Ali Tayebnia, Iran’s economy minister, is seeking to reassure a skeptical public that the economy is headed in the right direction, despite a lack of tangible signs of progress six months after the implementation of the nuclear deal. 

At a conference in the city of Mashhad, Tayebnia referred to the Persian acronym for comprehensive nuclear deal between Iran and the six world powers, BARJAM. “Although we still have not seen the results of BARJAM in practice, it has brought about good openings that have caused the gradual signs of improvement to appear,” he said. “The statistics of economic activity in the first four months of this year [Persian New Year starting in March] have been promising.”

Tayebnia stressed that investment is key to Iran’s economic growth, saying, “In the last few years, volatility in the stock market had created some concerns, but now these worries have been addressed and the performance of this segment has a positive evaluation.”

Tayebnia added, “After decades of sanctions and slow economic growth, now there is room for serious economic transformations.” As a result of the nuclear deal, sanctions related to Iran’s nuclear program have been lifted. However, non-nuclear sanctions remain. US banking sanctions in particular have caused concerns for European companies seeking to invest in Iran.