Iran pulling out of regional strongholds under economic pressures

Sara Wahid

Iran has started pulling its militias out of Syria, apparently under pressure from the economic problems it is suffering from.

This raise questions on whether the same problems can force the Islamic Republic to pull out of its regional strongholds.

Austrian think tank, Mena-Watch, referred to Iran’s gradual pullout from Syria in a report it released on May 10.

This move, it said, comes in response to repeated Israeli airstrikes on Iranian bases. It added that the strikes compound the economic difficulties the Islamic Republic suffers.

The Iranian militias operating in Syria had sustained untold material losses because of the Israeli airstrikes, Mena-watch said.

It added that Iran proved incapable of reacting to the airstrikes.

Mena-Watch noted that Iran had realized that it had sustained huge losses in Syria, even without making any gains.

It added that Iran’s economic hardships make it incapable of spending on its military operations in Syria.

It revealed that Iran had spent up to $30 billion on its operations in Syria in the past few years.

It is no longer able to spend any more money, Mena-Watch said in its report.

It noted that Iran had spent 20% of its budget for the new fiscal year on its response to the coronavirus.

Meanwhile, the International Finance Institute revealed in March that Iran had sustained losses up to $40 billion in the past two years.

The institute expected Iran’s foreign currency reserves to fall down to $73 billion in the coming period.

It said the Iranian economy shrank by 4.6% in the fiscal year 2018/2019. The institute expected the economy to shrink by 7.2% in the current fiscal year.

Priorities

Iranian affairs expert Osama al-Hatimi said Iran’s economic hardships will force it to rethink its priorities in the coming period.

“Iran will most likely ask its proxies to depend on themselves more in the coming period,” al-Hatimi told The Reference.

He added that Iran’s regional proxies will have to find new financing tools in order to get over the current financial difficulties.