A Sad Example of Iran Officials’ Pointless Economic Plans
There is no doubt that Iran’s economic system is a disordered and turbulent market without any control or proper supervision. It is controlled mostly by the government’s officials and IRGC commanders and the economic mafia under the control of the regime’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei.
The people do not benefit from the country’s economy at all, mostly they are the main losers and are being looted by the officials.
Now a new scheme by the government in the country’s economy is hurting the lower classes more than ever.
According to its designers in the government, the capital gains tax is a kind of regulatory tax that does not aim to generate revenue for the government but wants to prevent the tendency of people’s capital towards speculative investments.
Government capital income tax planners assume that most people have no incentive to invest in production, so agiotage must be stopped so that people can invest in production.
But the officials’ designers of such a strange plan must answer the question of whether the few who were motivated for production have succeeded in investing or have faced obstacles?
The designers of the Capital Income Tax are all regime officials. They do not have freelance jobs, and this makes them decide not based on knowledge of investing in Iran but based on common misconceptions in public opinion.
For about 15 years, the government has been obliged to write the conditions of the necessary documents for business licenses in a book or a website only. How then can it still be incomplete?
In a country where studying medicine, pharmacy, and nursing is a dream, and a pharmacy license and a power of attorney license take 20 years, and its banks do not give loans or interest above inflation, and turning the desert into factories, warehouses, and houses is prohibited, it is now forbidden to buy houses, property, and buildings to escape the devaluation of assets in the invasive inflation. Unaware that they cannot block the way to gold, currency and cryptocurrencies treasuring, and God’s land has suddenly become smaller than the corruption of Iran’s government’s officials and their lootings.
The regime’s officials’ behaviors with investors have so far drained hundreds of billions of dollars of the country’s capital and handed over to the United States, Europe, the UAE, and Turkey, and continues to do so. Capital gains tax will intensify this trend.
Analysts say those responsible in the government for such plans did not think about the real situation of the people’s economy. People who are even not able to provide their daily food with the “Mongol invasion of inflation.”
According to statistics published by the Statistics Center of Iran in 2020, the purchasing power of employees has decreased by 28 percent. By the end of the year, that figure had risen to about 40 percent. Food prices have also quadrupled, which means rising poverty rates. Add to this the fact that more than one million people have lost their jobs. The point is the truth is more than what the statistics say.
A country that is suffering from huge inflation taxes. The difference between ordinary taxes and inflation taxes is that ordinary taxes are levied on the wealthy and upper income classes, but inflation taxes are levied on the middle and lower classes. The function of this type of tax is elimination of the middle class and the increase of the poor.
All-Important Wetlands in Iran Dried Up
Iran is geographically located in an arid and semi-arid region, and in recent years the issue of wetlands, lakes and the resulting dust has been considered by environmental scientists. The country’s environmental problems are numerous. Iran is most at risk from this dust. Almost all of Iran’s major wetlands have either dried up or are drying up.
Productivity and use of basic resources are low in Iran. Water, soil, and energy resources are not used properly, and this leads to environmental pollution in the field of air, water, and soil.
The country faces serious challenges in the field of water quantity. This year, Iran is facing the phenomenon of dust. Many of the country’s rivers and wetlands have dried up due to misuse and overuse.
In addition, Iran’s biodiversity and ecology face many problems and cause the origin of dust in the country. In addition to environmental damage, this phenomenon has many consequences in the field of health, economy, etc.
The area of very critical dust centers in Iran is about 2 million hectares. In addition, the total area of dust centers in the country has reached 35 million hectares. Over the past three years, the government has allocated a total of €450 million to the National Dust Management Headquarters to address the dust problem, without any appropriate result.
On the other hand, the area of external dust hotspots is 350 million hectares, which is adding to the dust crisis of Iran. Notable that a country which has no good political relation with its neighbor countries is not capable to lead an effective plan to eradicate this external crisis.
The Iranian Space Agency has estimated the change in water level of 10 wetlands and lakes in the country using satellite data, during which, except for the complete dryness of the three wetlands of Hamoon, Arjan and Bakhtegan, it is known that the surface of all wetlands and lakes except wetlands Gavkhoni and Choghakhor are decreasing compared to the same month in 2020.
