Iran Says Saudi-Israeli Normalization Harmful To Regional Peace

The suspects planned to carry out bombings at several sites including the Chabad House Jewish Center in Mumbai, which was the site of a deadly attack in 2008.

Mohammed Imran and Mohammed Yunus Saki were apprehended in Pune in possession of explosives, drone equipment, laptops, and incriminating books in Arabic.

The investigation into the local Islamist terror group known as Al-Sufa led to the arrests, with documents discovered on one of the suspect's phones. The Chabad House was targeted in 2008 by Islamist Pakistani gunmen during a series of attacks in Mumbai, resulting in the deaths of seven people.

Apart from the 2008 Chabad attack, there have been other terror attacks on Israeli and Jewish targets in India. In 2021, a blast outside the Israeli embassy in New Delhi damaged cars but caused no injuries, with India attributing the attack to the Quds Force branch of Iran's IRGC.

During the past two years, Israel foiled attacks organized by the IRGC-affiliated agents in countries including Georgia, Turkey and Cyprus all aimed at killing citizens of Jewish origin.

Israel's National Security Council has also warned of continued attempts by Tehran to target Israelis worldwide, particularly in countries near Iran in West Asia, such as the United Arab Emirates, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Bahrain, and Iraq's Kurdistan region.

Mohammad Aghamiri emphasized that if an earthquake were to strike the capital, which is located in an area of high seismic activity with these the risks compounded by increasing land subsidence, the city’s current infrastructure would not withstand and a national crisis would ensue.

Aghamiri spoke to Etemad newspaper, expressing his deep apprehensions about the current subsidence situation in Tehran, terming it unacceptable and extremely worrying. Recognizing the gravity of the issue, he stressed the crucial need for national support to effectively address and contain the looming threat.

"If an earthquake occurs in Tehran, the capital, which should itself be the command center, will experience a crisis," he said.

His concerns align with the sentiments expressed earlier this year by Mehdi Pirhadi, another member of Tehran City Council, who also underscored the urgency of renovating buildings in the capital to withstand potential earthquakes. Pirhadi emphasized that a quake with a magnitude of over 7 could lead to hundreds of thousands of casualties and deaths, due to 166,000 hectares of worn-out structures across the country.

In light of this grim outlook, experts have predicted that in the event of a magnitude 7 earthquake, at least one and a half million people could lose their lives in Tehran alone.

Iran, situated at the convergence of the Arabian, Indian, and Eurasian tectonic plates, is known for its high seismic activity, making it one of the most earthquake-prone countries in the world. The nation has experienced several massive earthquakes in recent history, resulting in tens of thousands of casualties and substantial economic losses.

Speaking to Tejarat News, a website in Tehran, lawyer Sara Bagheri said the proposed legislation is against individuals’ rights including their right to security and will hurt individuals’ reputation and dignity on account of their chosen style of clothing. 

Referring to article 51 of the proposed law which prescribes heavy cash fines for unveiling in public, Bagheri said what is considered as crime, and the corresponding punishment in this article and others, are very disproportionate. “Also, the bill does not make it clear what will happen if the person [found guilty] refuses to pay the fine,” she added.

Shima Ghousheh, a law expert, wrote in a commentary published by the reformist Etemad newspaper on Saturday, "The country’s whole budget should be used to build prisons for women because many Iranians will not be able to pay these [heavy] fines and should be sent to prison." She pointed out that the punishments for unveiling or "improper" hijab are much heavier than those prescribed by law for financial crimes, including embezzlement and drug-related offenses.

The hijab bill bans taking photos or videos of police while enforcing hijab but two of its articles, 36 and 37, allow law enforcement officers as well as civilians, provided that they have been trained and certified by the police, to take photos of the person violating the hijab law and post it to a special police portal. They will also be authorized to report businesses that have failed to comply with the provisions of the new hijab law. 

These two articles open the door to libel based on personal grudges against individuals, even when they have been compliant with the rules, and courts will have to deal not only with hijab infringement cases but also a vast number of legal cases resulting from personal grudges, experts say. 

