TEHRAN — Iran made the decision to prescribe “resistance” for its ailing economy more than three years ago, after US-led sanctions against it gained momentum. The strategy was an attempt to thwart the effects of the sanctions and accelerate the implementation of a long-awaited plan to reduce the country’s reliance on oil exports. The United States, however, moved too quickly for Tehran on new sanctions, leaving large parts of Iran’s nearly $1 trillion economy disconnected from the rest of the world and shattering hopes that the new strategy adopted by ultraconservatives would have time to work.

The idea to adopt a “resistance economy” came from Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who announced it in a speech in summer 2010. He later proclaimed the new year starting March 2011 as the “Year of Economic Jihad.” Twelve months after that, he proclaimed the “Year of National Production,” encouraging authorities to produce a revolution in the country's economy in defiance of Washington’s demand that Tehran abandon its nuclear energy program or face continued economic punishment.

The strategy required the government to take prompt measures to reduce reliance on oil revenues, which constituted approximately 60% of the country’s foreign revenues. Many also interpreted the call to “resistance” as a reaction to the populist President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s economic policies, which ultimately increased liquidity to 4,730 trillion rials ($190.3 billion) in June 2013, a sevenfold increase compared to 2005 figures, and increased inflation by more than 40% for the first time in years.

At present, the majority of political groups believe the economy simply did not respond to resistance, while a minority argues that the timing was not right early on. The groups who opposed the strategy from the beginning assert that the resistance economy was always a “myth.” They contend that the nuclear deal reached in Geneva between Iran and the P5+1 powers in November was a more true solution to the decadelong dispute with the West. The six-month agreement — which includes easing sanctions and releasing $4.2 billion in frozen Iranian oil revenue assets — is expected to breathe fresh air into the Iranian economy. In addition, President Hassan Rouhani has vowed to pursue a more comprehensive agreement in the near future that he hopes will further break the ice on relations with Iran’s greatest foe.