Outrage Over Death Sentence For Dissident Iranian Rapper

At the same time, some female journalists assert that the crackdown is part of the regime's ongoing strategy to stifle dissent, by reinforcing the ideological pillars of the Islamic government.

Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi, the country’s former Communications Minister, said "although hijab may be a rule Allah wants to be enforced, yet it cannot be over and above the very essence of religion which is based on monotheism."

Writing on his Telegram channel, the former Minister stated that "as the holy prophet and other Muslim saints have stated, the rules of Islam cannot be established by using force against Muslims.”

Jahromi also criticized the government for not taking any lessons from the failure of previous rounds of crackdowns on Iranian women.

Notably, Jahromi – a former intelligence officer – was sanctioned by Western countries, including the US, for being a key player in the Iranian “regime’s censorship and surveillance campaign, which intensified in the wake of anti-regime protests” in 2019.

Jahromi made the statement prior to Mehdi Fazaeli, a member of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's Office, informing reporters on Friday that Khamenei had warned certain Iranian officials about their inappropriate approach to hijab enforcement.

This month, multiple reports show that the state’s so-called morality police and other entities have once again escalated the violent enforcement of the mandated Islamic hijab, after Khamenei called for strict measures against women.

Female Iranian journalists, including Roya Karimi Majd, have meanwhile highlighted that the violent treatment of women may have been an attempt to suppress potential dissent in Iran.

Quoting reports that said more Iranians paid attention to the news of the crackdown on women than those who reacted to the news of tensions between Iran and Israel, she wrote on X: "Is the Islamic Republic trying to distract Iranians' attention from the tensions with Israel by the widespread crackdown on women? This is a show of power in the streets to scare all those who might think of an anti-war demonstration! Women are being beaten up so that other protesters take a lesson."

In an article on Iran International’s Persian-language website, gender studies researcher Zahra Bagheri Shad stated, "Ali Khamenei has described defying hijab as a politically haram [prohibited] issue. That is because women who defy the compulsory hijab are the most powerful; social force to defeat regressive elements. Despite repeated harsh crackdowns, Iranian women will not put a step back."

Cleric Mohammad Ali Abtahi who was so-called reformist President Mohammad Khatami's Chief of Staff in the late 1990s and early 2000s warned hardliners "to be mindful of unity in the country rather than suppressing women at a time a war is going on between Iran and Israel”.

"Although revolutionaries across the globe praised Iran for its direct confrontation with Israel, the news of the violent crackdown on women in the streets of Iran only made Israel and other opponents of the Islamic Republic happy," Abtahi said.

He stressed that the crackdown on Iranian women undermined Iranians’ pride world over as a result of the massive drone and missile attacks on Israel.

In 2003, while Abtahi served as Vice President, Iranian-Canadian journalist Zahra Kazemi was raped and tortured by Iranian officials at Tehran’s Evin Prison, ultimately succumbing to her injuries. After days of denial by the government, Abtahi conceded that Kazemi died as a result of being beaten.

With inflation expected to surpass 50%, the Iranian people are facing increasingly desperate conditions.

Referring to the hardships that many families are grappling with, Ayatollah Abdollah Javadi-Amoli warned that these problems could eventually lead to loss of faith in a meeting with the CEO of Iran’s National Bank (Bank Melli Iran) earlier this week.

Emphasizing the importance of Islam, he stated, “Religion will be wrecked if the economy cannot satisfy [the needs of the] people…After religious matters, money and wealth are what matters the most in the country.”

As a former member of the Expediency Council and a "marja" – a high-ranking religious authority in Shia Islam with many followers – Javadi-Amoli's views are considered significant. Government officials often visit him for both religious and political guidance, reflecting his continued influence.

An official from the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development stated on Saturday that Iranians in the lowest six percentiles cannot afford to buy a house, and that even renting is unaffordable for those in the lowest four percentiles.

“We are facing people who cannot even afford maintenance costs even if we provide their housing,” Naser Rezaei, deputy director of New Towns Development Company of the ministry said.

Iranian media, including some conservative outlets, are increasingly critical of the government's failure to control inflation and prevent the depreciation of the national currency. They also point to ambiguous and often contradictory regulations that enable corruption in the sector.

According to the conservative Khorasan newspaper, for instance, the prices of various legumes, an important item in the Iranian diet, have increased by 30%, red meat by 25%, and rice, also a staple, by 10%.

The newspaper contended that the rise in food prices is not related to increased demand during the month of Ramadan or the conflict with Israel, as officials often claim. Instead, it argued that the increase occurred before these events and is solely the result of government policies.

“The government's economic team is weak, but the weakest of all is the government's economic management,” lawmaker Jalil Rahimi-Jahanabadi, one of the few so-called reformists in the soon-to-be outgoing parliament, told Khabar Online.

Rahimi-Jahanabadi, who is also a member of the parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, argued that while there may be experienced officials at the first deputy and minister levels, the government lacks an "economic commander." He noted that President Ebrahim Raisi, coming from a judiciary background, has no experience in economic matters.

Recently, discussions have predominantly focused on the ongoing and significant friction between the Minister of Economy, Ehsan Khandouzi, and the Governor of the Central Bank of Iran, Mohammadreza Farzin.

The stark differences in the policies of the two economic bodies, which have recently become more publicly known, have, many say, nearly paralyzed the government's economic apparatus.

Despite the evident issues, the government continues to assert that its economic bodies have made significant progress and denies any problems.

