Publication

This publication examines how Iran could handle the sanctions the US re-imposed on the country following Washington’s withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). The paper also revisits how Iran survived the more punitive multilateral wave of sanctions that preceded the JCPOA. The text’s authors argue that Iran has previously demonstrated its ability to survive economic strangulation and is now dusting off its old sanctions-circumvention playbook. However, the US sanctions are bound to inflict considerable pain on Iranian citizens, something that will only compound grievances about a host of social, political, and economic ills. A key question now is whether the patience of the Iranian people will fade before the sanctions.