Iran offers cautious response to Western sanctions for missiles to Russia

The judiciary labeled her actions “contrary to Islamic principles,” sparking outrage among Iranians who see the move as yet another sign of the government's control over cultural expression.

The Mizan website, a mouthpiece for Iran’s judiciary, announced on Tuesday that Dolatshahi, the production company of the series, and the streaming platform Filimo, have all been subjected to judicial proceedings. The authorities provided no details on the specific charges or punishments.

The scene in question, featured in the seventh episode of Dariush, shows Dolatshahi and veteran actor Atash Taghipour engaging in what could barely be described as dance-like movements. 

Dancing has been officially banned in Iran since the 1979 revolution, with clerics branding it a "sinful act" and "an act of lust." In the eyes of the system, even the most innocent forms of self-expression are to be policed, particularly when they involve prominent public figures like Dolatshahi. Despite these laws, the Iranian people continue to engage in cultural traditions such as ethnic dance which the government refers to as "rhythmic movements" in an attempt to avoid the word "dance."

While Iranian officials claim that content is vetted and approved before release, Dolatshahi’s case is yet another example of Iran's unpredictable enforcement of its laws. The series was released with the necessary permissions from Satra, the censorship body under the state TV regulator, IRIB.

The silence from those involved including Satra, the series producer, and Filimo, reflects the fear of the severe repercussions which could result.

Since the revolution, Iran’s cultural sector has been controlled by the government, and artists have faced constant censorship, harassment, and even imprisonment.

Observers believe that in a society where the economy is crumbling, unemployment is rampant, and basic freedoms are denied, these attacks on artists are nothing more than distractions meant to appease hardliners.

The action has ignited a wave of backlash on social media, with many Iranians mocking the absurdity of the charges. One user sarcastically noted, “Soon, they’ll start punishing people for smiling in public. What’s next, a ban on laughter?” Others have pointed out the system’s “hypocrisy” in its claim to support "cultural development" while simultaneously stifling creativity and entertainment.

As the Islamic Republic continues its authoritarian rule, artists, women, and free-thinkers remain among its primary targets. But the people of Iran, particularly the younger generation, show no signs of giving up their fight for freedom, defying the efforts to control every aspect of their lives, from politics to culture and dress. 

“It is Putin who has escalated this week with the shipment of ballistic missiles from Iran and we’re seeing this new axis: Russia, Iran, North Korea. We urge China not to throw their lot in with this group of renegades,” Lammy said.

Lammy was speaking at a joint press conference with US counterpart Anthony Blinken in Kyiv in which they announced further financial support for Ukraine and censured Russia and Iran.

On Tuesday, the United States and the E3 (Britain, France, Germany) said they had evidence, which they did not immediately release publicly, that Iranian missiles had been shipped to Russia and sanctioned Iranian individuals and entities, including state carrier Iran Air.

Britain and the Netherlands summoned resident Iranian envoys on Wednesday to protest the alleged missile deliveries.

"The UK Government made it clear that any transfer of ballistic missiles to Russia would be viewed as a dangerous escalation and would provoke a significant response," the UK Foreign Office said in a statement.

'Baseless' accusations

Iran and Russia have both rejected the claims as baseless.

“Once again, the US and E3 act on faulty intelligence and flawed logic,” Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi posted on X (formerly Twitter) Wednesday. “Iran has NOT delivered ballistic missiles to Russia. Period... Sanctions are not a solution, but part of the problem."

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had told reporters on Tuesday thhe US had confirmation Russia received ballistic missiles from Iran, warning the missiles could be used against Ukraine “within weeks”.

Blinken said the alleged missile transfer would “empower” Russia in its war against Ukraine and alleged that dozens of Russian military personnel have received training in Iran to use short-range missiles.

Iran and Russia have drawn closer since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Iran has provided Russia with drones that Ukraine says have been deployed against cities and civilians.

The Pentagon said Tuesday that Iran would likely send more missiles to Russia.

