The Associated Press reports on the destructive effects of Trump administration sanctions on the middle class in Iran:

The U.S. sanctions have proven particularly devastating for Iran’s large middle class, said Dadpay, the finance professor. “This is the economic class that depends on the global economy, depends on their skillsets, and most of them are earning fixed incomes,” he said.

The economic freefall could shape Iran’s domestic politics, with parliament elections in February posing the first test. Middle class voters have traditionally favored reformist candidates but might sit out voting because of a lack of alternatives, inadvertently boosting hard-liners.

Sanctions on Iran are strengthening the IRGC’s economic power, undermining political and social activists, impoverishing Iranians of all backgrounds, demoralizing reformist voters, and empowering hard-liners. All of this makes political and social reform inside Iran less likely, and it tightens the government’s grip at the same time that it saps support for the opposition. The economic war wrecks Iranians’ economic prospects right now and for the foreseeable future, and it also diminishes the chances of constructive political change.

There were two details in the latest AP report that stood out to me. The first was that “[v]isa requests are up at foreign embassies, with young Iranians eager to leave.” The other was a description of the economic situation of a family living in Tehran: “Four unmarried children will live with him and his wife. Across-the-board price increases put marriage out of reach.” The sanctions don’t just make people in Iran miserable in the present, but they also steal their hope for a better future. Driving young Iranians out of the country takes away their opportunities to live normal lives in their own country. Creating so much economic hardship that young people can’t afford to marry and start families steals their chances to live the lives that they want to have. Sanctions work to kill the hopes and dreams of countless Iranians, and for what?

A previous AP report on the effect of sanctions from earlier this month summed things up:

Nazary and Hamzeh Nia, both younger men, said they thought about leaving Iran, given the stress. Hamzeh Nia said he worried about how to support his family, which includes a 5-year-old son.

“We would love to leave, if the situation remains like this,” Hamzeh Nia said. “There is no future for you here.”

The hawks that use the regime as their excuse for causing all this misery are helping to ensure that the regime remains entrenched and increases its power. Meanwhile, ordinary Iranians are forced to watch as the future they hoped for disappears in front of them.