# Iran under sanctions: daily life

> **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou.
>
> Cite as: "Iran under sanctions: daily life," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/iran-under-sanctions-daily-life/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*John Kiriakou's account of being talked out of his own assumptions about Iran by a close friend who travels there once or twice a year and eventually started filming ordinary life — leading him to conclude that a country with no American embassy, diplomatic presence or business presence since 1979 nonetheless lacks for nothing.*

- **How he was persuaded:** A close friend's videos of everyday life, and other people's videos on YouTube
- **American presence in Iran:** None since 1979 — no embassy, no diplomatic presence, no business presence
- **Kiriakou's verdict:** 'They lack for nothing. They want for nothing'
- **Why:** Relations with China and Russia; spare parts; healthy trade with regional powers and larger economies
- **The comparison he draws:** Iraq, next door, with a heavy American presence — 'and we've wrecked that country'

Discussing in December 2025 how badly Americans understand the countries they sanction, John Kiriakou described being argued out of his own priors by evidence he could see.

## The videos

He has a very close friend, he says, who goes to Iran with regularity, once or twice a year. She would always come back and tell him how great things are there and how smoothly things are operating — and he would think, okay, yeah, sure. Then she started taking videos of just everyday normal life, and showing him other people's videos on YouTube. And she's right, he concluded. [1]

## What he concluded

There is no US involvement inside Iran, he says, and there has not been since 1979: no embassy there, no diplomatic presence, no business presence, nothing. And they lack for nothing. They want for nothing. They have great relations with China and with Russia; they get all the spare parts they need; they have healthy trade relationships with all of the region's powers and larger economies. [1] [2]

## The same friend, four months later

He gave the account again in April 2026, in the middle of the war, when the framing had shifted from sanctions to survival. Putting it to [Richard D. Wolff](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/richard-wolff) that the mainstream media seemed surprised the Iranians had held up as well as they had, Kiriakou returned to the same witness — *"I have a very dear friend who travels to Iran regularly"* — and to the one recurring theme of her trips. This time he stated the conclusion as a mechanism rather than an impression: with crippling, punishing sanctions in place over so many years, *"the Iranians have become utterly self-sufficient. If they need something that they can't import from Russia or China or India, they manufacture it themselves."*[3]

Wolff's answer added a qualification Kiriakou did not dispute: resourcefulness is not the whole of it, because Iran is *"a well-industrialized country"* with a long-standing commitment to an industrial economy — *"it's not like what Vietnam was or Afghanistan was or Iraq was."* On that basis he expected Iran could carry on for quite a while.[4] What the sanctions could not close is treated under [China as economic threat](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/china-economic-threat): the Caspian coastline Iran shares with Russia, across which anything bombed can be replaced by boat in a day and a half.[5]

## The comparison

The point of the observation is the contrast that follows it. Then you look at something like Iraq, he says, which is right next door and has a very heavy American presence — and we've wrecked that country. When his interviewer added that wrecking it was the plan, Kiriakou did not dispute it. [6]

## The rule he draws from it

The passage introduces one of the sharpest formulations Kiriakou endorses about American foreign policy, offered to him by his interviewer and immediately affirmed: that wherever the United States goes it creates instability, and that the second rule is that it refuses to accept rule number one. Kiriakou's answer was that this is exactly right, and that the United States does not accept responsibility. [7]

His own visits to Iran are treated separately in [Kiriakou's Iran trips](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/kiriakou-iran-trips).

## See also

- [Kiriakou's Iran trips](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/kiriakou-iran-trips)
- [Sanctions Effectiveness](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/sanctions-effectiveness)
- [Iran 12-Day War](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/iran-12-day-war)
- [Iraq WMD intelligence](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/iraq-wmd-intelligence)
- [Iran Nuclear Assessment](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/iran-nuclear-assessment)
- [China as economic threat](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/china-economic-threat)

## Sources

1. John Kiriakou – US Espionage and Foreign Policy (2025-12-17), at 02:07. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6pirxcMhK8&t=127s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-12-17-pete-a-turner-john-kiriakou-us-espionage-and-foreign-policy/
2. John Kiriakou – US Espionage and Foreign Policy (2025-12-17), at 02:38. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6pirxcMhK8&t=158s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-12-17-pete-a-turner-john-kiriakou-us-espionage-and-foreign-policy/
3. Europe Is Running Out of Fuel w/ Richard Wolff (2026-04-17), at 20:30. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lffVtXOhGXY&t=1230s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-04-17-the-deep-focus-show-europe-is-running-out-of-fuel-w-richard-wolff/
4. Europe Is Running Out of Fuel w/ Richard Wolff (2026-04-17), at 21:32. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lffVtXOhGXY&t=1292s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-04-17-the-deep-focus-show-europe-is-running-out-of-fuel-w-richard-wolff/
5. Europe Is Running Out of Fuel w/ Richard Wolff (2026-04-17), at 22:03. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lffVtXOhGXY&t=1323s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-04-17-the-deep-focus-show-europe-is-running-out-of-fuel-w-richard-wolff/
6. John Kiriakou – US Espionage and Foreign Policy (2025-12-17), at 03:09. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6pirxcMhK8&t=189s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-12-17-pete-a-turner-john-kiriakou-us-espionage-and-foreign-policy/
7. John Kiriakou – US Espionage and Foreign Policy (2025-12-17), at 03:40. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6pirxcMhK8&t=220s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-12-17-pete-a-turner-john-kiriakou-us-espionage-and-foreign-policy/

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From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/iran-under-sanctions-daily-life/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt