Cannes Film Festival Calls For Release Of Iranian Filmmakers

Hossein Amir-Abdollahian made the remarks during a meeting with his Italian counterpart Luigi Di Maio in Rome on Monday. “Pursuing political, economic and commercial cooperation is one of the main goals of this trip,” he said upon arrival. 

In the meeting, the Iranian diplomat said, “We want the JCPOA to work well. We seriously want a good and lasting agreement and we believe that Iran should be able to take full economic benefit from the JCPOA. The US should understand this fact well regarding guarantees.”

According to Iranian media, Di Mario noted that Italy is ready to play a positive role in the negotiations for the return of all parties to the JCPOA.

The visit comes as the efforts – mainly by the European Union -- to kickstart the stalled Vienna negotiations to restore the 2015 nuclear deal known as the JCPOA keep failing. The latest effort was the proximity talks in Qatari capital Doha on June 28-29, which ended without any progress. The US said that Iran did not show serious intent to move forward in the talks.

Later in the day, Amir-Abdollahian tweeted that “if the window of diplomacy is still open, it’s because of Iran's dynamic initiatives,” noting that the US cannot impose its one-sided views through accusation and sanctions. “Diplomacy is not a one-way street. Reaching the final deal needs the US' acceptance of realities, flexibility and initiatives.” 

Security forces raided the home of Rahimeh Yousefzadeh in Tehran on Monday and arrested her and two other mothers whose children were killed by the government during anti-government protests. Yousefzadeh is the mother of Navid Behboudi who was shot dead by security forces in Tehran in November 2019.

Several others, including Nahid Shirpisheh, the mother of Pouya Bakhtiari, and the brother of Vahid Damvar, another victim of government violence, were arrested at their own homes, also on Monday.

The mothers of the victims of government violence have come to be known collectively as ‘Mothers for Justice’. Many among these mothers are usually referred to in reports and on social media by their dead children’s names. In the past few years, they have tried to keep the memory of their loved ones alive while also relentlessly calling for justice for them.

Authorities normally respond to the mothers’ calls for justice with accusations, harassment and even prison.

Quoting an ‘informed source’, the IRGC-linked Fars News agency on Monday confirmed the arrest of an unspecified number of activists by the intelligence ministry during a private meeting. The report dubbed the activists as “insurgents who pretend to seek justice”, a clear reference to Mothers for Justice.

Fars also reported that a foreign national who allegedly gave money to the accused has been arrested in a separate operation.

Fars accused the activists of “establishing contact with a foreign secret service” and receiving money from them to “instigate riot and insecurity in the country under the guise of seeking justice.”

Many believe that the arrests are a preemptive measure against a planned anti-hijab protest on Tuesday.

The ‘Morality Police’ have recently been harshly cracking down on ‘bad-hijab women’ and some officials have ordered extra measures, including to government offices, banks, and public transportation authorities to deny service to ‘bad-hijab’ women.

Authorities have also planned ‘hijab rallies’ at stadiums and other venues on Tuesday (July 12) “to honor, celebrate, and promote” the Islamic notion of the hijab (cover) for women.

Activists, including some of the ‘Mothers for Justice’ have called on women to take action against compulsory hijab on the same day including dropping their headscarves in the streets and other public places. The campaign has been dubbed as the ‘NO2Hijab’.

“They arrested Nahid Shirpisheh because they knew she would come to the street without hijab and many other women would follow her lead,” Mahtab Ghorbani, a France-based poet and activist tweeted. In a video shared on social media last week, Shirpisheh supported the anti-hijab movement and urged everyone to join it.

On Monday a middle-aged woman removed her headscarf in the main square of the city of Tonekabon in the northern province of Mazandaran and protested against compulsory hijab by shouting “freedom” and waving her headscarf over her head. Passers by came to her rescue and freed her when police tried to arrest her and whisk her away.

