Iran’s Economy: Less Troubled Than Washington Would Like

Iran is not a hydrocarbon economy. Even in their un-sanctioned state, hydrocarbons value-add rarely rose above 20% of GDP and for most of the time, hydrocarbons contributed around 15% of GDP – far lower than the 40-80% levels prevailing in the true hydrocarbon economies of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and Venezuela.
In its current sanctioned state hydrocarbons account for less than 10% of Iran’s GDP. To put this in perspective,