Iranian E-Commerce Transactions Drop 17% Amid Internet Disruptions

In a detailed statement, the ministry disclosed that they have identified and arrested 14 individuals suspected of being linked to an "expansive terrorist-Zionist network." in the provinces of Khuzestan, Mazandaran, Kermanshah, and Sistan and Baluchestan. In the same operation, officials have reported the discovery and seizure of 43 potentially explosive devices.

The ministry's statement alleged that the dismantled network had ties to individuals located in the Netherlands and Denmark. They also named the suspects as Shahin Zahmatkesh, known as Shahin Lou, a member of the TM Bax music group in in Denmark, and Siamak Tadayyon Tahmasbi, an artist based in the Netherlands.

The ministry also pointed to the role of social media networks and foreign television outlets, suggesting that these platforms aided disseminating of information related to the network's activities.

Furthermore, the statement suggested that members of the disrupted network harbored intentions to assasinate notable personality. This aligns with previous claims made by Iranian authorities regarding external threats to the nation's stability.

There have been numerous instances of sabotage and infiltration in Iran in recent years, with serious clandestine attacks on nuclear, military and important economic targets. Iranian intelligence was badly discredited when two large sabotage attacks took place in 2020 and 2021 against its most important nuclear facility in Natanz. A few key military and intelligence officials have also been assassinated. The incidents are largely attributed to Israel, although Israeli officials have never officially taken responsibility.

Sajjad Anoushiravani, the head of the Weightlifting Federation announced on Tuesday that Rajai has been banned from the sport for life after the podium photo was published. Simultaneously, Anoushiravani made the decision to dissolve the veterans' committee of the federation.

Anoushiravani said, "Upon becoming aware of this inexcusable incident, stringent actions were taken against those involved. The athlete responsible has received a lifetime ban, and upon conducting thorough investigations, resolute measures will be taken against all individuals implicated. Furthermore, effective immediately, all operations of the veteran athletes' committee will be terminated."

The Islamic Republic's anti-Israel policy has driven a significant number of Iranian athletes to refrain from competing against Israeli counterparts, often citing various pretexts. This stance has consequently led to the defection of numerous Iranian athletes seeking asylum in other countries.

While no official legislation prohibits Iranian athletes from playing against Israelis, pressure from federation officials often coerces athletes into intentionally losing matches, forfeiting games, or claiming injuries to evade encounters with Israeli competitors. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has consistently applauded Iranian athletes who opt out of competing against Israelis. In September 2021, he explicitly encouraged them to continue this stance even in the face of potential sanctions from international sports bodies.

Over the past few years, approximately 30 Iranian athletes have defected from national teams and sought asylum in foreign nations. Notable examples include Judo champion Saeid Mollaei and Greco-Roman wrestler Ali Arsalan.

Amir-Hossein Feghhi (Feqhi) speaking to the semi-official ISNA website stated that the 2015 nuclear deal, based on what the Westerners believed, was an instrument to create a pause in Iran’s nuclear industry and to ensure that Iran does not pursue nuclear weapons. “Now, the entire world has concluded that Iran is not seeking to develop weapons, and the possibility of stopping Iran’s nuclear program no longer exists,” Feghhi emphasized.

Iran has accumulated enough enriched uranium to be able to produce several nuclear bombs, according to the experts and the International Atomic Energy Agency, the IAEA. It has effectively reached a nuclear threshold state and can use the fissile material to produce weapons possibly within months.

Feghhi, seemingly taunting the West said that now is the time to focus on economic relations, hinting at sanctions that were imposed after the United States withdrew from the JCPOA in May 2018 and imposed crippling ‘maximum pressure’ on Tehran. The enforcement of these sanctions has gradually waned during the Biden administration, enabling Iran to boost its oil exports to almost pre-sanctions level, while enriching uranium to dangerous levels.

He went on to say that “Iran used to negotiate for its undeniable right to enrichment and also for the removal of sanctions.” However, “we have moved past all these discussions. There is no one in the world who can reject Iran’s nuclear capability or claim it can be halted.” Regarding the sanctions, Feghhi said, “I believe shared economic interests should be the subject of negotiation.”

Earlier this month Washington agreed to release $6 billion of Iran’s money frozen in South Korea due to US sanctions, in exchange to free five American citizens held hostage in Tehran. In June, the US had also agreed to release $2.7 billion from Iraqi banks.

Many observers suspect that the Biden administration has reached an unofficial deal with the Islamic Republic to release nearly $20 billion in total and not enforce oil export sanctions if Tehran stops at 60-percent uranium enrichment, which is just short of weapons-grade material.

This in effect leaves Iran in a strong position, able to extract more concessions by threatening to breach an unwritten deal in the future.

Candidate Joe Biden announced in September 2020 that if elected President he would restore the JCPOA, signaling an end to former President Donald Trump’s maximum pressure policy. Immediately Iran’s illicit oil exports to China began to increase.

Days after the election, Iran’s parliament tabled a bill to obligate the government to increase the level of enrichment closer to weapons grade until the US would lift the sanctions. In early 2021, enrichment reached 20 percent and soon 60 percent levels, but the Biden administration entered talks with Tehran over the JCPOA in Vienna in April. After 18 months of protracted talks in Vienna the sides reached a deadlock, as Iran refused the last compromise offered by the European Union.

