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Jews in Iran are being pressured by the authorities to publicly mourn the death of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, known for his antisemitic ideology.
Nasrallah, head of Iran's largest proxy, made multiple statements against Jews and Israelis over the years, most famously declaring that "If we searched the entire world for a person more cowardly, despicable, weak and feeble in psyche, mind, ideology and religion, we would not find anyone like the Jew. Notice, I do not say the Israeli.”
The Lebanese Shia militant leader also said in 2002 that "If they [the Jews] all gather in Israel, it will save us the trouble of going after them worldwide."
Rabbi Pini Dunner, from the Beverly Hills Synagogue which has a huge Iranian community, told Iran International that “Iran's Jewish community lives in fear of persecution if they don't align themselves with the regime's warped views."
The community, the Middle East's largest outside Israel with around 5-8,000 remaining, was compelled to issue a statement criticizing Israel and America for the killing of the Hezbollah leader.
"What choice do they have? It tells you everything you need to know about how unsafe and insecure the Jewish community feels in Iran," he added.
Tehran-born Beni Sabti, who now lives in Israel, first located the pro-Nasrallah notices on Telegram from the leadership of the Jewish communities in Iran. The Jewish community of Isfahan wrote that it “congratulates and condoles the martyrdom of Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, the Secretary General of Hezbollah in Lebanon, who was martyred in the brutal operation of the Zionist regime.”
Sabti, a research fellow at Israel's National Institute of Security Studies, said that the Tehran Jewish community also published a similar announcement as the community in Isfahan.
The term dhimmi has been applied to Iranian Jews and Jews living in Muslim-majority nations in the Arab world to capture their servile position where they are legally required to obey Islamist supremacy.
The statement from the Isfahan Jewish community called for “severe retribution” against the actions by Israel against Hezbollah in Lebanon in the last two weeks, including the assassination of the long-time leader.
Iran's Jews numbered around 80,000 until the 1979 creation of the Islamic Republic.
The Iranian-American journalist, Karmel Melamed, an expert on Persian Jews, told Iran International "the majority of them fled Iran and now live in America or Israel”.
Melamed said ”It shouldn't surprise anyone that the mullah regime in Iran has paraded out Iran's Jews and other religious minorities from the country to supposedly mourn the death of the terrorist Nasrallah because this has been their long standing propaganda tradition to do so for the last 45 years.”
He explained that “For nearly five decades the Ayatollahs have either paid off certain Jewish leaders in Iran or used duress against Jews and other religious minorities in Iran in order to have them participate in their sham public events that promote the regime's sick radical Islamic ideology or advance their false persona in the international news media."
While Iran legally recognizes the three Abrahamic faiths, Jews, like other minority groups in the Shia state, have systematically been oppressed. “In reality, this Islamic regime in Iran has treated Jews and other non-Muslims as third class citizens with limited to no rights and created an environment of extreme hostility, imprisonment or confiscation of their properties, to the point where the vast majority of non-Muslims in Iran have fled Iran since 1979," Melamed added.
Alireza Nader, an Iranian-American expert on minorities in Iran, told Iran International that the Jews of Iran are "a small and vulnerable group ... forced to show sympathy for the regime and its allies. Otherwise they could be in great danger.”
New data from the Central Bank of Iran reveals that the average price per square meter of housing in Tehran hit 885 million rials (around $1,500), leaving over half of renters with little hope of ever buying a home due to low-income levels.
According to the Central Bank’s estimates, housing prices have increased nearly elevenfold since the start of US sanctions in 2018 and have tripled in local currency over the past three years, during the presidency of Ebrahim Raisi. During the same period the rial fell 50% against the US dollar.
Although the figures provided by the Central Bank indicate a significant rise in housing prices, a loan expert at a private Iranian bank told Iran International that the actual increase in housing prices is much higher than what the Central Bank claims.
Chichek M, identified here by a pseudonym for security reasons, further explained that due to the obligation to offer loans, particularly mortgage loans, at interest rates below inflation, banks in the country have been incurring losses.
According to the latest official reports, Iran's seven largest banks collectively have accumulated losses of 4,640 trillion rials (about $7.7 billion).
Chichek added that while the country’s inflation rate is around 45%, the interest rate for bank loans is set at approximately 23%.
