Iran Politician Suggests Referendum On Foreign Policy Issues
A former lawmaker in Iran has suggested that the government should put the future of the nuclear deal and support for Russia's war in Ukraine to a referendum.
A former lawmaker in Iran has suggested that the government should put the future of the nuclear deal and support for Russia's war in Ukraine to a referendum.
In an interview with moderate conservative website Khabar Online, Ali Motahari blamed the Raisi administration for the country's economic problems without mentioning Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's responsibility. However, when speaking on key issues such as reforming election law, negotiating with the United States to revive the JCPOA, and aligning with Russia in its war against Ukraine, he acknowledged that it is Khamenei who has the final say on key issues.
Motahari is a social conservative who has sometimes been an outspoken critic when the hardliner core of the regime has violated insider rules or taken steps leading to more international isolation.
Speaking on the ongoing protests in Iran, Motahari said that people's hopelessness about their future triggered the current wave of protests. Blaming the existing economic crisis and hard-line policies as the root causes of the protests, he agreed that creating a moderate political grouping might help resolve the country's current economic and political impasse.
He also maintained that the government's indecision about the nuclear deal, economic problems and even the ongoing protests has lent momentum to the popular uprising.
The idea of holding a referendum on major issues is not new. Former President Hassan Rouhani proposed the idea on several occasions, angering Khamenei and his followers.
In another development, in an article entitled "The government's Autumn hibernation," Khabar online criticized Raisi and his administration for being absent from the public scene and for their indifference in the face of recent UN and IAEA resolutions about Iran's human rights record and its nuclear program.
The article concluded that "Raisi's indecision and his government's absence in public arena to tackle problems has gradually turned cultural, foreign policy, economic and social issues into security problems" for the country and the nation.
At the same time, it criticized Raisi for failing to understand and prioritize the problems Iran is currently facing and for turning the issues that should normally have conventional solutions into unwanted crises. In other words, Raisi's absence has provided opportunities for forces outside the presidential administration to get involved in policy making behind-the-scenes and impose a high cost on the government.
Khabar Online did not name those forces, but it was presumably referring to influence by Khamenei's many offices, influential clerics and IRGC officers who intervene in the affairs of the state.
The article charged that since Raisi came to office, he has always avoided public appearances during crises. He has stopped his visits to provinces and has been silent about hardliner attempts to restrict social media and deprive thousands of Iranians from benefitting from their Internet-based businesses.
At the same time, the Raisi administration constantly contributed to crises by measures such as eliminating the preferential rate of exchange as well as acting passively regarding security forces restricting Internet access.
Khabar Online mentioned that Raisi's silence was eye-catching when security forces killed dozens of protesters in the provinces. He did not act or say anything about Tehran's police's brutality against peaceful protesters either. According to the website, Raisi's silence has provided opportunities for hardliners to push for policies, such as strengthening the ‘morality police’, that have enraged the people. Raisi did not even respond to clerics and political activists' letters about those developments.
The frequent government shutdown of internet access has caused serious disruption for individuals and small businesses based on digital sales and marketing.
The new measure, dubbed “Regulations to support freelancers active in the country's digital economy," was ratified by the government’s digital economy taskforce on Saturday in 10 articles, which probably will lead to strict monitoring of online activities and ensuring that regime supporters have internet access.
The use of the term ‘freelancer’ might be misleading. The definition in the regulation points to individuals or companies that apply as active in digital economy and approved by the government.
Headed by Communications and Information Technology Minister Issa Zarepour, the taskforce was established last year to coordinate the government’s supervision on online activities among four ministries.
It defines a freelancer and its range of services, includes instruction on how to create a database of digital ‘freelancers’, sets criteria on their accreditation and how government institutions should interact with them, as well as some insurance and financial matters.
According to the new regulations, the computer trade union has been tasked to set up a database of ‘freelancers’ and their activities within three months.
In its article 8, the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology has been tasked with providing the necessary infrastructure for “high-speed and stable Internet with appropriate level of access for accredited people," without clarifying on the “appropriate access” or who are the “accredited people.”
In another article, the government claims that in order to supervise the “fairness and transparency” of the contracts between freelancers and employers, instructions have been issued for monitoring software platforms. According to the document, the regulations for accreditation into the database will be announced by the ministry upon collaboration among Ministry of Information and Communications Technology, the country's computer trade union organization; Ministry of Cooperatives, Labour, and Social Welfare; Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance; the presidential office of Science and Technology and Knowledge-Based Economy; and last but definitely not least the Intelligence Ministry.
Many Islamic Republic officials, such as member of the parliament Javad Hassanikia and former Information Minister Mohammad-Javad Azari Jahromi, have talked about providing internet access to university professors or journalists. The move can be a measure to justify replacing the country’s internet with an intranet for the general population who will be disconnected from the world wide web and controlled by the regime’s limited domestic access. Azari-Jahromi was one of the main supporters of the idea of stratifying Internet access inside the country. In an address to the parliament, he defended the idea saying it is not possible to provide the same type of internet to all jobs and ages in the country.
Like almost all measures by the Islamic Republic that sound innocent but pursue ulterior motives, the new move is titled “regulations to support freelancers” but is meant to suppress any critical voice and cajole those who want normal access to the internet to be on the regime’s side. It means that if you want to have access to the internet, the government should be able to monitor your work and make sure you do not engage in any activity or cooperate with anyone the regime deems hostile.