Biden seems not to have realized that Iran took advantage of his desire to restore the JCPOA to both evade sanctions and reach the nuclear threshold.

Iran’s nuclear deputy drove the point home, stating, We now comprehensive capabilities in the nuclear field, covering nearly all its dimensions and research and industrial sectors. We are well aware of what we possess, and of course, nuclear experts in advanced countries are also well aware of this, and they convey it to their policymakers as well.“

In a statement on Tuesday, Sabrina Singh, Deputy Pentagon Spokesperson emphasized Iran's ongoing threat to commercial ships and commented on the substantial contingent of US forces stationed in the Middle East. "As long as there remains a need for these forces to be in the region, they're going to stay there,” she said.

She also referred to the IRGC presence in the waters of the region as harassment. “Over the past few weeks, we've seen harassment from IRGC-backed groups over commercial ships." Singh said, "We have not seen that threat drop, I would say, so we haven't seen a reason to move our forces out."

In July, the US Defense Secretary announced a strategic response to Iran's attempts to seize ships in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, which involves deploying naval and ground forces, including F-35 and F-16 fighter jets and missile-equipped destroyers.

Citing data, US authorities said that over the past two years, Iran has engaged in a series of disruptive activities targeting nearly 20 internationally-registered commercial ships.

Since 2019, Iran has consistently targeted commercial ships and oil tankers in the Persian Gulf, including seizing two more oil tankers and attempting to commandeer two other vessels.

The strategic significance of the Strait of Hormuz in global oil transit is undeniable, with approximately 20% of the world's crude oil traversing this critical chokepoint en route to international markets.

President Ebrahim Raisi made the claim during a press conference on Tuesday, stating "Providing free water, electricity, and gas to low-income families is on the government's agenda."

The president also claimed that "health insurance has been provided for six million people in the country for free."

"The government is cares about paying subsidies, providing housing for the deprived strata, as well as allocating land and providing facilities to the low-income households," he said, adding that “we have been committed to what we have said in the elections, and we will be; we have not forgotten any of those promises, and we will not forget them.”

A day earlier, Mehdi Ghazanfari, the head of Iran's National Development Fund, warned that "people are worried about the day when we become servants of neighboring countries" because they are progressing rapidly, and Iran is not.

Highlighting that the regime only attaches importance to "military strength" as an element of national power, he warned that if Iran neglects "economic development coupled with high growth rates" it might become a country "devoid of its human resources and investment opportunities."

Ghazanfari said a new type of colonialism may take place in Iran in the face of prosperous and wealthy neighboring nations. “If the current trend persists in Iran, it may become a country in the future that imports gas from Turkmenistan, wheat from Saudi Arabia, depends on Oman and Qatar for medical services and Qatar, and on the UAE for maritime and aerial logistics,” he warned.

Raisi’s remarks were reminiscent of promises by the Islamic Republic’s founder Ruhollah Khomeini, who famously promised Iranians free electricity, water and a cash share of the oil export income in his first speech upon arrival to the country after exile during the 1979 revolution. Khomeini made a variety of promises to Iranians for his Islamic regime such as a popularly elected governments that would represent the people without the interference of the clergy in addition to abolishing homelessness.

Since the historic speech in February 1979, Iranian officials have made similar promises over the years, with former President Hassan Rouhani even claiming that he had managed to achieve these goals. Rouhani claimed in December 2020 that his government had realized Khomeini’s promise, providing low-income strata of the society with water, gas, and electricity free-of-charge.

Iran has survived on oil export revenues during 44 years of clerical rule and has used the income to provide tens of billion of dollars in subsidies to the population each year, while maintaining an unproductive, government controlled economy. The lack of planned and sustained economic growth, a closed economy not attractive for foreign investment and various foreign economic sanctions have led to the current crisis marked by very high inflation, low economic growth and increasing poverty.

Rouhani officials repeated bogus claims of more subsidies, with his government spokesman Ali Rabiei saying that some 35 percent of the country’s population – about 30 million people – had access to free utilities. “We supplied people with free gas, but we became self-sufficient in gas production beforehand so that we can meet the domestic demand in winter and even be able to export,” he said in 2020, a claim that contradicted reality, as more than 30 million Iranians live below the poverty line.

Elsewhere in his press conference, Raisi made other claims about the reduction in inflationary pace, a higher growth rate, and reduction in the unemployment rate.

Over the past few years, many economists have warned about capital flight and the emigration of elites and skilled workers from Iran due to the Islamic Republic's policies.

The cost of living in Iran, including electricity, water, and gas bills, has consistently risen over the years and the majority of Iranians have fallen into poverty, no longer being able to afford meat and even fruit and vegetables, with consumption dropping by half.

The Islamic Republic has been struggling with high inflation since at least 2019, but the raging inflation in the past Iranian year which ended on March 20, was seriously different from previous years. Currently the official annual inflation rate is nearly 50 percent – the highest rate in Iran for more than 30 years-- but prices for foodstuff are most affected with some categories doubling or tripling in the past 12 months. The devaluation of Iran’s rial from 260,000 per US dollar to about 500,000 this year signals even higher economic woes for the people.