Iranians Worried By ‘War Against Women’ More Than Israel Conflict

A police source had told Reuters the man was seen at about 11 a.m. (0900 GMT) entering the consulate, carrying what appeared to be a grenade and explosive vest. Police cordoned off the area.

The man later left the consulate and on being searched was found not to be carrying any explosives, a police source said.

Le Parisien newspaper said on its website that, according to several witnesses, the man had dragged flags on the floor of the consulate and said he wanted to avenge the death of his brother.

It was unclear whether the incident had any link to current tensions between Iran and Israel.

Earlier on Friday, explosions echoed over the Iranian city of Isfahan in what sources described as an Israeli attack, but Tehran played down the incident and indicated it had no plans for retaliation - a response that appeared gauged towards averting region-wide war.

(Report by Reuters)

As the country’s currency, the rial (IRR), continues to depreciate, reports surfaced suggesting the government may bring in a 5 million rial banknote, approximately valued at $7.

Valued at 2 million Rials, the country’s highest banknote in circulation, is barely sufficient to purchase goods worth slightly over three dollars.

For years, inflation and currency fluctuations have eroded the purchasing power of the Rial when compared to other major currencies.

The rial has undergone dramatic devaluation over the decades. Before the 1979 Islamic Revolution, for instance, one US dollar could buy 70 rials.

By early 2018, this surged to about 40,000, and it has since skyrocketed to 670,000.

This depreciation accelerated following the US exit of the nuclear deal in May 2018 and the reimposition of economic sanctions, including on oil exports and international banking activity.

As of August, the country’s monetary base has grown at a rate of 41%, resulting in the government printing about $460 million monthly.

Since taking office in 2021, President Ebrahim Raisi has increased the growth of the monetary base by about 10%.

The monetary base refers to the amount of money in circulation plus the reserves by the Central Bank. Its expansion can lead to inflation.

The introduction of larger banknotes would have social implications, particularly for foreigners exchanging money in Iran who often receive large quantities of rial banknotes for relatively small amounts in dollars or euros, which can be inconvenient or cumbersome to manage.

Cleric Rasul Falahati, who leads Friday prayers in the northern city of Rasht, directed his criticism towards media outlets run by the Iranian diaspora, emphasizing the need to act.

"The opposing media, which supports society's current environment of hijab abolition, is now involved in fake Israeli affairs, so we must seize the opportunity and deal with the situation," Falahati said.

Parallel to Iran's direct targeting of Israel over the weekend, the police announced their new hijab enforcement initiative, known as the Nour (Light) Plan, in response to what they claim is a “national and public demand."

Since then, social media has been flooded with videos demonstrating the widespread presence of the so-called morality police and their violent behavior.

While the recent crackdown happened after Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei repeatedly underlined that ignoring the hijab is a red line that should not be crossed, an official close to Khamenei quoted him on Friday, seemingly taking a cautious approach.

Mehdi Fazaeli, deputy chief of the Office for the Preservation and Publication of the Works of the Leader of the Revolution, said the leader had cautioned some officials not to undertake any “irregular and unplanned” actions regarding hijab.

Similarly, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, the head of Iran's judiciary who had called for stronger implementation of hijab laws in early April, on Friday said: “In the matter of chastity and hijab, one should act wisely. We do not want to punish anyone who ignores the rules on the street.”

Although the signal coming from the regime’s authorities has not always been coherent or consistent, the reality on the street shows that the oppression facing women regarding the hijab law has been stepped up massively.

The morality police had largely disappeared from the streets following the death of Mahsa Jina Amini, 22, in their custody, which sparked widespread and months-long protests across the country.

Several women arrested by the morality police during the latest crackdown since the weekend have told Iran International of severe physical violence as well as sexual verbal abuse.

Women's rights activists have voiced their concern over the regime's increased clampdown on hijab laws, which has gained momentum since Saturday.

Hailing Iran’s missile and drone attacks, Ali Moqavasaz stressed that Revayat-e Fath Foundation intends to memorialize the “historic day” through backing artworks glorifying the event and also organizing a festival.

So far, no filmmakers have announced their readiness to produce works in this regard but we aim to take a serious action and make films about Israel, Palestine and the Islamic Republic’s missile and drone attacks against Israel, he went on to say.

Iran launched a barrage towards Israel on Saturday night of over 350 drones and missiles, most of which were intercepted by Israel and its allies before reaching Israeli territory.

The attack, Iran claims, was retaliation for the alleged Israeli airstrike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus this month, in which a senior Quds Force commander was killed along with other IRGC personnel.

Moqavasaz also pledged that Revayat-e Fath is going to produce cinematic productions about IRGC commanders. However, he did not elaborate on the identities of the financiers of these projects.

The Iranian government does not clearly announce the amount of funds allocated to many state-sponsored organizations and institutions, and the details of their expenditures are not reported at the end of the year.

Four years ago, Revayat-e Fath made a feature film named “Sniper” with a budget of at least 100 billion rials (around $400,000 at that time). The film, which narrated the adventures of a sniper during the Iran-Iraq war, was evaluated by critics as “low quality.”

