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Iran's hard-liners praise Rouhani for boosting trade with Iraq

Iran's hard-liners are over the moon that President Rouhani is listening to their advice and capitalizing on Iraq as a key trade partner in the wake of reinstated US sanctions.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani waves his hand during a welcome ceremony at Salam Palace in Baghdad, Iraq March 11, 2019. REUTERS/Khalid al-Mousily - RC1D812E2710

The geo-economic aspects of President Hassan Rouhani's visit to Iraq couldn’t be more pleasing to Iran's conservatives. Ever since the US departure from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) last May, conservatives have urged Rouhani to bypass Washington's reinstated sanctions by focusing on trade with neighbors like Iraq as opposed to the Europeans.

Rouhani expressed his willingness to augment his country's volume of trade with Iraq by some 66%, from the present $12 billion to $20 billion. This received a rare standing ovation from hard-liners at home. "A $20 billion opening appears after the deadlock with Europeans," wrote Javan, a conservative daily that reflects the political stance of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Rouhani's visit, according to the paper, was a demonstration of Iran's political might against "ill-wishers and disrupters" of regional stability. "The visit's clear signal," Javan maintained, is that "in today's world no country is able to place a powerful Iran under an economic siege."

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