IRAN - Sanctions' Tangible Consequences

"Economic sanctions have tangible consequences for average Iranians" PBS Newshour 2/10/2014

Excerpt

WILLIAM BRANGHAM (Newshour):  One of the first things you notice when you come to Tehran is the air.  A thick blanket of smog hovers over the city most winter days, especially when the winds don’t blow.  Many believe this pollution is yet another way Western sanctions are impacting Iran.

Of course, Tehran is a busy and congested place, so it’s had pollution for years.  But a few years ago, when sanctions squeezed Iran’s ability to import refined gas, the government began refining its own much dirtier gas.  Since then, the country’s air quality has worsened.  The World Health Organization says Iran’s air is often dirtier than Shanghai’s.  Face masks are a regular sight on the streets.

According to The New York Times — quote — “Iran’s Health Ministry has reported a rise in respiratory and heart diseases, as well as an increase in a variety of cancers that it says are related to pollution.”

In other ways, the impact of international sanctions on Iran isn’t so visible.  Tehran’s stores are full.  Shoppers are out in force.  And many Western goods are available for those who can afford them.  This electronics mall in downtown Tehran carries every latest laptop, iPad and mobile device imaginable.

But talk to middle-class Iranians on the streets, and you start to hear a different story.

HAMID AKHLAGI, Small business owner (through interpreter):  People are walking around, but few are actually spending.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM:  Shopkeeper Hamid Akhlagi, who runs a small store in the Tajrish market in Tehran, says, while things may look fine on the surface, he and his customers are reeling from another one of the main effects sanctions have had on Iran, skyrocketing inflation, now estimated by many economists to be over 30 percent.

Prices for everyday staples of the Iranian diet, things like chicken and rice, have risen dramatically, in part because of sanctions.

Akhlagi says the cost of goods in his store never seem to stop going up.  One example: A single bar of Dove soap used to cost about 60 cents.  Two years later, it’s almost $2.