The curbs had forced Iranians to go for locally-produced vehicles long derided as ‘death wagons’.
| Photo Credit: AP
All architecture student Amirhossein Azizi wanted for his 19th birthday was the latest iPhone — and for Iran’s cash-strapped theocracy, it was just the gift they needed as well.
Just buying a top-of-the-line iPhone 16 Pro Max in Iran’s capital cost him on the day 1.6 billion rials ($1,880). An additional 450 million rials ($530) is required for import fees and registration on government-managed mobile phone networks.
“I’m very happy to own one of the most expensive phones in the country,” Mr. Azizi said. His father, Mohammad, laughed nearby and added: “Maybe if they had to earn the money themselves, they wouldn’t be so quick to spend it.”
The purchase is only possible after Iran lifted import bans on expensive goods like foreign cars and new iPhones, yielding to public demand for the products while also trying to mask the dire straits of its economy.
While being described as a way to boost Iran’s much-vaunted “resistance economy,” the bans had trapped Iranians into buying more affordable locally-produced vehicles long derided as “death wagons” and boosted the prices of aging, second-hand iPhones.
They also provide Iran with much-needed tax revenues as its government struggles under international sanctions over its nuclear programme. Uncertainty over how U.S. President Donald Trump will deal with Iran also has put pressure on its rial currency, which sits at record lows against the dollar.
‘Advantageous sanctions’
Powerful forces within Iran long have been believed to be taking advantage of the sanctions, while those benefiting may just be among the country’s most well-off citizens.
“It’s more about perception than reality,” Iranian economist Saeed Leilaz said.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, now 85, first proposed the idea nearly 15 years ago as Tehran faced its first round of intense sanctions over its nuclear programme, which the West fears puts the Islamic Republic at the precipice of obtaining an atomic bomb. Iran maintains its programme is peaceful — even as it enriches uranium closer than ever to weapons-grade levels.
“Sanctions are not new for us,” Mr. Khamenei said in a 2010 speech. “All achievements have been made and all the great movements of the people of Iran have been launched while we were under sanctions.”
“Lifting restrictions on a few platforms or allowing iPhone imports are the kinds of steps the government can take quickly and with minimal cost to create a sense of progress,” said Mr. Leilaz.
Such decisions also provide a quick win for Iran’s reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian with Iran’s elite — though it doesn’t address any of the longer-term economic problems.
As Iran’s economy worsens, its theocracy worries conditions could again push the public back onto the streets in nationwide protests. That is why officials up to Mr. Khamenei have backed the idea of talking again to the West.
Published – February 12, 2025 11:19 am IST
