Iran Considering Plans For More Intrusion Into People's Privacy

Media in Tehran published a letter by President Ebrahim Raisi sent to parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf on Saturday.

The funds were frozen at two Seoul banks after the United States withdrew from the 2015 JCPOA nuclear accord and imposed sanctions on Iran, including its banking sector. South Korea owed the money for oil imports before full US sanctions kicked in in May 2019.

It is not clear why the Iranian government needs a parliamentary vote for sending the dispute to arbitration, except to try to build a stronger case. The letter also does not mention what kind of arbitration Tehran has in mind.

The frozen funds have been the subject of long negotiations between Tehran, Seoul and Washington over the past two years, as the Biden administration launched talks with Iran in April 2021 to revive the JCPOA. Many reports and statements point to possible release of the funds in exchange for several US citizens held hostage in Iran.

Both the nuclear talks and the prisoner release talks have not succeeded in making meaningful progress. However, US officials say that efforts to secure the release of four Americans continue. Apparently, one US condition is to set up a mechanism for the disbursement of the funds for purchasing only non-sanctionable goods by Iran such as food and medicine.

There are similar frozen assets in Iraq, Japan and elsewhere that Iran desperately needs amid a serious economic crisis and continuing sanctions.

Earlier this week, the Biden Administration announced that some of Iran’s frozen funds in Iraq will go to Oman, acting as a conduit to release the money for purchasing non-sanctionable goods under US supervision. Iraq owes Iran around $11 billion for imports of gas and electricity, but US banking sanctions prohibit dollar transactions with Iran. In June, the US agreed to make $2.7 billion available for Iran’s humanitarian needs.

Despite this development, the Iranian currency, the rial, has not shown improvement and continues to trade at around 500,000 rials per US dollar, as its value has drastically depreciated in the past year. 

Businessman Masoud Daneshmand expressed doubts about the impact of the released funds, stating that the Iranian government would not receive any cash directly. Instead, after Iran purchases goods like wheat, it can present invoices, and Oman will release the money following US verification. Hence, the government will not have additional funds to impact the currency market.

100%

Others, however, disagree with this perspective. Some argue that any released funds, even for food and medicine, could free up other foreign currencies for purposes such as supporting armed proxy groups in the region or producing military equipment such as drones that are supplied to Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

Amidst the ongoing economic crisis, Iran’s annual inflation is estimated to be somewhere between 50-70 percent, in the absence of reliable figures. However, what is certain is that food prices have risen much faster. Media and even regime politicians have been saying for months that food price inflation is around 100 percent.

Nevertheless, Ahmad Kimiyai, an economist, believes that the release of frozen funds, though not in cash dollars, is still beneficial. It allows some assets to enter the country despite sanctions and can be used for humanitarian imports, addressing shortages of food and medicine.

However, he said it is much better that the money can be used for humanitarian imports instead of cash transfers. “This is better than if the money reached the government, because it might be tempted to do populist acts,” referring to cash handout schemes to the population. 

“Now we are certain that goods will be imported that can reach the people’s dinner tables,” and help with shortages of medicine, Kimiyai said.

100%

On the other hand, businessman Kamran Soltanizadeh, who is the head of Iran’s currency exchangers indirectly criticized government propaganda highlighting that the US has released the frozen funds. He argued that there has been no official statement about exactly how much, when and how funds have been released.

He also stressed that the Iranian government is injecting dollars and other hard currencies into the forex market to support the rial, and if it were not for these interventions, the national currency would have fallen further.

After a complaint lodged by IRGC's Thar-Allah headquarters in the capital, and a trial, Behzadi received a six-month prison sentence on grounds of "publishing false content." However, in a subsequent decision, the court opted to amend the sentence to a one-year prohibition from engaging in any form of media responsibility.

The Thar-Allah Headquarters, is a command within the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, responsible for security in the Tehran area. This means it is the principle military force organzing suppression of protests.

The charges against Behzadi primarily stemmed from an interview conducted by Etemad with Dariush Farhood, a revered figure in the field of Iranian genetic science and his alleged abduction by plainclothes agents. Another complaint concerned an article highlighting the arrest of cinematographers and artists who stood in solidarity with the people during nationwide protests.

The court contended that the interview with Farhood presented information that was deemed “false and misleading”.

The case's outcome brings to attention the ongoing challenges faced by media professionals in Iran, where press freedom has been a contentious issue for decades. The 2023 World Press Freedom Index, as compiled by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), ranked Iran at the lowest position on the list, marginally above countries like Vietnam, China, and North Korea, reflecting the gravity of the situation.

Throughout the years, Iran has incarcerated hundreds journalists, writers, and bloggers, often accusing them of jeopardizing national security by expressing their opinions. Tragically, some of these individuals have lost their lives while in detention.

In one large gathering to mark the anniversary of the revered Shiite saint, Imam Hussein, son of the first Imam, Ali, mourners chanted:

“O Motherland, do you know why I’m devastated? 

It’s because these people (the regime) only care about hijab.

