Iran International
Iran's daily Covid deaths have risen alarmingly once again as many fear that upcoming religious ceremonies may lead to another crisis similar to August 2021.
The health ministry said Friday that 8,000 new Covid cases were identified in the last 24-hour reporting period and 54 patients died. This brought Iran's total reported cases since the beginning of the pandemic to over 7.3 million and the number of deaths to nearly 142,000. There have been many reports in Iran since the early days of the pandemic that there were far more deaths from Covid than officially recorded.
The new wave of Covid infections in the past few weeks has seriously affected nearly 150 cities and towns which have been labeled as ‘red’ and ‘orange’ Covid zones.
Abbas Shirozhan, spokesman of Iran’s Covid Taskforce, said Friday that holding religious mourning ceremonies during the Islamic months of Muharram and Safar (August 10 to October 8) would be allowed without any restrictions in open spaces while they can also be held indoors if the venue has proper ventilation and social distancing rules are followed.
There were videos of hundreds of men beating their chests to the tune of religious mourning songs in unrestricted religious gatherings in various cities in August 2021 but authorities did nothing to stop the ceremonies. Coupled with a low rate of vaccination, this resulted in a new wave of infections shortly after and daily death figures quickly rose to around 700.
Despite the spread of the Omicron variant in February, the daily death figures hovered around 230 due to more vaccination after August 2021. Since early March the number of infections and deaths has significantly dropped with daily deaths often remaining in single digits.
According to the latest official figures, nearly 65 million Iranians have had at least one dose, 58 million two doses but only 30 million have had a third shot of the vaccine.
In January 2021, the country’s anti-West ruler Ali Khamenei banned American and British-made vaccines when the only ones available at the time were three vaccines made by those countries.
Iranians in social media have repeatedly criticized him for vaccine ban, which increased infections and deaths last summer with the Delta surge. There were also suggestions that authorities played down the threat from Covid back in 2020 so as not to deter voting in parliamentary elections in February of that year.
Following the ban, the government allocated hundreds of millions of dollars to regime insiders for developing homegrown vaccines, a project that largely failed.
Iran's national vaccination plan did not make any significant progress before the presidency was handed over to Khamenei’s preferred candidate, hardliner Ebrahim Raisi in August last year. Raisi has repeatedly boasted about the success of his government in mass vaccination and Covid management.
But critics say centers of power controlled by hardliners impeded former President Hassan Rouhani’s vaccine purchases and once he was gone, they allowed mainly Chinese vaccines already ordered to flow into the country.
Iran’s homegrown Covid vaccine factories have been shutting down for lack of demand as many vaccinated with foreign vaccines refused to get homegrown ones as boosters. The whole scheme of producing domestic vaccines has turned out to be little more than wasting hundreds of millions of dollars and precious time in preventing tens of thousands of deaths in 2021.
“My dear sisters and children, I'm aware of the hardships you are going through and I'm proud of your courage and power in seeking freedom,” the exiled Queen Farah Pahlavi said in a video message obtained by Iran International referring to the escalation of government pressure on ‘Mothers for Justice’ and violence against anti-hijab activists and protesters.
The group of activist mothers whose children were killed by the government during anti-government protests in recent years has come to be known as ‘Mothers for Justice’. They have tried to keep the memory of their loved ones alive while relentlessly calling for justice for them despite intimidation, harassment, arrests and even prison. ‘Mothers for Justice’ have also been supportive of women's rights campaigns and the anti-hijab movement.
“You and your families are in my thoughts. I hope that Iran will be freed, in the same way that you want it to be freed, and particularly that you are freed [from oppression] yourselves,” the former Queen of Iran said in her message.
The movement against compulsory hijab has picked up pace in the past few weeks following the harsh crackdown on ‘bad-hijab women’ by the ‘Morality Police’ and extra measures ordered by authorities, including denying service to women who do not fully comply with hijab rules at government offices, banks, and public transportation.
On July 12, following a call by women’s rights activists for civil disobedience with the hashtag of ‘No2Hijab’ social media exploded with dozens of videos and photos of women unveiling in public.
