Iran International
Iran's parliament will soon consider a report on former president Hassan Rouhani's performance in managing the Covid pandemic, which has claimed 126,000 deaths.
Conservatives and hardliners, including members of parliament, give any credit for the accelerating vaccinations to the new president, Ebrahim Raisi (Raeesi), who took office in August. With the program speeding up, 40 percent of the population is now fully vaccinated.
While critics accuse Rouhani, who chaired the National Covid Combat Taskforce, of mismanagement, supporters of the previous president say that vaccines imported since Raisi took office were procured by the Rouhani administrationin the last weeks of his presidency.
The Rouhani administration did try to procure Covid vaccines earlier when they became available in late 2020. But soon Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei ruled out importing United States- and British-made Covid-19 vaccines on the grounds that western drug companies had a track record of testing products in developing countries and that it was “not unlikely they would want to contaminate other nations.”
At the time, the US-German Pfizer, US-made Moderna and the British-made AstraZeneca were the leading vaccines internationally. In fact, American vaccines were also being produced in European plants, but Khamenei’s ban remained in effect.
In early July, a severe fifth pandemic wave hit Iran and because of slow vaccination infections soared killing around 40,000 more people in three months. The public began openly accusing Khamenei of being responsible for the disaster with his ban on Western vaccines.
When Raisi took office on August 6, Iran had administered 14.7 million doses of the Covid vaccine, with nearly 3 million people fully vaccinated. The figure has now risen to 86 million doses, with 33.6 million people fully vaccinated.
In August, just as Rouhani was preparing to hand over the presidency to Raisi, the daily Covid death toll was around 700.It has now dropped to around 130.
For months, hardliners in parliament have been calling for Rouhani's prosecution on various grounds. A parliamentary committee on October 12 submitted a formal lawsuit against the former president to the judiciary urging Rouhani's prosecution for misconduct and failure to carry out his duties during his two terms of presidency.
Critics of Rouhani argued his presidential strategy based on a nuclear deal with world powers and increasing trade with Europe and with international energy majors floundered when former United States Donald Trump left the 2015 nuclear deal in 2018 and imposed ‘maximum pressure’ sanctions. They charge his economic policies did little to help poorer Iranians.
Rouhani and his administration were widely criticized for mismanaging the Covid crisis in not enforcing a lockdown soon enough after the pandemic hit Iran in February 2020, did not provide sufficient support to less well-off Iranians, and did not take a firm stand against a religious establishment that resisted social distancing and closure of religious venues.
Despite the text of Khamenei's public speech in which he emphasized that procuring vaccines from the US and Europeans countries was ruled out, in recent months his supporters have claimed that he had not banned foreign vaccines and only ordered them to be imported from "safe and secure sources."
Grand Ayatollah Lotfollah Safi Golpayegai, a respected 104-year-old senior cleric, came under fire by an ultraconservative website for warning the parliament speaker that Iran must end its international isolation.
An Iranian analyst, Mehdi Mahdavi-Azad told Iran International that as Iranians get poorer many ordinary religious people fall below the poverty line and senior clerics feel the danger of their anger.
Judiciary Chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei warned on Thursday, that low employment and decline in production is likely to lead to “social abnormalities.” Without elaborating further, Ejei warned that part of Iran's political, social and cultural problems is the result of economic retrenchment. However, he did not mention US sanctions, which are the immediate cause of the crisis.
Ejei is the quintessential insider, loyal to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and presiding over one of the regime’s most hardliner and repressive machines.
Tehran has so far resisted reaching a quick deal over its nuclear program with the United States, which would lift the crippling sanctions. The resulting impasse has led to Iran's most serious economic crisis since the 1950s. Some economists have even warned that Iran might end up in a famine, like the one it experienced in early 20th century, if it fails to begin negotiations with the West.
Another high-ranking cleric, Expediency Council Chairman Sadegh Amoli Larijani said on Thursday that it is regrettable that many Iranians cannot afford to provide meat and fruit for their families."This is painful," conservative website Alef quoted him as saying.
Speaking about rising prices and other economic problems that have made life difficult for Iranians, Larijani said: "The pressure being exerted on the people, particularly the underprivileged strata as a result of high inflation is a major source for concern."
