Iran Detains Swedish Tourist In Suspected Hostage Taking

In the past few decades, pasta has gradually replaced expensive rice in the diet of lower-income Iranian families. The tripling of the price of pasta announced this week may make it unaffordable to many, critics say.

The price hike is a result of a government decision to scrap the subsidy for imported wheat, flour and other essential items. The higher cost of flour is also affecting a wide variety of breads, cakes and pastries including children's snacks, fast food such as hamburgers and sandwiches, and even the traditional noodles used for making a thick noodle soup called ash-e reshteh. The soup is often served as a main course.

The Student Basij, a pro-government student union, warned President Ebrahim Raisi Thursday that the abrupt end to the flour subsidy could cause unrest. "The society is not prepared for this level of price increases and this level of disorganization in its execution," the union said in a letter to Raisi and urged him to "speak candidly to the people" to explain the reasons, and the measures that will be taken to prevent too much pressure on vulnerable families.

The cost of flour, since the announcement of the new measures on May 1, has hiked to around 160,000 rials a kilo, around 60 US cents. The same flour used to be sold for 27,000 rials (less than 10 cents) last week. It is expected to further rise to around 184,000 (65 cents).

The average monthly salary of a worker with two children, including child and housing benefits, has been set at around 64,300,000 rials (around $230).

People's income should be at international levels, "calculated in dollars, not worthless rials," if the cost of living is the same as in other countries, Jalil Rahimi, a lawmaker, tweeted Tuesday. "Let's not test people's patience. The threshold of people's patience is at the lowest possible level in years," he warned.

The price of traditional flatbreads such as barbari, sangak, and lavash will not be affected as the government says it will continue to subsidize them but instead of subsidizing flour, it will pay a cash handout directly to the consumers.

Non-traditional breads such as baguettes and hamburger buns will, however, not be subsidized anymore. These types of bread are also widely consumed by Iranian families. The higher cost of these breads is likely to badly affect fast food joints and sandwich shops. A hamburger bun now costs several times as much as a burger at a fast-food place only a few years ago, social media users say.

The government claims it has made elaborate plans to ensure traditional flatbreads cost the same as before to consumers although bread at the subsidized rate will be rationed.

The plan has yet not been fully explained by the government, but some lawmakers have said that at bakeries people will pay the same price as now for their ration of bread with registered debit cards to which the government pays cash handouts.

But bakers will not take the brunt, the government says. They will be reimbursed for the difference in the cost of flour based on their sales figures. For anything above their family's rations, people will have to pay the full price.

Tabnak news website said Thursday the total cost of basic food items on average hasnow increased by 200 percent and criticized the government for announcing the hike in flour prices during the long Eid al-Fitr holiday. The announcement has shocked the society, it said.

The United States-based Human Rights Activists' News Agency (HRANA) said Wednesday that Mousivand, a political prisoner who has been on hunger strike for at least two weeks, had "lost a lot of weight, has difficulty speaking, and is in pain and nausea." Tens of Twitter users posted hashtags Wednesday evening demanding his freedom. 

The Oslo-based Iran Human Rights had earlier said Mousivand started his hunger strike in Rajai Shahr prison, Karaj, April 19 and was transferred to the quarantine ward of Evin prison after about a week.

Amnesty International Tuesday expressed worries over the deteriorating condition of Khadirzadeh, who is eight months pregnant and held in Orumiyeh prison, West Azarbaijan province. Amnesty said that her life at risk due to a denial of specialized medical care, including for heart and kidney problems, although prison doctors last December issued a medical note confirming she required such care outside prison.

Khadirzadeh has been on hunger strike since April 26 to protest her seven-month detention without charge. Following her arrest October 2021 by intelligence officers in Piranshahr, West Azarbaijan province, she said in an audio message from prison that she had been interrogated in an intelligence ministry’s detention center before transfer to the women’s ward of Orumiyeh prison three weeks later.

The families of Emad Sharghi and Iranian-British-American Morad Tahbaz joined the demonstration at the park, which is across the street from the White House and commonly used for rallies.

Tara Tahbaz, daughter of Morad Tahbaz, told CNN at the rally that the jailed men were “not just another name on a list, they're somebody's father, son, husband." She expressed hope that the United States government was “using every tool that they have on the table to prioritize them.”

