Blinken Repeats Warning, 'Time Is Running Out On Talks With Iran'

Human Rights News Agency (HRANA) reported Wednesday that Tehran resident Negar Sobhani-Azabadi was the 13th Baha’i to be denied third-level entrance this year due to her faith. According to HRANA, Sobhani-Azabadi discovered her rejection on grounds of “general ineligibility” on her school’s website when viewing her exam results.

Since the 1979 Revolution, Baha'is who openly state their faith cannot enter higher education, leading many to profess being Muslims. Any who later identify as Baha'is are expelled, even when on the verge of graduation.

Iranian Baha'is have since 1987 run an underground university, the Baháʼí Institute for Higher Education (BIHE), which despite prosecution of several teachers and students, has gained recognition from over 100 universities across the world who accept its graduates directly into their postgraduate schools.

The 1979 constitution of the Islamic Republic recognizes only Islam, Christianity, Judaism and Zoroastrianism. Baha'ism − established as a new religion in Iran in 1863 by Baha'ullah, who claimed to be a prophet following Jesus and Mohammad − has always been deemed heretical by the Shia establishment and subject to intermittent bouts of political persecution.

Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has on several occasions called the Baha'i faith a cult and in a religious fatwa in 2018 forbade contact, including business dealings, with Baha'is.

HRANA reported in its 2020 annual report, released December 29, that in 2020 at least 45 Bahai’s were arrested, mostly on charges of "harming national security."

Baha'is, who number around 300,000 in Iran, say their rights are systematically violated, that they are often harassed, forced to leave their homes and businesses, and are deprived of government jobs.

Baha'is are also not allowed to bury their dead in public cemeteries. The cemeteries that they finance privately, usually in remote areas, are often desecrated. "Baha'is have no right to bury their dead, their dead should be collected [like rubbish] by the municipality," one cleric said in a program on state television (IRIB) in 2017.

There are Baha’i communities in many countries worldwide but there is no reliable figure about the total number of followers.

During the Trump administration, the US government sanctioned Astan Quds Razavi, which manages the Imam Reza Holy Shrine and is a powerful religious foundation. Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi is a former head of Astan Quds Razavi himself, and it controls vast holdings across Iran’s economy. Astan Quds Razavi was sanctioned under Executive Order 13876 for being owned or controlled, directly or indirectly, by Iran’s Supreme Leader. In the same designation, Raisi’s successor as custodian, Ahmad Marvi, was also sanctioned.

Thursday’s Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) guidance cited US State Department’s travel advisory to Iran, warning against any visits by US persons given the risk of kidnapping, arbitrary arrest, and detention. But the FAQ clarified that for those who travel, transactions exempt from US sanctions include religious pilgrimages and the purchasing of goods and services for personal use.

The FAQ goes on to note that “donations of articles, such as food, clothing, and medicine, by US persons to the Imam Reza Holy Shrine intended to be used to alleviate human suffering also fall within an exemption and therefore generally are not prohibited under the Iran Transactions and Sanctions Regulations.” However, the FAQ warns certain transactions outside the scope of these regulations concerning Astan Quds Razavi may be prohibited by the sanctions.

The FAQ’s reference to the sanctions levied against Astan Quds Razavi and Executive Order 13876 is noteworthy as the US Treasury Department is essentially highlighting the fact that these sanctions remain on the books, despite demands by Iran’s government during the Vienna nuclear negotiations for Washington to lift all the sanctions imposed by former President Donald Trump, including Executive Order 13876 targeting the Office of Iran’s Supreme Leader. At the same time, the Biden administration is seeking to underscore that there are humanitarian exemptions embedded in the US sanctions architecture.

Around seven percent of world cryptocurrency mining by powerful computers that use a lot of electricity is estimated to be taking place in Iran. The world’s cheapest electricity rates in the country encourage to lucrative business, in some cases with the involvement of some Chinese entities.

Iran experienced renewed electricity shortages in June when temperatures rose and air-conditioning units were turned on. The controversial practice of cryptocurrency mining was banned for three months, although tens of thousands of illegal, underground computers continued to work.

