Iran Unleashes Cyber Campaign To Expose Dissident Accounts

In the statement released Friday evening, the ministry claims that it has arrested 11 people in six provinces who involved in the attack.

The Islamic State group claimed more than 24 hours after the bombing that two of its suicide bombers had detonated explosives that killed around 90 people earlier this week. However, it is not possible to verify the claim, with the Iranian government usually issuing contradictory and incomplete information.

The ministry also claimed that the security apparatus had found out about the role of the Islamic States terrorist group in the bombings right after the attack was carried out.

“The first operation to arrest the terrorists' supporters took place on the evening of the incident, and the residence used by the two terrorists was identified the next morning, leading to the arrest of two support elements,” read the statement. Later operations led to the arrest of nine suspects connected to the terrorist team in six provinces.

About 90 people were killed and 284 injured on Wednesday as two explosions targeted a commemorative event for Qasem Soleimani, the late commander of the IRGC's Quds Force.

Also on Friday, US intelligence apparatus confirmed that Islamic State's Afghanistan branch was behind the blasts. Communications intercepts collected by the US confirmed that ISIS-K carried out the bombings, two sources familiar with the intelligence told Reuters. "The intelligence is clear-cut and indisputable," one source said.

The main perpetrator of a similar attack on Shahcheragh, a funerary monument and mosque in Shiraz that was the site of a similar attack about a year ago, was also a citizen of Tajikistan, identified as Rahmatullah Nowruzov.

Following the targeted killing of Saleh al-Arouri, a top Hamas leader by Israel in Beirut’s Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs, Nasrallah tried to convey a sense of strength and commitment to aiding Hamas.

“If we had not opened the northern front, forcing Israel to draw away brigades from Gaza, it could have more easily replaced and rotated their forces in Gaza…and the fighting there would have been much more difficult for the resistance,” Nasrallah who has lived in hiding for years said in a video address.

Following Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel, many expected a full-fledged war to erupt also against Hezbollah, but the Iranian-backed force has limited its involvement to border skirmishes with Israel. Nasrallah claimed that Hezbollah has killed and wounded thousands of troops, that he said Israel keeps as a secret.

He also warned Israelis not to attack Lebanon. “I say to the settlers who call on Israel to launch a war on Hezbollah; this would be a wrong decision for you, and you would be the first one to be affected.”

Hezbollah’s patron, the Iranian regime, has also avoided direct involvement in the Gaza war, despite its decades-long rhetoric to destroy Israel.

Some observers have argued that Iran is not willing to risk Hezbollah, which is its strongest proxy force in the region. Tehran also does not have the financial resources to compensate losses, like it did after the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war, when it had much higher oil revenues.

The report didn’t explain the reason for the decline, but, a comparison of the new numbers for the labor force (employed or seeking jobs) with four years ago indicates that in fact, 3.6 million job seekers have given up. This might explain the decline in the official unemployment rate.

The reason for the declining unemployment rate is not the creation of new jobs, but a decline of those seeking employment. This is more logical given deep recessions and an economic crisis since 2018, when the United States withdrew from the JCPOA nuclear accord and imposed economic sanctions.

The unemployment rate is defined as the ratio of unemployed individuals actively seeking jobs to the total active members of society, or the labor force. The unemployment rate can only decrease when either job seekers find jobs, or the unemployed give up looking for work. In Iran's case, the second scenario has occurred.

Iran's Statistical Center 's figures indicate that around 44.3 percent of individuals aged 15 and above were active (employed or in job search) during the fall of 2019. However, the recent report shows that the active labor force has declined to 41.5 percent.

If 3.6 million individuals were not discouraged from job hunting and remained active, the real unemployment rate this fall would have exceeded 18%.

Additionally, details from the Statistics Center's report indicate that two million of the country's 24.77 million employed individuals have incomplete employment, working less than 44 hours per week.

Earlier, the Parliament Research Center had highlighted that a large percentage of younger people had given up seeking employment, stating that the real unemployment rate in the country is 2.5 times higher than the official figures.

World Bank statistics also reveal a decrease in the ratio of employed individuals in Iran compared to the labor force population over the past four years.

President Ebrahim Raisi's administration, without acknowledging these realities, has claimed a significant reduction in the unemployment rate by only calculating unemployed individuals seeking jobs against the total active population.

Low Employment Rates among Educated Youth and Women

The details of the new report from the Statistical Center indicate that 43 percent of those seeking jobs hold higher education degrees.

This highlights a significant challenge for young graduates in finding jobs. Additionally, the economic participation rate of women is remarkably low, with approximately 11.4% of Iranian women in working age being employed.

