Confusion reigns in Iran as internet filtering remains unresolved

Ronaghi, who has frequently been jailed for his criticism of the Iran's ruling system, began his fast from solid foods by sewing his lips shut on Sunday. He pledged to continue until the demands of late journalist and close personal friend Kianoosh Sanjari to free several political prisoners were met.

Sanjari committed suicide last week after warning he would take his own life unless several prisoners, including Salehi, were released. Activists including Ronaghi have blamed the Islamic Republic for Sanjari's death.

“Hossein, please break your strike. For the sake of all of us, break your strike,” Salehi said in a social media post from Dastgerd prison in the central Iranian city of Isfahan late on Wednesday. Detainees in Iran frequently pass messages to confidants who publish them on social media.

Salehi, a prominent voice in Iran’s protest movement, was arrested in October 2022 during the Woman, Life, Freedom uprising after expressing support in his music. Initially sentenced to death on charges of “corruption on Earth,” his sentence was overturned by Iran’s Supreme Court in June yet he remains imprisoned.

“After Kianoosh, I can no longer bear even a scratch on a member of this family. Hossein, please break your strike,” Salehi added in his message on Wednesday, in an apparent reference to the dissident community.

However Ronaghi vowed to persist in pursuit of Sanjari’s demands.

"My decision is this: I will continue with my lips sewn shut until Kianoosh's wishes are fulfilled," Ronaghi wrote on social media Thursday. He had previously reported feeling weaker and that he was imbibing only water, tea and medicine.

"My action with sewn lips is a political protest, and the responsibility for it, whether I am in prison, whether I am out of prison, whether you lock me in at home and prevent the sit-in, is with the Islamic Republic," he added.

Ronaghi later said that he was barred from continuing with his sit-in at Charsou - the site of Sanjari’s suicide in Tehran and described escalating harassment by authorities.

“I now face new forms of restrictions and imprisonment,” he said. “I am constantly monitored, both visibly and covertly, by security forces. They block my movements or detain me in undisclosed locations. It feels as though a prison has been built on this side of the bars.”

Earlier this week Ronaghi said security forces abused him sexually and verbally when he was arrested for a few hours in Tehran on Monday following another sit-in.

Despite these challenges, Ronaghi has planned another sit-in on Friday in Ekbatan, a neighborhood in western Tehran where security forces have been accused of coercing protesters into false confessions.

Last week Iran's judiciary issued death sentences for six individuals accused of involvement in the killing of a Basij militia member during the nationwide protests that erupted in 2022 in what has come to be known as the Ekbatan case.

His sit-in is also due to honor Aida Rostami, an Iranian doctor who treated protesters in Ekbatan and died under unexplained circumstances with state security forces widely blamed by activists for her death.

Rostami, 36, was caring for injured protesters during the Woman, Life, Freedom protests when she disappeared. Her body was returned to her family a day later showing signs of physical abuse according to her family, which says she was tortured to death.

“On Friday, November 22, I will conduct a sit-in at the Ekbatan Complex in honor of the dedicated doctor, Aida Rostami, and for the 'children of Ekbatan' who have endured two years of suffering imposed on them and their families," Ronaghi said Thursday night in a post on social media.

"In the place where you tried to destroy the environment to strip these people of their spirit for life, I will be present,” Ronaghi added. “Kianoosh's path will continue, even if I am left with no strength or if I am no longer here. Do whatever you wish."

Iran condemned the move and ordered the activation of advanced centrifuges in response.

The resolution, backed by Western nations including France, Germany, and the United Kingdom (E3), follows months of heightened tensions over Iran’s uranium enrichment.

It cites ongoing violations of a 2015 international deal called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), with Tehran now holding a stockpile of enriched uranium more than 32 times the limit under the agreement.

Nineteen countries voted in favor and three - China, Russia and Burkina Faso - against, with 12 abstaining during the quarterly meeting of the Board of Governors.

Iran bashed the resolution, saying it lacked the support of nearly half of the IAEA's member states and was pushed through by the United States and the three European sponsors to advance their political agendas.

