Economic Reforms Key to Tackling Unemployment

President Hassan Rouhani defended his planned reforms to revive the ailing domestic economy as the only way to tackle massive unemployment.

"Today, the lack of economic vitality is the main problem facing the society and high unemployment among the youth, particularly the educated population, is the main problem of our families," IRNA quoted Rouhani as saying on Sunday.

"The Iranian people, [especially] the dear youth, should know that there is no way to create sustainable employment for the young generation but by reviving the economy," he said in a public address in the central province of Markazi.

Rouhani noted that his government has managed to meet its promise to develop small- and medium-sized enterprises in the industrial sector and is on track to achieve the targeted 5% economic growth.

The president stressed that Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with major powers was primarily intended to jumpstart the economy.

It went into effect early this year to lift international sanctions against the Islamic Republic in return for temporary constraints on its nuclear program.

"Our struggle was aimed at liberating the national economy from the shackles of sanctions and pave the way for economic revival," Rouhani said.

"We should exploit the promising situation that has emerged after [the implementation of] JCPOA," he said, using an acronym that stands for the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the official title of the accord.

He criticized the conservative opponents of the action plan, "whose smear campaigns against the government effectively disappoint people with the Islamic Republic's establishment".

Rouhani's critics fear his plans to open up the country to the outside world might expose the state to the West's "corruptive influence" and accuse him and his negotiating team of making too many concessions and compromising the Islamic Republic's principles under the deal.

"A lying and foul-mouthed person who tries to provoke disillusionment is not a revolutionary and … has no relations with the [1979] Islamic Revolution," he said.