In another statement released on Sunday, the exiled Queen condemned the widespread arrests of civil and human rights activists in Iran, particularly the anti-hijab activists. Denouncing the violent behavior of the morality police’s hijab enforcement patrols (Gasht-e Ershad) and the arrest of anti-hijab activists and protesters, she said in her statement that the civil struggle of Iranian women and men against all forms of coercion and discrimination is a “source of pride and honor.”
Farah Pahlavi, who married Mohammad Reza Shah at the age of 21 in 1959, is 83 years old and lives in Paris. She has come to be seen by many Iranians as a respected elder who contributed to the realization of women’s rights during the secular monarchy.
“Today, Iran has stood up and despite [government] killings in streets, repression, prisons, torture and executions, Iranian freedom fighters, Iran's unique women, alongside men, have not hesitated in conveying their outrage at the regime's leaders to the world,” she said Wednesday in another message on the 42nd death anniversary of her husband, King Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, who was ousted by the Islamic Revolution of 1979.
In recent years as economic crisis and heavy-handed policies by the Islamic Republic have worsened, many Iranians have come to praise the Pahlavi dynasty for modernizing the country in the 20th century and have chanted slogans praising the Pahlavi monarchs during anti-government protests.
The former crown prince, Reza Pahlavi, has on several occasions said that he is not seeking to return to power but in his messages to the nation over the waves of protests in the country in the past few years he has repeatedly called for a coordinated front to organize anti-government activities.
Ali Khamenei claimed that wearing the hijab is no impediment to Iranian women’s progress and accused the West of fueling the recent opposition to hijab to harm the regime.
In a speech to a gathering of prayer leaders from across the country on Wednesday, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said in his view the Islamic Republic does not need to defend itself about issues related to women including the hijab but should rather be aggressive and attack the West for turning women into a “commodity”.
Iran’s government which is now fully controlled by hardliners has adopted a harsher than usual approach amid economic crisis and hardship for tens of millions. Government and military officials have warned the population against disobeying hijab rules and the morality police hijab enforcement patrols have detained many women, sometimes violently, on the streets.
Several activists and many ordinary citizens have been arrested for their defiance of the hijab rules in July. On several occasions the members of public have interfered when morality police and hijab enforcers tried to detain women for not wearing what the authorities consider as “proper hijab” and freed them.
The Iranian leader claimed that observing the hijab has not prevented Iranian woman from great achievements in various fields despite Western countries’ arguments that women cannot progress “unless they free themselves of ethical and religious bonds.”
He also alleged that “the enemy”, which he said is “led by Zionists and capitalists”, is constantly plotting to harm the Islamic Republic in the “battlefield of soft power” and seeks to destroy people’s faith by fostering doubt in their minds about issues such as the role of women in the Islamic society and women’s hijab.
Referring to discussions over the issue of hijab in Friday prayers, the media, and social media, Khamenei said everyone should act “very gracefully, logically and wihtout from unnecessary emotions” on the issue of hijab and use clear reasoning “to expose the western colonialist attitude” in rejection of hijab.
On Wednesday some hardline and state-affiliated media published a video of the so-called “confessions”of an anti-hijab protester who was arrested because of a confrontation with a hijab enforcer in a city bus in which the two women are shown speaking about the incident and “the lies” of the anti-hijab activists. The anti-hijab protester then begs “forgiveness” for picking a quarrel with the hijab enforcer and the two of them embrace each other and make peace.
The woman identified as 28-year-old writer Sepideh Rashno was arrested soon after the encounter on the bus. An informed source told Iran International that the woman seen in the “confession” video is not Rashno as hardline media such as Hamshahri have claimed but another woman who also was involved in the fight over hijab on the bus.
Rashno has reportedly been in detention at the IRGC ward of Tehran’s Evin Prison since her arrest last week without any contact with her family or access to a lawyer. Authorities have told the family that Rashno’s case is being investigated by the prosecutors of Evin.
