Canada, Britain, Sweden and Ukraine on Thursday said they had abandoned efforts to talk to Tehran about reparations for an airliner downed by Iran and would try to settle the matter according to international law.
Most of the 176 people killed when Iran shot down the Ukrainian jet in January 2020 were citizens from those four countries, which created a coordination group that seeks to hold Tehran to account.
"Despite our best efforts over the past two years and multiple attempts to resolve this matter through negotiations, the Coordination Group has determined that further attempts to negotiate with Iran ... are futile," it said in a statement.
"The Coordination Group will now focus on subsequent actions to take to resolve this matter in accordance with international law," it continued, but did not give details.
Tehran says Revolutionary Guards accidentally shot down the Boeing 737 jet and blamed a misaligned radar and an error by the air defense operator at a time when tensions were high between Tehran and the United States.
A court in Ontario, Canada, this week awarded C$107 million ($83.8 million), plus interest, to the families of six people who died.
Report by Reuters
Iran has warned against meddling by foreign countries in Kazakhstan, the scene of violent protests, saying that the Tehran is monitoring the ongoing developments carefully.
Foreign Ministry Spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said on Thursday that Kazakhstan can resolve its issues at home peacefully and through dialogue and should not allow foreign meddling in the country.
He added that the stability and security of the “friendly and brotherly neighboring country” is very important for Tehran, noting that people of Kazakhstan should be wary of the attempts by foreign parties to exploit the unrest for their own interests.
Earlier on Thursday, Russia sent paratroopers into the country to quash the uprising following the deadly clashes that started after the government lifted a price cap on fuel.
A state of emergency has been declared in the country’s largest city Almaty, where police killed dozens of protesters who had set fire to a presidential residence and the mayor’s office in Almaty and stormed many other government offices.
According to state television, 13 members of the security forces have died, including two who were decapitated.
The unrest seems unprecedented for Kazakhstan that has been ruled since the Soviet era by its octogenarian leader Nursultan Nazarbayev, who has held its grasp over the country despite stepping down as president three years ago.
A memorial statue of Qasem Soleimani, the commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Qods Force, was set on fire in the central city of Shahrekord on Wednesday.
A video which surfaced on social media Wednesday night showed the statue burning.
The monument had been erected in one of the main squares of the city in the morning, concurrent with the nationwide ceremonies to mark the second anniversary of his death.
Soleimani, who was Iran’s top military and intelligence operator in the Middle East, was killed by a targeted US drone strike on January 3, 2020, directly ordered by former US president Donald Trump.
The representative of Supreme leader Ali Kamenei in the city described the people behind the political vandalism as “idiots”.
In September 2021, police arrested a man for torching another statue of Soleimani in the southwestern city of Yasuj, not very far from Shahrekord.
A few months before that, three young men in the city of Baneh were sentenced to a total of 16 years and seven months in prison for setting fire to a banner of Soleimani.
Many Soleimani busts and figurines have been unveiled by hardliners and supporters of the IRGC since his killing in January 2020.
A leading news website in Tehran says the current Majles is a "minority parliament" that should avoid provocative legislation opposed by most Iranians.
The ultra-conservative parliament has already annoyed a major part of the population by considering a bill to limit citizens access to the Internet and opposing a long-awaited pay adjustment for the country's low-paid teachers who have been taking to the streets in recent months, the moderate-conservative website, Khabar Online said.
The website added that insisting on ratifying radical laws will impose a high cost on the current Majles which has a weak voter base. Some lawmakers were elected by around 2 percent of their constituency's eligible voters.
Hundreds of reformist candidates were barred from candidacy in the 2020 election and ultra-conservatives virtually ran unopposed.
Based on a massive body of facts and figures, Khabar Online said that 38 of the lawmakers at the Majles have won between 2 to 10 percent of the votes in their constituencies. Two members won around 2 percent of the votes in their districts, while at least 3 lawmakers in this group chair various parliamentary committees despite their less than 10 percent voter base.
The next group includes 175 lawmakers who have won between 11 to 20 percent of the votes in their constituencies in the February 2020 parliamentary election. This is the largest group of lawmakers at the Majles, and Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf who has won some 19 percent of the eligible votes in Tehran falls in this group.
The third group, which includes 77 lawmakers have won between 21 to 40 percent of the votes in their regions, while only two lawmakers managed to get 40 percent of eligible votes in their districts.
While the overall turnout of the 2020 election was announced as 42.5 percent, the actual turnout was far less due to the large number of void ballots. In some cities the number of votes won by the leading winner was less than the number of void ballots. According to Khabar Online, the reason for the low turnout, which was lowest in Tehran with just over 26 percent, was popular discontent over the bloody clampdown on the 2019 nationwide protests and barring reformist candidates from running in the election.
Last week, reformist newspaper Sharq examined the performance of the lawmakers and concluded that although the new Majles had promised to take on a predominantly supervisory role and control the presidential administration, it has done very little in this regard. According to one lawmaker who spoke on the condition of anonymity, the parliament’s performance was "unacceptable." The lawmaker criticized the ultraconservative parliament for "not being able to solve any of the country's economic problems, including its uncontrolled inflation."
Sharq quoted another lawmaker as having said that the Majles tables a large number of meaningless bills, "but some 95 percent of them are never being discussed, let alone being ratified." In August, the official news agency IRNA said that "over 300 bills were tabled by the lawmakers during the preceding 6 months often about insignificant matters."
At the same time, the Majles has failed to supervise President Ebrahim Raisi’s administration although more lawmakers have lately become vocal in their criticisms of the government.