Salehieh wetland in Alborz province, Miankaleh wetland in Mazandaran, Parishan, Arjan, Maharloo, Tasht and Bakhtegan wetlands in Fars province and Hamoon wetland in Sistan and Baluchistan province are among them.
One of the most risked places in Iran is the capital Tehran. Some 90% of Salehieh and Allahabad wetlands in the south of Tehran have dried up. The drying up of these wetlands has become a source of dust for the city of Tehran and can be a great threat to the city and aggravate the problem of weather in Tehran.
Gavkhoni International Wetland is located 167 km southeast of Isfahan province and in the lowest part of Zayandehrood river and it feeds from this river. But it has been struggling with water and drought problems for some time, which according to environmental activists, this wetland is closer to premature death. This wetland is one of the most beautiful wetlands in the country in terms of valuation, and it has been registered in the Ramsar Convention in the past. Today it is one of the 22 international wetlands in the world.
Gavkhoni, as one of the most important wetlands in the country, has been suffering from drought for some time, and such a problem can certainly affect the central cities and even Tehran with its dust. Unfortunately, the last water that entered the lagoon was in 2006.
To date, the environmental water rights of Gavkhoni have not been fully granted. The estimated water fee is 176 million cubic meters per year, of which up to 20% of this fee has been delivered so far, and it was a flood and was not needed for agriculture. For this reason, water supply to the upper sections of the lagoon is very difficult.
Iran’s Livelihood Crisis
What is the situation of livelihood in Iran?
Why are the migrant caravans from Iran’s center cities and margins to Tehran and other metropolises not ending?
Is the livelihood crisis in Iran, which is accelerating on a weekly basis, really an economic issue that can be solved by providing expert and investment solutions, or are there threads that are tied to the political crisis?
The center of all the above questions is directed to the government, which is caught up in interests that it sees as more necessary and urgent than hearing the voices of the people and answering these questions. In more detail, this means that in the Islamic Republic, the definition and function of the state has departed from its legal, civil, and political status.
Therefore, it is very clear that the solution to the domination of poverty and livelihood crisis in an Iran occupied by the mullahs is not large investments from abroad, not providing expert opinions, not signing open letters, not voting and elections, not lifting sanctions, not the Iran nuclear deal (JCPOA), and not having expectations from Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani and the other regime’s rulers.
Therefore, the acute political crisis between the Iranian people and the supreme religious rule (Velayat-e-Faqih) must be the final task. With each passing year of this regime, the poverty crisis becomes fatter, more swollen, more tense, and more damaging to Iranian families’ living basket and the families’ economy.
The state-run website Tejarat News on May 29, 2021, depicted this situation by this title: “Are Iranians getting poorer than this? It seems that our tomorrow will be sadder than our today.”
Comparing the situation of citizens of different countries from an economic point of view is one of the easiest ways to compare the way of governing in these countries. This is the last situation of Iranian citizens in June 2021:
“After red meat, dairy products, fruits, oils, sugar, and rice, which were considered as the only alternative to expensive meat products for a large part of the population, chicken also disappears from the table. The price of chicken has reached an amazing 50,000 to 60,000 tomans.” (Iran Press website, May 29, 2021)
People’s poverty and starvation is ensuring the regime’s lifespan and is tight with regime’s interference in the Middle East and its support of terrorism and proxy groups.
“All basic necessities are collected from the place of production and sent for export to Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Venezuela. They steal people’s basic goods and sell them to other countries for dollars.” (State-run website, Iran Press, May 29, 2021)
And let us read the bitter conclusion of the regime’s policy from its own outlet.
“According to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, we should see the citizens of poorer countries overtake in the next five years in terms of wealth. In other words, we [Iran] will become poorer than them. According to the World Bank, in 2026, the citizens of Georgia, the Republic of Azerbaijan, Vietnam and Egypt will be richer than the citizens of Iran. It seems that our tomorrow will be sadder than our today.” (State-run website Tejarat News, May 29, 2021)
Iran Daily Produces, Buries 58,000 Tons of Waste
“Japan buries three percent of its waste and recycles and composts the remaining part. We produce and non-standardly bury 58,000 tons of waste,” said the President of Studies and Development of Environment, Water, and Agriculture think tank Saber Baghkhanipour in an interview with the semiofficial ISNA news agency on May 27.
