President Hassan Rouhani says the enemies, having failed in their economic pressure campaign against Iran, have now resorted to a psychological war aimed at portraying the Iranian government as inefficient and distorting the realities about domestic capabilities.
Speaking at a meeting of the government’s economic coordination board in Tehran on Tuesday, Rouhani highlighted remarks by Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, who recently outlined the enemies’ short-term and long-term agendas to hamper Iran’s economic progress.
Rouhani said, “The two currents of sanctions and distortion are at work simultaneously to fulfill this objective through grinding the country’s economy to a halt, painting a black picture of its accomplishments and creating frustration.”
As signs emerge of the enemies’ failure in realizing the fundamental goals of their economic warfare, they have now shifted the focus of their psychological warfare to attempts at portraying the Iranian government as ineffective, distorting the reality about the Islamic Republic’s capabilities and denying or playing down its achievements, he added.
Rouhani further warned that spreading rumors and misinformation in addition to attempts at creating a rift between government branches and especially between people and authorities would be in line with the enemies’ conspiracy against the Islamic establishment.
“In the course of more than two and a half years of unprecedented pressure and full-scale economic warfare [against Iran], the government has managed to run the country’s affairs by significantly reducing reliance on oil revenues,” he said.
In addition to supplying basic goods needed by the people, the government continued non-oil exports and prevented the shutdown of the manufacturing sector and an increase in unemployment, he added.
The Iranian chief executive also described the inauguration of large-scale projects in various sectors as “a thorn in the eyes of our enemies,” saying, economic warmongers “are angry with the nation’s capabilities and success.”
Developed countries have all admitted to the Iranian government’s “undeniable success” in the fight against sanctions and economic pressure as well as the coronavirus pandemic.
In a televised speech on Friday, Ayatollah Khamenei warned against a disinformation campaign, which works hand in hand with the sanctions and includes distortion of truth and misrepresentation of realities.
The main purpose of the disinformation campaign is to undermine the people’s morale, and to offer wrong solutions to people’s problems, Ayatollah Khamenei added.