Army’s Military Academy Mass Wedding With Ford Mustang Shocks Iranians

‘Fam trip’ (familiarization trip) is nothing new in Iran. For years the Islamic Republic has been using foreign reporters in Iran and sometimes arranged visits by famous travel documentary filmmakers to create a "beautified" image of the Islamic Republic for viewers in other countries.

The intent is averting often self-inflicted propaganda that portrayed the Islamic Republic as a country where the government had no respect for human rights and people including children watched executions in the streets, government officers cut off criminals’ limbs in public and chastity police harassed and battered women whose headscarf and dress was considered to be indecent.

During the past week, almost the entire Persian social media turned against Hoda Rostami, a young woman living abroad, and a social media influencer, who took a ‘fam trip’ to Iran and published her own or other female tourists' images next to mosques, ancient relics and even the notorious Evin prison on social media, particularly on her Instagram page, which has some 46,000 followers.

According to Rouydad24 news website in Iran, Rostami beautifies all ugly things on this page and her images of women in the Iranian society, with attire that would otherwise illicit a tough response from the police. Her presentation of supposed freedoms is inconsistent with the reality on the ground. The website added that the Iranian police will stop anyone else doing the same in those places. The website also questioned how she and other women in her photos can be in public without any objection by the police.

Social media users accused Rostami of "normalizing misery," while some even said that what she was doing was "blood washing" meaning that she was washing the blood off the hands of the Islamic Republic, when security forces have killed hundreds of protesters in recent years who were demanding freedoms she portrays as existing in Iran. In many of those images Rostami and her "guests" are seen in public with no hijab, although ordinary people will be arrested on the spot.

She also revealed after being criticized by netizens that she had meetings with state officials at ministerial level to facilitate the fam trips.

Last week, investigative reporters on social media found out that Hoda Rostami, now reportedly a citizen of Sweden, was in fact born in Iraq and that her father is a senior figure in Hashd al-Sha'bi, an Iranian proxy militia group in Iraq.

Some on social media said that lived in Iran for several years adecade ago, learned Persian and run tours for foreigneres. Apparently her original Iraqi name is Hoda Jabbar Karim.

Many have pointed out that her pictures showing Iranian women at the seaside are flat and fabricated lies. Rouydad24 reminded that two mosques and ancient sites were shut down in Shiraz two years ago only because some tourists were not wearing the kind of dress consistent with compulsory hijab rules. The website also reminded that in some mosques visitors are even not allowed to have their cameras with them.

Recently, the Russian ambassador to Tehran said that what stopped Russian tourists from visiting Iran was compulsory hijab and the fact that drinking alcohol is prohibited in Iran.

Hoda Rostami previously objected to similar comments when they were meant to prove her wrong, but she has been silent after her Iraqi identity and her links with some Iranian state officials have been disclosed.

A social media user wrote that she was arrested in Iran's Qeshm Island because she was there in the same kind of outfit used by Rostami. She wrote: "Iran is much different from what Hoda portrays."

Danon who is now chairman of the World Likud warned that Israel is ready to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. “We hope Israel would not be the only one bearing the burden of dealing with the threat coming from Iran,” he said, “but even if it would be only us, we are ready and determined.”

Danon highlighted recent reports that Islamic Republic had a large network of agents in Turkey trying to kidnap and kill Israeli tourists.

“It's unheard of that you have a regime that is exporting violence, and they are doing it publicly,” he said.

Danon, who served as Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations from 2015-2020, was a member of the Knesset representing the right-wing Likud Party and served as Deputy Minister of Defense.

In an interview with Iran International’s television host Fardad Farahzad on June 15, Danon was asked if recent killings of individuals serving in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and attributed to Israel will not provoke retaliation. Danon did not attempt to deny the possible Israeli role in the sensational events.

“According to reports, those people who were killed (in Iran) were not innocent. They were heavily involved in destruction, promoting violence in the region. I cannot acknowledge who is taking responsibility for eliminating those threats, but I can tell you that our world is much safer when they are not around us,” he said.

At least four officers and weapons experts serving for the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) have been killed or died in mysterious circumstances in Iran since May 22. In some of the cases the Islamic Republic has indirectly accused Israel, while in other cases it has claimed the deaths were natural.