The Central Bank's statistics on housing prices also contradict figures from other governmental institutions. For instance, the Central Bank claims that the average price per square meter of housing in Tehran increased by 16.8% year-on-year in August, whereas the Statistical Center of Iran reports this figure to be 43%.
A significant portion of the soaring house prices in Iran is attributed to the devaluation of the rial against foreign currencies, particularly the US dollar. However, the Central Bank's detailed data reveals that even accounting for currency fluctuations, housing prices have nearly doubled in dollar terms.
The exchange rate of the US dollar has jumped from 40,000 rials in early 2018 to around 600,000 rials, marking a 600% increase. However, during the same period, housing prices have surged by 1,000%, based on Iranian rial.
One reason for the faster rise in housing inflation compared to the rial’s depreciation against the dollar is the government's failure to build new housing. Another factor is the rush of people’s rial-based assets into the housing market as a way to preserve their value.
For example, President Ebrahim Raisi promised to build one million housing units annually, but Mohammadreza Rezaei Kochi, the head of the Parliament’s Construction Committee, says this plan has only achieved 2% progress: “Over the past three years, only a small portion of the previous government’s unfinished projects have been completed and handed over to the public”.
Meanwhile, the ISNA news agency reported on September 22, citing new Central Bank data, that 51% of Tehran's population cannot afford to buy a home priced at 885 trillion rials per square meter.
The report adds that 51% of Tehranian households are renters, who, in addition to facing 45% inflation in rental costs, would have to wait 48 years to purchase a home.
ISNA notes that housing has become a major crisis for everyone in recent years. It describes homeownership as a dream for many Iranians, one that they may never realize in their lifetime.
The announcement said the raids were based on precise intelligence against Hezbollah "terrorist targets and infrastructure" in southern Lebanon as the conflict between the two sides reaches the closest it has come to war since 2006.
“These targets are located in villages close to the border and pose an immediate threat to Israeli communities in northern Israel,” the statement said, carried out by the elite 98th division, deployed two weeks ago from Gaza.
Since October 7 when Iran-backed Hamas invaded Israel, sparking the Gaza war, Iran’s biggest proxy, Hezbollah, has engaged in almost daily bombardments of Israel’s north in allegiance with Hamas.
It has seen 63,000 Israelis displaced and over 100,000 Lebanese. Since operations stepped up two weeks ago when Israel targeted what is believed to be 1,500 Hezbollah operatives in pager and walkie-talkie explosions, hundreds of thousands more Lebanese have fled southern Lebanon and Hezbollah-controlled areas of Beirut.
Air strikes have blitzed Hezbollah, including assassinating its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, last week. Its top commanders have also been eliminated.
The Israeli military also released footage of the preparations for the ground operation named Northern Arrows.
Meanwhile, as the successor to Nasrallah remains to be announced, then group’s deputy, Naim Qassem, warned that the group would continue its campaign in the first televised address following Nasrallah’s killing.
“Hezbollah will go on with its goals and its battle,” he said, saying that in spite of the annihilation of the top ranks of the group’s commanders, they would be easily replaced.
“Our system of command and control as well as the mujahideen [fighters] will continue to follow up and implement the alternative plans accurately. All are ready in the battlefield.”
Addressing the pager operation which left the group humiliated on the world stage after Israel infiltrated the group's communications network, he said: “We have sacrificed a lot since the pager operations, the martyrdom of the commanders and the martyrdom of the leader (Nasrallah).
"If this happens anywhere else with any organization across the world, it will collapse, but we did not. We are going on despite the pains and the sacrifices. We are going on because we have the hope and we trust Allah almighty to be victorious. We are the people of jihad.”
US defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, gave the green light to his Israeli counterpart, Yoav Gallant, for the limited incursion.
According to a Pentagon readout of the call between the two officials, they “agreed on the necessity of dismantling attack infrastructure along the border to ensure that Lebanese [Hezbollah] cannot conduct October 7-style attacks on Israel’s northern communities”.
While the US and UK were helping citizens to leave Beirut amid the escalation, the situation in Israel remained unchanged. A US official, speaking off the record to Iran International, said: “Israel has a great ability to deter terrorist threats with the likes of the Iron Dome so the situation here is much more stable.”
Andrew Fox, an ex-officer in the British forces, said on X that the Israeli incursion was not a simple operation. “It’s a huge area to try and clear - and impossible to hold, and nothing to stop Hezbollah reinfiltrating after the IDF withdraw,” he said.