“Only ten percent of this volume of waste is recycled. In the case of water, out of 5 billion cubic meters that is circulated industrial and potable cycles, 1.2 billion cubic meters of water are recycled,” he added.
A stable progress in any field needs wholesome infrastructure. However, officials in Iran look at the environment as a fantasy and money-winning issue. Such insight has destoryed any initiative to promote natural resources in Iran.
“In the environment field, we have two hyper challenges in territory and land-use planning. Territory of environment and water is intertwined but there is a problem with this issue regarding the current structure and officials’ opinion,” Baghkhanipour said.
Regarding the environmental catastrophes and mismanagement, the expert also points to another flaw in Iran. There is no integrated organization, which covers all parts of this critical object. Scattered offices and institutes, in reality, pursue to ensure their territories in the best condition. In other words, they prioritize their own organization’s interests in comparison to the entire natural resources.
“Current management is sprinkled. One organization is responsible for the air, one for land-use planning, one for agricultural lands, etc. This issue needs to be reviewed because we need an integrated organization to resolve dilemmas,” Baghkhanipour added.
Unequal Distribution of Population Density in Iran
Furthermore, the population density has not been distributed equally. For instance, the population density in Tehran experiences a growing rate, which is considered a failure due to keeping unresolved environmental problems like sewage, residue, harms to the environment, and slum areas to the table. The environmental expert also blamed officials for failing to manage the population. “Out of 15 populous cities around the world, 11 cities are in coastal areas. However, the most underprivileged cities are coastal cities in Iran, and the relevant official has ignored this potential,” Baghkhanipour explained. Meanwhile, he counted the country’s capabilities including strategic position, energy resources, human resources, and mineral reserves, highlighting officials’ mismanagement to exploit natural resources in favor of citizens. “There are energy resources in western parts of the country, and we have mines in eastern parts. However, these mines have been abandoned. If the maps of reserved mines were specified, they would provide massive assets for managing society,” the expert added.Various Administrations Toying with Environment Organization
Baghkhanipour recounted the horrible effects of a state-run environment organization, believing “the environment management should be separated from the administration’s structure.” “It needs comprehensive discussions over this organizations’ structure. There should be an organization beyond the ministries. The decision-making structure is one of our main challenges with the Islamic Republic,” he added. Indeed, like many complicated dilemmas in Iran, the environmental problems go to the monopolized and isolated system ruling the country. In other words, the leaders only care about their own advantages and pursue lining their pockets with national assets. In such circumstances, underprivileged citizens, who are struggling with enormous difficulties in almost all aspects, see no path to achieve their inherent rights and benefit from fundamental services through ongoing protests and anti-establishment activities. Theis harmful experience has proven that both reformists or principalists have failed to do anything in their favor other than rubbing salt on their wounds.Iran’s Science Is Collapsing
Now for over 40 years, Iran’s rule controlled by the mullahs is destroying and toying with all of the country’s assets and values of the people, from the culture to the science and economy and most important human dignity and freedom.
In this article what we will point to is a recent report of the famous science journal, ‘Nature’, about the fake-paper factories of science articles which are in some countries ‘industrialized’.
It is notable that a credible journal like the ‘Nature’ would never jeopardizes its credibility to publish a biased report. Nature Magazine is credited with its history, and it is a great danger for Nature to publish a biased report. So, the expression ‘Industrialized cheating’ is not only indulgence about Iran government’s behavior but is less than the reality talked about the destruction of this rule.
Naturally one of the main subjects that is showing the dynamism and vitality of any university and science institutions is the writing of scientific essays. With the goal of being published internationally by credible science organizations and outlets to increase the university’s trustworthy.
But because of the fundamental thought of Iran’s officials who sees everything as an tool to gain more profit and wealth for themselves, they are engineering the countries universities’ structures to achieve profitable functions such as ‘essay production’, without thinking about its long lasting destruction of the country’s universities.
It is as if the identity of a university is nothing but an institutional structure whose components can be transformed with the intention of achieving new functions such as further article production, entrepreneurship, and solving social problems (easily and reverse engineered).
