Summary
Shopping was not the revolution Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini had in mind when he returned from exile to overthrow Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi 40 years ago.
The economy, however, has pedaled backward relative to Iran's peers.
Four decades ago, Iran and Turkey had roughly the same size economies in dollar terms.
Iran's is now just over half the size of its neighbor's while the countries have similar populations.
Rouhani was also the driving force behind the 2015 nuclear deal with major world powers, aimed at lifting sanctions so Iran could integrate into the global economy.
The foundation has become one of the biggest conglomerates in Iran.
The Iranian revolution promised a more fair and less corrupt society.
Indeed, Iran Mall, still under construction after seven years, is a monument to how cronyism damaged the banking system, hobbled the growth that might have been achieved even under sanctions and undermined the claims of the revolution.
Iran has 35 licensed financial institutions and the central bank wants that number reduced.
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