In the Ring of Siege

If we have managed to bypass part of the naval blockade, that is an important achievement. But what is an open route without cargo passing through it? The value of a new route lies in the exports it makes possible.

Guest note, Koresh Aliani, cultural activist: Vice President of Trade Development Organization said yesterday: Before the naval blockade, 75% of Iran's exports used to go through the Persian Gulf and Oman Sea. They expected exports to fall by 75%, but the six-month decline was only 35%. This is important news. It means that we have found ways to continue business. But there is a more important question; Which way do we cross these roads?

The embargo is sometimes described as if it were a set of strict banking regulations. Sanction is the same as blockade; They just haven't brought his warship in front of our eyes yet. When they get the opportunity to buy medicine, sell goods, receive money, or transport goods, they are fighting with people's lives. A naval blockade is a continuation of the same thing, with more obvious means. The goal is not just to reduce business figures. They want the society to be worn out, people to suffer, and the government to go to destruction.

Against such a war, military defense is necessary. It is also necessary to open closed routes and find new ways of transportation. But none of them alone are the basis of resistance. A country that cannot produce its own needs and has no manufactured goods to export, even with open roads and ports, will remain stuck. The basis of economic resistance is production.

It is also important what production we are talking about. Someone bends wire and makes earrings. Someone is creating content on Instagram. Programming also sells hours of work to foreign customers. They work, they think they produce, but when it comes to the siege of the country, these activities do not take the place of things like wheat, steel, machinery, and medicine. We have to build something that people in other countries really need; So much that they pay money to buy it and find a way to reach it.

Here, geography comes to the aid of economics. Iran has neighbors with whom we can trade by land. But a common border does not create a customer by itself. A customer is found when we produce the product he needs with the right quality and price. Then preserving the way of trade is not only our wish; There is also the request of the other party.

Let's see Russia; It is both embargoed and involved in war. Despite all this, we see in the news that the inflation and fall in the value of its currency was not as high as Iran's. The role of monetary policy, interest rate, and currency controls cannot be ignored. But Russia sells wheat, energy, metals, and industrial products. Its economy is not only a consumer of currency; It is also possible to earn currency.

In normal days, this difference may seem to be only an economic issue. In war, the issue is independence of decision. A person who seeks the permission of the enemy to meet his basic needs will not have complete freedom in choosing the time and method of resistance and preserving the society.

If we have been able to bypass part of the naval blockade, we have done something important. But what is an open road without goods passing through it? If we are going to import more goods from new routes, only the way of spending our resources has changed. The value is the new way to export that it makes possible. It breaks the siege ring; Land and sea routes only allow us to export products.