Iran International
Even goldsmiths were taken aback as huge crowds gathered outside their shops on Sunday, eager to purchase anything from small pieces to expensive gold jewelry. The sudden 'gold rush' was not driven by changes in prices.
Photos and videos posted on social media showed big crowds outside jewelry shops in many areas of Tehran and other cities from the early business hours of Sunday.
The 'gold rush' was triggered by a religious superstition encouraged by some influencers online, who urged people to buy some gold for attracting wealth, or symbols of other big items such as cars that they wish to have.
Mohammad Kashtiaray, Deputy Chairman of Goldsmiths and Jewelers’ Union, says he had never seen such a rush to buy gold in his 64 years of trade. According to Kashtiaray, the rush to buy gold pushed up the prices of gold and gold coins although international prices had remained the same.
He also said most people had purchased very tiny items weighing one gram or less and pointed out the role of social media in forming people’s beliefs and behavior.
There is still no information on the amount of gold sold on Sunday, but prices on Monday were somehow higher than in the past few days.
In a post on X, a gold shop in an arcade in northwest Tehran said they had to stop selling gold coins, which many Iranians buy as an investment, to meet the demand for the gold jewelry on display.
Many people who rushed to buy gold said this was because there was some religious wisdom about purchasing gold on this day.
Some netizens say people were also buying keychains in the hope of being able to purchase homes and cars, or dolls to have children.
“Dream sellers sold dreams to a society whose purchasing power has shrunk… Such happenings are not strange where [economic] development is lacking,” journalist Zahra Ali-Akbari contended in an article published by the moderate Khabar Online news website.
Sunday was the 13th of the Islamic month of Safar in the unofficial lunar Islamic calendar that many Iranians who keep up with religious feasts and other occasions are quite familiar with.
Netizens say the unprecedented rush to buy gold this year was spurred by social media posts claiming the sixth Shia Imam, Imam Ja’far Sadiq (702-765 CE), recommended buying gold on this day to become prosperous. The quote from the Imam, some others say, is not substantiated by any authoritative religious source.
The Instagram and Telegram posts that attributed the recommendation to the sixth Imam were posted by both gold sellers and jewelry businesses and influencers. Whether this was a coordinated campaign by goldsmiths or importers or only spurred by superstition is difficult to gauge.
“Did they really write in Instagram that buying gold on the 13th of Safar is auspicious and people went and did that? Didn’t they think why nobody had heard of this before? Didn’t they think it may have been a marketing campaign by goldsmiths to make up for the slow business in the months of Moharram and Safar?” Iranian journalist Yeganeh Khodami took to X to ask.
In Shia Iran, some businesses, including gold and jewelry shops, experience a setback in these months as many prepare to partake in religious mourning ceremonies.
Another Iranian journalist, Maryam Shokrani, also took to X to comment on the ‘gold rush’. “This degree of superstition is unbelievable!” she wrote.
In an interview with Iran International, Neda Mihandoust revealed that intelligence agents pressured her brother Navid to contact Alinejad under the pretense of making a new documentary about women. When Navid refused, the state retaliated by re-arresting him in August 2023, placing him in Evin Prison to serve a three-year sentence.
First arrested in December 2019, Navid was taken to Evin Prison’s notorious ward 209, run by the Ministry of Intelligence, on charges related to a 2009 documentary about Alinejad. After two months of interrogation, he was released on bail in February 2020. The presiding Judge of Branch 28 of Tehran Revolutionary Court, Mohammad Reza Amouzad, notorious for issuing long and harsh sentences, and sanctioned by the UK and Canada for being involved in serious human rights violations, sentenced him to three years in prison.
Neda told Iran International that after Navid was released on bail, intelligence agents repeatedly pressured him to cooperate by reaching out to Alinejad.
“The interrogator told my brother that if he complied, they could halt the execution of Navid's sentence…every few weeks, he kept contacting Navid and asking him for an answer…The interrogator was asking him to call Masih,” Neda said.
This pressure coincided with a broader plot by Iranian intelligence to kidnap Alinejad and lure her back to Iran, where she could face the same fate as Iranian dissident journalist Ruhollah Zam, who was executed in Iran after being abducted.
“The incident coincided exactly with the disclosure of the Islamic Republic's plan to kidnap Masih Alinejad, which was stopped by the FBI,” Neda added.
US Justice Department announced in July 2021 that the FBI had foiled an attempt by Iranian intelligence agents to abduct Alinejad, luring her back to Iran in a plot that had been in the works since at least June 2020. Four Iranian nationals were indicted for their involvement in the plot.
Alinejad, speaking to Iran International, expressed deep concern over these developments, stating, "I am gravely concerned to learn that Iran’s security apparatus has attempted to coerce an innocent filmmaker into leveraging his connection with me in an effort to cause harm. This disturbing incident highlights the ongoing misuse of Iran’s judiciary by security forces to fabricate charges against innocent citizens, compelling them to collaborate with the regime or serve as instruments in their nefarious objectives."
She added, "These actions provide further evidence that Iran’s judiciary functions not as a genuine system of justice, but as a mere tool in the hands of the security apparatus."
