The politics of prayer: who controls Iran’s mosques and Friday sermons

The former lawmaker, Mostafa Kavakebian, was convicted after repeating allegations in two televised interviews accusing a French-born journalist of having intimate relations with senior Iranian officials.

“Following the remarks, the former member of parliament was summoned by the judiciary to present evidence and documentation, but after failing to provide any credible proof to support his statements, an indictment was issued by the prosecutor’s office and the case was referred to court for trial,” wrote Mizan News Agency.

The court sentenced him to 14 months in prison, suspended for four years, and imposed a two-year ban on all media activity, including interviews and publication of commentary across outlets or online platforms.

The editor-in-chief of the outlet that broadcast his comments was also fined under the court’s ruling, Mizan News Agency added. The verdicts are subject to appeal.

Kavakebian’s remarks concerned Catherine Perez-Shakdam, a French journalist of Jewish background who had previously visited Iran and written favorably about its leadership. In a July state TV interview, he said that she was an Israeli spy who had slept with 120 senior officials. Speaking to Iran International, Shakdam dismissed the charge as “not true, not possible, and completely absurd.”

Shakdam now works as a political analyst and spokesperson for an Israeli advocacy group We Believe In Israel.

Separate sentence for Tehran MP

In a separate ruling, a current member of parliament representing Tehran was convicted of “disturbing public opinion” after describing the government of President Masoud Pezeshkian as plotting to “end the Islamic Revolution” and “terminate Khamenei’s rule” during an online interview in June.

Abolfazl Zohrevand, who formerly served as Iran’s ambassador to Afghanistan, received a sentence of three months and one day in prison, suspended for three years, along with a two-year prohibition on media engagement. The editor responsible for publishing his comments was likewise ordered to pay a fine.

The court said it had first consulted the parliament’s oversight board, which confirmed the remarks fell outside Zohrevand’s duties as a lawmaker.

Each of the lawmakers remains free but under suspended sentences that would take effect if similar offenses are repeated within the designated period.

Russia said on Friday it was ready to help resolve the impasse over Iran’s nuclear program—a day after former foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif accused Moscow of standing in the way of Tehran’s potential path to normalcy with the West.

Zarif reignited long-running suspicions about Moscow’s intentions as Iran’s security chief Ali Larijani visited the Russian capital to deliver a message from Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

The former head of parliament’s National Security Committee Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh echoed the charge on Friday, asserting that Russia had previously obstructed a potential agreement with the United States in 2021.

“Over-reliance on the Kremlin puts Iran on a dangerous path,” he warned in the economic daily Donya-ye Eghtesad. “Russia is not a trustworthy partner around the world, and ignoring this could be costly.”

Another moderate outlet, Rouydad24, argued in a Friday editorial that “historical experience shows Moscow’s interests do not always align with Tehran’s.”

Lifeline or liability?

Iran’s dependence on Russia—even amid Putin’s hints at goodwill mediation—has long been questioned by moderates who favor a tilt toward the West.

Those calls have intensified since the June war with Israel, when Moscow offered little help—either unwilling, as some in Tehran suggested, or unable due to its own entanglement in Ukraine.

Hardliners, and most crucially the Supreme Leader, appear to think otherwise.

Ali Khamenei has rarely been seen since Israel demonstrated its ability to strike top commanders in June, but the message from those considered closest to him remains unmistakably combative.

Khamenei’s top foreign-policy adviser Kamal Kharrazi said in an interview with the leader’s website that Iran’s missile program and support for armed allies in the region remain non-negotiable.

While emphasizing Iran’s openness to diplomacy, Kharrazi also laid bare Tehran’s limited room for compromise with Washington.

Anti-West line rules

That same day, cleric Alireza Panahian, close to Khamenei’s office, promoted a state-sponsored book advocating Israel’s annihilation—underscoring how deeply confrontation remains embedded in the system’s worldview.

