Home Blog Page 310

Iran’s Third Major Flood in Three Years

Staff Writer
-
0
Iran’s Third Major Flood in Three Years

Eight Iranian provinces have suffered severe damage in recent floods and thousands of residents have been impacted across 51 cities in Bushehr, Fars, Golestan, Ilam, Khuzestan, Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad, Lorestan, and Qazvin.

In Khuzestan, floodwaters disrupted traffic in the cities of Ahvaz, Mahshahr, Omidiyeh, and Ramshir, while in the mountainous areas of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province, landslides have blocked roads.

“Heavy rainfalls will bring society’s health in a more dangerous situation during the coronavirus outbreak. This is while according to forecasts, we will have a lot of rain in the coming days,” said Majid Nasserinejad, MP from Khuzestan province.

This is interesting because the politicians and the state-run media are eager to blame these floods solely on the rain. However, the truth is that meteorology centers began warning about this heavy rain in November. Notably, this is the third year in a row that a large number of provinces saw major floods at this time.

Given that, shouldn’t the authorities have enacted some sort of evacuation plan over the past couple of months? Shouldn’t they have built better flood defenses? Shouldn’t they have done something?

The sad truth is that the government is not doing anything to prevent the floods or mitigate the damage, even though they certainly have enough money stored away to do so. They are not dredging lakes or rivers, clearing the drains, or even refraining from the environmental destruction that is causing banks to burst. Even Naserinejad admitted this, warning that the floods could become more serious.

And yes, they could. Two years on from the 2018 floods and those who lost their homes are still living in makeshift shanties that are at risk of being torn down by the authorities because they’re not up to code or don’t have the right permits.

To add insult to injury, Defense Minister Amir Hatami announced that defense spending would be doubled in the next budget, at a time when people are struggling to make ends meet because of the irreparably broken economy.

Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), expressed her deep sympathy with the people affected by the floods and asked for all Iranians to rush to their aid. She then called out the regime for its “destructive policies in wasting our nation’s wealth in unpatriotic nuclear, missile programs, [and] the export of terror and war” which has made Iranians “vulnerable” to floods, earthquakes, and the coronavirus.

The Floods Pass Through State-Backed Mafia Tunnel in Iran

Pooya Stone
-
0
The Floods Pass Through State-Backed Mafia Tunnel in Iran

Stunning images of floods devastation and the sinking of the Jarahi town in Mahshahr, south-western Iran, should never be considered a natural event. Such incidents, with this volume of destruction of the foundations of bio-nature, can be considered a natural event when all measures of prevention and care and climatic attention have been taken until then such catastrophes seem inevitable.

The news and images of the devastating floods damage to the people, along with the cries and pleas for help of the homeless people, hurt the soul of every observer. According to Mehdi Valipour, head of the Iranian Red Crescent Society for Rescue and Relief, ‘eight provinces have been flooded in the past 72 hours.’

“The houses of Ahvaz and Mahshahr are flooded and no one cares. This repetitive series happens every year. It is not known how these credits have been spent, otherwise, areas with sewage problems and water collect in it are clear,” the state-run daily Resalat quoted Sirous Davoodi, representative of non-governmental organizations in Khuzestan province, as saying.

“These losses are due to the uncertainty of how the World Bank loan is spent,” Resalat quoted Hajir Kiani, Secretary of the Khuzestan Association of Nature and Environment Lovers, as saying.

Corruption in Iran Exposed Again 

The idea that a flood or an earthquake or any natural disaster can pass through a mafia tunnel and suddenly find meaning and function other than a natural disaster is, of course, far from the mind; but there is evidence that floods in the Islamic Republic have become a mafia phenomenon.

Such a mafia phenomenon has become so widespread that it has manifested itself in a report in a state-run daily.

Following the devastating floods that have turned the city of Jarahi in Mahshahr county into a war-torn and devastated city, Resalat daily published an article that revealed one aspect of the state-backed financial mafia in Iran.

In its December 1 edition, Resalat acknowledged the arrival of the World Bank to help ‘improve water and sewage’ in several cities in Iran. But the World Bank loan’s fate is now unclear, according to the daily. Apparently, it has suffered an ‘unknown fate.’