The foundation also produced in 2011 the notorious movie “Golden Collars” directed by former intelligence officer Abolqassem Talebi. The movie garnered harsh criticisms from the public for its reproduction of the regime’s account of the Green Movement, the unprecedented protests following Iran’s controversial presidential elections in 2009.

Revayat-e Fath Foundation is named after a series of documentaries produced by renowned pro-government filmmaker and author Morteza Avini about Iran-Iraq eight-year military conflict. Iranian officials and state media frequently credit Avini for his ideas of “Islamic and revolutionary art and cinema.” Revayat-e Fath literally means “the narrative of conquest.”

Following the 2022 uprising triggered by the death in morality-police custody of Mahsa Amini, former head of Revayat-e Fath Foundation Mohammad Naderi lambasted artists who supported the nationwide protests, many of whom were threatened with travel bans, work bans and even prison. 

“A number of famous figures have been openly and publicly kicking [the government] over the past months. This is our fault because some institutions and organizations were busy making celebrities and ignored the real artists”, Naderi said, further adding that the protesting artists were “useless figures and celebrities” who “betrayed the government, people and country.”

In October, the Iranian government officially released a list of actresses who are prohibited from working in the film industry due to refusal to wear the mandatory hijab. The list includes several well-known figures in the Iranian film industry, such as Baran Kosari, Vishka Asayesh, Taraneh Alidousti, Katayoun Riahi, Panteha Bahram, Hengameh Ghaziani, Pegah Ahangarani, and more.

"Due to the constraints they confront, these actresses will no longer be able to pursue their careers in cinema. Nevertheless, their previous works will be gradually released to safeguard the interests of film producers, given the substantial investments made in these projects. However, they will be barred from participating in any forthcoming film productions," said Habib Ilbeigi, the director of the Supervision Department in the state-affiliated Film Organization.

Despite spending a lot of money, the films and series produced by the Iranian government, tasked with promoting the ideological worldview of the Islamic Republic, have not been able to win the public’s approval in Iran, with some even becoming the butts of ridicule and mockery.

In January, a scene from a TV series was shared extensively by social media users in Iran as it depicted clerics being attacked by security forces several decades ago. Broadcast on Iran’s state TV, “Motherland” (“Sarzamin-e Madari” in Persian) covers the sociopolitical history of the country over a time span of 37 years, from 1942 to the birth of the Islamic Republic in 1979, according to the ruling regime's ideological prism. IRGC-affiliated Fars news agency has hailed the series as “the narrator of the ups and downs of the history of Iran in the contemporary era.”

In one scene, which is apparently aimed at promoting an oppressed picture of clerics during the reign of Pahlavi monarchs in the 20th century, security forces are shown to be shooting and killing clergymen. The scene went viral on X and Instagram as Iranian users remixed it with happy, celebratory and heroic songs in what can be interpreted as an explicit gesture of opposition to the theocratic government in the country.

The complaint against CEO Sitki Ayan and Gent Electricity Energy stems from the company's decade-long failure to settle debts related to Iranian electricity imports, according to Tavanir, the Foreign Trade Office of Iran's state electricity company.

Ayan, a friend of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, previously brokered sales for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force. This activity led to him and the Gent company being placed on the US Treasury’s sanction list.

The US Treasury states that Ayan used his extensive business network to facilitate and conceal the sale and shipment of Iranian oil on behalf of the IRGC-QF.

The statement, published on December 8, 2022, added that Ayan had established business contracts to sell Iranian oil worth hundreds of millions of dollars to buyers in China, East Asia, the United Arab Emirates, and Europe. He also helped arrange the transportation of Iranian oil and funneled the proceeds of these sales back to the IRGC-QF.

The Turkish private company signed a contract with Iran's Energy Ministry in 2009 to import electricity. Turkey ceased importing Iranian electricity in 2017, but the reasons for Iran's delay in suing Ayan and his company remain unclear.

From 2009 to 2017, Iran exported 11.5 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity to Turkey, although the specific share imported by Gent Electricity Energy company is not known.

Despite all measures taken, including negotiations between Tavanir and the Turkish private company, as well as diplomatic efforts through various channels, the debts remain unpaid, according to Tavanir director Mehrdad Eglimi.

Iran will now refer the case to the Swiss Chambers' Arbitration Institution, Eglimi said.

Electricity exchange plan

Meanwhile, the Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, Alparslan Bayraktar, visited Iran earlier this month, and the sides agreed to initiate an electricity exchange in the coming months.

Turkey is set to deliver electricity during Iran's peak consumption period in the summer and receive Iranian electricity during other seasons.

Currently, Iran imports electricity from Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Turkmenistan and exports to Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq. Iran was a net electricity exporter until early 2023, but its power trade balance has now reached zero due to a worsening domestic electricity shortage.

Until the mid-2010s, Iran was exporting 12 TWh of electricity and importing 4 TWh annually. In recent years, its net export volume has decreased significantly due to delays in developing new power plants and rapid domestic consumption growth.

In 2022, it exported less than 5 TWh (a 13% year-over-year decline) and imported about 3.9 TWh (a 28% increase year-over-year). This means Iran’s net electricity export declined from 8 TWh in the mid-2010s to 1.1 TWh in 2022 and reached zero last year.