Limitations Abound On Iran's Ability To Boost Oil Output

The video went viral in Iran on Saturday depicting a tense encounter between a young woman and a cleric who is filming her holding her baby while her hijab is loose in a clinic in the religious city of Qom.

Iran’s clerical rulers encourage everyone to confront women with insufficient hijab and urge them to abide by the law. Reporting on others is also encouraged and there have been instances of people filming women to send it to the authorities for legal action.

The incident escalated into a brawl when the young woman noticed the cleric filming her. Other women in the hospital intervened and asked the cleric to delete his video in fear that it would lead to further problems for the mother.

The footage captured the young mother in the clinic with her sick infant. Shortly after entering, her headscarf slips off.

Hassan Gharib, the prosecutor of the religious city of Qom, said Sunday that an order to identify and prosecute the person who leaked the CCTV footage to Iran International has been issued. However, he clarified that no arrests have been made in connection with the incident.

Gharib emphasized the importance of adhering to the religious duty of urging others to abstain from forbidden acts and uphold religious principles. “In any case, we will decisively, fairly, and speedily investigate the matter.”

Typically, rather than prosecuting people who bother others over hijab, authorities often target and punish victims, as well as individuals who share photos and videos with foreign-based Persian media outlets that tarnish the image of the regime, its officials, or clerics.

In September, 29-year-old Elham Farshad who had a verbal encounter with a cleric harassing her over hijab was sentenced to three years and eight months in prison after a video of the incident was leaked on social media.

“It is necessary to point out that the error of the person who sent the video to anti-revolutionary media should not be overlooked. This calls for intelligence work and action that will teach [such people] a lesson,” the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) linked Fars News Agency wrote Sunday.

At a press briefing Sunday most of which was related to the controversies over legislation and enforcement of hijab, President Ebrahim Raisi’s aide, Sakineh-Sadat Pad, said she had seen the video and would follow up on the matter.

Pad characterized the actions of both the woman and the cleric as "aggressive" and their behavior as "disagreeable." While acknowledging the understandable concern of the young mother for her sick child, Pad did not explicitly condemn the cleric's infringement upon the woman's privacy and rights. She emphasized the need for further investigation into the matter.

The footage obtained by Iran International (IITV) from the clinic's CCTV captures the young woman seated against the wall in a secluded area, cradling her sick baby in her arms. Her hijab has slipped down over her shoulders. In the background, the cleric covertly uses his mobile device to capture pictures or video of the woman, presumably to document her violation of hijab regulations.

Upon realizing the cleric's actions, the woman swiftly passes her baby to someone nearby and confronts the cleric, demanding to inspect his phone to delete the recorded footage. The cleric refuses, escalating the situation into a physical altercation as bystanders intervene.

The cleric flees the scene, and the woman is taken away from by the clinic staff after having a nervous fit. The identities of the cleric and the woman are not known.

Some Twitterati have commented that the incident is evidence of the opposition to compulsory hijab and shows that the Islamic Republic has failed in enforcing it even in Qom, Iran's second religious city and the seat of most of its seminaries.

Most hardliner social media users have blamed the woman for failing to comply with hijab rules and then arguing with the cleric and charging to attack him. They justify the cleric’s actions by arguing that his intention was pure, and he only wanted to carry out his religious duty.

Some hardline, pro-government social media users have called the young mother “rowdy” or “a shrew”. Those against the compulsory hijab, however, have created several hashtags in support of the young mother such as “We Are All Rowdy/Shrews”.

The US called on the United Kingdom in October to designate the IRGC as a terrorist organization, designated in the US since 2019. 

Salami announced that he had a meeting with Khamenei on Sunday to receive the medal.

During the ceremony on Sunday, Salami stated, "This medal is the result of all the efforts of the IRGC, which was symbolically awarded to me ... It belongs to our brothers who defend the dignity and independence of this land in sub-zero temperatures with steadfast hearts, firm steps, and hands on the trigger," likely referring to IRGC proxy groups in the region.

Iran is currently embroiled in a regional proxy war, with its militias supporting the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7 from Lebanon, Yemen, Syria and Iraq.

The conflict has drawn in international players, including the US and UK since Yemen's Houthi militants, armed and supported by Tehran, have launched deadly drone and missile attacks against commercial vessels in the Red Sea.

In February, the United States, in a joint operation with Britain, initiated dozens of strikes against Iran-backed groups in Iraq and Syria, as well as its Yemeni proxy, the Houthis

He was added to Canada's sanctions list on International Women's Day and the sanctions coincided with Dorosti's family's preparations to relocate to Canada, plans which will now have fallen flat.

It was Canada's 17th package of sanctions against Iran since Mahsa Amini's death in morality police custody in September 2022, targeting Dorosti and senior MP Zohreh Elahian for their "participation in violent repression of Iranian citizens", particularly women and girls. It takes the total to 153 individuals and 87 entities sanctioned. 

Mélanie Joly, Minister of Foreign Affairs, said, “Canada will always defend the rights of women and girls. The Iranian regime and its supporters’ continued use of cruel and violent tactics against any demonstration of liberty of choices and free speech has led to an increasingly repressive environment in which women and girls face injury or death simply for expressing themselves or demanding their basic human rights.

"Our message is clear: this must end. We will continue to shine a spotlight on these blatant violations of human rights and call for the perpetrators to be held to account.”

Tehran metro has been the scene of heavy hijab patrols, last year leading to the death of a 16-year-old Iranian who was confronted by morality police for not complying with hijab rules. 

Armita Geravand, a teenage student in Tehran, was assaulted by hijab enforcers in the metro, subsequently falling into a coma. She passed away after 28 days in hospital.