“It is not clear how and where the large budgets that flowed into the water and sanitation sector were spent. In 2004, a $149-million loan was allocated by the World Bank to rehabilitate and complete water and sewage in the cities of Ahvaz, Shiraz, Babol, and Sari. To date, however, there has been no written report on how it was allocated, and it appears to have met with an unknown fate.”

The daily then quoted the official news agency IRNA as saying in an interview with Darvish Ali Karimi, former CEO of Ahwaz Water and Sewerage:

“A $150-million-conditional loan was provided by the World Bank: with 10,000 rials for each dollar in 2004. This money could have turned the city of Ahvaz upside down in terms of water and sewage conditions. It was a five-year commitment.”

In the meantime, the managing director of Ahvaz Water and Sewerage is replaced, and a person named Habibollah Moradi replaced Darvish Ali Karimi.

What needs to be determined is the fate of the World Bank’s $150-million loan for Ahwaz Water and Sewerage. Moradi attributed the fate of the World Bank loan to U.S. sanctions, while from 2004 to 2009, which was the end of the project implementing commitment, there were no sanctions at all.

“Two years and five or six months elapsed from the loan period, and then the sanctions canceled the World Bank projects,” Moradi said.

The plundering by the financial mafia is so obvious that even Resalat daily cannot deny the contradiction.

“The effective date of this loan is November 16, 2004, and the expiration date of the loan is October 1, 2009. Matching the loan execution and expiration dates with the claims about the fate of this money is in conflict,” the daily wrote.

“The first is that the expiration date of this loan does not overlap with the time of imposition of sanctions, and the second is that the loan has been allocated and there is no report on the allocation of ‘part’ of this loan in the World Bank statistics,” the daily revealed.

Iran’s FM Zarif Should Be Held to Account for Terrorism

Staff Writer
-
0
Iran’s FM Zarif Should Be Held to Account for Terrorism

The trial of Iranian diplomat Assadollah Assadi and his three co-conspirators for the attempted bombing of the 2018 Free Iran rally in Paris began on Friday. Many people believe this trial should shine a light on terrorism as a whole, especially the role played by Iran’s embassies and diplomats.

The Belgian court is expected to sentence the four defendants to prison before the end of December, in what would be a happy new year for all. However, Assadi is far from the first Iranian diplomat to be responsible for terrorism in Europe, he’s just the first to be held to account. This trial should be a wake-up call for Western powers about the dangerousness of trusting Iran’s diplomacy.

The politicians across Europe must concede now that comprehensive changes are needed. The changes maybe include the closure of the Iranian embassies and multilateral sanctions and travel bans against leading officials, like Foreign Minister Javad Zarif.

This would acknowledge that the international community’s assessment of Zarif as a ‘moderate’ was incorrect. Nonetheless, this truth can be clearly seen in his praise for the most violent officials, institutions, and policies, as well as his long history of carrying out and covering up acts of terrorism by his government and its proxies.

Case in point, Zarif called it a “great honor” to visit the headquarters of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), tour the facility, and meet with high-ranking officers just after the United States designated the IRGC as a terrorist entity.

Furthermore, he has frequently bragged about his collaborative relationship with the former chief of the Quds Force (IRGC-QF) Qassem Soleimani, also designated a terrorist and killed by the U.S. in January 2020.

“The developments like the Assadi terror trial reveal that Zarif is in a position to play a very substantial role in the perpetration of other such acts on foreign soil,” the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) wrote.

The bomb plot would have endangered the lives of the 100,000 attendees of the Free Iran rally in Paris, including hundreds of dignitaries from across Europe, North America, and the Middle East, who would have been collateral damage if the plot to murder the NCRI President-elect Maryam Rajavi had worked.

Now, we know that Assadi smuggled the bomb into Europe on a diplomatic passport and handed it over to his hired terrorists in Luxembourg – where he does not have diplomatic immunity.

This makes it imperative to implicate the Foreign Ministry because there are multiple accounts of thwarted terrorist plots on European soil, just like this one, involving Iranian diplomats. Assadi is just the only one brought to trial. Each case shows evidence that is enough to expel diplomats from France, Albania, and the Netherlands. How is this not evidence enough of Zarif’s support for terrorism?