“Industrialized cheating
The problem of organized fraud in publishing is not new, and not confined to China, notes Catriona Fennell, who heads publishing services at the world’s largest scientific publisher, Elsevier. “We’ve seen evidence of industrialized cheating from several other countries, including Iran and Russia,” she told Nature last year. Others have also reported on Iranian and Russian paper-mill activities.” (Nature, March 23, 2021)
The problem with the mullahs’ rule is that they predict the universities independence of the country’s history, so it is very easy for them to play with such an important institution which is the main source for the construction of the country’s future.
The truth is that no country can only rely on natural resources as an eternal source for the wealth of a country and to establish a strong nation having a bright and long-lasting future. And what here comes into question are the country’s universities and its brains.
So, because of the view of the regime’s officials, without thinking about the norms and internal mechanisms and the worth of the universities, they pressurize the universities to change their structure in a way that results to a worthless ‘harvest’ for the officials. And the rise of academic fraud in universities stems from this.
Widespread scientific violations, officials abusing their position, abusing students, the prevalence of ghostwriters and the existence of essay and dissertation production centers on Enghelab Street, are all obvious facts of the scientific destruction in Iran.
And the truth is that Iran is being pushed out of real competition in scientific productions. So, just to create something artificial that perform better than its natural example is implausible. A humanoid robot that lacks a human-like nervous system which overtake the best runners in athletics, a chess computer that can beat the best human chess players are these days without any scientific value and no one allows robots to compete in athletics. No computer chess players take part in human chess competitions.
So, the truth is that Iran in the 21 century is out of the ‘real scientific competitions’, losing its future.
Iran Loses Voting Right at UN
On Wednesday, July 2, the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres criticized the Iranian government for refusing to pay its arrears. In this context, the Islamic Republic joined Venezuela, Yemen, and Lebanon who had lost voting rights in 2020.
“Iran and the Central African Republic are in arrears on paying their dues to the United Nations’ operating budget and will lose their voting rights in the 193-member General Assembly,” Guterres said. “The minimum payments needed to restore voting rights are $16,251,298 for Iran.”
In response to Guterres’s letter, Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif claimed, “UN deprived Iran of its voting rights,” shedding crocodile tears for his government, “U.S. economic terrorism prevents Iran paying for FOOD, let alone UN dues.”
However, he intentionally neglected how much Iran spends on irresponsible policies and aggressive projects like equipping and supplying extremist proxies, supporting the Syrian regime, making nuclear weapons, and advancing ballistic missiles’ range.
“When I went to Syria, some complained that I had caused expenses. But I will say this again, “We may have given $20-30 billion to Syria,” said former chair of the Parliament (Majlis) National Security and Foreign Affairs Committee Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh in early May 2020.
Furthermore, in December 2020, Hamas co-founder Mahmoud al-Zahar praised Qassem Soleimani, the former chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force (IRGC) killed in a U.S. drone attack in January 2020, for supporting Hamas. “During my meeting with Iranian officials in 2006, I raised some requests as the Palestinian Foreign Minister. [Then-President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad referred me to Soleimani. I told Soleimani that we have a problem with paying our employees’ paychecks,” he said."Iran is in arrears on paying its dues to the @UN’ operating budget and will lose their voting rights in the 193-member General Assembly," said @antonioguterres.
— Iran News Update (@IranNewsUpdate1) June 3, 2021
Iran refuses to pay its debts while spends around $20-30B in Syria alone, said former lawmakerpic.twitter.com/mE11FsEiSc
“A decision was quickly made because I had to leave the next day. I saw $22 million in cash in several suitcases. We had agreed on more but since we were a nine-men delegation, we could not carry more,” al-Zahar explained. In a speech broadcasted in January 2016, Lebanese Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, confirmed all Hezbollah’s financial and weaponry supports come from Iran. “All of Hezbollah’s budget, wages, food, drinks, weapons, and rockets are supplied by the Islamic Republic of Iran,” he said according to al-Arabiya. Meanwhile, in October 2020, Iran Focus revealed that state-owned companies have devoured 70 percent of Iran’s total budget, and while they can compensate for the country’s entire budget deficits, the fate of their profits are bleak. The website mentioned this amount of money are absorbed by corrupt government institutes and officials. In reality, the government’s primary problem is not with a lack of money, but the country suffers from a corrupt system. “The corruption looks like a seven-headed dragon,” the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei described the corruption in February 2018. “Every time you cut one head off, you’re still left with another six.” In October 2013, Regarding Iran’s systematic corruption and flawed financial system, first IRGC commander-in-chief Javad Mansouri said, “Even if it rains gold, … nothing will be solved.” Therefore, Iran’s complicated economic dilemmas will be resolved neither in Vienna nor in Washington DC. As long as the ayatollahs continue their untransparent rule, they squander national assets on oppressive and aggressive policies. The Islamic Republic’s 42-year history has proven this truth, and the current system would resolve the country’s dilemmas once a leopard changed its spots.Ever thought how #Iran's regime spends the Iranian people's money?