Electricity shortages are again expected in the winter, as Iran is chronically short of power generation due mainly to lack of investments in the sector. A severe drought in 2021 has further reduced power generation as most dams are more than half empty.

Although some officials have said that crypto mining only uses 300 megawatts of power, others have warned that usage is much higher and it can threaten to power grid.

Local media have been reporting that even in some government offices illegal crypto machines have been operating. The director of Tehran’s stock exchange Wednesday announced his resignation after cryptocurrency mining machines were uncovered at the offices of the organization.

Yair Lapid's arrival was the first high-level visit to the country by a senior Israeli official since the signing last year of an agreement to establish diplomatic ties.

"The king's leadership and inspiration led to genuine cooperation and the meeting paved the way for the continuation of the relationship," Lapid said a statement released by the Israeli Foreign Ministry.

Lapid had earlier landed in Bahrain's capital, Manama, for meetings with his Bahraini counterpart and to inaugurate Israel's embassy.

Israel established formal diplomatic relations with four Arab states last year as part of the U.S.-brokered "Abraham Accords."

Lapid has already visited the United Arab Emirates and Morocco and opened Israel's diplomatic offices there since he became Israel's foreign minister in June.

Bahrain's first ambassador to Israel arrived earlier this month and presented his credentials to Israel's figurehead president on the anniversary of the signing of the accords.

The two countries had long enjoyed clandestine security ties over a shared distrust of regional rival Iran, but only last year took the relationship public.

Report by AP

This follows speculation for some months that a reported agreement over using Iranian money frozen in Korean banks to buy humanitarian goods might be extended to cover Korean-made home appliances, which dropped out of the Iranian market when the United States introduced stringent banking sanctions in 2018.

The letter, signed by Khamenei office chief Mohammad Mohammadi Golpaygani September 6, cited a call from Iranian manufacturers that Korean home appliances be kept out.

Khamenei's ban could also be a means to pressure South Korea to address the issue of Iran's frozen funds. On Thursday, two days after the ban was made public, Iran's foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian held a phone talk with his Korean counterpart Chung Eui-yong and urged him to redouble efforts to address the issue.

Raisi conveyed the leader’s office instruction to the relevant ministers − for the economy, and for industries, mines and trade − September 8. Official news agencies Tuesday published the two communications.

The value of Iran's home appliances market has been estimated at between 4.5 to 6 billion dollars. Aside from problems with US sanctions, Iran has for several years not issued import permits for home-appliances if comparable items are made at home.

Khamenei's letter referred only to "two South Korean companies" but meant LG and Samsung, who ceased trade with Iran after the US introduced in 2018 financial sanctions threatening third parties in 2018, despite Iran’s warning it would be difficult for them to return once US sanctions ended. The Korean firms had previously established an important market, including the assembly in Iran by Iranian companies of a variety of goods including air conditioners, and TV and audio sets.

In February media reported the US Treasury was in talks with South Korea to allow the transfer of some of Iran's funds frozen by Korean banks to Switzerland for humanitarian purchases. In July the South Korean Finance Ministry said an agreement had been reached.

Some Iranian media claimed the agreement also allowed frozen funds to be used to buy products from LG and Samsung to send to Iran. This was denied by an official of Iran's Home Appliances Industries Association, Abbas Hashemi, on September 6 in an interview with the Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA), when he insisted Tehran rather than Washington should decide how to use the frozen money.

"The matter is not too complicated,” Mohammad-Reza Bagheri, a hardliner activist tweeted Thursday. “South Korea wanted to pay its debt with home appliances, conquer our markets and paralyze our industries…the Supreme Leader has opposed it."

Others on social media took a different view, posting in support of importing Korean products by claiming they were better than others on the market, or that not importing South Korean products benefits Chinese companies. Goldiran and Sam Service, the two Iranian companies that assembled LG and Samsung products for over two decades, now work with Chinese producers.

"Khamenei's ban on South Korean home appliances is more backing Chinese than Iranian domestic production because currently [Iranian companies] only assemble Chinese parts in Iran. Nothing is being produced," one of the many tweets against the ban said.