TEHRAN, Dec. 11 (Xinhua) -- A senior Iranian official said on Friday that foreign sanctions are expected to continue to affect Iran's trade for several years, semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.
"It is completely clear that, whether Biden is ratified (as president of the United States) or Trump can reverse the situation at the U.S. Supreme Court, the sanctions will continue for another four or five years," said Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran's Expediency Discernment Council.
Commenting on the draft budget bill for the next Iranian year starting on March 21, 2021, Rezaei, also a senior adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said both Trump and Biden intend to continue using economic sanctions to "pressure the Iranian people."
The budget should be thus designed according to the Resistance Economy doctrine and on the basis of Article 44 of the Iranian Constitution, the former chief of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps noted.
The Article 44 was reinterpreted in 2005 by the Expediency Discernment Council and Iran's Supreme Leader to allow for a transfer of state companies to the private sector.
"We expect the Parliament ... to amend the budget bill, applying two factors: attracting the people's participation in investments and eliminating poverty," Rezaei said.
Defending the draft budget bill submitted to Parliament on Dec. 2, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday that the projected sale of 2.3 million barrels of oil per day for the next Iranian year was "not based on whether Iran will or will not hold talks or reach an agreement with other countries."
The conditions in Iran's oil production and sales will be "completely different" in 2021 from 2020 and 2019, Rouhani noted. Enditem