The quandary Iranian security and military officials face is that acknowledging Israel’s ability to eliminate individuals on Iranian soil is extremely embarrassing for them after insisting for years that they are invincible and in total control of events not only inside the country but around the region.

Suspected Israeli operations against Iranian nuclear and military sites as well as the killing of key individuals began in July 2020, with several spectacular operations that blew up extremely well-defended sites and the Hollywood-style assassination of Iran’s top nuclear scientist.

Speaking about the stalled nuclear talks with Iran the former UN envoy said that it was a mistake for the United States to pull out of the 2015 nuclear agreement, “but it will be a grave mistake to re-enter the JCPOA, because basically whatever happens, the Iranians will continue with their nuclear ambitions, but they would have the legitimacy of democracies from all around the world to continue to do that.”

Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari said on Wednesday that Israeli officials know what blows they have received from the Islamic Republic so far, “some of which are still in progress” but have remained confidential.

He said Israel “has suffered several blows from the Islamic resistance in different countries across the region, and even inside the occupied Palestinian territories.”

Refereeing to the assassination IRGC’ Quds Force colonel Hassan Sayyad-Khodaei – who was killed outside his home in Tehran late in May -- Jafari said that unlike Israel the Islamic Republic cannot publicize many of these blows as these operations have often been kept confidential. 

Following reports of a thwarted plot by Iranian agents to target Israelis in Turkey and a drone attack at Iraq's Erbil last week, the Iranian foreign ministry spokesman said Monday that any “response” by the Islamic Republic against Israel would take place inside Israel “and not in a third country.”

On Sunday, Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein criticized Iran for its aggressive behaviors toward Iraq and the Kurdistan Autonomous Region, and denied Tehran’s allegations that the Israeli Mossad is present in Erbil, saying “We find it strange that Iran chose the Kurdistan region to respond to Israel.”

In March, Iran fired missiles at Erbil. No one was killed but missiles did damage to some residential buildings. Iran claimed it used 12 ballistic missiles in that attack and targeted an Israeli intelligence center.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, they urged those responsible for using excessive force to be held to account through comprehensive and independent investigations. 

“We are alarmed at the recent escalation of allegedly arbitrary arrests of teachers, labor rights defenders and union leaders, lawyers, human rights defenders and other civil society actors,” they said. 

In their statement, they said until May 24 over 80 teachers were arrested or summoned by security forces or the judiciary, and the houses of several trade unionists and teachers were raided, none of whom were given access to a lawyer. 

The authorities issued statements claiming that the arrests were due to “infiltration of foreign-affiliated elements into the ranks of teachers and workers” which threatened security of the country, they said.

“The space for civil society and independent associations to carry out their legitimate work and activities is becoming impossibly narrow,” they said, adding that “The crackdown comes in the context of an extremely dire economic situation, which the authorities themselves have acknowledged.”

“We call on the authorities to address the underlying causes of the protests, and to ensure that everyone can exercise their rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly.”

Anti-government protests and strikes by merchants continued in Iran for the fourth consecutive day in the capital Tehran and many other cities and towns on Wednesday.

The Iranian currency, rial, on Sunday fell to a historic low of 333,000 to one US dollar, a 25-percent fall since March. The slide seemed unstoppable as the rial was losing around 10,000 points a day last week, but since early Tuesday, the currency began to gradually regain some ground.

Iranian media reported on Tuesday that the government asked exporters, especially petrochemical companies, to sell their foreign-earned dollars directly to currency exchange dealers to stop the rials fall. This helped the Iranian currency to rise slightly, to just under 320,000 against the dollar.

But the government’s tactic has two major drawbacks. First, it seems to be an emergency measure and exporters will not agree to perpetually sell their dollars at a rate considered to be untenable on the long run. Second, the foreign currency that exporters bring back to the country is also needed by the government and the central bank, to finance needed imports and to maintain dollar reserves.

The precipitous fall of the rial has added to a sense of panic among a vast majority of Iranians who have become impoverished by persistently above-40-percent inflation for nearly two years. Anti-government protests have been taking place regularly since early May.