Many foodstuffs are scarce, and their prices are constantly rising, and we should be thinking of a quick solution for families that cannot afford to buy meat or fruit, said Larijani, while calling on the government to make the necessary decisions to bring about a breakthrough. However, he also stopped short of advising the government to solve its disputes with the West.
Earlier this week, during a meeting with Majles Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf in Qom, Grand Ayatollah Safi Golpayegai, a former Guardian Council member got closer to the essence of the problem and demanded an end to Iran's international isolation. But possibly fearing repercussions in case his words were taken as opposition to Khamenei's policies, he did not mention the sanctions and the need for negotiations with the West.
Golpayegani told Qalibaf: "I am seriously concerned about the country's economic situation and the people's problems." The Grand Ayatollah added: "We should maintain relations with all of the countries of the world. It is not good to be sulking with many other countries. In order to restore the rights of the people and put an end to the current situation which the Iranians do not deserve, we should maintain relations with the world."
Subsequently, hardline news website Raja News, which is close to the ultraconservative party Paydari, harshly criticized Golpayegani and accused him of repeating former President Hassan Rouhani's "wrong arguments."
On Thursday, The Qom Seminary Teachers Association and Ayatollah Alavi Boroujerdi, a high ranking seminarian criticized Raja News and ruled out its argument as "rude," however, the website carried another article with the same tone repeating the same allegations.
Raja News is one of the main opponents of negotiations with the United States and other Western countries and has said in numerous articles during the past year that Iran should leave the nuclear deal (JCPOA).
The calls made by top clerics to solve economic problems could be their way of persuading Khamenei to agree to restart negotiations with the West without preconditions.
The day coincided with Cyrus the Great Day, the founder of Iran's ancient dynasty, the Achaemenids, whose empire-building in the 6th century BC was marked with respect for diversity and human rights. His empire expanded from Central Asia and the eastern wing of the Persian plateau and beyond to Mediterranean shores and North Africa.
Cyrus the Great (circa 600-530 BC) Day on October 29 this year was relatively uneventful. However, security measures were deliberately visible in Shiraz, the nearest big city to the monument that is the ancient King's tomb in Pasargadae, some 60 miles into the mainly arid plain northwest of the city. The date was chosen based on estimates that he captures Babylon on October 28 or 29 in 539 BC.
Security police were vigilant in Shiraz since Thursday, questioning anyone who looked like a tourist to make sure that they were not going to visit Pasargadae, said eyewitnesses in Shiraz.
Friday morning, security forces arrested the parents of Navid Afkari, whose unfair trial and execution in 2019 caused havoc in Iran. The elderly parents were arrested with a birthday cake with the face of Cyrus the great painted on it with icing. Reports from Iran say they were released in less than two hours, after being warned to make sure that they will not be part of any demonstration to mark the royal birthday tow weeks before the anniversary of the 2019 protests during which security forces killed hundreds of peaceful demonstrators.
The reason for tight security measures in Shiraz and the road to Pasargadae was concern on the part of the authorities that like previous years, thousands would defy security measures and show up around the ancient King's tomb. The Islamic Republic has shunned Iran's long-standing history of thousands of years of monarchy as if it did not exist as an empire that ruled over most of the known world.
Another reason was that Prince Reza Pahlavi, the heir to Iran's monarchy, sent a message to the nation to mark the day. He called on Iranians: "Remember the name and memory of Cyrus the Great in any which way you can, wherever you are. Show the world that you are a united, freedom-loving and tolerant nation. Every one of you should represent the great ancient nation of Iran. The world should not identify Iran with the ruling criminal cult that is running the Islamic Republic."
The current regime has been in denial of the popularity of Iran's monarchy and national heritage. Some religious zealots wanted to ruin the monuments in Pasargadae and Persepolis immediately after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, but people's resistance against fundamentalism did not allow them to do what they wanted.
Nonetheless, as recently as two weeks ago, President Ebrahim Raisi made a gaffe during a visit to Persepolis saying that the monuments were reminiscent of oppressor kings. He made the comment mindless of the fact that Cyrus the Great is internationally respected as a champion of human rights.