Europe’s failure to hold Zarif to account means they are “courting peril” from a system desperate to “project strength” and “damage organized opposition”.

“Zarif’s responsibilities have expanded greatly over more than three decades, but his role has remained much the same. As awareness about Iranian terrorism grows in the wake of the Belgian court case, the regime’s Foreign Minister will surely take the lead in denying, downplaying, and justifying his own diplomat’s crimes,” the NCRI wrote.

“Before December is over, the international community will have to push his protests aside in order to hold the four aspiring terrorists accountable. Zarif himself should also be held to account not just for the 2018 plot but also for his general complicity with decades of Iranian terrorism,” the Iranian opposition added.

Trial of Iranian Diplomat and His Accomplices for Bombing Opposition’s Rally

Jubin Katiraie
-
0
Trial of Iranian Diplomat and His Accomplices for Bombing Opposition’s Rally

On December 3, a court in Antwerp, Belgium, held the second day of the high-profile trial of Assadollah Assadi, a Vienna-based Iranian diplomat. On July 1, 2018, European prosecutors detained Assadi for orchestrating a bomb plot against the Iranian opposition’s rally in a suburb of Paris.

According to evidence, the Iranian diplomat had personally transferred 1lb of explosive material TATP from Tehran to Vienna on a commercial flight. Afterward, he delivered the device to the operative team, including Amir Sadouni, 38, Nasimeh Naami, 35, and Mehrdad Arefani, 54, in Luxemburg. Assadi’s accomplices had Belgian citizenship.

On November 27, following the end of the first hearing—while Assadi as the first defendant was absent—Belgian prosecutors urged the court to sentence:

-Assadollah Assadi to 20 years in prison

-Amir Sadouni to 18 years in prison

-Nasimeh Naami to 18 years in prison

-Mehrdad Arefani to 15 years in prison

Given the misuse of their Belgian nationality to facilitate the bomb attack, the prosecutors called the court to revoke the Belgian citizenship of Sadouni, Naami, and Arefani.

The prosecutors also urged the court to confiscate the terrorists’ money and property because the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) had paid the money to the defendants to carry out the terror plot.

Iran’s IRGC and MOIS Must Be Designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO)

Assadi refused to attend the second hearing. According to the Iranian opposition National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif ordered Assadi not to participate in the court.

Reliable evidence and undeniable documents and details obtained from Assadi’s note and communication with the operative team left no doubt over his role in the crime.

On the other hand, Assadi’s absence encouraged his accomplices to lay all the blame on the Iranian diplomat. The attorneys for the defendants surprisingly highlighted Assadi’s role to evade their clients’ own responsibility.

The defendants claimed that Assadi had deceived them to carry out the plot while they have received over 150,000 euros in cash and credit. In their messages, traced by European authorities, the terrorists expected more rewards.

The attorneys for Naami and Sadouni also tried to downplay the role of their clients. They claimed that the defendants were unaware of the bomb’s capacity and they had believed that it would not harm anyone. Notably, during the defusing of the bomb, a police defuser robot was damaged and a police officer was wounded.

Despite contradictory claims raised by the defendants and their attorneys, the court once again highlighted the Iranian high-ranking officials’ involvement in the plot. The NCRI President-elect Maryam Rajavi, who was the main target based on evidence and prosecutors’ argument, pointed out the role of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, President Hassan Rouhani, Foreign Minister Zarif, and Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi.

She also affirmed the imperative of shutting down all the Iranian government’s front centers and institutions that pave the path for terror plans under the banner of cultural or religious activities.

“It is now time for an international tribunal to be set up and to prosecute the leaders of the regime, who are the true masterminds of hundreds of terrorist acts around the world,” the NCRI delegation also announced.

Shocking Statistics of Murdering Women in Iran

Staff Writer
-
0
Shocking Statistics of Murdering Women in Iran

Iran is one of only six countries that have not signed the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and women living there are denied even the most basic rights over their bodies, relationships, children, education, and employment.

Meanwhile, men are allowed to beat and even kill their wives and children, which means that violence against women is not only prevalent but also sanctioned by law.