— Heshmat Alavi (@HeshmatAlavi) December 28, 2020
$22 million in cash from Qassem Soleimani to Hamas in nine suitcases is one example.#Priorities pic.twitter.com/nBWXnQbSuj
Iran: Diplomats or IRGC Quds Force Officers
Following the leak of Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif’s audiotape in April, no one doubts about the role of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in Tehran’s foreign policy. “In the Islamic Republic, the military field rules,” Zarif said. “The [military] field’s success was more important than diplomacy’s success… I have sacrificed diplomacy for the field rather than the field serving diplomacy.”
In this respect, Zarif particularly pointed to the role of former IRGC Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani. He also grumbled over Soleimani sabotaging the nuclear negotiations with the West. “Soleimani had worked to subvert the nuclear deal, by colluding with Russia and by ramping up Iran’s intervention in Syria’s civil war,” Zarif added.
Already in late March 2008, Soleimani had sent a message to then-commander of U.S. forces in Iraq General David Petraeus through then-Iraqi President Jalal Talabani emphasizing the IRGC-QF’s role in the Middle East. “General Petraeus, you should know that I, Qasem Soleimani, control the policy of Iran for Iraq, and also for Syria, Lebanon, Gaza and Afghanistan,” Soleimani’s message read.
Why Iran Has a Greedy Eye on Iraq?
Since the beginning of the Islamic Republic in 1979, regime founder and first Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini had a greedy eye on the western neighboring country Iraq. Given the geopolitical position of this country, particularly a 69-percent Shiite population, Khomeini chose Iraq as a launchpad for his regional ambitions. However, he was pursuing a scheduled plan aimed at conquering Mideast countries with a Shiite-population density like Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon. Khomeini actually dreamed to form an Islamic State—more than three decades before Abu-Bakr al-Baghdadi and his comrades had thought about such a state—in the countries that form a crescent. In this respect, he and his top officials mentioned this regional “Shiite Crescent” in their remarks. Later, they called it as the state’s “Strategic Depth.” At the time, the Islamic Republic founder started his meddling in the then-Iraqi government’s affairs. He frankly called on the people of Iraq to revolt against their rulers, and he secretly ordered the IRGC to begin border conflicts. Indeed, Khomeini had taken power in Iran as a spiritual leader. He had no political or social method to resolve society’s complicated dilemmas. He tried to monopolize the power and remove all domestic dissidents. However, he could not practice his idea completely due to society’s volatile condition. Therefore, he resorted to a longstanding trick that has been applied by dictators throughout history. “Victory will be achieved through terrifying the masses” was Khomeini’s rationale to strengthen his sovereignty. Thus, he ignited a full-scale war with Iraq to attribute all the country’s unresolved difficulties to the war. On the one hand, Khomeini sent hundreds of thousands of youths to the battlefields and left millions of grieving parents, sisters, brothers, widows, and orphans. And he quelled any domestic objection and complaints under the excuse of the war. “War is a divine blessing,” Khomeini said several times, insisting, “We will continue the war even if it takes 20 years and until the last brick in Tehran.” He practically spread an atmosphere of fear in Iran’s society to achieve “victory.” He also equipped the IRGC with advanced weaponry systems under the banner of “Holy Defense.” He also prolonged the war to eight years keeping the people under the sense of fear and terror.Iranian Diplomats in Iraq
