Iran president's economic plan leaves lawmakers unconvinced

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani speaks Tuesday at a parliamentary session in Tehran after lawmakers ordered him to appear for questioning.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani speaks Tuesday at a parliamentary session in Tehran after lawmakers ordered him to appear for questioning.

TEHRAN, Iran -- Iranian President Hassan Rouhani failed to convince parliament on Tuesday that his plans will pull the country out of an economic nosedive worsened by America's withdrawal from the nuclear deal, further isolating his relatively moderate administration amid nationwide anger.

For only the second time in its history, parliament ordered a sitting president to appear before it to answer questions, the last time coming amid widespread discontent in 2011 over Western sanctions during the government of hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

While Rouhani warned that "painting a bleak picture of people's lives will lead to further darkness," lawmakers voted four separate times to say they were unconvinced of his answers about Iran's recession, its cratering currency, unemployment and smuggling. Those questions now could go to Iran's judiciary for further review, serving as a warning to the cleric that his political stature is slipping.

"We have made mistakes," Rouhani acknowledged at one point.

Since Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution and subsequent takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, it has faced American sanctions. Those measures steadily increased as Western fears mounted over Iran's nuclear program, despite Tehran's repeated insistence it has never sought atomic weapons.

Under the 2015 nuclear deal reached between Iran and world powers, including the U.S. under President Barack Obama, Tehran agreed to limit its enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of sanctions. That allowed banks to re-connect Iran's financial system to the world and brought foreign firms from airplane manufacturers to oil companies back into the country.

But in May, President Donald Trump pulled America out of the accord. That only fanned the flames burning through the country's economy from chronic unemployment, high inflation and drastic drops in its currency. Those problems sparked nationwide protests in December and January across Iran, and another series of sporadic protests have broken out in recent weeks.

Lawmakers have fired Rouhani's labor and finance ministers this month amid the economic crisis.

Speaking Tuesday before parliament, Rouhani said those protests only strengthened Trump's hand to pull out of the atomic accord.

"This lured Trump into saying that he will not remain in the deal," Rouhani said.

Lawmakers did, however, narrowly support Rouhani's answer regarding sanctions facing Iran's banks.

Rouhani also made a cryptic remark that Iran has a "third way" to deal with the ongoing crisis other than simply abandoning or staying in the nuclear deal. He did not elaborate, but said he mentioned the idea to French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday.

In a speech Monday, Macron mentioned that he had spoken to Rouhani and said France, in coordination with Britain, Germany and the EU, will keep working on "preserving" the deal.

Meanwhile, the United States on Tuesday defended its re-imposition of sanctions against Iran as a legal and justified national security measure that cannot be challenged by Tehran at the United Nations' highest court.

U.S. State Department legal adviser Jennifer Newstead urged judges at the International Court of Justice to reject an urgent request by Iran to order the suspension of sanctions re-imposed by Trump in May.

"The United States does intend, lawfully and for good reason, to bring heavy pressure to bear on the Iranian leadership to change their ways," Newstead told judges in the court's wood-paneled Great Hall of Justice. "We do this in the interests of U.S. national security as well as in pursuit of a more peaceful Middle East and a more peaceful world."

Iran filed a case with the court in July challenging the re-imposition. Tehran alleges that the move breaches a 1955 bilateral agreement known as the Treaty of Amity that regulates and promotes economic and consular ties between the two countries, which have been sworn enemies for decades.

Washington argues that Tehran is attempting to use the 1955 treaty as a pretext to bring before the court a dispute over the 2015 nuclear agreement. The 2015 agreement does not include a clause referring disputes to the court in The Hague.

The U.S. decision to pull out was motivated by "an acute, long-standing and growing concern about the national security threat posed by Iran," Newstead said. "The sanctions that the United States has re-introduced are lawful and appropriate in the face of Iran's activities, past, continuing and threatened."

Information for this article was contributed by Sylvie Corbet, Jon Gambrell and Mike Corder of The Associated Press.

A Section on 08/29/2018

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