In early April 2012, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad asserted that Iran had enough funds to withstand a total embargo on its oil sales for two to three years, without specifying where the country’s actual reserves stood. Since then, additional sanctions against Iran reduced oil exports by as much as one million barrels per day, or nearly 40 per cent according to the International Energy Agency.
As European member states, including Greece, Spain and Italy — significant past customers — replaced Iranian imports, it was fair to ask how much cash was coming in, and how Tehran was spending it? Both of these questions held a clue to future crises of immense proportions.
Naturally, because Iran was subjected to a wave of sanctions for decades, and because no one truly knew whether Ahmadinejad’s regular boasts that Iran had more than $100 billion (Dh367 billion) in cash was true, many speculated. What was known was that certain government contractors, state employees and even members of the Pasdaran were not paid on time.
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