Southwestern Iran Scorched As Temperature Hits Over 52°C

The prosecutor of Zahedan said on Tuesday that the three Mossad-linked agents will put on trial in the near future.

"The three were planning to assassinate our nuclear scientists according to intelligence assessments," Mehdi Shamsabadi said, without specifying the nationality of the detainees.

Late in April, Iran’s Intelligence Ministry announced the arrest of “three spies” by "a court order" over links to the Israeli intelligence agency, adding “that these individuals were involved “in the dissemination of classified information and documents.”

The Islamic Republic periodically announces it has busted “terrorist” or spying networks, but it rarely provides any follow-up news or concrete information and almost never holds public trials. In some cases, individuals convicted of ties with Israel have been executed.

In October, Iran announced that ten people were arrested for “links with intelligence services” of regional “adversaries” without disclosing which intelligence service had established the alleged network inside the country. But the use of the term ‘regional adversary’ could refer to Israel which is suspected of conducting spectacular sabotage acts against Iran’s nuclear, military and strategic economic targets since July 2020, or it could mean Saudi Arabia.

Tensions have risen between Israel and Iran as the Biden administration has tried to restore the 2015 nuclear agreement. Israel regards the prospect of Iran developing nuclear weapons as a threat to its existence and could act independently to stop Iran's nuclear program should the international community fail to do so.

Babak Paknia said that in addition to years of imprisonment, they were also banned from carrying out their professions as well as media activities. 

According to him, Mehdi Mahmoudian and Mostafa Nili were sentenced to four years in prison in addition to two years of deprivation of any form of media activities, while Nili was also sentenced to a two-year ban from his job.

Arash Kaykhosravi was sentenced to two years behind bars, one year deprivation of the right to practice law and one year ban on media activities, Mohammad Reza Faghihi was sentenced to six months in prison and Maryam Afrafraz received a 95-day imprisonment sentence. 

The group of five, who were arrested on August 15 last year and put on trial at Branch 29 of Tehran Revolutionary Court in April, has come to be called 'Defenders of Right to Health' by the media.

Ali Khamenei ruled out importing United States- and British-made Covid-19 vaccines in January 2021, arguing that the US and Uk cannot be trusted. At the time, the US-German Pfizer, US-made Moderna and the British-made AstraZeneca were the only vaccines approved internationally and available in early 2021.

The group's litigation apparently sought to establish that decisions by Khamenei, former President Hassan Rouhani, and others led to thousands of unnecessary deaths when a severe wave of infections hit Iran from June to August 2021.

Russia shipped 8.42 million tons of oil to China, or about 61.5 million barrels in May, 55 percent higher than a year earlier after many countries stopped buying its crude after the invasion of Ukraine. This amounts to roughly 2 million barrels a day, while Saudi Arabia shipped 7.82 million tons. The figures came from the Chinese General Administration of Customs.

Previously it was reported that Iranian shipments to China had dropped by as much as 50 percent in May due to Russian competition, but the official Chinese figures, which show only a part of imports from Iran, do not indicate a drop, at least in the officially imported crude. Iran shipped 260,000 tons or less than 1.9 million barrels, which is just over 61,000 barrels per day.

But Chinese Customs figures do not reflect the full picture of Iranian oil imports, because of United States third-party sanctions, which could penalize companies buying Iranian crude. Most of Iran’s shipments go through Malaysia and are imported as such. Iranian tankers have been transferring their cargo to other tankers in Asian waters that carry it to China as oil coming from other countries.

Russia, Iran and Venezuela offer steep discounts to China, which despite less demand because of the COVID pandemic and a slowing economy, prefers to replace other supplies with oil from those sanctioned countries. As a result, more supplies from the Middle East and Africa will be freed up for countries that do not buy Russian oil. As of May, the extra Russian oil China bought amounted to around million barrels a day compared with 2021.

But any reduction of Iranian exports to China will have a serious impact on the finances of the government in Tehran that has embarked on eliminating subsidies, in a tricky and risky political balancing act.

In early May, it eliminated a food import subsidy that cost between $9-15 billion a year depending on whose figures one considers. Iranian officials are notorious for announcing widely different and sometimes contradictory economic data.

Next in line seems to be a reduction in huge fuel price subsidies. The elimination of these subsidies is impoverishing a low-paid population, fueling almost non-stop protests. The government promised cash assistance to low-income people in lieu of eliminating subsidies, but this would need oil income. Otherwise, the government must keep printing money with the risk of inflation becoming triple digit.

The government has a clear choice of reaching an agreement with the United States to restore the 2015 nuclear deal known as the JCPOA, which would lift crippling sanctions on Iran’s oil exports and international banking, but apparently it has been counting on illicit oil sales to China as a way of muddling through. In the meantime, it has accelerated it nuclear program, either to build more leverage in the talks or to actually achieve the status of a nuclear threshold country.

The head of the Iranian Nursing Organization, Mohammad Mirzabeigi, wrote a letter to the president on Monday to express anger and disappointment about remarks by the head of Gilan Medical Sciences University, whom Raisi cited as the source of his contentious comment. 

In the letter, Mirzabeigi said that the nursing community, along with other medical staff, is at the forefront of serving the people and patients and sacrificed a lot during the Covid-19 outbreak. 

Describing nurses, physicians and paramedical personnel as the most committed forces in the country, he also called on the president to express gratitude for the efforts of the community and console the nurses and their families, many of whom have lost their loved ones on the line of duty during the pandemic. 

In addition to Mirzabeigi, social media users also reacted to Raisi’s remarks, strongly criticizing the mass layoff of nurses after the height of the Covid health crisis was over.

Moreover, reports say that with the pandemic easing about 5,000 nurses who were working under temporary contracts have been fired.

The vessels, the USS Sirocco, a patrol ship, and the USS Choctaw County, a fast transport vessel were in routine operations in international waters when three Iranian fast-attack boats came as close as 50 yards at “dangerously high speed.” The encounter lasted for an hour; sources told the Post.

The two US naval vessels issued warnings to the Iranian boats and the Sirocco eventually deployed a warning flare.

Iranian speedboats have harassed US Navy vessels on many occasions in the past but have not been met with direct fire.

Tensions have risen in the region after year-long talks to restore the 2015 nuclear agreement came to a standstill in March and Tehran received a warning for the International Atomic Energy Agency’s board of governors earlier in June for not cooperating with the UN watchdog.

Israel announced on Monday that an air defense coalition is being formed in the region with US leadership and it has already thwarted Iranian attacks.

The Revolutionary Guard navy’s move comes as Iran’s main demand at the nuclear talks is for the US to lift terrorism sanctions imposed on the entity, which is accused of supporting militant groups in the region.