Let’s look at just some of the so-called honor killings, which account for 50 percent of homicides, that occurred since February because of the misogynistic policies of the ayatollahs and the laws that allow men to kill women with impunity.

Mandatory Hijab State-Sponsored Violence Against Women in Iran

February 2020

  • Kowsar Gol Soghanloo, 15, was set on fire by her husband

March 2020

  • Hadith, 11, was strangled to death by her father after he realized that he would not receive a harsh punishment for murdering her

May 2020

  • Hajareh Hussein Bor, 20, was murdered by her husband after repeatedly complaining of domestic violence
  • Romina Ashrafi, 13, was beheaded with a sickle by her father, even after telling a judge that he was abusing her
  • Sarina Ghafouri, 25, was killed by her brother who wanted to stop her from remarrying

June 2020

  • Fatemeh Barhi, 19, was beheaded by her husband after she tried to leave him
  • Mina was killed by her ex-husband
  • Somayeh Fathi, 18, was killed by her father and brother, even though she was pregnant
  • Reyhaneh Ameri, 22, was killed by her father with an ax, three years after he was first caught trying to murder her

Two more Honour killings in Iran this week 

July 2020

  • A young woman from Maragheh was set on fire by her husband on July 23, following repeated requests for divorce that were ignored by the judicial authorities
  • A 20-year-old was put in a coma after her father hit her with a hammer
  • Parang Ghazi was killed in a brutal assault by her husband
  • Fatemeh Ghozati, 16, died after being thrown from an 11th-floor window by her step-uncle, but the death was labeled a suicide despite complaints made by her mother who had seen the crime

August 2020

  • Fatemeh Kebriaei, 28, was killed by her husband during a violent assault after she left him.
  • Leila was shot dead by her husband just minutes after he was released from prison for trying to kill her with an ax.
  • Fatemeh Hawasi, 16, was shot dead by her brother
  • Maryam Atmani, was set on fire by her husband and died

“Under the current regime, the prevailing medieval view is that officially and in all laws, women are second-class citizens and subservient to men. This idea is part of the mullahs’ ideological pillar on the basis of all policies,” the Iranian opposition National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) wrote.

“In a structure such as the one in Iran, even if the killer is punished, a state assassination adds to the regime’s crimes and spreads the killing. However, the context and form of the issue still remain, and the men of this intellectual apparatus are increasingly driven to brutal behavior,” the NCRI added.

Tehran’s Monopoly and Economic Instability

Shahin Mahmoudi
-
0
Tehran’s Monopoly and Economic Instability

Since the ayatollahs and their brokers captured Iran’s economy, they only provided economic facilities and opportunities only for their loyalists in field of commercial, industry, and production areas, and the private section and non-affiliated sectors of the economy with this government, were deprived of their activities and implementation of their plans.

The private sector has to run for months in the maze of administrative bureaucracy to receive its licenses, while one of the indicators of free competition in any country is the lack of monopoly in decision-making for economic activity.

In Iran’s political economy, unilateral domination of economic activity has not only not decreased but government oversight bodies have always been one of the main obstacles in this regard.

Also, setting regulatory rates for foreign currencies and setting prices for goods and commodities make it very difficult for non-governmental producers to carry out their activities.

Ordering prices, on the one hand, and informal market prices, on the other, have caused government officials to always take advantage of this rent-seeking scheme in various areas of economic activity.

Mess in Iran’s Government

The monopolistic policy of managing the economy of a country of 80 million people not only frustrates the domestic producers and professionals but has also drawn attention from international institutions. The Fraser think tank reported a 15-degree drop in economic freedom in Iran, ranking Iran 158 out of 162 countries.

“In its latest report, the Fraser Research Institute examines the decline in economic freedom in 162 countries during 2018. This report, which is based on the statistics of 2018 (1397 Persian calendar year), gives Iran a score of 4.8 in terms of economic freedom and ranks the country 158, in the red zone,” Eghtesad News daily wrote on November 22.

Government-linked economists acknowledge that the cause of the economic turmoil is the existence of institutions that have exclusive monopoly decisions. “In political economy, the interests of some golden signatures and monopolies hinder economic growth and business prosperity in the country,” Tasnim news agency wrote on November 25.

