns and bans any kind of negotiations with the US.

According to the statement, holding negotiations with the US under the current situation and given the US’ withdrawal from the nuclear deal, will be harmful to the interests of the Iranian nation and thus, is condemned and prohibited.

President Rouhani, speaking on Monday at a local event, said the key to “positive developments” is in the hands of Washington, stressing that the only way for the current situation to change is if the US removed all sanctions against Iran.

Tensions started to build up between the US and Iran after President Trump withdrew Washington from the 2015 nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in May 2018, and imposed sanctions against Tehran in a bid to restrict the country’s trade transactions with the world. The Trump administration has been making empty calls for talks, but the Islamic Republic stresses that as long as sanctions are in place and the US refuses to return to the JCPOA, negotiations will be meaningless.

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The remarks came as Syrian Army air defense repelled Israeli regime’s missile attack near Damascus on Saturday night. The regime in Tel Aviv claimed that it has damaged an Iranian-managed center in the attack.

Rezaie strongly rejected these claims, saying, “Israel and America do not have the power to attack different Iranian centers. Meanwhile, none of our advisory centers have been damaged.”

According to Sana, Syria has also denied the claims, saying the majority of the Israeli missiles had been destroyed before they could reach their target.

Syria has condemned the attacks while rejecting Israeli claims about the presence of any Iranian forces or their allied militia in the country.

The Israeli attacks come as Syrian military forces are taking back control of more territories from terrorists.

The Israeli regime, believed to be a sympathizer of terrorism in Syria for the past eight years, has been unhappy at the progress made by the Syria army and allies east of the country.

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In a statement on Friday, the IRGC said that the vessel named “Stena Impero” had been captured “at the request of Hormozgan Ports and Maritime Organization when passing through the Strait of Hormuz, for failing to respect international maritime rules.” The oil tanker was transferred to the coast to undergo the required legal proceedings, the statement added.

An unnamed Iranian maritime official said the ship had breached international maritime regulations by passing through a prohibited maritime passage in the Strait, turning off its tracking signals and ignoring warnings issued by Iranian authorities.

The vessel’s numerous infringements counted as a violation of the “innocent passage,” — a maritime law related to the passage of vessels through the territorial waters of another state.

“The tanker had turned off its tracker and ignored several warnings by the IRGC before being impounded,” the source said.

On July 4, British Royal Marines in Gibraltar stormed the Iran-operated 300,000-tonne Grace 1 and detained it, accusing it of carrying oil to Syria in possible violation of the European Union’s sanctions on the Arab country. Iran condemned the move as “piracy” and summoned Britain’s ambassador in protest over it. Mohsen Rezaei had called for the reciprocal seizure of a British oil tanker in case London refused to release the vessel.

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“[US President Donald] Trump and his team have recently said they want to economically pressurize Iran and are not seeking any military confrontation with the country,” Rezaie said.

“This is because they cannot [enter a war with Iran],” he said, adding, “They would if they could.”

The rhetoric and threats of a war against Iran have ebbed because Trump and his administration are well aware of Iran’s defense power and military achievements, and they know that any war on Iran will not remain confined to Iran’s borders, Rezaie said.

He also condemned the United States for imposing fresh sanctions on the country’s petrochemical industry, saying that the US policy of maximum pressure, which has repeatedly been tested by former presidents, is a failure.

On Friday, the United States imposed new sanctions on Iran that target the country’s petrochemical industry, including its largest petrochemical holding group, the Persian Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company.

This is while last week, Trump had claimed he was ready for talks with Iran to reduce tensions.

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In an earlier message on Saturday, Rezaie had blamed efforts to promote Islamophobia by some countries as the culprit of Christchurch terror attack while saying that the crime has not been internally motivated.

Friday terrorist attack at two New Zealand mosques in Christchurch killed 49 people and wounded 40 others. The incident was the country’s worst ever mass shooting, which Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern condemned as a terrorist attack.

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The official added that the statement, just like other significant documents and criteria, will be meticulously looked at and used during the decision makings in the Expediency Council.

Ayatollah Khamenei issued an important and strategic statement on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the victory of the Islamic Revolution which outlined the perspectives on the future and the unrivaled role of people in taking the second great step towards achieving aspirations of the Islamic Revolution.

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