Back to the Future: Iran’s Rulers Confront Return of Sanctions

Back to the Future: Iran’s Rulers Confront Return of Sanctions
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani speaks at the Austrian Chamber of Commerce on July 4, 2018 in Vienna, Austria. Photo by Michael Gruber/Getty Images
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As Iran hurtled toward this week’s resumption of U.S. sanctions, advice for beleaguered President Hassan Rouhani came from all quarters.

The Islamic Republic’s top leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, urged him last week to deal firmly with the corrupt. The Revolutionary Guards’ commander said the president must show “decisiveness” in rescuing a slumping currency, and a sizable chunk of parliament moved to summon him to hear their harangues. Social media carried the venting of ordinary Iranians as well as mobile-phone footage of small, scattered protests.