Criticisms, Infighting Tarnish Iran Parliament’s Anniversary
While the Islamic Republic’s parliament this week skipped marking the anniversary of its foundation, lawmakers continued their factional infighting in the media.
While the Islamic Republic’s parliament this week skipped marking the anniversary of its foundation, lawmakers continued their factional infighting in the media.
Mohammad Mohajeri, a conservative politician and a critic of the current all-conservative political establishment in Iran, wrote in a letter to parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf: “Your criticism of the government stinks. It smells like an election campaign.”
Mohajeri was referring to Ghalibaf’s statement on Tuesday night in the Northern Khorasan Province in which he criticised President Ebrahim Raisi administration, saying, “The way the country is being run and managed is wrong.” Ghalibaf further accused the Raisi administration of wasting $104 billion a year because of mismanagement. However, he did not explain where he got the figure from.
Some observers commented that $104 is an exaggerated number, given that its twice the country’s annual budget and four times its annual oil export income.
But Ghalibaf probably tried to jump on the bandwagon of criticism, as different factions and political institutions blame each other for the current economic mess.
The parliament speaker also faces uncertainty eight months before a new election.
Mohajeri further pointed out that had a media commentator said what you stated, he would have been sent to the court for “disturbing the public opinion and levelling accusations against the government.” He would even have been accused of speaking for the enemy, Mohajeri added.
Mohajeri added: “For citizens who cannot afford buying fruits for their visiting grandchildren, $104 billion is a huge figure. They will divide it into 85 million (Iranian population) and will find out that the country’s managers have inflicted a loss of 1,223 dollars per Iranian. With that money an ordinary Iranian would have managed to buy fruits and many other things.”
“You probably know who the officials are who have wasted all that money. Why don’t you name a few of them? Are they at the parliament or in the government? And what about you? If you are one of them, why are you still in power? Do you want to waste another $104 billion next year?” Asked Mohajeri.
Mohajeri added that “the members of the government keep saying on the state TV that they are the cleanest state officials in the world. If what you said is not part of your election campaign, are you brave enough to name at least one government official” who has wasted money?
Ghalibaf had said in his speech Tuesday night: “We waste $104 billion and then we beg a foreign company to come to Iran and invest only $4 billion in our oil industry. How can we explain this to coming generations?”
Meanwhile, in a statement issued to mark the anniversary of the Islamic Republic’s Parliament (Majles) the reformist National Trust Party said: “We should pay attention to the fact that Iranians have turned their backs to the polls in the last two elections (Majles election in 2020 and presidential election in 2021). We should not remain indifferent to that”.
The statement added: “The government needs to acknowledge its mistakes and make up for what it has done wrong and try to rebuild the people’s trust in the government as the chance to reform the system will not last forever.”
The National Trust Party was referring to the barring of reformists and moderates to run for those elections by the intervention of the Guardian Council, the Supreme Leaders office and the revolutionary guards (IRGC).
Critics have said that the restrictive policy has made Iranians reluctant to take part in elections and has eroded the people’s trust in the government and parliament.
Kpler, a data and analytics firm, has issues figures showing that Iran currently has 19 million barrels of gas condensate and over 30 million barrels of unsold crude oil on vessels, the Persian Service of Radio Free Europe in Prague reported.
Mehr state news agency quoted Oil Minister Javad Owji on Friday as claiming that since Ebrahim Raisi's administration took office, the process of selling 78 million barrels of gas condensate stocked on oil tankers has started and has now reached zero.
However, figures obtained from Kpler indicate that Iran’s stockpiled condensate on tankers was 44 million barrels by the end of 2021, but it decreased to 18 million last month and now it has reached 19 million.
Meanwhile, Iran’s stocked crude oil on tankers around the Persian Gulf region has reached 30.5 million barrels, down by 16 million in the same period.
Mehr also said that some of these tankers were stranded on the waters for over three years inflicting an annual cost of 400 to 500 million dollars on the country.
Saudi Arabia said Sunday it will make deep production cuts in July as part of a broader output-limiting OPEC+ deal as the group faces flagging oil prices and a looming supply glut.
Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz said the cut of 1 million barrels per day (bpd) by Riyadh could be extended beyond July if needed. "This is a Saudi lollipop," he said.