Other known disadvantages of the Iranian government’s monopoly in the economic field are concern, fear, and ultimately the flight of investors in the field of scientific and sustainable industrial production.

In 2018, parallel to international sanctions and the fall in oil prices, the government of Hassan Rouhani set a price order for currency and other goods and services.

The move caused concern and fear among investors and private sector activists, who failed to calculate the import of raw materials, machinery, and parts needed for production, and production costs began to rise suddenly.

The volume of economic instability anywhere in the world reduces the motivation of the private sector and investment activities.

In such an environment where the exchange rate and inflation are rising day by day, investing was no longer reasonable and with a secure future.

When the price of the U.S. dollar increases from 40,000 to 200,000 rials and it does not have the necessary stability, there is no hope of investing.

“Therefore, if a production unit wants to invest in any sector of the economy, it faces a series of instabilities in which exchange rate fluctuations and the obligation to set a price lower than the real price are at the top,” Jahan-e-Sanat daily wrote on November 25.

“All this has led to negative investment growth and its reduction to less than the annual forecast, and at the same time investors have turned to deposit in banks; An issue that could be a wake-up call for future economic and investment activities,” the daily added.

Investors who have invested in the Iranian government’s monopoly soon realized that they made a mistake. In their media, they spoke about the freezing of the economic atmosphere and the impossibility of continuing their work.

“The bitter reality is that in the 2000s, the flow of investment in the Iranian economy in all three places [private-government-foreign] has been freezing and it will not be long before the material and physical capital invested in recent decades due to lack of modernization and lack of replacement and increase in depreciation, are being destroyed,” Jahan-e-Sanat wrote on November 26.

Now, the general public interested in the growth and development of Iranian society is saying with one voice that the only obstacle to the growth and development of Iran is the removal of the monopoly barrier of the government officials that governs the fate of the people.

Iran: Human Rights Situation in November 2020

Staff Writer
-
0
Iran: Human Rights Situation in November 2020

At the beginning of every new month, Iran Human Rights Monitor produces a report into the dire situation of human rights in Iran and we summarise it. As always, reading the full report is encouraged, but obviously, both the report and the summary can be distressing to read.

Overall, in November, Iranian authorities took many steps to suppress dissent ahead of the anniversary of the 2019 protests that shook the ayatollahs’ grip on power and saw a deadly crackdown.

This is most apparent in the pressure security forces put on the families of the November 2019 martyrs, in order to silence them and prevent them from holding memorial ceremonies. At the same time, the security forces began arresting former political prisoners and relatives of Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK/PMOI) members en-masse, while summoning others and warning them against marking the anniversary of the protests.

Iranian authorities have also weaponized the coronavirus to control the populace, not only with the hopes that the lack of control would prevent gatherings but also as an excuse for mass arrests.

This is far from the only method that the government is using to intimidate the public. Indeed, they’ve continued to issue death and corporeal punishment sentences, increase pressure on political prisoners and arrest dissidents. Let’s look at those now:

Executions in Iran—November 2020

At least eight people were executed in November, including at least one in prison for a non-violent offense – Fakhreddin Dastiyar arrested on drug charges. Meanwhile, Iranian-Swedish emergency medicine specialist Ahmadreza Djalali was moved to solitary confinement on November 24, ahead of his execution.

Arbitrary Murders in Iran—November 2020

At least 10 people were killed by security forces in the streets, many of them porters, who work long hours transporting heavy goods across mountainous terrain for little money. They are forced to do this because of poverty and the need to take care of their children, but the government sees them as a threat to their smuggling business, so they kill them.

Those killed, often without warning, include:

  • Vasim Fardinzadeh
  • Hakan Mohammadzadeh
  • Kamal Alam Holavi
  • Hassan Dallayi Milan
  • Siavash Kore
  • Mehdi Ali Zehi
  • Abdollah Gorgij
  • Taxi driver Khosrow Sharifi
  • Shop owner Saadi Rostamzadeh

Torture in Iran—November 2020

At least two people died under torture in prison, including  Mohammad Davaji, 19, who was arrested for getting into a fight and tortured in front of other prisoners to “teach them a lesson”, and Farhad Vosuqi, a 27-year-old father.

