Iran Official Threatens Replacing Thousands Of Striking Workers

Iran’s exiled prince Reza Pahlavi, who is on a visit to Italy to galvanize support for the Iranian uprising, visited the Vatican on the second day of his stay on Thursday. 

Earlier in the day, Pahlavi and his wife Yasmine also held a friendly meeting with a group of Iranians residing in Italy before taking a few minutes of their time to meet Elaheh Tavakolian, a PhD student who lost one of her eyes to shotgun pellets fired at protesters by the Islamic Republic’s security forces. She is in Italy to receive treatment for her eye.

Wherever the Pahlavis went during their first two days in Italy, they were welcomed by a large Iranian crowd who had gathered to meet the prince. The moment he arrived at the Italian parliament, he was greeted by Iranians who were chanting slogans in support of “King Reza Pahlavi,” saying that they would bring him back to Iran. 

There, he spoke to people about their role in supporting the protests, calling on them to be the voice of the people who are suffering under the regime and do not enjoy the freedom and access to the free world to make their voices heard. “You are the voice of the future,” he told the crowd. 

Your unison and unanimity not only invigorate our compatriots inside the country -- the ones in the Evin prison, or the ones who have lost their eyesight to regime’s bullets, or the schoolgirls who are attacked by chemical gas – but also result in the world hearing your voice,” he said. 

Pahlavi highlighted that the world countries have realized that they should not limit their interactions to the regime, which does not represent the Iranian people. "If I have come here today to talk to the representatives of the governments, it is to make your voice heard and to say that investing in the people of Iran means guaranteeing democracy and freedom in the future and ending the threats of the Islamic Republic," he said. 

During the meeting with the Iranian expatriates Thursday, Pahlavi talked about the transition to the future Iran free of the Islamic Republic, noting that after the collapse of the regime something similar to the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission would be needed to deal with the crimes committed by regime officials. The commision was established by the new South African government in 1995 to help heal the country and bring about a reconciliation of its people by uncovering the truth about human rights violations that had occurred during the period of apartheid.

On Wednesday, Pahlavi also held a meeting with Senator Stefania Craxi, a member of the Chamber of Deputies, where he also held a presser following his talks with several other Italian parliamentarians.

During the Wednesday press conference, the leading opposition figure reiterated his call on world countries to support the uprising of the Iranians, saying, “We all recognize that sanctions are perhaps to some great extent able to weaken such regimes and limit their means to repress their own citizenry... it is of course necessary but not sufficient because at some point there has to be an element of direct support to the citizens.”

He went on to emphasize that it is of great importance for the people of Iran, especially the victims of the regime, to see and feel “that they are not alone, and the world has finally heard their voice and are taking actual measures to support them and further punish the regime.” 

“My political mission in life is to see to a transition,” he said, highlighting that “at the end of the day it's the Iranian people who make the final decision for their future.” He added, “for me that mission ends the day that the Constitutional project is offered to the nation by the Constitutional assembly and ratified by means of a referendum which will then establish the future system in Iran.” 

Since the beginning of the "Women, Life, Freedom" movement, ignited by the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in September 2022, well-known figures of the Iranian opposition, such as Pahlavi, have been holding meetings with the government and parliamentary officials of Western countries hoping to further isolate the Islamic Republic in the global community and ensure support for the Iranians. 

While searching his house the security agents also seized his telephone and laptop.

Momeni is one of over 400 civil and political activists who, in a statement had said that the only violence-free and democratic solution for transitioning from the Islamic Republic is "appeal to the nation's votes by holding a free referendum.”

The detention of Momeni is part of a recent wave of arrests of political and civil activists, including Qorban Behzadianejad, Keyvan Samimi and Alireza Beheshti Shirazi.

The charges against these people have not been announced yet, but it seems they were arrested after participating in the "Dialogue to Save Iran" conference.

Over 40 political, social and human rights activists from inside and outside Iran for the first time attended a virtual conference called “Dialog To Save Iran” on Friday.

The meeting, which was held on Club House social media platform, also heard from eight detained activists who sent messages from inside prisons in Iran.

In his message, Keyvan Samimi, a journalist and political activist, who was rearrested last week, said Iranians everywhere should form a united national front to get rid of oppression.

Imprisoned human rights activist Narges Mohammadi also said in a message that “To save Iran, we must end the tyrannical, anti-woman regime and make a peaceful and low-cost transition for the people.”

Reformist Shargh daily in a report Thursday said statements by the police and other officials about the implementation of a campaign against hijab-lessness indicate that around 2,000 businesses – including restaurants, cafes, tourist accommodations, retail shops and even a counseling clinic and a gym -- have suffered closure in the past month only. 

On Tuesday hardline media reported that some businesses, mainly restaurants and cafes, owned by celebrity artists and popular footballers have been shut down or received warnings over defiance of hijab rules by their staff and customers.