Covering Larijani’s trip to Moscow, hardline outlets invariably hailed him as a “trusted figure,” implying that others, including President Masoud Pezeshkian, were not considered reliable enough to represent Khamenei.

It didn’t help the relatively moderate president that he was filmed cycling through Isfahan as part of a campaign promoting healthy living just as the veteran conservative Larijani delivered Khamenei’s message to Putin.

The image was mocked by social media users who saw it emblematic of a fragmented government in which real authority rests beyond the president's station.

From vanishing water reserves and dried wetlands to fragile cities, failing infrastructure and a fossil-fuel-dependent economy, decades of reactive decisions have set the country on an unmistakably unsustainable path.

Iran now stands on the brink of “water bankruptcy,” a term describing when consumption far exceeds natural replenishment.

Over-extraction from aquifers, unchecked dam-building, inter-basin transfers, and ill-planned agricultural projects have left more than 500 plains suffering groundwater collapse and land subsidence—what experts call a “silent earthquake.” In some areas, land sinks by more than 20 centimeters a year.

Hundreds of villages across central and eastern Iran now lack safe drinking water, triggering waves of climate-driven migration.

The crisis no longer threatens only agriculture and food security but the country’s social stability and national security.

No climate plan

Iran is among the world’s most climate-vulnerable nations.

Rising temperatures, shrinking snowfall, extended droughts and intensifying dust storms reveal the scale of change, yet the country still lacks a national adaptation plan.

Limited engagement with international scientific bodies, poor climate data and a reactive policy mindset have weakened its ability to respond.

While many countries invest in innovations like smart farming and early-warning systems for floods and droughts, Tehran’s measures remain short-term and unsustainable.

Cities Strained

In five decades, Iran has urbanized at one of the fastest rates globally—without the infrastructure or governance to match.

Tehran, Mashhad, Isfahan and Ahvaz now face toxic air, crumbling public services, decaying neighborhoods, and growing informal settlements.

Municipal priorities lean toward costly showcase projects instead of building resilient, livable cities.

As a result, Iran’s urban quality-of-life indicators remain far below global averages, and its cities are increasingly vulnerable to earthquakes and floods.

Self destruction

Iran’s economy remains tethered to the overuse of natural resources and fossil fuels, eroding efficiency and environmental security.

Agriculture, despite contributing little to GDP, consumes more than 90% of the nation’s water—often to grow water-intensive crops like rice and pistachios in arid zones.

Inefficient subsidies for energy and water encourage overconsumption, soil degradation and aquifer depletion. Heavy reliance on oil and gas fuels pollution and delays a shift toward a green economy.

Unlike many of its neighbors, Iran still lacks a binding strategy for renewable energy—a gap that risks locking the country into technological stagnation and environmental decline.

Governance at the core

At its core, Iran’s crisis stems less from a lack of natural resources than from weak governance and fragmented decision-making.

Years of unscientific, short-term policymaking and exclusion of civil and expert institutions from decision processes have eroded the capacity for sustainable development.

Centralized, project-based management continues to dominate where transparency, public participation and local knowledge could drive meaningful solutions.

Sustainable development is no longer optional. It is vital to Iran’s survival.

Continuing the current course—from vanishing wetlands and land subsidence to air pollution and climate migration—will erode the country’s ecological and human foundations.

Reversing course will demand a new development model—one built on sustainable water management, restored aquifers, reformed crop patterns, national climate adaptation, urban renewal and investment in clean energy.

Yet these are tall orders—and they appear far down the list of priorities for rulers consumed by political rather than ecological survival.

“The country’s greatest asset is its faithful and revolutionary people,” Rouhollah Momen-Nasab, head of Tehran’s headquarters for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, told reporters. “By activating 80,000 trained personnel, we can bring about major transformation in the province even before relying on large state budgets,” he said.