Sepehr Khalaji, head of the government’s information council, stated on Wednesday that there are no plans to make changes to its economic structure.

On Saturday, the reformist Etemad Online published excerpts of an interview with former President Hassan Rouhani’s VP, Es’hagh Jahangiri, in which he criticized both the government and parliament for their economic policies and widespread corruption.

In the interview, conducted over a month ago, Jahangiri expressed his shame over the fact that regional countries, which he said were once less developed than Iran, have now become the benchmark for comparison among Iranians.

“They once compared themselves with Europeans, well, if not Europe but at least Japan and [South] Korea,” he said.

Ali Beitollahi, the head of the vulnerability research section at the Road and Urban Development Research Center, pointed out that subsidence areas are expanding, predicting that adjacent zones will soon be engulfed by the main subsidence plains.

He warned that “Tehran, Mashhad, Shiraz, Kerman, and most importantly Isfahan, are precisely in the subsidence area.”

In Isfahan, concerns are intensifying as the situation poses a direct threat to its historical edifices, including the iconic Naqsh-e Jahan Square and numerous ancient bridges.

The subsidence phenomenon could lead to irreversible environmental damage, including water resource depletion, reduction in agricultural outputs, transformation of fertile lands into deserts, and the formation of deep fissures in the earth.

Reports indicate that the subsidence issue has worsened considerably over the past five years, with Beitollahi emphasizing that the affected area in Iran has tripled in size during this period.

The threat is so significant that a minor earthquake could trigger a major catastrophe, particularly in Isfahan, endangering over 2.7 million lives. From 2020 to 2021, Isfahan experienced subsidence rates nearly 40 times higher than the global average.

The ongoing crisis threatens to jeopardize 380 cities and 9,200 villages across Iran in addition to its natural ecosystem.

His remarks, delivered via a video released on Wednesday, imply that Iran could rapidly produce the main fuel for nuclear warheads.

Ghoddusi emphasized that despite the Supreme Leader's fatwa declaring the production and use of nuclear weapons unacceptable, Iran could escalate its response to match any nuclear threats it faces.

"If we are threatened with nuclear weapons, we will respond with a nuclear threat," Ghoddusi stated, indicating that conventional weapons like Katyusha rockets would be insufficient in such scenarios.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said on Monday that "Nuclear weapons have no place in our nuclear doctrine," referencing the so-called “nuclear fatwa” by Supreme Leader Khamenei, which bans the development of nuclear arms.

However, the authenticity and enforceability of this fatwa are widely debated among experts, with some suggesting it serves more as a diplomatic shield amid Iran’s enrichment more than a binding decree.

The legislation requires Biden to make a determination with respect to sanctioning Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s office and that of the Iranian president. Biden should report to Congress every year whether those officials should remain under existing sanctions, making it much harder for the current and future administrations to unilaterally lift the sanctions.

The US Senate on Tuesday night unanimously passed the foreign aid package that incorporates the Iran sanctions. Another bill incorporated into the legislative package is Stop Harboring Iranian Petroleum Act or the SHIP Act, which targets Tehran’s illicit oil exports in defiance of US sanctions.

During the voting session on Tuesday night, 79 senators voted for the landmark $95-billion aid package for Israel and Ukraine, which also includes Iran-related sanctions bills.

Eighteen senators voted against the bill, but it was finally passed by the Senate and now awaits President Joe Biden's signature before it can be implemented.

Immediately after the Senate's adoption of the bill, Joe Biden said he will sign the bill passed by the Senate into law on Wednesday.

“Tonight, a bipartisan majority in the Senate joined the House to answer history’s call at this critical inflection point. Congress has passed my legislation to strengthen our national security and send a message to the world about the power of American leadership: we stand resolutely for democracy and freedom, and against tyranny and oppression,” he said.

During an unusual Saturday session, the US House of Representatives had passed the $95 billion aid package for Ukraine and Israel, which also incorporated three bills targeting the Iranian government.

The main bill targeting the regime, dubbed the MAHSA Act, was introduced after nationwide protests rocked Iran in 2022-2023. The unrest began after a 22-year-old woman, Mahsa Amini, died in hijab police custody in September 2022. During the protests, regime forces killed around 550 protesters, injured hundreds and arrested over 22,000 people.

The Mahsa Amini Human rights and Security Accountability Act, or simply the MAHSA Act, will see the imposition of sanctions on Iran’s supreme leader’s office, its appointees and anyone affiliated with the office and its work. It is a huge nod to the impact that the 22-year-old’s death has had globally since September 2022.

Iranian-American activists campaigned persistently for the past year, as the Senate Democrats delayed putting the measure to a vote, while it had overwhelmingly passed the House. Earlier this month. A watered-down versions of the bill finally passed the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, before the original version of the Act has been incorporated into the larger aid package and is expected to pass the Senate.

The Mahsa Act requires the US government to impose applicable sanctions on Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, his Office and his appointees, Iran’s president and a number of entities affiliated with Khamenei.

The bill also requires the US President to report to Congress every year whether those officials should remain under existing sanctions, making it much harder for the current and future administrations to unilaterally lift the sanctions.

The other bill which includes the SHIP Act requires the President to impose visa- and property-blocking sanctions against foreign persons that knowingly transport, process, refine, or otherwise deal in petroleum and petroleum products (including petrochemicals) originating in Iran.

(The report was updated at 20:20 GMT)