Amini's death in custody sparked the Women, Life, Freedom protests which have since triggered a nationwide hijab rebellion in which authorities have become increasingly brutal in fighting, including arbitrary arrest, sexual violence, and deepened surveillance.

The passage of time, however, proved that I was mistaken. His intention was to continue serving a regime that had afforded him ample opportunities, enabling him to exert influence over two major newspapers, rise from a street activist to Iran’s ambassador in Germany, and subsequently become a chief negotiator in nuclear talks with the West.

Throughout his career, Mousavian has demonstrated unwavering loyalty to the Islamic Republic. From his tenure as a member of the Resalat Daily editorial board and his leadership role at Tehran Times to his diplomatic endeavors in Europe as Iran's top diplomat, he has consistently upheld the regime's interests. Even upon relocating to the US, his advocacy for the controversial JCPOA nuclear deal and defense of Iran's nuclear program as peaceful persisted.

Mohammad Javad Zarif attests to Mousavian's commitment to the regime, having entrusted him with representation at various European events during Zarif's tenure at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Zarif lauds Mousavian's adept defense of the regime's positions, acknowledging his efforts in international forums across America and Europe.

However, Mousavian has crafted various narratives portraying himself as a regime critic. One such claim involves being listed as a target for internal assassination in the 1990s, an assertion lacking substantiation or evidence. Lists of assassination targets from the 1990s, provided by reputable sources, notably exclude Mousavian's name, indicating a discrepancy in his narrative. I have personally seen two lists for assassinations in the 1990s (one list provided to me by Saeed Hajjarian, a high-ranking security official) and Mousavian was not on those lists. The internal terror project in that period was planned to be carried out inside the country and not in Europe.

Terror-oriented ideology and discourse

During the 1980s, the regime's ideological priorities differed from its current agenda. Anti-semitism, nuclear armament, and Shia imperialism were not prominent; instead, the focus was on the Iran-Iraq war, domestic stability through terror tactics, and ideological rivalries within Islamist factions. Amidst escalating tensions and internal dissent, internal targeted killings emerged as a pivotal tool to safeguard the regime's survival.

Islamist terrorism, characterized by fatwas and militant recruitment, was instrumentalized by the regime to suppress dissent and eliminate opposition voices. This was a time when the war with Iraq was not going well and numerous opposition figures abroad were plotting the regime’s overthrow. Survival of the clerical rulers was the top priority. Mousavian, along with his counterparts at Resalat, played a pivotal role in legitimizing and normalizing this terror narrative, perpetuating a culture of fear and coercion within Iranian society.

Ali Khamenei had the same feeling of fragility in his first years in office and began killing intellectuals and political dissidents in the 1990s. Resalat did the same job to promote and normalize terror in this decade even when Mousavian was out. It was in its DNA.

Mousavian played a key role in the covering up of the Mykonos terror attack and denying Iran's role in this terror attack: "Personally I had more than 300 meetings with the [people in] the [German] Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the judiciary, the German Parliament, the Chancellor's office and even with the heads of the German media to show that the [Iranian] government had no role in the event.”

According to Parviz Dastmalchi, who witnessed the assassinations, Abolghasem Mesbahi, known as 'Witness C,' one of the founders of the IRI’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security, testified in February 1997 under oath before the German court regarding the role of Hossein Mousavian in the assassination of Kurdish leaders at the Mykonos restaurant: "Mr. Mousavian has participated in most of the assassinations committed in Europe."

Terrorism, as exemplified by Mousavian's actions, is a grave matter not to be trivialized. His cavalier attitude towards terrorizing American authorities, as evidenced by his gleeful recollection of Bryan Hook's wife's distress, underscores the severity of his involvement in Iran's state-sponsored terrorism. Such callous disregard for human life is reprehensible and underscores the urgent need for accountability.

Opinions expressed by the author are not necessarily the views of Iran International - The author signed a petition to oust Mousavian from his Princeton position.

Published in 2022 in the Journal of Medical Virology, the now-retracted study described the clinical development of the Noora vaccine, which had been licensed for emergency use in Iran in the same year.

Scientists worldwide, including Donald Forthal, Chief of Infectious Diseases at the University of California, raised doubts about the validity of the study. Despite the critiques, the paper had undergone multiple rounds of review before publication.

In January, additional concerns regarding data integrity and potential conflicts of interest were raised by epidemiologist Gideon Meyerowitz-Katz on PubPeer. Subsequently, on March 2, the Journal of Medical Virology announced the retraction of the paper citing inconsistencies in the data and the authors' failure to disclose potential conflicts of interest.

Corresponding author Hassan Abolghasemi of the IRGC-affiliated Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences in Tehran disputed the retraction, alleging it was politically motivated. Abolghasemi claimed that pressure was exerted on the journal due to "apartheid scientific issues" and stated that their response to criticisms was not accepted for publication.

Last year, a report claimed that over 75,000 Covid deaths could have been prevented in Iran if the regime had permitted global vaccines, banned by Iran's supreme leader who ruled out importing United States and British made Covid vaccines in January 2021, arguing that Western countries could not be trusted.

He claimed Iran was well placed to develop its own vaccines or should take them from more reliable sources as at the time, the US-German Pfizer, US-made Moderna and the British-made AstraZeneca were the only vaccines approved internationally.

A paper published in association with the British Medical Journal and Yale last year called, ‘A quantitative evaluation of the impact of vaccine roll-out rate and coverage on reducing deaths from COVID-19: a counterfactual study on the impact of the delayed vaccination programme in Iran,’ a team of experts have found evidence to show mass neglect on the part of the regime.