“I’ll be amazed if this IDF ground op in Lebanon is more than a relatively limited incursion to clear known sites. Similar to creating a buffer zone. I cannot see any sense in a full scale invasion.”
The operation is focusing on the border area which was meant to be protected by UNIFIL’s peacekeepers in the 2006 UN Resolution 1701. On a clearly marked line, the border between the two countries was meant to be cleared of terror groups and the groups forced to disarm. Neither has happened.
In a statement, UNIFIL said: "Yesterday, the IDF notified UNIFIL of their intention to undertake limited ground incursions into Lebanon. Despite this dangerous development, peacekeepers remain in position.
"Any crossing into Lebanon is in violation of Lebanese sovereignty and territorial integrity, and a violation of resolution 1701. We urge all actors to step back from such escalatory acts, which will only lead to more violence and more bloodshed. We strongly urge the parties to recommit to Security Council resolutions and 1701 (2006) as the only viable solution to bring back stability in this region."
Reuters reported that "the Lebanese forces withdrew five kilometers north of the border”.
A senior political figure opposed to Hezbollah in Lebanon, speaking to Iran International of anonymity, said: "Hezbollah acted alone as a non-state actor and cannot expect the state to defend them when a retaliation takes place. As the Lebanese Army was unable to disarm Hezbollah, it cannot be dragged into a war to defend it either."
"Lebanese sovereign territory is under attack, and Hezbollah is part of a regional armed networked controlled by the Iranian regime. Lebanon alone cannot defend itself against internal and external actors and strengthen its sovereign institutions without the support of the international community represented in the United Nations and Arab League."
On Tuesday morning, sirens were sounded in central Israel as Hezbollah targeted deeper into the country with multiple ballistic missiles. The Israeli military said the projectiles were intercepted but there have been reports at the time of publication of at least one man suffering shrapnel injuries, according to Magen David Adom, Israel's rescue service.
Israeli military announced there had been a direct hit on Israel's highway 6 near Kfar Qasim.
Hezbollah also claimed it fired Fadi-4 missiles toward the intelligence agency Mossad's headquarters in Glilot, north of Tel Aviv, while Iran's Tasnim news agency said "the initial plan of the Zionists to advance by land into Lebanese territory has failed so far".
The British foreign secretary, David Lammy, reiterated calls for a diplomatic solution to the crisis which shows no signs of easing. "Speaking to [US] Secretary [of State Antony] Blinken this evening, we were clear on the need for a diplomatic solution in the Middle East."
"The UK is calling for an immediate ceasefire and the implementation of a political plan that allows displaced Israeli and Lebanese civilians to return to their homes,” he said.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, announced that a top Hamas commander, Fatah Sharif, killed by Israel in south Lebanon Monday, was one of its employees but had been suspended since allegations of his ties to the militant group emerged in March.
Israel has alleged that UNRWA has been infiltrated by the Iran-backed Palestinian militant group.
"Our shores have experienced significant retreat, raising concerns that our facilities and ports could be in jeopardy," an Iranian Environmental Protection Organization official, Omid Sedighi, told local media.
"Addressing this issue entails considerable expense, as extensive dredging is required to restore water access to the docks and ports. This poses a substantial threat," he added.
Addressing the challenges faced, Sedighi noted that the country's coastlines have "significantly receded," placing critical infrastructure, such as facilities and ports, at risk. He warned that if the current trend of declining water levels continues, it could lead to the drying up of other wetlands, render docks and ports inaccessible, and create serious issues for coastal power plants. Furthermore, he expressed concern that the situation could also jeopardize shrimp farming operations.
His remarks mirror concerns that Iranian officials have voiced for years. Last year, Iran’s Minister of Interior, Ahmad Vahidi, warned of the Caspian Sea's further decline in the coming decades, while refraining from addressing the regime’s neglect of ecological issues.
Similarly, Ali Salajegheh, head of the Iranian Department of Environment, underscored the ecological challenges posed by a one-meter reduction in the Caspian Sea's water level over the past 4-5 years, noting an average annual decline of 20 centimeters.
However, the predicament transcends Iran's borders. The Caspian Sea is bordered by Iran to the south, Turkmenistan to the southeast, Kazakhstan to the northeast, Russia to the northwest, and Azerbaijan to the southwest.
Scientific studies have revealed that the Caspian Sea's water levels, which have exhibited sharp fluctuations over the past century, have steadily declined since the mid-1990s.
