Since August 6, the United States has re-imposed its economic sanctions on the regime in Tehran over its nuclear programme and its continued support and provision of arms and the materials of war to its mercenaries across the region — and the sanctions are having a biting effect on the broader Iranian economy.

Make no mistake — the re-imposition of these punitive measures is essential given that the regime signed the 2015 international agreement in bad faith. As its leadership was portraying a new “moderate” face to the world, it was contemporaneously loading ships with everything, from automatic rifles and bullets to sophisticated ballistic missiles for Al Houthi rebels in Yemen, and providing the logistical support and technological know-how to allow these enemies of the people of Yemen to prepare, target and launch them too.

Those who question these sanctions should look no further than the murderous regime of Syrian President Bashar Al Assad who remains in power now even after seven years of suppressing and gassing his own people, aided and abetted by Iranian-backed Hezbollah fighters.

The reality is that these economic sanctions have resulted in sharp price rises of many goods for Iranians. As a result, they have taken to the streets to protest the increase in their living costs and the drop in value of the rial. If Iranians want to know why they are paying more, they need to understand that it is the price to be paid due to their leadership and its duplicity in spreading its sectarian and disruptive agenda from the Bab Al Mandab to the Mediterranean. Iran’s neighbours on this side of the Arabian Gulf cannot allow the regime’s agenda to go unchallenged, and the sanctions are necessary to curtail it.