At least five floggings were carried out, even though it is banned by the United Nations. The victims include:

  • Labour activist Davoud Rafie, who went to court to fight against being laid off from his job at the Pars Khodro automobile manufacturing company for taking part in a worker’s strike, was not sentenced by the court and was lashed 74 times without prior notice.
  • Mehdi Khairi, who was tried in absentia in July for the crimes of “insulting” a judge, was flogged 35 times.
  • Iranian Christian convert, Zaman (Saheb) Fadaei was flogged 80 times for drinking communion wine.
  • Two men were lashed 74 times in public, as well as prison time, for robbery.

Additionally, at least 260 people were arrested arbitrarily, and the violation of religious freedom continued systematically with the raid on dozens of houses of Bahai citizens and the imprisonment of four Christian converts

Iran Human Rights Monitor called on the United Nations Secretary-General, Human Rights Council, High Commissioner for Human Rights, Special Rapporteurs, and all human rights organizations to secure the release of political prisoners, at least until the pandemic is over, to avert a humanitarian catastrophe. It also urged the formation of an international fact-finding commission to visit Iran’s prisons.

Iranian Authorities’ Confused Reactions to Nuclear Expert’s Death

Sia Rajabi
-
0
Iranian Authorities’ Confused Reactions to Nuclear Expert’s Death

On November 27, the Iranian government confirmed reports about the death of its prominent nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh. The Iranian coalition opposition National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) previously revealed that he was in charge of Tehran’s efforts for obtaining nuclear weapons. “Fakhrizadeh was the father of Iran’s nuclear bomb-making projects,” according to the dissidents.

Fakhrizadeh’s death severely shocked political and military figures. In the wake of reports, conservative factions affiliated to the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps vowed to take harsh revenge. “We will receive blows if we do not strike,” a piece on the November 28 edition Vatan-e Emruz read.

There is no evidence of who had killed Iran’s key person as of this report. As always, Iranian authorities laid blame on foreign governments. However, they have no proof, and despite their primary claims about the detention of an alleged assassin, the media later revealed that the government did not arrest anyone. Furthermore, the blue Nissan owner—which had exploded during the attack—had departed the country a month earlier.

On the other hand, Iranian authorities have been stuck in a difficult position. They cannot turn a blind eye to the event and indifference will extremely tarnish their stance not only inside the country but also among their proxies around the Middle East.

Also, Tehran cannot ignite a war for different reasons. First of all, in the past two years, the ayatollahs have dramatically lost their resources due to crippling U.S. sanctions. More importantly, they hopefully await the incoming U.S. administration to resume nuclear negotiations and any act of war may affect their counterparts’ enthusiasm for new talks. “The trap of tensions,” Arman-e Meli daily, affiliated to the ‘reformist’ faction, wrote on November 28.

These conditions sparked a new round of political rivalries in Iran. The November 29 Parliament (Majlis) session gave a sense of these rivalries. “Some of remarks and comments—either before or after the assassination [of Fakhrizadeh]—are rooted in this obvious point that appealing the enemy for negotiations contains this wrong message that Iran is weak. The enemies’ impression of a weak Iran will lead to more economic pressure and less security,” the official website of the Majlis (ICANA) quoted the Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf as saying on November 29.

On the same day, members of the Majlis Energy Committee also announced that they would focus on:

– Ending cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)

– Withdrawing from the 2015 nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)

– Expelling IAEA inspectors from the country

– Increasing uranium enrichment to 20 percent, which is far beyond the JCPOA limitations, which allowed the Iranian government to enriched up to 3.67 percent and stockpile only 300 kilograms.

Fakhrizadeh’s death also revealed the Iranian government’s failure in protecting its high-ranking profiles. Former Defense Minister and current military advisor to the supreme leader Hossein Dehghan, who is said to be Khamenei’s preferred candidate for the upcoming presidential election in June 2021, admitted to the state’s vulnerability.

“Some media reports and individuals’ remarks are because they are uninformed about the issue. Fakhrizadeh was completely protected, his protection was provided by high-ranking security teams, and he had [bulletproof] vehicles. However, this event took place… This [attack] was not the first and we previously experienced assaults on Imam Khomeini shrine or the Islamic Consultative Assembly [Majlis]. It is imperative to find from where this [security] breach has carried out?” TV Channel Five aired Dehghan’s remarks on November 28.