In other words, nearly 91% of women above the age of 15 in Iran are without any occupation, even in family-related businesses such as farming and agriculture.

The World Bank statistics reveal that, among regional countries, only Iraq and Yemen have a worse employment situation than Iran.

In comparison, the employment ratio of working women to the total female population above 15 years of age is around 57% in Qatar and 49% in the UAE. A similar situation prevails in Kuwait and Bahrain, with the female workforce ratios above 56% in the Republic of Azerbaijan and Armenia.

Even in the traditionally conservative Saudi Arabia, which had a comparable employment ratio with Iran in early-2010s, the figure has now increased to more than 29%, surpassing Iran by 2.5 times. A similar situation is observed in Oman.

Economic Indicators: Inflation, Unemployment, and Wage Disparities

The combined rates of unemployment and inflation constitute the "misery index," with Iran consistently ranking among the top countries in the region, facing high misery scores.

It is evident that wage disparities in Iran are also the worst in the region, with the average income of employed individuals in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar being 7 times, 13 times, and 18 times higher than in Iran. Even in Azerbaijan and Armenia, the average wages are approximately double those in Iran.

This substantial wage gap exists while the Raisi administration has increased the minimum wage by about 20% for the coming fiscal year, starting on March 22. However, the increase is not even half of the the annual inflation rate in the country. Another notable point is that a significant portion of employed women in Iran do not receive wages as they work in family-related jobs, especially in agriculture.

The World Bank estimates that only 60 percent of employed women in Iran receive wages. In contrast, in Qatar, 100 percent of employed women receive wages, 94 percent in the United Arab Emirates, and in Saudi Arabia, it is over 88 percent.

Moreover, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) figures reveal that the gender pay gap in Iran is approximately 23 percent in public sector occupations and around 36 percent in non-governmental jobs, indicating a significant gender-based wage disparity in Iran.

Iranian authorities on Wednesday executed the sentence of 74 lashes on Roya Heshmati, a woman who had been convicted for refusing to adhere to the compulsory hijab in accordance with a court's orders in Tehran.

Heshmati, a vocal critic of compulsory hijab, shared a distressing account of her experience during the execution of her sentence. She disclosed that on the day of the punishment, she, accompanied by her lawyer, arrived at the enforcement unit to undergo the 74 lashes. Heshmati stressed that upon entering the courthouse, she had removed her hijab, and when officials admonished her to cover up, she defiantly asserted, "I have come to receive my lashes; I won't cover up."

According to Heshmati, the enforcement officer threatened to intensify the lashes and open a new case against her for non-compliance with hijab if she did not cover up.

Providing a vivid description of the whipping room, Heshmati wrote, "They opened the iron door. The room had cement walls. There was a small bed in the corner with iron shackles on both sides... A medieval torture chamber."

The international community strongly condemns the use of degrading and inhumane punishments, such as flogging, which is explicitly prohibited under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Iran's continued use of such humiliating punishments sets it apart as one of the few countries that still resort to such practices.

In another case, Zeynab (Bahar) Khonyabpour, a resident of Behbahan in Ahvaz province and an opponent of compulsory hijab, has been sentenced to two years in prison for sharing photos without hijab on social media. Her lawyer, Sajjad Chatrsefid, confirmed that she was sentenced to imprisonment by the Behbahan Criminal Court.

According to Vahidi, the country's intelligence bodies have found "very good leads" regarding individuals involved in the Kerman explosions. He added, "Some of those who played a role in this incident have been arrested."

Vahidi stated that comprehensive information on this matter will soon be communicated by the intelligence apparatus.

His remarks came in the aftermath of the twin bombings in Kerman, where a commemorative event for Qasem Soleimani, the late commander of the IRGC's Quds Force, was targeted. Nearly 90 people were killed in the incident and 284 were injured.

Majid Mohammadi, Vahidi’s deputy in security affairs, claimed later in the day that the suspects were arrested in five different cities.

The funeral for about half of the casualties was held on Friday.Crowds chanted "revenge, revenge" in state TV footage of the funerals in the city of Kerman, the scene of Wednesday's explosions, the bloodiest such attacks in Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The security lapses leading to the deadly attack have sparked public criticism and concerns about the Islamic Republic's ability to ensure the safety of its citizens during such events.

Despite the claim of responsibility by the Islamic State (ISIS), the Islamic Republic authorities, such as President Ebrahim Raisi and IRGC Commander-in-Chief Hossein Salami, blame Israel and the United States for the attack.