Iran offered to sell state assets to foreigners, said it would cut the government’s role in the economy and pledged a tight monetary policy as it sought to attract billions of dollars of investment from abroad after over a decade of isolation. At a business conference in Vienna this week, the first such event since last week’s deal between Tehran and world powers on its nuclear program, top Iranian officials outlined an economic policy package designed to win foreign investment. The package was strikingly pro-market – many of the policies would not have been out of place in a center-right European government. If implemented, they could move Iran’s economy well beyond the tight restrictions and heavy state involvement that followed its 1979 Islamic Revolution. “The government, the parliament are trying to remove all the obstacles for free investment and for reducing interference of government in private investment,” said Minister […]