“One has to assume that if Iran is providing Russia with these types of missiles that it’s very likely it would not be a one-time deal, that this would be a source of capability that Russia would seek to tap in the future,” Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Pat Ryder said.

Mohammad Hadi Mofatteh, head of the Islamic Center of Hamburg, was ordered to leave Germany after authorities shuttered his center in July for promoting Islamist extremism. His request for an urgent appeal to remain was rejected by a German court and Mofatteh left the country late Tuesday.

His departure comes a little over a year after a Berlin-based Iranian cleric was expelled on similar grounds.

"With the deportation of the former director of the Islamic Center of Hamburg, we have removed one of the most prominent Islamists from our country," Hamburg's Interior Senator Andy Grote said, calling the expulsion a positive step for Germany's security.

In November 2023, German federal police searched the premises of the Islamic Center over suspicions it was supporting Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah.

The center was closed in July for spreading “an Islamist, totalitarian ideology in Germany ... against human dignity, against women's rights, against an independent judiciary and against our democratic state”, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said at the time.

Iran protested the closure of the center and a month later security forces raided a German-affiliated language school in Tehran and closed it in apparent retaliation.

Interior Ministry documents first reported by German newspaper Der Spiegel appeared to show that Mofatteh had received instructions from the office of Iran's Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei.

The correspondence included detailed directives on how to characterize current events including Hamas’ attack on Israel in October 2023.

Mofatteh was in consistent communication with Mehdi Mostafavi, a senior Khamenei aide, the documents indicated.

Last June, another Iranian cleric Nasir Ninknejad, head of an Iran-linked Islamic center in Berlin, was deported.

German police have conducted searches on at least a hundred properties across the country suspected of links to Iran since November of last year, according to the Interior Ministry.

“Iran continues to move further in the wrong direction. Iran continues to expand its nuclear program, to install additional advanced centrifuge cascades, and to produce highly enriched uranium for which it has no credible peaceful purpose,” US Ambassador Laura S.H. Holgate told the IAEA Board of Governors.

The statement stressed that the Islamic Republic of Iran is continually expanding its nuclear program by installing additional cascades of advanced centrifuges and producing highly enriched uranium. "Indeed, Iran’s production of 60 percent enriched uranium runs counter to the behavior of all other non-nuclear weapons states party to the NPT,” the statement said.

Confidential IAEA reports reviewed by Reuters on September 3rd indicate that Iran is persisting with its high-level uranium enrichment program, which could be utilized for the production of nuclear weapons. These reports stressed that despite all concerns, Tehran has increased its stockpile of highly enriched uranium.

Western countries have long argued that there is no civilian justification for Iran to enrich uranium to such a high level.

On the same day the US delivered its latest statement, Russia's Permanent Representative to international organizations in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov, remarked at the IAEA Board of Governors meeting that "if the JCPOA were fully implemented, almost all of the existing concerns about Iran's nuclear program would have been resolved." Ulyanov asserted that the failure to fully implement the agreement was a consequence of the policies adopted by Western countries, particularly the US.

Earlier, Rafael Grossi, the Director General of the IAEA, also highlighted during a meeting of the IAEA Board of Governors that Iran's stockpiles of enriched uranium at 20% and 60% levels continue to grow. He further noted that the Agency does not have adequate information about the production and inventory of centrifuges in Iran.

He noted that the Islamic Republic has also increased the number of cascades used for UF6 enrichment.

According to Grossi's report, the IAEA has lost continuity of knowledge about the production and inventory of centrifuges, rotors, and diaphragms, as well as heavy water and uranium ore concentrate in Iran.

In 2021, the Islamic Republic ceased fulfilling its nuclear commitments under the JCPOA, including the provisional application of the Additional Protocol. Since then, the IAEA has been denied supplementary access in Iran.

September 11 is far from forgotten, but its aftermath is often viewed through the lens of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. What is frequently overlooked is how these costly and traumatic conflicts, and the geopolitical shifts they triggered, have shaped the current regional dynamics. Today’s complex Middle East quagmire, heavily influenced by Iran’s growing support for various actors, can be traced back to the ripple effects of those wars and the changes they imposed on the region’s power structure.