Since March, hardliners have attempted to end women's increasing defiance of compulsory hijab and reclaim lost ground through various instructions to government bodies, but their efforts seem to have hugely backfired as the number of women who refuse to abide by the current rules has noticeably increased.

In a commentary published by Etemad, well-known Iranian lawyer Kambiz Nowrouzi strongly criticized a recent directive by Gilan Medical Sciences University, an affiliate of the health ministry, that bans hospitals under its coverage from offering services to unveiled women and called it "an astounding and horrendous example of violation of the [existing] laws and ethics."

Law expert Omid Salimi-Bani told the conservative Khabar Online news website Saturday that the bill, if approved, will add thirty new types of crimes to the list of crimes in the Islamic Republic’s existing laws. 

Some of the other “crimes” enumerated in the bill include “promoting unveiling” which may be considered as corruption on earth that bears a death penalty , “insulting the principle of hijab” which will be punishable by a cash fine of 1 billion rials ($2,000) for the first infringement, as well as designing, advertising or importing banned clothing, and refusal of businesses to submit their CCTV recordings to authorities for identification of unveiled women.

“Are these behaviors so abominable from the point of view of societal norms and people that they require punishment? It doesn’t seem that the majority of people think the same as those who have written the bill,” he said. 

“State and government culture-building has proven to be a failure and the Iranian example is one of the best,” reformist Ham-Mihan newspaper wrote Sunday and suggested holding a referendum to find out what most Iranians think about the issue of hijab. 

The regime and its Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei have always refused suggestions of referendum which Article 59 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic, which was approved by a referendum after the Islamic Revolution of 1979, proposes in “extremely important economic, political, social, and cultural matters.”

Mojtaba Tavangar, representing Tehran in the parliament, stressed on Sunday that without a comprehensive and robust plan to address the nation's economic challenges, attempts to alleviate poverty through wealth distribution or subsidies would prove futile in the face of potential currency shocks.

"If we do not have a plan and simply want to reduce poverty by distributing wealth or distributing subsidies, then, with another foreign currency shock, all the work that we have done to reduce poverty will be undone," warned Tavangar.

As a member of the economic commission of parliament, Tavangar went on to criticize the government's apparent weaknesses in managing the economy. He pointed to alarming indicators such as continued inflation, the soaring cost of food, skyrocketing house rents, and the overall high cost of living as the key pressing issues plaguing the nation.

In agreement with Tavangar, Mohammad Vahidi, the representative of Bojnord in the parliament, also warned about the potential consequences of the current economic trajectory. Vahidi sternly cautioned that the country could be led to the brink of economic collapse if the current governance approach is not re-evaluated.

Official reports have lent weight to the parliamentarians' warnings, reflecting the severity of the economic situation in Iran. The Parliament Research Center recently published a report stating that 75% of the three lowest income deciles lack any support, confirming an increase in the number of poor individuals in the country.

Netanyahu made the remarks during a cabinet meeting, amid growing tensions along Israel's northern border with Lebanon and as the country's military faces threats to its cohesion over the government's attempts to weaken the judiciary.

Since Israel’s current political crisis began earlier this year, Iran and its militant proxies in the region have rallied to take advantage of any weaknesses. Large-scale military clashes took place between the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a Hezbollah ally, and Israel in early April.

“As for (Hezbollah leader Hassan) Nasrallah's bunker threats, we are not impressed by them. On the day we are tested, he will find us standing together, shoulder to shoulder, and even Nasrallah knows that neither he nor Lebanon should put us to the that test.”

Reuters reported last week that Iranian military and security officials recently held a meeting with Hezbollah and Palestinian Hamas to see how they can take advantage of Israel’s internal problems. The Revolutionary Guard’s (IRGC) Quds Force attended the three-hour meeting, as Israel’s foes see an opportunity in Israel’s political turmoil related to Netanyahu’s judicial reforms.

Iranian government media and officials have been highlighting large protests in Israel against the judicial reforms by heralding the imminent collapse of “the Zionist entity.” They have also been openly encouraging Palestinian and other militants to intensify their attacks inside Israel.

With reporting by AP, Reuters