Authorities also announced on the same day that they had shut down Opal Mall, a massive modern shopping center with over 450 businesses in Tehran. Shargh said the closure of the mall alone has resulted in the loss of around 2,500 jobs.

Woman has a seizure at a shopping arcade in northern Iran after hijab enforcers fire their guns during a scuffle with business owners.

At the start of the month, Iran’s 83-year-old ruler Ali Khamenei reiterated the regime's stance on hijab, which became mandatory after the establishment of the Islamic Republic in 1979. He said: “Discarding hijab is haram (sinful) based on Sharia and also politically."

His declaration was a clear signal to all state and religious authorities to do anything it takes to re-establish control over women who are increasingly joining the civil disobedience movement against forced hijab rules.

However, legal experts say closure of businesses is unjustified even based on the Islamic Republic’s own laws and the Sharia.

“Has anyone ever heard of a street being banned because of a murder that happened there? Or is it possible to shut down a government office because of corruption? … Businesses cannot be sealed because someone removes their hijab there,” Mohammad Mansouri-Boroujeni, a professor of law at Esfahan University wrote in a commentary on April 20.

Mohsen Borhani, an Islamic law expert and lawyer, argued in a tweet that nowhere in Sharia one can find reasons to justify the ban on selling commodities to hijab-less women or to shut down a shop if a hijab-less woman is spotted there. “You neither abide by the law, nor the Sharia. It’s flustering!” he tweeted April 18.

The police have also said they are prosecuting those who promote defiance of the compulsory hijab on social media and have warned hundreds of imminent prosecutions, placed hundreds of “hijab promoters” on the streets to warn women, and banned entrance of unveiled women to museums and other public venues.

Hijab banner in Tehran says it is mothers’ legacy for their daughters.

Tehran municipality has recently put up hundreds of banners on the streets to promote the hijab. “Hijab is the legacy of mothers,” one such banner which shows a mother donning a black veil on a very young girl says while another equates opposition to the compulsory hijab to destroying “the foundations of families.”

“My mother did not wear the hijab. Neither did my grandmother. I’d like to adhere to my own heritage,” a woman said in a video of one of the hijab banners she sent to Iran International.

In a tweet with a photo of the woman who protested the compulsory hijab, another woman said fighting against the compulsory hijab was “mothers’ legacy”

The recent campaign to enforce hijab rules has caused some violent incidents involving pro-hijab vigilantes and women who defy it. A 60-year-old woman had a cardiac arrest this week when a fight broke out between vigilantes and members of her family over hijab.

A member of the family of Kolsum Oftadehpour told Iran International TV that there was no autopsy and authorities did not allow them to see the body before and during the burial which they carried out without the family’s involvement. The family have been threatened not to talk, he said.

Two university professors, one an ideological proponent of state-controlled “Islamic economy”, and the other, an avid proponent of liberal economic theories, clashed on national TV, often turning the debate into personal attacks.

Masoud Derakhshan, an economist trained in Britain but an Islamist and a leftist by conviction, who believes there needs to be just one “national bank” in the country running all commercial, private and government banking needs. As an Islamic principle, he strongly objects to “usury” and believes all banks end up charging interest, which is forbidden in Sharia.

Except the issue of usury, it is not clear what “Islamic economy” means.

His opponent Mousa Ghaninejad, a professor of economics says, “There is no such thing as Islamic economy,” and believes in the Austrian school of liberal economic theory, personified by the preeminent 20th century philosopher, political scientist, and economic theoretician Friedrich August Hayek (1899-1992).

Ghaninejad argued during the debate that leftist revolutionaries poisoned the new constitution with their economic ideas after the 1979 revolution. Arguing that Iran faces a serious crisis, he insisted that overwhelming government control established since the 1980s turned into a corrupt system of nepotism.

“Islamic Republic’s development model was based on an anti-capitalist theory, while Islam defends private property,” he argued, adding, “Our misfortune was national socialists.”

Derakhshan in a typical mid-20th century leftist manner responded that “Ghaninejad is distorting the Constitution and the Islamic revolution. The theoreticians of liberalism are defending certain ideas to protect the interests of capitalists.”

At this point, Ghaninejad produced three books during the show, published in the early days of the revolution by the Communist Tudeh Party of Iran, to prove that leftists influenced the Islamic Constitution in its economic precepts. He also argued that President Abolhassan Banisadr, whom he described as a leftist, and the ideas of Islamist-Marxist Ali Shriati had a profound impact on the Constitution.

He went on to say that Liberals are all for competition – something that has been completely stifled in Iran – and as a matter of fact, he argued that as a capitalist gets much richer, he also opposes competition, because he wants to dominate the market.

“Our economy is a politicized economy of nepotism,”Ghaninejad stated, referring to politicians and factions presiding over the government that controls 80-percent of the economy and distributes monopolies and quasi-governmental companies between friends and family. These companies lose a lot of money, but the government-appointed managers get rich.

