Amid speculations and rising expectations about the makeup of Iran's next administration, almost everyone in Iran including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei attaches high significance to President Ebrahim Raisi's economic team as most of the country's current problems have their roots in Iran's ailing economy.

However, in a bigger picture, Iran's economic problems are a product of its foreign policy that is marked by anti-Americanism and unilateral reliance on China and Russia, without realizing the difference between political allies and trade partners.

Former Intelligence Ministry economic official Farhad Rahbar has been working on the formation of Raisi's economic team even before the result of the June 2021 elections were officially announced.

Reports during the past week said Rahbar has chosen a group of business-minded political figures who have often not been part of any government. Instead, they have been running Khamenei’s and the IRGC's economic trusts.

Except Massoud Mirkazemi who has been a member of the Ahmadinejad administration, everyone else in Rahbar's team including Mohammad Mokhber, Reza Fatemi Amin, Mehdi Doosti and Hojjatollah Abdolmaleki has been part of Khamenei's office or the IRGC's financial conglomerate. Mirkazemi was Ahmadinejad's Minister of commerce from 2005 to 2009 and then he was Ahmadinejad's Oil Minister for two years before the ultraconservative President fired him.

Mokhber, who is currently in charge of the largest economic foundation operating under the aegis of Khamenei's office is widely believed to be Raisi's first vice president. One of the pharmaceutical companies he chairs is in charge of producing Barakat vaccines which are said to have been delivered to the health ministry amid controversies surrounding the quantity produces. Doosti and Abdolmaleki, are two of the most talked about candidates for the oil ministry.

Although these men have been more or less successful in running big businesses in Iran, but their success owes much to the exclusive concessions they have enjoyed as executive managers linked to Khamenei. It is not known whether they can be as successful as managers of the country’s economy or in the realm of international trade.

At the same time, there are speculations about who is going to steer Iran's foreign policy which is usually formulated by Khamenei who has the final say on many matters including relations with the United States and Iran's nuclear case.

The candidates named for the post of Foreign Minister include Khamenei office insider Ali Bagheri Kani, Iran's former ambassador to Moscow, Beijing and Vienna, hardline former diplomat Amir Abdollahia, and Seyyed Ali Hosseini Tash, an academic linked to the IRGC's Imam Hossein University. According to conservative Mehr News Agency, the four are Raisi's final shortlisted candidates for the post of foreign minister.

But important questions remain if they can further negotiations in a way that would solve Iran's problems with the West and with regional players? Can they release Iran's frozen assets in several countries while US sanctions are in place and Iran has still not joined the FATF conventions against money laundering and funding terrorism? The Financial Action Task Force has blacklisted Iran, practically sanctioning its international financial ties.

The most experienced diplomat among the four, Mehdi Safari's solution, as he told Iran's state TV, is maintaining trade relations with countries such as Kazakhstan. He said Kazakhstan can export engineering services as well as grains to Iran. Safari insisted that Kazakhstan is the country of choice for Iran in terms of economic diplomacy.

Torpedoing his own idea about trade with Kazakhstan, Safari concluded that even in a remote country such as Kazakhstan, Iran is not immune to US sanctions. He said: "Even if we win a major part of Kazakhstan's market, it is like being in a jungle and making friends with a rabbit rather than a lion."