He announced the formation of a “chastity and hijab situation room” involving cultural and executive bodies, inviting citizens to join a network of local observers to help promote what he described as social discipline and religious values.

Momen-Nasab described the group’s response to what he called a “cognitive and cultural war” as data-driven and multi-layered, with monitoring and policy recommendations sent to relevant authorities. The organization, he said, will also push institutions through legal and audit channels to fulfill their “statutory duties.”

Momen-Nasab said the headquarters was coordinating with the prosecutor’s office and cyber police to monitor online and streaming platforms, warning that “virtual spaces and VODs must not be safe havens for lawbreakers.”

The renewed push comes as most Iranians continue to oppose mandatory hijab rules. A 2022 survey by Netherlands-based GAMAAN found more than 70 percent of Iranian men and women opposed compulsory veiling.

For Iran’s leadership, however, enforcement of hijab laws remains a pillar of political legitimacy. Since Mahsa Amini’s death in 2022, women appearing unveiled in public have turned defiance into a sustained act of civil protest.

In recent weeks, authorities have sealed cafés and restaurants across cities for noncompliance after outcry by hardliners. Police warned that all businesses “must observe current laws.”

Located near Saint Sarkis Armenian Church in downtown Tehran, the Saint Mary (Maryam-e Moghaddas) station features large reliefs of Jesus and Mary.

“The station was built to honor Saint Mary and to demonstrate the coexistence of divine religions in Tehran,” Mayor Alireza Zakani posted on X earlier this week.

Conservative media welcomed the move as proof of Iran’s tolerance.

“Respect in Iran for religious and cultural diversity is unparalleled, yet these matters receive no coverage in Western media!” wrote hardline commentator Ehsan Movahedian on X.

The Revolutionary Guards-linked Fars News Agency claimed that “foreign social media users, recalling grim portrayals of Iran and the lives of its minorities in mainstream media, have described such narratives as part of a Western agenda with anti-Iranian motives.”

Others were less impressed.

Journalist Azadeh Mokhtari mocked municipality-run daily Hamshahri, which splashed ‘Global Reactions to Saint Mary Metro’ on its Wednesday front page.

“Global reaction?” Mokhtary quipped on X, “their jaws must have dropped for sure that you built one metro line. And your even bigger act of genius is that you named it Holy Mary?”

Opposition voices were sharper still.

“Why the ‘Mary Metro’? Because the Islamic Republic is desperate,” wrote a user posting as Cyrus the Great. “It’s trying to polish its global image and manipulate Western audiences, especially conservatives and religious figures like Donald Trump.”

“Don’t be fooled,” the user added. “By falling for this propaganda, you’re helping the same dictatorship that has oppressed the people of Iran for decades.”

Christians in Iran: Rights and Restrictions

Iran’s constitution recognizes Zoroastrians, Jews, Armenians, and Assyrian-Chaldeans as religious minorities, granting them limited rights to worship, manage schools, and hold parliamentary seats.

But these protections exclude Muslim-born converts to Christianity.

Existing churches may admit only members of their own communities, and no new churches can be established.

While Christian holidays are officially observed, all activities remain under state supervision.

Apostasy and the Threat of Persecution

Muslim-born converts often worship secretly in “house churches,” risking arrest on charges such as “acting against national security” or “propaganda against the system.”

Missionary activity is banned.

Armenian-born pastor Joseph Shahbazian, accused of leading a house church, was sentenced in 2022 to ten years in Evin Prison.

Courts have also intervened in family cases—including a 2020 ruling in Bushehr ordering a Christian convert couple to surrender their adopted child.

Though executions for apostasy have ceased since 1990, converts such as Yousef Nadarkhani, Mehdi Dibaj, and Hamid Soodmand have faced death sentences in the past.

Apostasy remains prosecutable under Sharia or clerical fatwas, even without explicit codification in Iran’s penal law.

The contrast between Tehran’s public tributes and its private punishments has become a familiar script—one no metro station can disguise.