Following the occupation of Iraq and the establishment of ‘Coalition Provisional Authority,’ Tehran appointed IRGC-QF brigadier generals, including Hassan Kazemi-Qomi, Hassan Danaeifar, and Iraj Masjedi as its ambassadors to this country. The first ‘ambassador’ Kazemi-Qomi had served as Iran’s counselor in Harat, Afghanistan, before the Iraqi government fell in 2003. At the time, he was organizing terror squads under the banner of a diplomat. He had a firsthand experience of work with the U.S. forces in Afghanistan. The Iranian government replaced Kazemi-Qomi with Danaeifar in 2010. Danaeifar especially focused on orchestrating terror attacks on the Iranian dissidents Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK/PMOI). Around 140 dissidents were killed during his tenure, and eventually, when the MEK departed Iraq in September 2016, he was replaced with Masjedi, then-IRGC-QF deputy commander. Masjedi is still Tehran’s ‘ambassador’ in Iraq. Furthermore, Assadollah Assadi, who was recently convicted to 20 years in prison by a Belgian court for a foiled bomb plot against the Iranian opposition rally in Paris, is another IRGC-QF high-ranking agent. “The 49-year-old [Assadi] was a diplomat in Iraq from 2003 to 2008, before being appointed third secretary at the Iranian embassy in Vienna in 2014,” wrote Le Monde on October 10, 2020. In his minutes, taken by the Belgian police, Assadi had plainly threatened Belgian authorities with terror attacks by IRGC-QF-controlled proxies in the Middle East. “Armed groups in Iraq, Lebanon, Yemen and Syria, as well as in Iran, were interested in the outcome of his case and would be ‘watching from the sidelines to see if Belgium would support them or not,’” reported Reuters on October 9, 2020.Iranian Diplomats in Lebanon, Syria, Yemen
Just like Iraq, Iranian authorities deployed IRGC commanders and IRGC-QF officers to Lebanon as ambassadors and diplomats since the 1980s. Qazanfar Roknabadi was one these ‘diplomats.’ To sabotage the Hajj ceremony and ignite ethnic conflicts in Saudi Arabia, he entered the country with a forged identity and passport. However, he died during the 2015 Mina stampede, and Tehran’s plot was exposed and foiled. Seyyed Ahmad Mousavi and Mohammad Reza Raouf Sheibani were Iran’s ambassadors in Lebanon who were coincidently Tehran’s ambassadors in Syria. However, this was not the whole story. Following the 1979 revolution, Khomeini then Khamenei initially dispatched Ali Akbar Mohtashamipur then Mohammad-Ali Taskhiri as the Supreme Leader’s representative in Tehran’s embassy in Damascus. Aside from their representatives, other ambassadors and diplomats were IRGC-QF officers. Likewise, Iran’s diplomats and ambassadors in Yemen were all IRGC-QF offices since the 2000s. The latest ambassador is IRGC-QF Brigadier General Hassan Irlu. Furthermore, since November 2007, the name of the first IRGC-QF commander-in-chief Ahmad Vahidi was added to the Interpol red notice list due to his role in the 1994 AMIA bombing in Buenos Aires, Argentina. According to Argentinian authorities, Vahidi had orchestrated the bomb plot through an IRGC-QF team.Vienna JCPOA Talks Have Not Come to a Final Conclusion
On the eve of the fifth round of Vienna talks between Iran and world powers over the former’s illicit nuclear projects, Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia’s representative in the Atomic Energy Agency, said in the talks that the fifth round would probably be the last round of negotiations. But evidence suggests that the fifth round of Vienna talks has not come to an appropriate conclusion.
Then in a tweet on June 1, 2021, he stated that, “Everything is so much complicated in relations between Iran and the #IAEA to our regret! Nevertheless, we appreciate the fact that they continue to maintain the necessary level of cooperation. We have reasons to believe that the current difficulties are of temporary character.”