In a thread on Twitter, a figure close to Khamenei leaked regime loyalists’ concerns over the death of Fakhrizadeh and more significant issues that the government must deal with. Mohammad Reza Zaeri wrote:

“[In the past few years,] whenever we spoke about problems, restrictions, failures, and dilemmas, [Hassan Rouhani‘s administration] usually responded to us that ‘We have security.’ ‘Citizens’ were happy about the expertise of the country’s security institutions and intelligence organizations. However, were they uninformed [about the threat against Fakhrizadeh]?” Zaeri tweeted on November 28.

Mohammad Reza Zaeri, a figure closed to Khamenei, sounded alarm bells over social consequences of Fakhrizadeh's death
Mohammad Reza Zaeri, a figure closed to Khamenei, sounded alarm bells over social consequences of Fakhrizadeh’s death

“Certainly, this question is prone to convincing answers, and relevant institutions can respond to it with precision and transparency. They should present the answers to public opinion, saving audiences from confusion and mayhem, and take back citizens’ valuable trust to the ruling system,” he added.

“In such sensitive circumstances, we must only trust in our people and not leave their questions unanswered. Otherwise, we will face daily decreases and erosion of the state’s social capital and public trust. In such a scenario, a disaster far greater than the lack of [Fakhrizadeh] awaits us,” Zaeri warned.

Iranian People Feel Sting of High Prices

Staff Writer
-
0
Iranian People Feel Sting of High Prices

There is immense pressure on Iranian people nowadays because of the coronavirus pandemic and the dire state of the economy, both of which are down to the authorities’ mismanagement, which means that most people are unable to afford even the most basic food items.

“With the rising price of chicken in the last twenty days, the consumption of chicken legs, gizzard, and liver has increased threefold. Buying chicken is beyond the purchasing power of a high percentage of the population,” said the head of the Poultry and Fish Traders Association Mehdi Youssef Khani.

Indeed, chicken consumption decreased by 70 percent and many are forced to buy the parts of the bird that are usually thrown away, like the three examples noted above. Like all basic goods, the cost of chicken has skyrocketed recently.

Tasnim news agency reported last month that milk, butter, oil, and meat have all increased and that the government is still issuing the permission to raise the cost of goods, while the spokesperson of the Dairy Industry Association, Mohammad Reza Bani Taba, said the cost of milk would increase by 50 percent.

State-Backed Mafia Removes Red Meat From Iranians’ Food Basket

Why Are Goods Too High in Prices?

Well, mullahs’ are increasing costs in order to cover their budget deficit, but they are also scared that this will cause retaliations from the people, like what happened in the November 2019 uprising, which began over the tripling of fuel prices overnight. Many of the increases now are being increased secretly, incrementally, and through using confusing tactics, such as increasing flour costs and reducing bakery quotas to justify the rising price of bread.

What Are the Officials Saying?

Despite all this, President Hassan Rouhani still claims that he is in control of these rising costs, to which one could reasonably say “in control of increasing prices”.

While Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has, in complete contradiction, said that people’s livelihoods are “dire” right now and that there is no justification for price increases, but make no mistake, he does not care for people’s lives.

After all, he could well do something to change this by ordering the prices are cut, given that he is the most powerful figure in Iran and that he oversees a vast economic empire worth hundreds of billions of dollars. He is only concerned about preventing the people from getting angry and coming out to protest, which could well see the downfall of his regime.

All of the agencies overseen, either directly or indirectly, by Khamenei has increased prices. Take for example the “market regulation task force,” which increased the costs of 20 basic goods in one day.

“The only valuable argument for these insane skyrocketing prices of basic goods is that the regime has a corrupt and broken economy in hands of looting officials in power. The real problem lays in the mullahs’ establishment. As long as they are in power, people’s misery and suffering will continue,” the Iranian Resistance wrote.

The Truth of $7 Billion of Goods Deposited at Iran’s Customs

Pooya Stone
-
0
The Truth of $7 Billion of Goods Deposited at Iran’s Customs

After the 2018 sanctions against Iran, the brokers affiliated with the government find out that soon they will have no opportunity to benefit from the oil exports and its dollars.

