IMF Says Still Assessing Iran's Funding Request

Photo: Reuters
Photo: Reuters
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IMF Says Still Assessing Iran's Funding Request

Photo: Reuters
Photo: Reuters

The International Monetary Fund is still assessing Iran's request for $5 billion in emergency financing in a process which is taking time partly because of the IMF's limited engagement with Tehran in recent times, Reuters quoted a senior IMF official as saying.

Iran, the Middle East country worst affected by the new coronavirus outbreak, approached the IMF last month to request the $5 billion from its Rapid Financing Initiative, an emergency program that aids countries faced with sudden shocks such as natural disasters.

It was Iran's first request for IMF aid since the country's 1979 Islamic Revolution.

"We have received a request for assistance, and since we have had limited engagement with Iran in recent times, the process of obtaining the information we require to assess the request is taking time," Jihad Azour, director of the IMF's Middle East and Central Asia Department, told Reuters.

Iran has been struggling to curb the spread of the coronavirus. But the Tehran government is also concerned that measures to limit public activities could wreck an economy already strained by US sanctions reimposed since 2018, when Washington exited an agreement to lift them in return for curbs to Iran's nuclear program.

Some businesses - including many shops, factories, and workshops - resumed operations across the country in recent days.

As of April 14, Iran's death toll from COVID-19 had reached 4,683 and it had 74,877 cases of infected people.

Tehran has blamed the United States and its "maximum pressure" policy for restricting its ability to respond effectively to the coronavirus pandemic.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said last week the IMF would be guilty of discrimination if it withholds the money for the country, which is a member of the IMF.

"Any member of the fund has the same rights of access to the IMF financing and resources subject to the fund's rules and approval by the director board," Azour said.

In its 2020 Regional Economic Outlook for the Middle East and Central Asia, published on Wednesday, the IMF said Iran's economy is expected to contract by 6% this year, against a 7.6% contraction in 2019.

Inflation - which spiked after the United States reimposed sanctions - is expected to hit 34.2% this year, down from a peak of 41.1% last year.

Iran, a leading member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), is also being hit by a plunge in oil prices. Brent crude futures traded at $29.60 a barrel on Tuesday; Iran would need an oil price of $389.4 per barrel to balance its budget this year, according to the IMF.

The IMF forecast the Iranian government's fiscal deficit to widen to 9.9% of gross domestic product this year from a 5.7% deficit last year.



Israel Far-Right Issues Rare Rebuke of Settler Attack on Army

Israeli settlers carrying weapons during clashes in which Palestinians were attacked in the town of Huwara in the West Bank. (Getty Images/AFP file)
Israeli settlers carrying weapons during clashes in which Palestinians were attacked in the town of Huwara in the West Bank. (Getty Images/AFP file)
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Israel Far-Right Issues Rare Rebuke of Settler Attack on Army

Israeli settlers carrying weapons during clashes in which Palestinians were attacked in the town of Huwara in the West Bank. (Getty Images/AFP file)
Israeli settlers carrying weapons during clashes in which Palestinians were attacked in the town of Huwara in the West Bank. (Getty Images/AFP file)

An assault by Israeli settlers on soldiers in the occupied West Bank drew condemnation from across the political spectrum, including an unusual rebuke from far-right ministers who typically support the settlement movement.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, considered the two most hardline members of the ruling coalition, called for the perpetrators to be held accountable.

The army said dozens of "civilians" attacked its forces on Sunday night at a military base in the central West Bank, vandalizing army vehicles and a security installation.

According to Israeli media, the attackers were settlers who targeted the commander of the military's Binyamin Regional Brigade, calling him a "traitor".

The attack was widely seen as a reprisal for the arrest of six settlers two days earlier.

In that incident, the commander and troops were attacked as they tried to stop settlers entering a closed military zone near the Palestinian village of Kafr Malik.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned both attacks, saying "no law-abiding country can tolerate acts of violence and anarchy".

Ben-Gvir was among the last senior figures to react.

"Harming our security forces, security installations and the soldiers who are our children, brothers and defenders, crosses a red line, and must be treated with the utmost severity," he wrote on X.

A lawyer, Ben-Gvir gained a name for himself before entering politics by defending in court several settlers accused of attacking Palestinians in the West Bank.

Smotrich wrote on X: "Violence against (Israeli) soldiers and our beloved police forces and the destruction of property are unacceptable."

- West Bank violence -

Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967 and violence has surged there since Israel launched its offensive in Gaza following Hamas's October 2023 attack.

Since then, Israeli troops or settlers in the West Bank have killed at least 947 Palestinians -- many of them militants, but also scores of civilians -- according to Palestinian health ministry figures.

At least 35 Israelis, including both civilians and security forces, have been killed in Palestinian attacks or Israeli military operations, according to Israeli official figures.

But settler attacks on army positions are rare.

"It was too much, even for the far-right," said Simon Perry, a security expert and associate professor in the criminology department at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

"The rioters went overboard," he told AFP.

Nimrod Goren, an expert on foreign relations and a veteran commentator on Israeli politics, said the far-right's outrage at the assault was merely "lip service", however.

Violent assaults by Israeli settlers against Palestinians have become common since 2023, without drawing any criticism from the political class, he noted.

"But when soldiers are affected, all of a sudden people are alerted," said Goren, who is chairman of the Israeli foreign policy think tank Mitvim.

- Settlers' eviction drive -

According to the two Israeli experts, the rioters were part of an informal movement known as the hilltop youth, whose goal is to evict Palestinian residents and establish settlements in the West Bank without government approval.

The movement constitutes a fringe, even among the Religious Zionist movement, the ideological backbone of the settlement enterprise.

Several human rights NGOs have denounced the rise in violence committed by the settlers, and their perceived impunity.

Shortly after his appointment in November 2024, Defense Minister Israel Katz announced an end to administrative detention for West Bank settlers, a practice that allows security forces to detain suspects without charge.

Israeli media say the move emboldened extremist settlers and led to a wave of attacks in the Palestinian territory.

On Tuesday, the Israeli press reported that Katz would not bring it back, contrary to the opinion of Israel's Shin Bet security service.

The measure is still in place for Palestinians.

The recent settler violence against army positions in the West Bank even prompted condemnation from leaders within the movement.

"Those who wish to protest must act according to the law and not confront the army," Oded Revivi, a former mayor of the Efrat settlement, and a prominent settler figure, told AFP.

There are around 160 Israeli settlements scattered throughout the West Bank, which the UN considers illegal. Their residents number about 500,000, living among a population of three million Palestinians.