Vienna talks over four rounds and the fifth round was in progress that news announced by Rafael Grossi, the Director General of the Atomic Energy Agency, made the maintenance of the talks more complicated as he said: “Iran’s failure to provide credible explanations for traces of uranium found at two undeclared sites is “a big problem” that is affecting the country’s credibility.” Then he added that a linear return to the old JCPOA, “It is not possible. Iran has accumulated knowledge, has accumulated centrifuges, and has accumulated material.” Then he added: “They have developed new centrifuges. Research and development have taken place. It was not allowed by the original JCPOA. It has happened and now the issue is how to deal with the results. What you absolutely need is a way to verify that if they have that knowledge, it is not being used to make bombs.” Separately, France, one of the signatories to the deal, voiced concern after a report from the U.N. nuclear watchdog which showed on Monday that Iran had failed to explain traces of uranium found at several undeclared sites. Now following the release of the new International Atomic Energy Agency report on the origin of new uranium particles, the three European powers must now decide whether they want to resume pressure to pass a resolution against the Iranian regime, as it could overshadow and making the ongoing talks to revive the JCPOA more complicated. Three months ago, three European countries, Britain, France, and Germany, suspended the plan that the United States had submitted to the Board of Governors to issue a resolution against the Iranian regime on the discovery of new nuclear particles. According to the latest report by the IAEA, the Iranian regime has not been able to provide a convincing explanation of the origin of the new uranium particles on several of its unannounced sites. Of course, these were not the only news which are complicating the situation. In the middle of the fifth-round talks, the Agency provided another negative information about Iran’s nuclear program. Iran’s 20 percent uranium deposits increased to 62 kilograms, which is an increase of 44.4 kg comparing the amount in February. The Agency also announced on May 31, Iran’s enriched uranium reserves reached 16 times the authorized ceiling allowed by the JCPOA. This rate was agreed upon 202 kg, while now Iran has 3.41 kg enriched uranium. All this news is worrying while the Agency previously on 23 February 2021 has also announced that they have no access to the regulatory data. Surprisingly, with this level of ambition, Iran’s government expectation that all the sanctions will be lifted at once is just an illusion. The Vienna negotiations indicate that the main issues behind the scenes remained not only unresolved, but the agency’s recent statement adds to the volume of the complications and stagnation. And the proof for that is, that the representatives of the negotiating counties returned to their capitals on June 1, 2021, without any progress, despite all the regime’s claims about progress. Laurence Norman, a Wall Street Journal reporter in Brussels, wrote in a Twitter message on June 1: “Understand the current plan is to organise a break from Iran talks tomorrow or Thursday for delegations to return to capitals. Could change but that’s the plan. The Big question: when to resume and whether to continue before Iran presidential elections is not yet settled.”Everything is so much complicated in relations between #Iran and the #IAEA to our regret! Nevertheless we appreciate the fact that they continue to maintain the necessary level of cooperation. We have reasons to believe that the current difficulties are of temporary character. https://t.co/g6mqLYW3CW
— Mikhail Ulyanov (@Amb_Ulyanov) May 31, 2021
Understand the current plan is to organise a break from #Irantalks tomorrow or Thursday for delegations to return to capitals. Could change but that’s the plan. The Big question: when to resume and whether to continue before Iran presidential elections is not yet settled.
— laurence norman (@laurnorman) June 1, 2021
Iran’s Capital Drains Crisis
If Iran continues to face a decrease in the accumulation of human capital and eventually economic and social losses, this crisis will enter a new phase. This means that the government cannot consider brain drain and the loss of capital as a minor issue, because many of Iran’s challenges today are due to a lack of capital.