Given the sanctions’ pressure, drop in the oil price, and extreme budget deficits and government debts, officials had no choice but to make the entry channels of imported goods smaller and narrower to heal the lost currencies’ casualties.

The government’s brokers and smugglers coerced the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) to import millions of tons of goods and supplies needed by the market. They highlighted the market’s shortage of essential goods through affiliated media. They also made millions of dollars to clear these goods.

The CBI, which knew that the remaining amounts of foreign currencies were gradually declining, created obstacles in the distribution of foreign exchange rents in order to overcome the situation.

This fight over the dollars, which was supposed to be a new income source and huge profits for government importers, turned into a mafia and factional war. Each of which on one side of the conflict seeks to make profits of billions of rials.

As the mafia war intensified over importers of goods and currency distributors, public opinion gained more and more information from untold stories.

Why billions of dollars of goods have been deposited in the country’s ports and customs, and the CBI and the Customs Office do not allow clearance?

“About seven billion dollars of goods have been deposited in the country’s customs. Under the pretext of shortage of basic goods and their decay during this period, significant pressure was applied to clear them. Finally, the import order was issued in the applicant’s currency. But why was the CBI opposed to allocating applicant currency for imports, and what would be the consequences?” Eghtesad Online wrote on November 2.

Iranian Officials Deceptively Play with Unemployment Statistics

Deposition of Goods at Customs, What Is the Reality of the Story?

On the other hand, the government media exploited the situation to take advantage of the market shortage and pressure the sectors that had the authority to distribute government currency.

“Blocking the ways to exports and increasing the inflow of foreign exchange from non-oil exports of small exporters and locking in imports with the term ‘customs clearance’ has become two tools to prolong the period of crisis in the domestic market. The term ‘customs clearance’ has entered the country’s media literature two years ago and has played a role in justifying the high cost of goods and shortages in the market,” Tasnim news agency wrote on September 30.

However, in its November 15 report, Javan Online shed more light on the dilemma’s root. “A review of measures and approvals to reduce the deposit of goods from 2018 to November of this year indicates the lack of proper strategy and planning, along with disagreements between trade-related agencies and the CBI to provide foreign exchange,” the website wrote.

“The accumulation and deposition of goods in ports and customs became a new challenge in the second half of 2018, because, before that, basic goods, essential raw materials of production and intermediates were available in warehouses or at the country’s entry points and were cleared almost without any problem… Gradually, with the tightening of sanctions and a sharp decline in oil exports and, consequently, the country’s limited foreign exchange resources, the issue of goods deposited in customs increased,” Javan Online added.

For the first time in the second half of 2018, customs officials warned in reports of an increase in the volume of goods behind the country’s gates. Many of them are either not declared to customs for various reasons or, if stated, customs formalities and clearance permits are suspended for various reasons.

“But the fact is that there is significant damage in this area. Some commodity owners import goods that are not necessary and a priority for the country and are stored, so with the code name of sediment, the government is under pressure to determine its task. With these descriptions, the main problems of sedimentation went back to the issue of specialization and currency supply,” Fars news agency reported on November 14.

Why the World Rejects Iran as an Economic Partner?

On the other hand, the private sector cannot compete with the government’s factions and only complains about this matter.

“Some tried to import large quantities of goods contrary to the notification instructions… Others can easily re-import goods into the country, convert the imported goods into rials, repurchase the mentioned items. They can re-leave the country and continue the money laundering and smuggling cycle through money laundering and using it as the applicant currency,” Jahan-e Sanat daily quoted Majid Reza Hariri, President of the Iran-China Chamber of Commerce, as saying on November 25.

“Therefore, there is no applicant currency and no import without currency transfer. All import needs are met either through the free currency market, which increases the high demand for money despite the limited supply of the market and raises the currency price, or through the sale of smuggled goods abroad,” he added.

“To find out the facts, it is enough to look at the announcement of the import of 420 containers of home appliances. To see to what extent domestic organized gangs, that all institutions and organizations are involved in forming and strengthening it, and are changing the rules and regulations in their favor,” Hariri ended.

1...309310311...3,781Page 310 of 3,781