However, since 2005, conditions have deteriorated even further. Russia's Volga River, which constitutes approximately 80 percent of the total water inflow into the Caspian Sea, has been a focal point of blame among the nations concerned with the sea's declining levels.
Earlier this month, expressing deep concern over the "catastrophic" shrinkage of the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev discussed the matter with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Last year, Kazakhstani officials declared a state of emergency in response to the recession of the shoreline, with the Environment Minister attributing the primary causes to “climate change as an exogenous factor” and the upstream “regulation” of rivers that feed into the lake, including the Volga and Ural, both originating in Russia.
According to NASA's Earth Observatory, a study utilizing several models projected that the Caspian Sea's water levels could decline by an additional 8 to 30 meters (26 to 98 feet) by 2100 due to climate change. Moreover, human activities such as water use and diversion could contribute to a further 7 meters (23 feet) of water loss. These projections underscore the significant impact of both natural and anthropogenic factors on the future of the Caspian Sea's water levels.
According to a study published in Nature, "a decline by 9–18 meters will mean that the vast northern Caspian shelf, the Turkmen shelf in the southeast, and all coastal areas in the middle and southern Caspian Sea emerge from under the sea surface. In addition, the Kara-Bogaz-Gol Bay on the eastern margin will be completely desiccated. Overall, the Caspian Sea’s surface area will shrink by 23 percent for a 9 meter and by 34 percent for an 18 meter drop of sea level." Scholar Vali Kaleji emphasizes that to address this critical issue, Caspian coastal nations must prioritize integrated, coordinated, and comprehensive policies and strategies.
Stopping short of pledging any direct action by the Jewish state itself, Netanyahu said the Iranian theocratic system that his country was confronting would soon end.
The 3-minute speech delivered in English and posted on X came days after Israeli air strikes killed Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, capping off nearly two weeks of bombings and aerial bombardments which have decapitated the Iran-backed group's leadership.
"When Iran is finally free and that moment will come a lot sooner than people think – everything will be different," Netanyahu said.
"Our two countries, Israel and Iran, will be at peace. When that day comes, the terror network that the regime built in five continents will be bankrupt, dismantled.
Netanyahu said that there was nowhere in the Middle East beyond Israel's reach, a message underscored by Israeli air attacks in Gaza, Yemen and Lebanon over the weekend.
Both Iranian and Israeli leaders have appeared to hold off from any clear pledge of direct confrontation despite the latest uptick in violence.
The response from some in the Iranian diaspora and activist community has been positive, with many sharing Netanyahu's sentiments on Iran.
"Israel and free Iran will reunite as the great allies in the Middle East again", Iranian-American activist Nick Nikbakht posted to X.
Gazelle Sharmahd, the daughter of Jamshid Sharmahd, a German-American national of Iranian descent who was kidnapped for his activism from the United Arab Emirates in 2020 by Iranian agents, thanked the Prime Minister as the "only leader of a nation who directly addresses the people of Iran."
"We agree with everything you said EXCEPT for 1 point: Those khomeinist tyrants are NOT the “leaders of Iran”!!!!" Sharmahd posted to X.
Ellie Cohanim, a former Deputy Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism during the Donald Trump administration, told Iran International that Netanyahu's speech demonstrated that Israelis and Iranians have one foe.
“(The) historic address to speak directly to the Iranian people is meant to clearly communicate to Iranians that they and Israel share a common enemy—the Islamic Republic Regime. And also to let Iranian people know that any military events and conflict are between the Regime and Israel; and not between Israel and the Iranian people.”
This was not the Israeli Prime Minister's first time addressing the people of Iran.
During an earlier premiership he spoke directly to Iranians in a 2013 an interview with BBC Persian, saying, "I would welcome a genuine rapprochement, a genuine effort to stop the nuclear program - not a fake one. Not 'harfe pooch,'" deploying a colloquial Persian phrase meaning "empty words."
Still, he was mocked for comments he made about Iranians not being able to wear jeans in the country, which some critics said showed ignorance of the way Iranians actually live.
Israel's military has long been using the social media channel IDF Farsi to speak directly to people in Iran and circumvent authorities' censorship, gaining access to tens of millions of Iranians online.
“We wanted to build a bridge to the Iranian people," Beni Sabti, the driving force behind the account, told Iran International in a previous interview.