In a video posted on social media, Princess Ashraf Pahlavi, the twin sister of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, is seen donating some ancient works of art to the United Nations that testify to Iran's leading role as an advocate of human rights thousands of years ago.This was in sharp contrast to the anti-human rights image of the Islamic Republic most recently portrayed by the UN Rapporteur for Human Rights in Iran Javid Rehman.
Last week, when Cultural Heritage and Tourism Minister Ezzatollah Zarghami called for digging water wells around Cyrus the Great's tomb, an act that would harm the monument, social media users such as cultural activist Mohammad Bagher Tabatabai warned Zarghamithat "The tomb of Cyrus the Great has a place in the heart of every Iranian. You can never destroy it."
Outside Iran, former US deputy assistant secretary of state Len Khodorkovsky wrote in an October 29 tweet: "Cyrus the Great is a source of pride for the Iranian people. His legacy of openness and tolerance will outlast the corruption and brutality of the temporary regime in power today, and usher in a new Iranian renaissance. "
During the past years, particularly after the 1979 Islamic revolution and despite the Islamic Republic’s violent crackdown on pro-monarchy demonstrations, thousands of Iranians rushed to Pasargadae to pay tribute to the great ancient king. The celebration found epic dimensions since 2016. Since 2017, the Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) has deployed forces to the region and blocked all roads to Pasargadae to make sure that the celebrations were not going to happen. But still, hundreds of young men and women somehow managed to gather around the monument and sing patriotic hymns.
In the absence of reliable reports from Iran, particularly about events the government does not want to be highlighted, it is extremely difficult to verify the date and authenticity of pictures that show gatherings around the monument with some paying their respect to Cyrus by kissing his burial ground. The celebration this year may have not been as monumental as previous years, but Iranians trended Cyrus' name as hashtags in Persian and English in the king's remembrance day.
The newspaper, controlled by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s office, in an editorial called Israel and the US the leading suspects in what Iran has said was a cyberattack that for two days has paralyzed gas stations nationwide. The paper also said that creating a national intranet and cutting the country off from the Internet should be a top priority, similar to producing accurate missiles and military drones.
President Ebrahim Raisi had insisted on Wednesday that the cyberattack was meant to anger the people to create unrest in the country.
Iran’s interior minister Ahmad Vahidi said the incident was plot by “the enemy” before the anniversary of the 2019 November unrest, that has become a symbol of the regime’s brutality for opponents and critics. During a few days of nationwide protests in mid-November 2019, government security forces killed hundreds of protesters using military ammunition.
Vahidi said the enemy has plans for the anniversary and the disruption of the fuel system was the first act. However, he said that the public was calm and showed no reaction, which he said proved that people believe in the sincerity of the authorities.
Iran has not officially confirmed the source of the apparent cyberattack. The head of civil defense agency has said that authorities have not confirmed foreign involvement in the attack.
So far, only 700 gas stations out of around 4,000 have returned to normal operations. The incident affected smart cards that people use to buy rationed gasoline at half price. Pumps were not affected that gasoline was sold at higher prices.
Immediately as the disruption began, speculation started on Iranian social media that the incident was not a cyberattack and it was orchestrated by the government to raise gasoline prices, which are heavily subsidized in Iran. However, unlike November 2019 when a sudden hike in fuel prices led to unrest, this time the situation was calm.
President Raisi has taken credit for the peaceful handling of the situation and hardliners have compared it with 2019 when the fuel price hike was said to have been so sudden that it triggered immediate protests.
Fereydun Abbasi, a member of parliament’s energy committee and a former head of Iran’s nuclear energy agency said the cyberattack by “the enemy” was meant “to anger the people” to create unrest. He urged that major vulnerable points in the country should be defended. He added that the enemy uses its best scientists to disrupt people’s lives and will launch new attacks with novel plans.
Iran has experienced several major cyberattacks and sabotage attacks since July 2020. Its uranium enrichment facility in Natanz was targeted twice with devastating effect and a few months ago its railroad system was crippled by a cyberattack. Both Iran as well as foreign experts and media have said Israel was behind the attacks, but no one has claimed responsibility. But Israel has repeatedly said it will not allow Iran to produce nuclear weapons and is ready to use even military force.