In fact, the Western sanctions imposed on Iran's oil trade are failing miserably to meet their objectives.

And a regime collapse – or even, coming short of that, another popular uprising reminiscent of June 2009 – seems further away from Iran than ever.

Meanwhile, the Iranian regime is using the current sanctions imposed against it by the West as a weapon to weaken its own fiercest domestic threat – the educated, relatively pro-Western Iranian constituency that comprises the middle class.

In this way, the economic warfare the West has waged against Iran to weaken the regime is actually amplifying the regime's control.

Before we get to that, though, we need to take a look at why there is no hyperinflation in Iran – because what is being confused as hyperinflation by outside observers and the press right now is actually the mechanism through which Iranian leaders are tightening their grip on Iranian society.