Tehran, Iran — The West has intensified economic pressures on Iran in recent months and imposed nearly 800 sanctions on Iran since September last year alone, an Iranian expert has said.
Mohsen Pakaeen, a foreign policy analyst, told the official Islamic Republic News Agency that US, Europe along with Canada and Australia imposed these sanctions. He called upon Iranian authorities to improve the economic structure of the country to avoid the negative economic effects and to develop the peaceful nuclear energy program.
He said the West has unleashed the “hybrid warfare” on Iran, which consists of soft war to create “dissatisfaction among people with the use of cultural, economic, political and international elements”.
He said that since the World War II, the big powers have always resorted to the hybrid warfare against their opponents, and that the US, the “Zionist regime” and certain European states in particular Britain, France and Germany pursued this sort of warfare in order to put pressure on the Islamic Republic.
“Following the sad death of a young Iranian woman named Mahsa Amini, the foes used the incident to foment an unrest in Iran, but the fact that the enemies resorted to failed groups such as the MKO terrorists shows they have been left bear-handed,” Pakeen said.
The Islamic republic was rocked by protests since the death in custody of Mahsa Amini on September 16, following her arrest in Tehran for allegedly breaching the country’s dress rules for women.
Dozens of people, mainly demonstrators but also members of the security forces, have been killed during the demonstrations, described as “riots” by the authorities, and hundreds more have been arrested.
Several Western governments have imposed new sanctions on Iran in the aftermath of the Amini protests. Iran retaliated with sanctions on individuals and organizations of several Western nations.