Pundits In Iran Look For A Way Out As Regime Digs In

The issue remains a key flashpoint between the revolutionary tide and the regime’s leading clerics.

Mohsen Araki, a member of the Assembly of Experts said on Sunday that the Islamic Republic "will not allow improper hijab to spread in the Islamic society”, calling it a “new Covid” which ruins the society.

He said that in spite of a mass movement fighting against the mandatory Islamic head covering, “the prevalence of removing hijab means corruption”.

Resorting to the regime’s predictable rhetoric of foreign conspiracy theories, he, like all the Iranian spokespeople across government and theocrats, said it was foreign influence which had led to the current problems.

”The goal of the enemies is to destroy the independence of Iranian women, because a woman without hijab will not be independent and free and will be a person who is bound by others’ lust,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mohammad Reza Shahrokhi, the representative of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in Lorestan province reiterated the hijab law, inciting yet more violence as he urged the “revolutionary youths and clerics” to deal with the "norm breakers”.

Earlier, Hossein Jalali, one of the most radical parliamentarians in Iran, presented the details of a new plan for mandatory hijab, including fines of up to three billion tomans (nearly $60,000), saying that Ali Khamenei had approved the plan.

A police official in Khuzestan Province said Saturday that fifty-five businesses, were shut down in Ahvaz, the capital of the province, for breaking the rules of fasting.

Colonel Mohammad-Hossein Mohammadvand said 229 businesses were inspected, 55 were shut down and 14 others received warnings that they will be shut down if they do not abide by the rules. Inspection will continue until the end of Ramadhan, he said. Similar inspections are carried out in other cities across the country.

During the fasting month which started March 23, restaurants, cafes and coffee shops, tea houses, ice-cream and juice bars have to remain closed until fasting ends around sunset. In the capital Tehran, this falls at around 18:35 at this time of year.

The rules apply to and are enforced in all public places including gyms, schools, universities and factories where cafeterias are closed throughout the month. Even eating inside cars is not allowed.

The fasting month of Ramadan in the Islamic lunar calendar has coincided with Nowrouz (Nowruz) and its holidays. Authorities have been urging people to report if they witness anyone violates fasting in public or hijab rules, by sending text messages to designated numbers or online.

A government-sponsored billboard in the city of Shiraz urges visitors to the city to report hijab, fasting disrespect to the authorities.

Those taking trips during Ramadan are not required to fast if they travel farther than 45km from home and intend to return at least ten days later, according to Sharia. Restaurants situated inside hotels, on transit roads or airports and train stations can apply for special permits to cater to the needs of travelers but they must completely cover their windows so that patrons eating inside cannot be seen from the outside.

“Serving kebabs and other grilled food is prohibited before iftar,” regulations announced by Tehran police Wednesday said while stressing that the number of permits issued in any given neighborhood or city should be low enough not to blur “the difference between this month and ordinary months”.

The religious establishment and its supporters say people should not eat in public during the fasting month “out of respect for those who fast” but many among the non-fasting citizens believe this is unfair.

“You are fasting, Okay, but why should I not be able to eat?” a tweeter protested. “The [real] reason for keeping restaurants closed is not to allow the huge number of those who don’t fast to be revealed.”

Another tweet protested that food businesses must suffer so that the faith of the religious is not threatened with temptation to eat. “You morons, you are fasting so that you feel and understand what it means [not to be able to eat] to the poor!”

Shiite clerics have even coined a term for the acts of eating, drinking, or smoking in public during the fasting hours, which could very loosely be translated into “showing off in public that one is not fasting”. This ‘crime’ is punishable by ten to sixty days of prison or up to 74 lashes according to article 638 of Iran's Islamic Penal Code.

There are similar rules and cash fines and prison terms for eating in public during Ramadan in most Islamic countries including Qatar, Iraq, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud and his Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian spoke by phone and agreed to the meeting, the Saudi state news agency SPA said on Monday. It was their second phone conversation in a few days, SPA said.

"During the call, a number of common issues were discussed in light of the tripartite agreement that was signed in the People's Republic of China. The two ministers also agreed to hold a bilateral meeting between them during the ongoing month of Ramadan," SPA said.