Authorities have even started policing the compulsory Islamic dress code – or hijab – on the tombstones of the country’s largest cemetery, located in the southern part of the capital Tehran, and removed about 100 gravestones which had pictures of deceased women without veils.
Vahid Ashtari, a young man who is a member of Edalat Khahan [Justice Seekers], a political group of mainly university students who are loyal to Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, released a video on social media on Sunday, July 24, to warn others that whistle-blowing could be costly.
Ashtari also posted a court ruling based on which he has been sentenced to two years in jail for "spreading lies and disturbing the public's peace of mind." However, he said that he was never officially indicted.
In April this year, Ashtari revealed that the family of Majles (parliament) Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf had visited to Turkey to buy baby clothes and accessories for Ghalibaf's daughter who was pregnant at the time. He also claimed that Ghalibaf’s wife, daughter and son-in-law arrived at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini airport from Istanbul with apparently a large layette set they bought from Turkey. People at the airport didn’t recognize them at first but when a photo of the family circulated on social media, their identity was revealed.
The accusations were followed by a barrage of criticism, and resurfacing of other alleged corruption cases against the family including spending hefty amounts on purchasing properties in Istanbul. Ghalibaf's family and some of the country's officials and political figures initially denied the report but after a while they gradually confirmed Ashtari's account.
Earlier, Ashtari and his colleagues in the Justice Seekers group had made revelations about the role of one of President Ebrahim Raisi's relatives, Meysam Nili, in giving government jobs to people close to them, and called the case "Meysam Gate."
In his video and social media posts on Sunday, Ahtari welcomed his arrest and questioning at police stations, security organizations and courtrooms and said "It is good that young hardliners go to these places and find out what happens to activist workers and teachers and see the true nature of the religious political system 43 years after the 1979 Islamic revolution."
He called on Hezbollahis [hardline political activists who support the Islamic Republic and its leader] to pay special attention to this case and read the ruling.
Ashtari said: "Even after reading it, you may still not understand it because it is not a court ruling. It is a political editorial. But if your objective is to reform the appearance of the religious political system, you can see for yourself the true nature of the regime and how Islam works in the Judiciary and security system."
He "suggested to the devoted youths who blindly defend everything in the regime to find out what is going on behind the façade of Islam, sanctities and martyrs the officials take advantage of." However, he promised that "the situation in Iran will not remain like this."
The court ruling shows that Ashtari has also been accused of "discrediting state officials and mudslinging against them, portraying the country in a bad light and ridiculing a headline in Khamenei's official website."
Iranian analyst Ehsan Mehrabi told Iran International TV in London that although an official indictment has not been issued and Ashtari is entitled to an appeal, the reason why he has been given the jail sentence is that powerful officials wanted to send a message to all that no one, even a well-known conservative figure devoted to Khamenei, can get away with levelling accusations against regime insiders.
Iravani, who will replace Majid Takht-Ravanchi, served as a deputy of Shamkhani, the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), for nine years. Majid Takht-Ravanchi was among the last officials appointed by former foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who led the Iranian negotiations with P5+1 countries which produced the 2015 nuclear deal – or the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
Iravani also served as Iran’s chargé d'affaires in Iraq and secretary of Iran’s Strategic Council on Foreign Relations. He has career overlaps with current lead nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri-Kani – as both served as SNSC deputies. He is the first Iranian ambassador to the UN with extensive SNSC experience. Iravani's diplomatic assignments -- spearheading the Saudi-Iranian dialogue in Baghdad and his experience as chargé d'affaires -- have been more regionally focused than his predecessors to date.
President Ebrahim Raisi also appointed new ambassadors to six countries – Georgia, India, Lebanon, Czech Republic, Poland, and Sierra Leone -- on Sunday, practically cleansing the diplomatic roster of appointees from the administration of former president Hassan Rouhani. A cleric, Khalil Sadati Amiri, was named as Iran's ambassador to Sierra Leone.
Moreover, Raisi appointed Ali Bahraini as Tehran’s permanent representative to the UN Office and other international organizations in Geneva.