According to Sharq, even Speaker Ghalibaf has called for less legislation, and demanded attaching more significance to the parliament's supervisory role. Nonetheless, last week, when lawmakers wanted to perform their supervisory role by impeaching the economy minister, it was Ghalibaf who stopped the motion.
The US coalition operating in Syria and Iraq has condemned Iran for attacks on its bases as repeated strikes have hit sites near American forces in the region.
Maj. Gen. John W. Brennan, Jr., commander, Combined Joint Task Force - Operation Inherent Resolve said in a statement that the “inaccurate and indiscriminate indirect fire attacks pose a serious threat to innocent civilians because of their lack of discrimination”.
"The Coalition reserves the right to defend itself and partner forces against any threat, and will continue to do everything within its power to protect those forces," said Brennan. "Our Coalition continues to see threats against our forces in Iraq and Syria by militia groups that are backed by Iran. "
After the statement, Katyusha rockets hit Iraqi military bases hosting US forces near Baghdad's international airport and west of Baghdad on Wednesday, Iraqi military sources said.
Five rockets landed near Iraq's Ain al-Asad air base, which hosts U.S. and other international forces west of Baghdad, leaving no casualties, a coalition official told Reuters on Wednesday.
The closest impact was around 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) from the base, the official added. Iraqi army officials told Reuters the rounds fired were Katyusha rockets.
Iraqi security sources said there were no damage or casualties in both attacks.
The Iraqi military said that it started a search operation after "outlaw elements" fired five rockets which landed near the perimeters of the air base.
While there were no immediate claims of responsibility for recent attacks, Iraqi militia groups aligned with Iran vowed to retaliate for killing Soleimani and Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.
Wednesday's attack is the second one this week targeting the base near Baghdad's international airport after an attack by two drones was foiled on Monday.
The rocket attack near Ain al-Asad comes on day after two explosive-laden drones were also shot down on Tuesday by Iraq's air defenses as they approached the Ain al-Asad air base, which hosts U.S. forces, west of Baghdad.
US officials in recent weeks had warned of more attacks against in Iraq and Syria, in part because of the second anniversary of the killing of top Iranian general Soleimani.
Soleimani who was Iran’s top military and intelligence operator in the Middle East, organizing anti-American and anti-Israeli militant groups, was killed by a targeted US drone strike on January 3, 2020, directly ordered by former US president Donald Trump.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said on Monday that Trump must face trial for the killing or Tehran would take revenge.
Separately, the US-led coalition said its forces had been targeted with eight rounds at the Green Village in Syria over the past 24 hours and while there were no casualties, the attack did cause minor damage.
"The Iran-supported malign actors fired on the Coalition and SDF (Syrian Democratic Forces) from within civilian infrastructure with no regard for civilian safety," the coalition said in a statement.
The statement added that the coalition responded by firing six artillery rounds and had earlier carried additional strikes.
On Wednesday, pro-Iran militia fighters fired shells toward a US base in eastern Syria's Al-Omar oil field in eastern Deir Ezzor region, causing damage but no casualties.
The attacks came as nuclear talks continued with Iran in Vienna that seem to be making some progress. Critics of the talks to restore the 2015 nuclear agreement known as JCPOA say that even if negotiations prove successful, they will not impact Iran's aggressive behavior in the region and its network of militant proxies attacking US and allied interests.
People from across Iran have sent audio messages to Iran International Television about the shortages and high prices of medicines and pharmaceutical products.
While Iranian officials claim there is no scarcity of medications, several Iranians from across the country have expressed their concerns about a lack of foreign medicines.
A citizen of Sardasht in West Azerbaijan told Iran International that the prices of a simple painkiller has increased over four times in recent months.
Another Iranian has talked about the sharp rise in the prices of simple cold medicines that increased about six times in recent weeks.
According to another citizens, most of the drugs which are not available in pharmacies are sold with higher prices in the black market.
In an audio file sent to Iran International, a citizen stressed that the Islamic Republic "has taken patients hostages."
This woman said that after six months since she registered her case with the Food and Drug Administration and the Red Crescent, now the medicine she needs is available, but at a price significantly higher than the normal price.
Last week, an official of Iran’s drug importers union saidgovernment claims of being self-sufficient in production of raw materials for medicines and pharmaceutical products is not true.
He also criticized government policies that led to the decrease in imports, warning that medication prices may rise dramatically in the coming months because of restrictions by the health ministry, not foreign sanctions. His comment referred to the fall in the value of Iran’s currency and the need for the government to provide subsidized dollars to importers.
The director-general of Drugs and Controlled Substances Department of Iran’s Health Ministry, Heidar Mohammadi, said in mid-December that if foreign currency is not provided for imports, shortages of medications will reach an alarming level in the upcoming months.
Noting that the number of unavailable drugs is about 40, he warned that unless the government provides cheap dollars, the list of unavailable drugs would hit 400 to 500 soon.
Iranian officials periodically try to blame United States' sanctions for shortages of medication, but in fact, food, health and humanitarian products are not sanctioned. Iran imports around 100 million euros of medicines a month just from Europe and also large quantities from China and India.
Just before the US pulled out of the 2015 nuclear agreement (JCPOA) in May 2018, the former Iranian president Hassan Rouhani decided to offer dollars at 42,000 rials for essential imports to keep food and medicine cheap. Current free market rate for dollars is 290,000 rials.
However, the subsidized dollars did little to keep prices low, simply due to the corruption ingrained in Iran’s supply chain. There are numerous exposed cases of companies applying to receive the cheap dollars to import essential commodities but pocketing huge profits by importing luxury goods, such as thousands of foreign cars.