DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) Irans supreme leader says his nation is living through days of God.
The Islamic Republic has been reeling from one crisis to another, from the targeted killing by the United States of its top general to the Revolutionary Guards accidental shootdown of a passenger plane carrying scores of young people, most of them Iranians. U.S. sanctions have crippled its economy as tensions with America have soared.
In a rare Friday sermon in Tehran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei stuck to the playbook Iran has relied on since 1979, blaming the countrys woes on the U.S. and other Western powers, and proclaiming that Iranians still support the Islamic Revolution.
Heres a look at the various crises Iran faces:
U.S. SANCTIONS
After unilaterally withdrawing from Irans 2015 nuclear agreement with world powers, President Donald Trump began ratcheting up sanctions. The sanctions have exacerbated an economic crisis, sending the local currency into a freefall and wiping away many peoples life savings.
The Institute of International Finance, a global association of financial institutions, estimates that Irans economy will contract this fiscal year by more than 7%, mostly because of the drop in crude oil exports due to sanctions. The report found that as a result, Irans reserves are expected to dip to $73 billion by March, totaling nearly $40 billion in losses over two years.
THE LOSS OF
SOLEIMANI
As head of the Revolutionary Guards elite Quds Force, Soleimani was the architect of Irans regional military operations and its support for armed groups in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen. He was blamed for the killing of hundreds of American soldiers by Iran-backed militias in the years after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. He also helped Syrian President Bashar Assads forces battle rebels and Islamic extremists. In Iran, he was seen by many as a mythic figure who had defended the nation. Critics and supporters alike say he will be tough to replace.
THE PLANE