Navid’s refusal to cooperate with the authorities led to multiple warnings and pressure tactics, including the freezing of his bank accounts, and his eventual re-arrest in August 2023. "They warned him that if he didn’t turn himself in, they would take action against his bail. Eventually, after the third warning, they closed his bank accounts to put pressure on him," Neda said.
While on bail, despite a ban on making films and the pressures from Iran’s intelligence agents, Navid turned his experiences into a source of inspiration, directing the underground film Café. The film, starring Setareh Maleki is currently being screened at the Incríveis Film Festival in São Paulo.
Speaking to Iran International, Maleki, who herself was forced to flee Iran following her appearance without the mandated hijab in another underground film commented on Navid’s courage despite state pressures: "Navid truly stood by his principles and refused to cooperate with them to avoid prison. While awaiting his sentence, he made this film underground and without a permit."
The film tells the story of Sohrab, a once-prominent director who, after being banned from filmmaking, spends his days in a cafe.
Maleki also noted that the character Sohrab is deeply reflective of Navid himself. "When I read the script, I asked Navid if the character Sohrab was him. He laughed and said, ‘No, it’s not me.’ But after his sentence came and I learned more of his story, I realized it was him. He created the character of Sohrab so that even behind bars, he could still breathe on the cinema screen."
Although there has been no update on Navid’s case, even behind bars, he continues to resist.
“On August 20, 2024, it will be exactly one year since Navid was imprisoned in Evin. Initially held in Ward 4, he was placed in solitary confinement for three days after sharing the story of a fellow prisoner who died due to delayed medical attention. During that time, he went on a hunger strike to protest his confinement. Afterward, he was moved to Ward 8,” Neda explained.
Asked if Neda herself has faced any threats by the Iranian authorities while advocating for Navid's release outside of Iran, Neda said:
"Navid's interrogator told him that we have a charge against your sister, and when my brother asked him the reason, he said we can explain it to her when she comes to Iran."
As Navid serves his sentence, his story highlights the ongoing struggle for artistic freedom and the Islamic Republic’s pattern of transnational repression, using intimidation and punishment to silence critics both within Iran and beyond its borders.
Iran continues to vow revenge against Israel for the assassination of the Hamas political chief in Tehran on July 31 and has even said a ceasefire in Gaza is 'unrelated' to its retaliation plans, despite previously stating that a ceasefire would halt their attack.
Ali Fadavi, the Deputy Commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), said on Monday there is an "uproar" in Israel amid fears of an imminent Iranian attack. He said they are "waiting day and night for Iran's response", and that is "harder than waiting for one's death."
On Tuesday, Ali-Mohammad Naini, the spokesperson for the IRGC, said there could be a long wait for retaliation against Israel, according to state media.
Jason Brodsky, the policy director for United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), attributes Naini's statement to his role as one of the IRGC's top "experts" in psychological warfare.
The chance of war has been stowed deep into the cervices of both Israeli and Iranian psyches, with the only difference being that Iranians have become 'desensitized' to Iran's psychological games, according to psychotherapist Azadeh Afsahi.
Afsahi, who was born in Iran and now lives in the West treating patients, said Iran has been using phycological war as a tactic for 45 years on Iranian people.
The strategy is to make people feel anxious and unsure of what will happen next, keeping someone in state of hopelessness, fear and a feeling of sickness, she said. The Islamic Republic is intentionally not consistent with their actions, so that they leave people in a constant fearful state of the unknown, she said. Now Tehran is likely trying to keep Israelis in a state of anticipation and apprehension.
"We've been dealing with this psychological warfare of not knowing, and we have surrendered our mind to the Islamic Republic with this game that they play. And this is exactly what they do. They are occupying you with something so they can strike somewhere else," said Afsahi.
"Psychological games are the worst game you can play with people."
Israeli resident Meital Brown told Iran International that the mood is stressful and that she feels like she's "stuck in a bad feeling that's not ending."
The mother of three young kids said she started feeling this way when Iran vowed to strike Israel after the Haniyeh strike. For about a week she and her family didn't leave the house and even postponed seeing family in Tel Aviv out of fear of the so-called imminent attack.
She and her family finally made the trip to Tel Aviv from their home near the border with Gaza, when a car bomb exploded Sunday night. Hamas claimed responsibility for the bombing that shook the city as Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived to promote a U.S.-backed cease-fire proposal.
"I am feeling so stressful. When the kids are at summer camps for summer holidays, I wonder..maybe they will attack there and I'm not with the kids?," said Brown.
Israeli resident Dror Trabelsi isn't letting the threats from the Iranian regime bring down his spirits, and he continues to solder on, motivated to do something positive after October 7.
"It's really the same morning over and over again since October 7th."
Since the atrocities of October 7 where around 1, 200 people, mostly civilians were killed by Hamas, Dror and his brothers Kobi and Eliran created an oasis for IDF soldiers exiting Gaza. The post, known as the 'Shuva brothers' is equipped with showers, coffee, hot meals and other supplies like clean clothes - all free for the soldiers.
Trabelsi said he avoids watching the news and finds the constant talk analyzing when and how Iran may attack Israel only fuels negativity and plays into their psychological games.
"This whole Iran thing is only in the news. It's not a real thing."
He said Israelis are strong and is disappointed to see so many leaving to the West out of fear of a possible war.
"It's literally a psychological game, which by the way, they [Iran] win. If one person is leaving Israel, they win."