Referring to a recent visit to Tehran by IAEA chief Rafael Grossi, Iran's foreign ministry said on X: "This politicized, unrealistic, and destructive approach undermines the positive atmosphere created and the understandings that have resulted from it."

The statement added that Iran was activating advanced centrifuges in retaliation but that the country's nuclear program would remain peaceful.

The resolution follows a similar IAEA rebuke in June calling on Iran to step up cooperation with the watchdog and reverse its recent barring of inspectors despite concerns Tehran would respond by boosting its activities.

E3 flags nuclear escalation

In a joint statement delivered to the IAEA board, France, Germany, and the UK expressed alarm over Iran’s stockpile of uranium enriched to 60%, a level well beyond civilian use and close to weapons-grade.

“Iran now has well over four IAEA significant quantities of uranium enriched up to 60%, the approximate amount of nuclear material from which the possibility of manufacturing a nuclear explosive device cannot be excluded,” The E3 said.

The statement said that over the past five months, Iran had installed six additional cascades of advanced centrifuges at its Natanz facility, significantly increasing its enrichment capacity.

It also criticized Iran’s continued restrictions on IAEA inspectors, including the de-designation, or revocation of accreditation, of experienced personnel which has impeded the Agency’s ability to verify Tehran’s claims of peaceful intentions.

Iran responds with warnings

Iranian officials had previously dismissed the resolution, accusing the E3 and their allies of undermining recent diplomatic efforts. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told his French counterpart on Wednesday that the move complicates matters and contradicted the "positive atmosphere created between Iran and the IAEA.”

Tehran had recently proposed halting its enrichment of uranium to 60% but only after accumulating a stockpile of 185 kilograms. While this offer was mentioned in Grossi’s latest report, Western diplomats dismissed it as insufficient, noting that the material could easily be further enriched for weapons purposes.

Iran has maintained that its nuclear program is solely for peaceful purposes, a claim met with skepticism by Western powers citing Iran’s lack of transparency and history of non-compliance.

Long-running disputes

The IAEA resolution also addressed unresolved issues, including the presence of unexplained uranium traces at undeclared sites and limited access for inspectors to critical facilities. Grossi’s recent trip to Tehran aimed to persuade Iranian leaders to improve cooperation and return to broader negotiations.

The resolution is seen as a step toward potentially referring Iran’s nuclear dossier back to the UN Security Council, where Western nations could trigger a so -called snapback mechanism to reinstate international sanctions lifted under the JCPOA.

The government's Targeted Subsidies Organization, overseen by the Planning and Budget Organization, said on Thursday that the necessary funds from oil and gas revenues were not transferred to the government treasury, causing the delay.

Tasnim news agency quoted informed sources within the Planning and Budget Organization as saying that the Oil Ministry owes the Targeted Subsidies Organization approximately $700 million.

The monthly subsidy for Iran’s middle-income group, comprising 51 million people, is 3,000,000 rials (about $5) per person, requiring a monthly budget of about $255 million. The government also provides 4,000,000 rials (about $7) per month to low-income households, approximately 28 million people.

This means that the government needs a total amount of $440 million per month – or about $5.3 billion annually -- for the cash handouts. This is more than 6 percent of the total government annual budget. 

With soaring inflation and a depreciating currency, the cash handouts have become almost meaningless for the vast majority of recipients.

In 2010 when then-President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad introduced the cash handout scheme, the amount was 450,000 rials, a huge boon at roughly $45 a person or nearly $200 a month for a family of four.

The average income of an Iranian wage earner was equivalent to about $350 then. Today, the amount is about $150 to $250.

The budget deficit for subsidies has been a persistent problem for the government over the past year. The budget bill for the current Iranian year starting March 20 mandates the removal of subsidies for so-called ineligible households.

The definition of households ineligible for government support includes those classified as high-income. Specific examples of such households are those with members residing abroad or those who take five or more international trips annually.

Labor and Social Affairs Minister Ahmad Meydarihas said that this process will be gradual but has not indicated any plans to increase subsidies for the needy.