The story was first reported by movie director Vahid Vakilifar and Mohammad Reza Shafiei, a producer linked to the Islamic Republic’s inner circles, who criticized the filmmakers, saying that “the enemy's hybrid warfare” has clouded their understanding and judgement of the current developments.
According to these reports, filmmakers are shooting the same scenes both with hijab and without, leaving the impression that they think the Islamic Republic’s mandatory dress code may be relaxed in future.
Later on, people on social media said that not only the movies are being filmed both with and without hijab, some series for home streaming services are also being shot both ways.
An official with the Islamic Republic’s Cinema Organization, a body that works under the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, denied the reports on November 23, and threatened if the news is true, the production of the films will be stopped at any stage. Bahman Habashi warned of “irreparable consequences for the creators.” He also called on investors, producers and directors to be careful about the consequences of any violation of the country's official laws on their reputation, credit and capital.
It is not yet clear who are the filmmakers who are purportedly making such movies or how they are funded or whether the movies are being produced for screening inside the country.
Kianoush Ayari’s movie "Couch," in which the actresses do not have headscarves, but instead wear wigs, is still banned, or another movie “The Killer and the Savage” by Hamid Nematollah, in which the main character is a woman with a shaved head has not given permission for screening.
Although producing movies or shows in two version seems costly and arduous, there are some very famous examples for it, such as The Message, a 1976 epic flick by Syrian-American Moustapha Akkad that chronicles the life of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad. Having consulted with Islamic clerics in a thorough attempt to be respectful towards Islam, Akkad simultaneously filmed two versions of the drama - one with an international cast in English and one an Arabic version with an Arab cast.
However, there are some people on social media who believe these rumors were created by regime insiders to justify the crackdown on filmmakers. This may be true because there are a few government-backed companies which want to control all film and TV series production and distribution. They have an interest in banning films or arresting independent filmmakers.
In recent weeks, a large number of actresses and female filmmakers as well as sports celebrities have posted photos of themselves without the Islamic Republic’s mandatory hijab as a show of solidarity with antigovernment protests, ignited by the death of 22-year-old woman Mahsa Amini in custody of the country’s hijab – or the so-called morality – police.
Such acts of defiance by actresses have become extremely troubling for the Islamic Republic’s state broadcaster that has to remove them from TV series and movies they had appeared in or stop airing the shows altogether.
The regime has also arrested several of the celebrities who have unveiled in public and has threatened many with bans on their works and leaving the country. However, such measures seem futile as the list of people who are getting banned are increasing day by day. Even if the production of movies with a veiled and unveiled cast is only a rumor, it shows that many people are imagining the country’s cinematic landscape free of the Islamic Republic.
Mohammad Ali Abtahi, Khatami's chief of staff during his presidency in the late 1990s and early 2000s added that "There is no indication that the government has welcomed the reformists' suggestions for ending the ongoing violence” and bringing about a truce with protesters who have been fighting it in the streets for longer than two months now.
During the past week some conservatives and in particular the highly influential IRGC weekly publication Sobh-e Sadeq welcomed Khatami's ideas and characterized his suggestion of reforming the political system from within, which he called auto-reforms, as a step forward for Iran's reformists.
Khatami had also spoken against regime change, calling it "neither possible, nor desirable," although he regretted that "tens of people, many of whom are children and adolescents,” were killed during recent protests which he called "bitter events."
Abtahi said: "When the IRGC weekly characterized Khatami's statement as 'Good but not enough,' many took this as an invitation for Khatami to come forward and expound on his ideas. But nothing more has happened and the whole thing appears to be yet another article to sow discord in the society." Abtahi further reiterated that "Khatami's reformist views have not been accepted by the government."
Abtahi also explained that Khatami has always distanced himself from both those who call for regime change and those who absolutely support the regime."
In the meantime, several reformist figures have held meetings with Judiciary Chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei and security chief Ali Shamkhani, who has also held meetings with a few members of the families of the founder of the Islamic revolution Ayatollah Rouhollah Khomeini, and former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani in a bid to seek their support for a move to pacify the people and put an end to the ongoing violence.
This comes while many in Iran doubt whether any of the two families have any influence on the protesters. Not only protesters have not expressed any support for the two dead clerics, but they have also criticized both for their role in suppressing human rights and civil liberties.
Meanwhile, other reports say that Khamenei's son Mojtaba has a held a meeting with Rafsanjani's daughter Fatemeh Hashemi with the same purpose in mind.
Shamkhani's office later denied that he had sought help from the two families and very little has been said about Ms. Hashemi's meeting with Mojtaba Khamenei. However, according to an Aftab News report on November 25, reformist figures including former Reform Front leaders Bezad Nabavi and Javad Eman, former lawmaker Mahmoud Sadeghi and Executives of Construction Party leader Hossein Marashi were present at the meetings with the security chief and judiciary chief last week.
The spokesman for Reform Front, Ali Shakouri Rad, told the press that "They offered their analysis of the ongoing developments and called for stopping plainclothes security forces' violence against protesters. They also called for respecting the people's right to protest and avoiding branding protesters as rioters particularly in the universities." Meanwhile, the reformists called for legal and democratic treatment of the detained protesters, Shakouri Rad said.
Another reformist figure, Fatemeh Rakei, the deputy chairperson of the Reform Front, complained that the government not only did not listen to the people's demands and complaints, but it also refused to apologize for the deadly violence it has used against protesters. "It might be too late for a reconciliation, but we can still stop violence," she added.
Neither reformist figures, nor the media said anything about the government's response. There is no indication whatsoever that the government is willing at all to listen to anyone.