OPEC+ production cuts have angered the United States and its European allies for adding to existing high global inflation.
Referring to the contract signed between Iran and Venezuela in October 2021 for the monthly export of two million barrels of gas condensate, Mehr estimated that 40% of Iran's unsold gas condensate reserves have been delivered to Venezuela. It is not clear if Caracas pays international prices for imports from Iran, but in the past, there have been reports of gold deliveries to Iran for fuel purchases.
However, figures by Kpler reveal that since October 2021, a total of nearly 28 million barrels of Iranian gas condensate have been delivered to Venezuela.
Kpler's figures also show that Iran has not had a new shipment of gas condensate to Venezuela in the past three months.
Iran's oil exports in recent months - mostly to China - have exceeded one million barrels according to some industry sources, but its financial condition deteriorates as it is not clear how much hard currency it earns.
OPEC+, which groups the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies led by Russia, reached a deal on output policy after seven hours of talks and decided to reduce overall production targets from 2024 by a further total of 1.4 million barrels per day.
However, many of these reductions will not be real as the group lowered the targets for Russia, Nigeria and Angola to bring them into line with their actual current production levels.
By contrast, the United Arab Emirates was allowed to raise output.
OPEC+ pumps around 40% of the world's crude, meaning its policy decisions can have a major impact on oil prices.
OPEC+ already has in place a cut of 2 million bpd agreed last year and amounting to 2 percent of global demand.
With reporting by Reuters
US 5th Fleet and Combined Maritime Forces spokesperson Cmdr. Tim Hawkins told Breaking Defense, a digital news outlet on global military, “It defies reason that Iran, the number one cause of regional instability, claims it wants to form a naval security alliance to protect the very waters it threatens.”
Highlighting that in the past two years alone, Iran has attacked or seized 15 internationally flagged merchant vessels, Hawkins added that “Actions matter, which is why we are bolstering defense around the Strait of Hormuz with partners.”In its latest provocation in May, Iran seized two oil tankers transiting between UAE ports.
Iranian media claimed in recent days that a regional naval coalition is in the offing.On Saturday, Iran's navy commander officially announced that his country and Saudi Arabia, as well as the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Bahrain, plan to form a naval alliance, that would include Iraq, India and Pakistan.
Admiral Shahram Irani also claimed that virtually all the countries located in the northern areas of the Indian Ocean have come to the conclusion that they should stand by Iran and jointly establish security through enhanced synergy and cooperation. He also referred to several joint naval drills with Oman as well a separate naval coalition consisting of Iran, Russia and China.
It came a few days after the UAE unexpectedly announced on May 31 that it had withdrawn from the US-led Bahrain-based 38-nation Combined Maritime Forces coalition, but on June 1, the US 5th Fleet refuted the UAE claim, saying that the country was still a "partner" in the multinational coalition.
"As a result of our ongoing evaluation of effective security cooperation with all partners, two months ago, the UAE withdrew its participation in the Combined Maritime Forces," the Emirati Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement, to which Hawkins reacted by saying “Bottom line, UAE is currently a CMF partner. That hasn’t changed.”
The fact that none of the countries that Iran mentioned as its prospective coalition partners as well as the CMF partners have not confirmed or rejected the recent developments indicates that Iranian claim is dubious.
However, if it is true, it means the position of the United States in West Asia could become weaker. It is not long ago that the US had a large number of forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Combined Maritime Forces task force, headquartered at the US naval base in Bahrain, works on security, counterterrorism and counter-piracy in the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf areas. But in fact, the US and Israel were trying to forge a regional coalition to contain Iran, including an air defense network.
Iranian officials often make exaggerated claims to boost domestic morale, therefore Irani’s claims have to be echoed by regional Arab countries to have any credibility.
The region contains some of the world's most important shipping routes where, since 2019, suspected Iranian attacks began against oil tankers amid tensions with the United States. The Obama, Trump and Biden administrations chose not to retaliate against Iranian naval provocations over the years or show a convincing military deterrent response.
Last June, Israel called for a military front with US leadership in the Middle East, saying Israel and Arab countries that share its worries about Iran should build up their military capabilities under Washington's aegis. A few months earlier in March, a summit of foreign ministers was held in Israel with the participation of the US, the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco and Egypt. Israel highlighted the event as a show of unity against Iran.