53 of those killed were Syrian members of armed groups allied with Iran, while 22 others were non-Syrians, primarily members of Iraq’s al-Nujaba militia, the rights group said on Thursday. Four Hezbollah operatives were also among the dead and 34 people were injured, including seven civilians.

The attacks, which the Syrian Observatory attributed to Israel, targeted three sites in Palmyra, including an arms depot in the Al-Jam’iya neighborhood, another location near an industrial area, and a meeting place for leaders of pro-Iranian militias, including al-Nujaba members and a Hezbollah commander.

Some of the locations were near Palmyra’s famed Roman-era archaeological sites, according to initial reports.

The Syrian Ministry of Defense said 10 Syrian soldiers were killed in the strike, which caused significant damage to infrastructure and buildings in the surrounding area.

Syria’s state-run SANA news agency, which also attributed the strike to Israel, said residential buildings, an industrial area, and a militia headquarters were among the targets.

The Israeli military has not commented on the airstrike, consistent with its usual policy on such operations. However, the attacks have been ongoing for several years as the Jewish state continues to target Iranian-backed groups in Syria and Iranian military infrastructure.

The attack follows strikes by the US Central Command (CENTCOM) earlier this month on nine targets linked to Iran in Syria. The strikes were intended to limit the operational capacity of Iran-affiliated groups accused of targeting US and coalition forces.

“Our message is clear. Attacks against US and coalition partners in the region will not be tolerated,” CENTCOM commander Army Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla said in a statement on the strikes on November 12. “We will continue to take every step necessary to protect our personnel and coalition partners and respond to reckless attacks.”

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitoring group known for its opposition to the Assad regime. highlight the roles of foreign-backed groups operating in Syria’s ongoing conflict, including those supported by Iran.

Presented to parliament by Ahmadreza Dastgheib, the head of the SAC, the budget deviation report for Iran's fiscal year ending in March 21 highlights a dramatic escalation in financial mismanagement, with losses exceeding earlier projections by large margins.

According to the report, the government estimated that 17 state-owned companies would incur losses, amounting to 210 trillion rials ($300 million). Instead, the actual figures soared to 3,540 trillion rials ($5.057 billion) in total losses, spread across 134 companies.

"Eighty percent of these losses are concentrated in just six companies, including the Government Trading Corporation of Iran and the Targeted Subsidies Organization," the report added.

The second, an organization affiliated with the National Budget and Planning Organization, is responsible for implementing the provisions of the Targeted Subsidies Law and managing the funds related to this legislation.

Among the worst-performing entities was the Government Trading Corporation of Iran, a state-owned company implicated in multiple corruption scandals. Its losses jumped from 390 trillion rials ($557 million) in 2021 to 1,370 trillion rials ($1.957 billion) by 2023, according to the report.

Despite the figures, the corporation continues to receive significant state-backed loans, ranking as the second-largest loan recipient among executive bodies.

The Ministry of Agriculture, under whose purview the company operates, has also faced repeated allegations of corruption, including irregularities in livestock feed imports and scandals such as the Debsh Tea case.

The Debsh Tea scandal, which emerged in 2023, is one of Iran's most significant corruption cases. The Debsh Agriculture and Industrial Group, led by CEO Akbar Rahimi, received approximately $3.37 billion in government-subsidized foreign currency between 2019 and 2022, intended for importing tea and related machinery. Instead, the company diverted about $1.4 billion of these funds, selling the currency on the open market at higher rates, resulting in substantial illicit profits.

While the Government Trading Corporation of Iran has faced public scrutiny, the problem is far from isolated. Other significant loss-makers include the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) and the Iranian Health Insurance Organization. Collectively, these entities represent a growing financial burden on the state amid an already strained economy.

Supporters of the Raisi administration have portrayed its policies as a lifeline for struggling businesses and industries. However, the audit report starkly contradicts this narrative, exposing deep financial mismanagement and a growing crisis among state-owned enterprises.

As Iran grapples with economic constraints and public discontent, these revelations could fuel further scrutiny of the Raisi administration’s stated goal of revitalizing the country’s industries.