As hijacked airliners struck New York’s twin towers and the Pentagon, killing thousands, Americans united with a strength not seen since World War II. The global community rallied behind the United States, even supporting its swift invasion of Afghanistan to root out the terrorists responsible for the attacks. This unprecedented unity reflected the world’s collective resolve in confronting the threat of terrorism in the immediate aftermath of September 11.

But the ill-planned 2003 invasion of Iraq opened the floodgates to an Iranian expansion few could have imagined on September 10, 2001, when Saddam Hussein still controlled Iraq, practically begging Washington to be left alone and promising to behave. Disregarding the looming dangers of unintended consequences, the Bush administration relentlessly shoveled coal into the furnace of a reckless train, charging toward disaster in the region.

The Iraqi invasion badly damaged the US image among the Arabs, especially that the original excuse for the war, the alleged existence of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction proved false. This fueled a chain of events that allowed Iran to step into the power vacuum left by Saddam, reshaping the Middle East in ways no one foresaw. Meanwhile, the unending war in Afghanistan also sapped resources and focus, perhaps diverting attention from Iran's regional plans, while two simultaneous wars undoubtedly did not help the United States.

A few months after the invasion, signs began to emerge that Iran’s Islamic regime was beginning to build influence among Shiites in Iraq and even assisting the growing Sunni insurgency against the United States.

As the Taliban once famously said, “You may have the watches, but we have the time,” the Iranians began experimenting with a model of proxy warfare that today has brought the region to a new phase of instability, war and the partial closure of the Red Sea to a significant portion of world shipping.

As the US withdrew its forces from Iraq in 2009, Iran found a wide-open playing field in the country, exerting influence in local politics and becoming a king maker in the fragile and unstable democratic system in Iraq.

The more the region experienced tremors, the more Tehran capitalized on them to expand its influence, forming a Shiite crescent that now stretches to the Mediterranean. The first significant tremor came with the Arab Spring, followed by the outbreak of popular protests against Bashar al-Assad in Syria. Tehran quickly stepped in, pledging military support to Assad in suppressing the growing rebellion, largely driven by the Sunni majority. By 2011, Iran was fully committed to the Syrian conflict, sending its Revolutionary Guard as "advisors" and organizing Iraqi, Afghan, and other forces to serve as foot soldiers in the brutal civil war. From 2011 to 2014, Iran’s involvement deepened, establishing a crucial foothold in Syria’s devastating conflict, all in an effort to safeguard Assad’s regime and expand its regional influence.

Meanwhile, the United States focused on diplomacy and sanctions aimed at curbing Iran's nuclear ambitions and fought ISIS in Iraq, without responding decisively to developments in Syria. Russia capitalized on the situation, deploying its forces to support Iranian efforts to crush the Syrian rebels. By the time former President Donald Trump partially reversed U.S. policy and took a tougher stance on Tehran, Syria was largely pacified, solidifying Iran’s Shiite crescent of influence extending to the Mediterranean.

During a brief period, following Trump’s “maximum pressure” sanctions and the January 2020 killing of Qasem Soleimani, Tehran's threat appeared to diminish. However, the situation shifted when President Joe Biden initiated new nuclear talks. Although these efforts ultimately proved futile, the US had already relaxed sanctions, allowing Iran to export nearly 1.5 million barrels of oil per day to China. Additionally, just before Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel, Washington unfroze around $16 billion in Iranian assets, further loosening financial constraints on Tehran.

This has sparked criticism that the Biden administration indirectly enabled Iran’s support for the October 7 attack. While there may be some truth to this, one could argue that the roots of the October 7 incident trace back to earlier events—9/11 and the 2003 invasion of Iraq. These pivotal moments set the stage for the ongoing instability in the Middle East, with Iran gradually expanding its influence over the years.