Iran’s president Hassan Rouhani has replaced several senior economic officials a week before U.S. sanctions against Tehran come into effect, Sputnik reports , citing a statement by Rouhani from Sunday. As part of the reshuffle, economist Farhad Dejpasand will take the helm of the Ministry if Economics and Finance and will work with a new team to find ways to weather the effect of the sanctions, which prompted the International Monetary Fund to revise down its outlook for Iran for this year from a 4-percent GDP expansion to a 1.5-percent contraction. For 2019, the IMF has forecast even deeper recession of up to 3.6 percent, versus an earlier estimate for growth of 4 percent in 2019 as well. Meanwhile, Tehran officials remain relatively upbeat: the country’s Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri said this weekend, as quoted by IRNA, that Washington will not be able to reduce Iranian crude oil exports […]