Khamenei flays Iran president on economy ahead of vote

BEIRUT: Iran’s president must do more to improve the economy, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday in a rare public criticism from the supreme leader three months before Hassan Rouhani runs for re-election.
Unemployment, recession and inflation — issues that could win or lose an election — all remain major problems in the final month’s of Rouhani’s first 4-year term, Khamenei said in a speech, according to the state broadcaster’s website.
Rouhani, who secured relief from economic sanctions in exchange for checks on Iran’s nuclear program, may face a hard-line candidate in May’s election who could swing the Islamic Republic back away from such international engagement for which Khamenei has never expressed huge enthusiasm.
“I have asked the honorable president to advise his executive managers that management must take place with transparency, supervision and follow-up,” Khamenei said.
Rouhani visited Oman on Wednesday as part of a regional tour to improve relations with Gulf neighbors that have been strained by the conflicts in Syria and Yemen.
Before leaving Tehran, Rouhani expressed support for Kuwait-led efforts to “resolve misunderstandings and boost relations” with Gulf countries, Iran’s official news agency IRNA reported.
“In this trip, there will be discussions about the region, the situation in Iraq, Syria and in particular in Yemen,” he said before flying to Muscat where he met Sultan Qaboos.
Kuwait was the next scheduled stop on Rouhani’s short tour.
Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Sabah visited Tehran last month, calling for a “normalization of ties and opening dialogue.”
Iran has had no diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia since January 2016, when demonstrators stormed the Kingdom’s missions in Tehran and Mashhad in protest at the execution of a Saudi Shiite
cleric.
Oman has historically had good ties with Iran, with which it shares control of the Strait of Hormuz.