On Thursday’s broadcast of NPR’s “All Things Considered,” co-host Mary Louise Kelly said protests in Iran were due to “economic hardship, hardship caused in part by U.S. sanctions.” And “to some degree, that is by design.” And “Planet Money” co-host Mary Childs stated that “sanctions are not all that bloodless.”
Kelly said, “Protests in Iran over the last few months have been about human rights and corruption and freedom. But the most recent protest was sparked by economic hardship, hardship caused in part by U.S. sanctions. Mary Childs from our ‘Planet Money’ podcast reports that, to some degree, that is by design.”
Childs then said, “The U.S. has had sanctions on Iran for basically the past 47 years. Sanctions can be restrictions on trade or on how money can move in and out of a country. They are meant to be an alternative to war, to violence, basically constricting the economy as a way to pressure a government to change. And the effects in Iran’s economy we are seeing today are due to corruption and sanctions that trace back to 2010 and the Obama administration’s efforts to curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions.”
Later, Childs added that it “turns out sanctions are not all that bloodless.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett