Members of Iranian healthcare professional community
Iraj Fazel, the president of the Iranian Society of Surgeons and former Minister of Health, warned that if the exodus of doctors continues, Iran will be forced to import specialists and send patients abroad.
Fazel attributed the shortage to the economic struggles facing medical students and the government's educational policies. He said the number of students applying for medical degrees is also in decline.
“In the latest rounds, we observed no candidates for vascular surgery, and other specialties also saw similar vacancies,” Fazel explained, painting a grim picture of the future of Iranian medicine.
The sentiment was echoed by Mohammad Raiszadeh, the head of the Iranian Medical Council.
“The rate of job migration among doctors is even higher than the general emigration from the country,”he said.
Hossein Ali Shahriari, head of the parliament’s Health and Medical Commission, reported that around 10,000 Iranian specialists have sought jobs abroad in the past two years, primarily heading to Arab nations. The trend was so concerning that there were official calls in December to ban doctors from migrating abroad.
Compounded by the economic hardships faced by healthcare workers, who earn as little as $200 to $300 a month, the situation has also impacted their mental health. The Iranian Psychiatric Association reported an increase in suicide rates among medical residents, with 16 suicides in the past year alone.
Iranian media and soccer fans suspect that verbal and physical violence against female football fans is deliberately staged by authorities at stadiums to justify re-imposition of the ban on their presence.
Suspicions grew after a recent incident at Tehran’s Azadi Stadium on Wednesday, May 1, during a Champions League match between Sepahan FC and Persepolis FC. During the match male fans of Sepahan hurled sexually charged abuses against female fans of Persepolis and threw stones at them injuring at least one woman.
The incident has provided further ammunition for those opposed to women’s presence at men’s soccer matches who always argue that male football fans swear profanities, so the atmosphere of stadiums is not suitable for women even if they are seated in a separate section.
Sepahan FC-Persepolis FC match at Tehran’s Azadi Stadium Wednesday
The article called the alleged scheme a “clever” move to avoid direct defiance of the world’s soccer authority (FIFA) that insists on allowing unrestricted access to stadiums to women in Iran.
Authorities banned one Sepahan fan from attending all matches for ten years for disrespecting women.
“This time, rather than issuing a universal ban on women’s entry to stadiums, every big and small incident that happens during games is to be used as an excuse to ban women from entering that same stadium. FIFA will probably be told that the entry of women into the stadium is not prohibited but has been stopped in a certain stadium "for the time being" for certain reasons and that entry will be allowed in the near future after creation of infrastructures [to accommodate women],” the article added.
In an article entitled “The Suspicious Wednesday At Azadi [Stadium]” on Sunday, the conservative Farhikhtegan also alleged that “certain groups” were behind the incident to put an end to female fans’ presence at men’s soccer matches. “Some incidents have taken place in various stadiums in the past few weeks that seem strange and perhaps suspicious,” Farhikhtegan wrote.
Hardliners have been heavily campaigning against female fans’ presence in the past few weeks. In a statement on April 18, fundamentalist seminarians of Tabriz protested to the province’s governor for authorizing women’s attendance at a match.
“The Yadgar Imam Stadium turned into a parade ground for some unveiled women who violated [the hijab] norms,” they said in their statement.
A week earlier, a female fan’s hugging of a player had caused uproar from hardliners. Hossein Hosseini, the goalkeeper of Esteghlal FC was suspendedfor embracing the young girl as any physical contact including an embrace with unrelated females is forbidden by Sharia.
The Islamic Republic banned female spectators from football stadiums for over four decades. FIFA tried to convince the authorities for nearly a decade to lift the unwritten ban and threatened to ban Iran from international competitions if it did not comply.
The matter was finally settled in January by the National Security Council which decided that women could be allowed to attend soccer matches in stadiums.
Prior to that authorities had allowed women on a limited scale to watch some matches at the stadium but a few months after hardliner President Ebrahim Raisi took office, the ban was reimposed despite FIFA’s objections.
In March 2022, hundreds of women who had purchased tickets online to watch the World Cup qualifier between the national team and Lebanon in the religious city of Mashhad were refused entry.
The women were tear-gassed, and pepper sprayed by security forces when they insisted that they had the right to watch the game and protested. Several women were reportedly injured in the incident.
Without apologizing for the violence against women, Iran's football federation blamed “ticket forgers” and women who it accused of lying about their gender at the time of the purchase of online tickets.
A top Iranian official said on Wednesday that Tehran has no blocked funds in Iraq, after the Biden administration issued sanction waivers in 2023 and this year to allow Baghdad to release the Iranian funds.
After a cabinet meeting in Tehran, President Ebrahim Raisi’s legal affairs deputy Mohammad Dehghan told reporters, “We do not have blocked assets in Iraq. Sometimes some obstacles are created that are resolved through dialogue.”
Iran is exporting natural gas and electricity to Iraq, but according to US banking sanctions on Tehran since 2018, Baghdad was not able to transfer hard currency payments for its debts. In June 2023 and again earlier this year, the Biden administration issued waivers, allowing Iraq to send the money abroad.
As of June 2023, Iraq owed Iran an estimated $11 billion, which Iraq could only pay by financing Iran’s food and medicine purchases from its domestic markets. Iran always insisted on receiving the hard currency cash.