There is also the phenomenon of shady privatization when government assets I sold at a fraction of their real price to well-connected people.

The Islamist Derakhshan passionately argued that there is no self-sustaining free market, and this is purely a deception. Iran’s economy must be an Islamic economy he insisted, while not responding to his opponents argument that private property and commerce are protected rights in Islam.

Ghaninejad, in an apparent attempt to be politically correct, said he acknowledges that the United States is a dominance seeking power and inflicted huge pain and suffering on Vietnam, much greater than anything it has done to Iran, but today, the US and Vietnam have amicable relations. However, “We unnecessarily dug a hole for ourselves at the beginning of the revolution when leftist Islamists occupied the American embassy.”

Condemning the US sanctions against Iran, the liberal economist said, “To the extent that America’s economy is based on competition I am an advocate of it, but when capitalism becomes political, I oppose it, because it violates liberalism.”

The bipartisan legislation, introduced by House Armed Services Committee Member Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN), is intended to add sanctions on Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and President Ebrahim Raisi as well as their inner circles for human rights abuses and support for terrorism. 

“The Supreme Leader is an institution of the Islamic Republic of Iran...that holds ultimate authority over Iran’s judiciary and security apparatus, including the Ministry of Intelligence and Security, law enforcement forces under the Interior Ministry, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and the Basij, a nationwide volunteer paramilitary group, subordinate to the IRGC, all of which have engaged in human rights abuses in Iran,” read a paragraph of the MAHSA Act.

Following the unanimous approval at the committee, the MAHSA Act will go to the full House for a vote. The bill requires the executive branch to impose applicable sanctions on Khamenei, his office and his appointees, as well as President Raisi and his cabinet officials, foundations and other entities affiliated with the Supreme Leader under section 105(c) of the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010, section 7031 (c) of the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2021, and Executive Orders 13876, 13553, 13224, and 13818.

The MAHSA Act – which has 97 House cosponsors and is supported by the National Union for Democracy in Iran (NUFDI), United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) -- was first introduced during the 117th Congress in January, about four months into pro-democracy and anti-regime protests following the death of 22-year-old Iranian-Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini at the hands of Iran's morality police. 

Amini’s tragic death in September 2022 led to the boldest revolt against the clerical regime since its establishment in 1979. More than 500 people have been killed in the nationwide rallies, nearly 20,000 were detained, and four were executed on trumped up charges.

"There is broad opposition in Congress to the Iranian regimes' aggression and internal repression. I hope that today's markup convinced the White House that any attempt to appease the Ayatollah and provide Iran with sanctions relief will be met with unanimous condemnation,” Banks said after the markup session. 

"I will be monitoring technical changes to the bill and I look forward to voting for its final passage on the House floor in the coming months," he added. 

“This bill is intended to hold the most malicious elements of Iran's regime accountable for human rights abuses like the death of Mahsa Amini and the regime's terrorist activity while avoiding collateral damage to ordinary Iranians,” read a statement by Banks. 

During the Wednesday session most of the discussions were focused on the technical details of the MAHSA Act and how it would be implemented. One of the amendments discussed was meant to include a paragraph in the text that mentioned Khamenei and Raisi were already sanctioned by the US. Those who spoke against the amendment were apparently of the opinion that such a wording would weaken the effectiveness of the measure but even the proponents of the amendment admitted during the session that they only seek reassurance that the Act would lead to tangible measures. 

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) said the MAHSA Act is designed to force the administration’s hand based on a bipartisan measure to ensure that the US uses all available authorities “to compel the Iranian regime to abandon its brutal abuses by applying relevant sanctions”. “This includes both laws passed by Congress and executive orders issued by this and previous presidents,” he added. 

The text, according to Issa, will also limit the current and future administrations’ ability to classify information about dealings with Iran in order to facilitate full transparency and accountability. “The administration and future administrations cannot hide behind nebulous rationales for secrecy and noncompliance,” he noted. 

Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY) said, “Every member on this committee understands the evil nature of Iran’s Supreme Leader, a man who leads a corrupt criminal theocracy that endangers the Iranian people as well as the entire international community.” “The Supreme Leader murders, tortures, and abuses his own people,” he said, adding that “he denies Iranian citizens freedom and democracy; he guides proxy forces meant to destabilize numerous regional countries; he has threatened to wipe Israel off the map; and he is developing a nuclear program that has stockpiled enough highly-enriched uranium for several nuclear warheads; there must be a cost associated with this behavior.”

However, some lobbyists and a few lawmakers sought to dilute the act, describing it as “Islamophobic” or “not leading to any increased sanctions.” NIAC, advocating non-confrontational policies toward the Islamic Republic, said in a statement that “the bill would make it more difficult for a President to lift sanctions on these officials as part of any diplomatic agreement... This bill does not include a sunset and would target the offices themselves, rather than individuals. As a result, it would remain in effect indefinitely and be applied to any future Supreme Leader or President of Iran until its repeal."