Subsidies and welfare payments play a large role in the Iranian economy. The numbers that appear in the government budget under welfare or subsidy payments are only the tip of the iceberg. A considerable part of subsidies paid by the Iranian government are hidden and do not appear in the budget....

Ostensibly, the US sanctions have been enacted to bring pressure on Iran to abandon her support of terrorism and subversion of the region, efforts to produce weapons of mass destruction, and opposition to the Arab-Israeli peace process. But it is said that domestic politics, particularly, the...