First crisis:
According to statistics, Iran is one of the top countries in the world in terms of brain drain, and it is said that 180,000 Iranian specialists leave the country annually. The secretary of the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution, emphasizing that 54,000 Iranians study abroad, claimed that this was due to a “hostile conspiracy” adding, ‘The enemies of the Islamic Revolution are looking to hunt our elites.’ But the reality is that this issue is beyond the possibility of a ‘conspiracy theory’ and consider the ‘enemy’ as the cause of this challenge. The chairman of the board of the Tehran Nursing System announced the monthly migration of 500 Iranian nurses abroad and said that most Iranian nurses migrate to North American countries such as Canada and Sweden in Europe, as well as some countries in the Persian Gulf. Iran is even ranked fifth in the United States in terms of foreign doctoral graduates. A survey of statistics from the past decade (2010 to 2019) shows that, after China, India, South Korea, and Taiwan, immigrants from Iran make up the largest number of US foreign doctoral graduates, and one in 40 foreigners who received a doctorate was Iranian. In other words, in the last decade, exactly 5,506 Iranians have received doctorates in the United States, and according to 2015 statistics, approximately 5,000 of these people have remained in the United States. Out of a total of 54,000 Iranian students studying abroad, 25 percent of them have emmigrated with a three-digit entrance exam rank.Second crisis:
It is not only the elites and students who are leaving the country. Children of some officials and rich people of the society, based on their wealth, do not consider Iran worthy to live in, while their fathers are making Iran a hell to live in. Seyed Mohammad Gharazi, one of the presidential candidates who was excluded from competing in the upcoming election, about the officials’ children said recently: “Today, 5,000 children of government officials live in the United States and have taken people’s dollars and think they are living, but I am sure they are carrying the humiliation of this world and the hereafter with them and their fathers.” Mahmoud Bahmani, the governor of the Central Bank during the presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, had said: “At present, $148 billion is the balance of the accounts in foreign banks of the officials’ children, and this is more than Iran’s reserves.” Abbas Akhoondi, former Minister of Roads and Urban Development also said: “In the last three years, about $15 billion has been spent on buying homes abroad, and with the wrong domestic policies, Iranians have bought 1,600 homes in Turkey in the last three months. According to the Turkish Statistics Center, Iranians are still the largest group of foreign home buyers in the country. The result of the aggressive actions is that in the last 50 years, 3.1 million people have left Iran, that is, 3.8 million of our population have emigrated.” A recent report published by ILNA stated, ‘Iranian citizens have purchased 5,939 housing units in Turkey.’Third crisis:
The collapse of money and national capital and the rise in prices have led to the fact that many Afghans prefer the insecurity of their own country than to stay in Iran. According to statistics, the record for the largest number of undocumented Afghan migrants returning from Iran in 2020 has been broken. Some experts consider the fall in the value of the rial and the difficult labor market conditions as the most important reasons for their return. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimates that in 2020 alone, about 859,000 Afghan refugees returned from Iran. In recent days, news has been published about a 35 percent increase in the migration of Afghan citizens from Iran.Conclusion:
The structures are such that the future president of Iran will be not able to bring the country to such a development that the losses will return. The reality is that the people of Iran are at the crossroad of ‘Staying or leaving’. Iran’s today situation is not like in the past and many Iranian families, and their relatives, are people who have emigrated and many of those who have left are longing to leave their homeland and are struggling with the difficult question of whether to leave or stay. This is the result of 40 years of the mullahs’ rule, and rule of corruption, looting, discrimination, human rights violations, and executions.What Were Human Rights Like in Iran Last Month?
The May 2021 report by Iran Human Rights Monitor into the situation of human rights abuses in Iran is now out and, as always, it makes for disturbing and horrific reading, specifically relating to executions, suppression, and arrests. We’re going to look at the report here, but we recommend looking at the full thing.
Executions and Arbitrary murders
Some 21 people were executed in Iran during May, including 15 on drug charges and two on rape charges, which are not death penalty crimes under global law. Of course, it’s not surprising when you consider that Iran is the biggest executioner in the world in terms of its population. One of these cases was of Behzad Adl, 25, who was executed in Shiraz’s Adelabad Prison for rape. But he’d only confessed under torture, was denied access to a lawyer, and retracted the confession in court. Another is Baluchi citizen Mehran Naroui who was tortured into confessing, according to Amnesty International, and executed despite a social media campaign to save his life. There were 16 people killed and 15 injured by the Iranian police without arrest or trial, which is something that the security forces often do to border porters.Arrests and Abuse of Prisoners
More than 540 people were arrested, with many of them detained for their religious or political activities. Meanwhile, the following prisoners went on hunger strike to protest the denial of medical treatment for themselves or others. This includes journalist Reza Taleshian Jalodarzadeh, filmmaker Mohammad Nourizad, and political prisoner Saba Kord Afshari.Discrimination against religious and ethnic minorities
There were many instances of discrimination against people who are from minority groups last month. Here are just a few instances:- Sentencing of nine Baha’i citizens to prison on bogus charges of “acting against national security” and one woman for trying to empower women
- Sentencing of three Azerbaijani Turk activists to prison and one to a 5 million Tomans fine on trumped-up political charges
- Arbitrary arrest of 26 young men and one elderly woman for political activism