State Department Spokesman Ned Price reiterated Wednesday that the jailed Americans – a third is Siamak Namazi, whose father Bagher is also not permitted to leave Iran – were a separate matter to stalled talks between Iran and world powers aimed at reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

Price told reporters that Washington had told Iran "in no uncertain terms" that the safe release of these Americans was a priority. The US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in April urged Tehran to free Sharghi.

"Iran does have a long history of unjust imprisonment of foreign nationals for use as political leverage,” Price said Wednesday. “It continues to engage in a range of human rights abuses, which include large-scale arbitrary or unlawful detention of individuals, some of whom have faced torture or worse, in some cases execution…”

Iran, which does not allow consular access for dual nationals, holds citizens of several countries including Germany, Austria, and Sweden, as de facto hostages. There have reportedly been Tehran-Washington contacts aimed at a prisoner exchange that would free Iranians jailed in the US, mainly over breaching American sanctions.

Djalali Death Sentence Confirmed

Quoting an unnamed "informed source" Wednesday, Iran's semi-official ISNA news agency, said the Supreme Court had confirmed a death sentence on Swedish-Iranian scientist Ahmadreza Djalali (Jalali) to be carried out within two weeks. Within hours, Nour News, a website affiliated to the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani, also cited unnamed sources in reporting the decision.

ISNA suggested “political pundits” believed Sweden had put on trial a former Iranian judiciary official, Hamid Nouri, for ‘crimes against humanity’ for his alleged role in prison executions in 1988 as a means of pressure on Iran to release Djalali. Iran had confirmed the sentence on Djalali to deter Stockholm from any further such actions, the pundits suggested.

Djalai was convicted in 2016 and given the death penalty on unproven and undocumented espionage for Israel. His wife, Vida Mehrannia, told Iran International November 2020 that her husband was “a victim of Iran's relations with Europe,” fueling speculation that Iran sought by threatening the execution either to secure a prisoner exchange or to influence the trial in Belgium of Iranian diplomat Assadollah Assadi, who was in 2020 sentenced to 20 years for attempted murder.

Expressing concern over Djalai in a tweet Wednesday, Sweden's foreign minister, Ann Linde wrote that Swedish authorities were in contact with Tehran.

Border Guard Commander Ahmad-Ali Goudarzi said on Thursday that about five tons of flour, four tons of sugar, and 63 tons of vegetable oil have been taken from smugglers at sea and land borders during the past 45 days. 

Tasnim news agency also reported on Thursday that 312 tons of flour and 290 tons of vegetable oil were confiscated from businesses hoarding the essential food staple during the past 48 hours. 

These statements follow a 2-5-fold government price increases for essential food items such as flour. It is not clear how large quantities of flour or cooking could be diverted from the government-controlled distribution system.

According to the ISNA news agency, pasta, which replaced rice for the lower income classes of society as main source of calories, has also become an unaffordable and expensive product.

The government has been insisting that its oil export revenues have increased and it has secured enough supplies of essential commodities, but prices have soared in recent weeks.

The head of the Flour Producers Association says this year Iran must import 20 million tons of grain – including 6 to 7 million tons of wheat -- noting that the country has never been so dependent on imports.

Families of businessman Emad Sharghi, conservationist Morad Taahbaz, Siamak and Bagher Namazi as well as retired captain in Iran’s merchant navy Shahab Dalili -- who is a permanent resident of the US -- gathered in front of the White House on Wednesday. 

Late in April, a number of US officials, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Special Envoy for Iran Robert Malley, called on Tehran to release Sharghi and stop its policy of holding people as political pawns. 

“For four years, the Shargi (Sharghi) family has waited anxiously for the Iranian government to release Emad”, Blinken said. 

The 56-year-old businessman has been sentenced to ten years in prison on charges of espionage and collecting military intelligence but had attempted to flee while on bail awaiting the result of an appeal.

Morad Tahbaz, who also hold British citizenship, is also serving a ten-year sentence on espionage charges after arrest with other environmentalists in 2018.

Roxanne Tahbaz, his daughter, held a protest in April at Britain’s foreign office demanding action to free her father.

Foreign governments and human rights organizations have accused Iran of detaining foreigners and dual nationals on trumped up charges to use them for getting concessions from Western countries. 

There are allegations that dual nationals are taken prisoner to swap them with Iranian prisoners held abroad, often serving sentences for violating US sanctions or on ‘terrorism’ charges.

In April, families of two German and two Austrian citizens currently jailed in Iran called on the governments in Berlin and Vienna to demand their release as part of nuclear talks with Tehran.