Crackdown on activists has spiked in the past few days. Security forces on Monday arrested the award-winning film director Jafar Panahi as he was protesting the detention of two dissident filmmakers, Mohammad Rasoulof and Mostafa Al-e Ahmad, at Tehran’s Evin prison.

Rasoulof, Alehahmad and prominent reformist politician Mostafa Tajzadeh who is an outspoken critic of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s policies were also arrested last week.

Iran's state news agency IRNA reported on Monday that Iran's football federation had decided to dismiss the 53-year-old, adding that "there are unconfirmed reports that several Iranian candidates have a good chance to replace Skocic."

Skocic, who took over from Marc Wilmots as coach in February 2020, secured the Iranians a spot at the World Cup by topping their qualification group ahead of South Korea. He won 15 of his 18 games in charge but has lost two of his last three matches, including a 2-1 friendly defeat by Algeria in Qatar last month.

Earlier in the day, Iranian media reported that Team Melli’s star striker Ali Daei rejected the post, leaving the fate of the national squad in limbo as there are oppositions to all of the reported candidates for the job. The former Bayern Munich forward was the world's top international goalscorer with 109 goals, until his record was broken by Cristiano Ronaldo in 2021. 

Current Oman boss Branko Ivankovic, who led Iran to the World Cup finals in Germany in 2006, and ex-Osasuna midfielder Javad Nekounam, as well as former Iran’s Portuguese coach Carlos Queiroz, who served as the manager of his native Portugal's national team, and many others, are among the other possible names for the job. Queiroz secured Iran’s berth for the FIFA World Cup 2014 and 2018. 

Team Melli has been drawn in Group B of Qatar FIFA World Cup along with the United States, England and Wales.

Ahmad Alirezabeighi, the representative of Tabriz in the parliament, said in an interview on Monday that “it is natural that dissatisfaction increases among people because our policies and strategies are carried out by ignoring the people."

Criticizing the government’s decision to scrap the subsidy for essential food and medicines, despite warnings of more inflation and hardship, he said, “Currently, where are our people in the economic equation?” People should be central in the decisions of the country, he noted. 

Alirezabeighi, a conservative retired police officer who served as the governor of East Azarbaijan province under former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, added that the problem in Iran is not nuclear negotiations adding that past experience shows that “our problem is ignoring people.”

He said that in negotiations if a government does not enjoy the support of its people, it will have to give in to the pressure of foreigners. 

“Many think that the solution to our economic problems depends on the [revival of] the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). The past eight years of Rouhani's government showed that the JCPOA cannot be effective in this regard,” he added. 

Alirezabeighi also said that Iran’s interactions with Russia and China should be based on the country’s interests, referring to criticisms over the Islamic Republic’s a 25-year cooperation agreement with China and a proposed 20-year deal with Russia. 

According to the Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences on Monday, the number of cholera patients in the province has reached 39, most of which are reported in the city of Marivan located at the border with Iraq. 

The university’s public relations manager, Bahram Kandai, said the outbreak has not caused any fatalities in the province yet. 

Earlier in the week, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences confirmed that at least eight people have contracted the disease. 

The cholera outbreak in Iraq was officially confirmed by the country’s health ministry in June, with infections were mostly concentrated in Kirkuk and Sulaimaniyah, in the autonomous Kurdistan region. The current number of cases is at least 160.

On July 10, health officials in Afghanistan's Helmand province said that 20 people died in the previous 24 hours of cholera and a further 120 were infected. 

Late in June, The UN humanitarian office (OCHA) said preparations were underway to avoid a cholera outbreak in Afghanistan after the country’s deadliest earthquake in two decades, saying that half a million cases of acute, watery diarrhea had already been reported. "Cholera outbreaks in the aftermath of earthquakes are of particular and serious concern," OCHA said in a statement. 

The acute diarrheal illness is caused by infection of the intestine with Vibrio cholerae bacteria, when people swallow food or water contaminated with the cholera bacteria.