Iran’s government news agency IRNA briefly confirmed the phone call and said the two ministers discussed their upcoming meeting during Ramadhan, which is in its first week. They also discussed “the constructive path of relations between the two countries,” IRNA said.

Tehran and Riyadh announced a Chinese-brokered deal March 10 to restore ties after seven years. The deal was seen as a major development in the Persian Gulf region and the wider Middle East, especially with China playing the role of mediator.

The deal also seems to be an agreement going farther than just restoring diplomatic relations, with Tehran expected to reduce its military assistance to Houthi forces in Yemen and help the peace process in the war-thorn country.

Although the official inflation rate announced by the authorities is usually less than what it seems in the market, even a 46.5-percent inflation is among the highest in Iran in more than 30 years. 

The bank did not disclose the point-to-point inflation for the last Iranian calendar month, which ended on March 21, but it provided the price index of the month, from which the inflation can be extracted. The price index for the month was 794.3, which means a 64-percent point-to-point inflation rate compared to the corresponding period of the previous year at 484.6. It is the second time Iran recorded such a figure since World War II. 

The latest CBI report also lacks the price index changes of different groups of goods and services, unlike the usual procedure. Moreover, the Statistical Center of Iran (SCI) has not published its inflation report for the past month. SCI has been the only government entity regularly announcing the inflation rate in the past four years.

SCI said on Sunday that the reason behind the delay is the process of changing the “base year” from the year 1395 to 1400, which ended on March 20, 2022. A base year is used for comparison in the measure of a business activity or economic or financial index. It can also describe the starting point from a point of growth or a baseline for calculating financial transactions. 

"Due to the changes in the content of the market basket over time, according to international recommendations, it is necessary to change the base year at certain time intervals,” the Statistical Center of Iran said. 

Considering the devaluation of Iran’s currency rial from 260,000 against one dollar to about 500,000 this month, the inflation rate is expected to hit new highs in coming months.

The inflation rate factors in numerous commodities and services but the one most important for Iranians is increasing food prices, with some categories doubling or tripling in the past 12 months. Official figures show there was a sharp increase in food prices and most items witnessed a more-than 50 price inflation.

The Islamic Republic has been struggling with high inflation since 2019, but the raging inflation in the past Iranian year which ends on March 20, was seriously different from previous years. Last May, the government eliminated an annual food import subsidy of at least $10 billion, which immediately led to steep price increases. 

This was followed by a fall in the value of the national currency, making imports more expensive for the population. The government called its decision to scrap the food subsidy “economic surgery,” but it had no other plans to control prices. Immediately following the announcement, food prices jumped, with some items doubling or tripling in a matter of hours. Pasta is 137 percent more expensive than 12 months ago, while meat prices went up by 76 percent and milk by 80 percent. According to SCI, in some months the inflation rate for food and beverages hit 87%.

In his New Year speech on March 21, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei dubbed the new year as “the year of bringing inflation under control”, a promise also repeated by President Ebrahim Raisi, but reminiscent of similar slogans in previous years.

A triumphant article published Sunday in the official IRNA news agency was headlined, “25 American bases in Syria await the missiles of the Resistance.”

Iran’s Islamic regime calls its proxy forces in the region “the resistance front”.

IRNA said that “Yankees did not sleep all night” last night out of fear of fresh attacks by the “resistance.” It added that so far militias have fired 60 rockets, missiles and a suicide drone on US bases.

“All American occupiers were on alert and Yankee helicopters and drones were patrolling all night,” the agency added.

The United States maintains a small force of around 900 servicemen and an undisclosed number of contractors at a few bases in eastern and southern Syria, but IRNA claimed there are 22 large and 3 small “illegal” bases.

After the first attack on a US base on Thursday that killed a contractor and wounded several servicemen, the US retaliated by bombing installations used by the Iranian militia.

Iran’s national security council Saturday warned the US against further attacks, threatening immediate retaliation. The foreign ministry in Tehran also issued a statement at the same time calling the US retaliatory strike a “terrorist aggression.”

The article went on to repeat previous unsubstantiated accusation that the US created the Islamic State group (ISIS) to destabilize Syria. It also said that the US maintains a base in southern Syria to deny land access from Iran to Syria and Lebanon, not to allow “the reinforcement of the resistance front.”