They don’t see the poverty in our houses,

They have stolen so much from public coffers,

They don’t see the tears and laments of workers,

They don’t see that widows are destitute, 

No bread on their tables, 

That fathers are ashamed, and mothers distressed.

God be my witness that this is not the Justice of Ali!

All our problem is not a strand of hair!”

These verses were sung in the local dialect in Dezful in the oil-rich Khuzestan Province by the maddah whose role is reciting the praises of the prophet and his companions and mourning the slaying of his grandson, Imam Hussein in the battle of Karbala. While the maddah sings, his audience rhythmically beat their chests and move in tandem. 

In recent years some maddahs have increasingly been using the story of the grandson of Prophet Mohammed, Imam Hussein, and his martyrdom to express their opposition to an interpretation of Islam that the regime has been promoting for four decades during the Ashura ceremonies. 

The Day of Ashura, the anniversary of the slaying of Imam Hussein and his 72 companions on the 10th of the Islamic lunar month of Muharram, is the highlight of the month-long mourning ceremonies. The Imam and his companions were killed in 680 in a battle that took place in the plain of Karbala in present-day Iraq. 

100%

Every year during Muharram, the beginning of which fell on July 19 this year, thousands of local mourning groups known as hey'at organize large congregations and street processions with thousands of participants. 

Thousands of others usually gather along the streets to watch the procession of men rhythmically beating their chests or using a bundle of chains to beat their backs to the beat of massive drums amplified by speakers. The self-beatings symbolize the pain and suffering of the Imam and his companions in Karabla.

Unlike the fearless maddah in Dezful who openly referred to present time issues of hijab and destitution of the people, others voice their criticism in veiled terms, often in the form of verses associated with certain historical and revolutionary eras that their audience easily understands. 

“Stop oppression, God’s blood has come to boil, 

heavens and earth are wailing,

because the earth has been clothed in poppies,” a maddah and his congregation sang in the very religiously conservative city of Yazd.

“Poppies have sprung from the blood of the youth of the motherland!

And cypress trees have bent under the grief of their lost lives,” the congregation continued singing. This verse was taken from the very famous poem of Mirzaadeh Eshghi, a 19th century poet who dedicated it to the martyrs of the Constitutional Revolution (1905-1911). 

By creating a parallel between their own time and circumstances and the time and circumstances that led to Imam Hussein’s martyrdom, they identify the regime and it leaders with the Arab ruler, Yazid, whose troops killed the Imam. The verses and steps are often practiced for months before the actual ceremonies. 

Muharram ceremonies have been held for centuries in Iran and among Shiites in other countries. However, since the Islamic Revolution of 1979, the ceremonies and rituals have gained more prominence as the clerical government have made them a vehicle to show that the people are religious and loyal.

100%

But increasingly mourning gatherings pop up around the country that include non-regime religious groups, who use the very Shiite ideology of seeking justice and condemning oppression to direct criticism at the clerical rulers. 

Some people believe that the regime’s actions have resulted in the weakening of religion among Iranians while others argue that it is only the regime’s interpretation of Islam that has weakened and led to thousands of mosques being abandoned. 

In a note published on Telegram Thursday entitled “Confiscation of History”, sociologist Ali Zamanian argued that using religious occasions such as Ashura to create an “ideological dichotomy” in which one side is all good and the other is all evil is unacceptable whether by regime-affiliated maddahs or those who sympathize with the opposition. 

Zamanian, however, pointed out that critical maddahs’ expression of their frustration with the current economic crisis may show the government that it is not only those who believe in a secular state who oppose religious rule, but many religious people are “at the end of their ropes” too. 

Even under the Shah, who was very proud of being the ruler of the only Shiite state in the world, the country was shut down for several days for the ceremonies and Ashura sermons were broadcast live on national radio.

100%

The Jewish Insider reported that committee Chairman Michael McCaul said officials had not been able to offer details on Malley’s status regarding an investigation over his security clearance.

Iran International first reported June 29 that Malley’s security clearance had been suspended and he has been under investigation related to his handling of classified documents. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is reportedly involved in the investigation, although until now no official details have been announced, except that Malley is on “unpaid leave.”

Chairman McCaul (R-TX) had threatened the Biden administration with subpoena if they failed to brief his committee on Malley’s status. While he had been suspended perhaps as early as April, the administration did not inform Congress about it.

“We don’t really have any details” on the Malley investigation “because it’s an ongoing investigation,” McCaul said according to the Insider. He also said that the administration will likely not be able to provide a full briefing until the investigation ends.

A spokesperson from the Committee told Iran International that officials refused to provide any significant new information, including the reason Malley's security clearance was revoked, citing the Privacy Act, but the Committee will try again to obtain more information.

McCaul was quoted by the Insider as saying, “They couldn’t get into the details,” adding, “the question is, is the FBI involved because if they are, then that’s a national security problem.”

Malley who was chief US nuclear negotiator with Iran has been replaced by Abram Paley as acting envoy.