Iran's deputy Minister of Economy, Ali Fekri also denied that Iran has any funds held back in Iraq. In an interview with ILNA in Tehran on Wednesday, Fekri denied that Iraq still owes $11 billion. “Such a thing does not exist at all, and we have no outstanding claims or issues in Iraq.”
The US administration claims that Iran can use the funds only for buying non-sanctionable goods, but critics argue that money is fungible, and if Iran can spend the Iraqi payments to purchase civilian necessities, it can use other funds for malign and military activities.
The controversy intensified after last year’s Hamas attack on Israel, believed to have been facilitated by Iran’s financial and military assistance.
The US Central Command (CENTCOM) reported that on Monday Iranian-backed Houthi forces launched three uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) from Yemen over the Gulf of Aden.
According to CENTCOM, a coalition ship intercepted one of the drones, US forces took down another, and the third crashed into the Gulf. There were no injuries or damages reported.
“Later, at approximately 5:02 a.m. (Sanaa time) on May 7, Iran-backed Houthi terrorists launched an anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM) over the Gulf of Aden. There were no injuries or damages reported by US, coalition, or merchant vessels,” added CENTCOM.
Yemen's Houthi attacks in the Red Sea area, which they claim are in support of the Palestinians in Gaza, have disrupted international shipping routes. The Red Sea blockade has led companies to opt for lengthier and costlier routes around southern Africa. The assaults started in mid-November following a call by Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei for Muslims to blockade Israel to force it into a ceasefire amid the Gaza war.
This latest development comes shortly after CENTCOM forcesdestroyed three similar unmanned systems last week in a region of Yemen under Houthi control.
In response to the escalated threat from the Houthis, whose attacks have targeted global shipping, not only Israeli linked vessels, the United States, in cooperation with the United Kingdom, has ramped up military operations within Yemen.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, have reiterated their commitment to a political resolution of the ongoing Iranian nuclear issue as Iran continues to exceed enrichment limits.
President Xi traveled to France as part of his first European tour in five years. The latest declaration follows a previous joint statement made in April last year, where both countries underscored their dedication to diplomatic solutions regarding Iran's nuclear ambitions, as stated on the official Elysee Palace website.
The statement last year stressed the importance of adhering to United Nations Security Council resolutions without compromising their authority or effectiveness.
Despite assurances from Iranian officials that Tehran’s nuclear program is intended solely for peaceful purposes, nuclear experts largely agree that the levels and quantities of uranium enrichment conducted by Iran since 2021 suggest otherwise.
According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Iran is currently enriching uranium to 60% purity, nearing the 90% threshold typically necessary for producing nuclear weapons. Last month, the IAEA's chief said Iran is 'weeks not months' away from nuclear weapons with Iran's nuclear stockpile now significantly exceeding the limits set by the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.
The French government on Tuesday accused Iran of adopting a policy of "state hostage-taking" and "blackmail," intensifying calls for the release of a French couple detained for the past two years.
The condemnation by France highlights a rare and escalating conflict between Iran and Western nations over detained foreign nationals.
Cecile Kohler, a teacher and head of the National Federation of Education, Culture and Vocational Training (FNEC FP-FO), and her partner Jacques Paris, also a member of the same trade union, were arrested on May 8, 2022. They are accused by Iranian authorities of inciting labor protests, charges both their families and the French government deny. The couple had traveled to Iran as tourists, visiting Tehran, Kashan, and Isfahan before their arrest while attempting to return to Paris from Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Airport.
"France condemns this policy of state hostage-taking and this constant blackmail by the Iranian authorities," stated the French foreign ministry. The strong stance comes as activists continue to point out Iran's pattern of detaining Western nationals to leverage concessions.
Apart from Kohler and Paris, other French citizens detained in Iran include Olivier, known only by his first name, and Louis Arnaud, a banking consultant sentenced last year to five years in jail on national security charges. France's foreign ministry reiterated its call for their "immediate and unconditional release" and extended its concerns to all European nationals facing what it described as "absurd charges" in Iranian custody.
The ministry also condemned the Iranian practice of airing forced confessions, a tactic Kohler and Paris were subjected to following their arrest. The method of coercion and the sham trials are seen as part of a broader strategy by Iran, criticized internationally for its judicial processes.
While several foreign prisoners, including five Americans, have been released in recent months through diplomatic negotiations, European citizens continue to be held. Among them are German citizen Jamshid Sharmahd and Swedish national Ahmadreza Djalali, both facing the death penalty under charges their families and international observers claim are baseless.
Sharmahd, a 69-year-old California resident, was abducted in 2020 while in the United Arab Emirates and later sentenced to death by Iran on allegations of leading a pro-monarchist group linked to a 2008 bombing. Despite prior arrests and convictions related to the incident, Sharmahd’s charges are maintained without substantive evidence, drawing criticism from human rights organizations like Amnesty International for the lack of fair trial standards.
Swedish EU diplomat Johan Floderus is another high-profile detainee, facing possible death sentences on disputed spying charges. This comes amid heightened tensions following the life imprisonment in Sweden of former Iranian prison official Hamid Nouri for his involvement in mass executions during the 1980s in Iran.
