Khamenei allows policy review to ease Iran's trade restrictions

Mehdi Chamran, chairman of the Tehran City Council, confirmed on Sunday that the council is now looking for an alternative location to honor the assassinated Hamas leader, killed by Israel amid the war in Gaza in October, with a street name.

The proposal to rename a section of Bisotun Street in central Tehran was introduced last week by councilor Narges Madanipour.

Her proposal was approved by other councilors, most of whom are ultra-hardliners supporting the Iran-backed Palestinian group, Hamas, which countries such as the UK and US designate a terrorist group.

The section in question is between a street named after the lead of Iran's other Palestinian military ally, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), Fathi Shaqaqi, and a nearby square called Jihad.

The City Council’s decision sparked an outcry from thousands of citizens, activists, and politicians who took to social media to voice their opposition. A petition was quickly launched, protesting what many perceived as an attempt to erase an important part of Iran’s heritage and identity.

Cultural Significance of Bisotun

Bisotun is a UNESCO World Heritage site located in western Iran and features an enormous bas-relief and nearly 1,200 lines of multilingual inscriptions by Darius the Great, the Persian king who ruled from 522 to 486 BCE.

The inscriptions, carved into Mount Bisotun, are some of the most significant archaeological relics from ancient Persia. Some nearby archaeological sites date back to prehistoric times.

The mountain also holds a special place in Persian literature, notably in the tragic love story of Shirin and Farhad, written by 12th-century poet Nizami Ganjavi.

One of the critics argued in a post on X that renaming the street after Sinwar—who he said contributed to instability in the Middle East—was an unacceptable affront to Iran’s ancient heritage. The post added that "Bisotun is a cultural symbol, and changing its name is deeply disrespectful," he wrote in his post.

Even politicians who have no objection to honoring Sinwar with a street name have voiced concerns over the renaming of Bisotun Street.

Councilor Narjes Soleimani, the daughter of the late Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani, warned that renaming such a culturally important street could have serious repercussions, highlighting the significance of Bisotun to Iranians.

The legacy of street name changes in post-revolution Iran

Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution that ousted the Shah, Iranian authorities have frequently renamed streets, squares, parks, and other public spaces to reflect the Islamic Republic's ideological values. Many of these name changes have been politically motivated, and some have created diplomatic challenges with other countries.

Shortly after the revolution, Pahlavi Avenue, once the longest streets in the Middle East named to honor the Pahlavi Dynasty, was renamed Mosaddegh Avenue in honor of Mohammad Mosaddegh, the nationalist prime minister overthrown in 1953.

A year later, Islamists who had gained the upper hand in the country renamed the avenue again. It has since been called Vali Asr, a title of the twelfth Shia Imam, Mahdi. Some people still call it Pahlavi.

“Bisotun is one of the prides of Iran's cultural heritage, and eradicating its name from Tehran will not send a good message to Iranians. Why don't you rename Khaled Islambouli Street, [named after] a Takfiri terrorist and associate of Ayman al-Zawahiri, after Sinwar?”, Abdolreza Davari, a former advisor to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who now supports President Masoud Pezeshkian, asked in an X post.

The street referred to by Davari, was named Khalid Islambouli after a lieutenant in the Egyptian army who assassinated the Egyptian president Anwar Sadat in 1981 because Sadat had opened his arms to his long-time friend, the Shah, granted him political asylum, and held a state funeral for him when he died of cancer in 1980.

Cairo still considers the street’s name an affront to the Egyptian nation. Iranian diplomat Amir Mousavi in July 2023 told Faraz Daily that the street name was one of the last hurdles to be overcome to make the normalization of Tehran-Cairo relations, which were severed over four decades ago, possible.

The Pashdan dam is constructed on Harirud river and could significantly reduce the flow of water to Iran’s eastern province of Khorasan Razavi, where over two million residents depend on the river for drinking water.

Iran faces chronic water shortages, especially during summer. The Pashdan dam and other dams planned on the Afghan section of Harirud river will compound water challenges in Iran’s eastern provinces.

Rasoul Mirayini, a water diplomacy expert told Rouydad24 on Monday: “Although the Pashdan Dam has been filled, with robust diplomacy, the rights of the Iranian people must be secured.”

The dam was built with assistance from an Azerbaijani construction firm. It is Afghanistan’s second major dam on the Harirud in the past decade.

Officials in Kabul say the project is necessary for agriculture. Like many such dams, it would deprive downstream regions in Afghanistan, Iran, and Turkmenistan, of essential water.

The 1973 Helmand River Water Treaty guarantees Iran 820 million cubic meters of water annually, but enforcement has been inconsistent.

Iranian officials accuse Afghanistan of unilaterally disrupting water flow with dams like Kamal Khan, completed in 2021. The construction of new dams, they warn, could trigger a deeper crisis in the drought-hit region.

The Helmand River originates in the Hindu Kush mountains and flows westward into Iran, supplying water to wetlands in the Sistan region, including the Hamoun Lake. However, Iran has not consistently received its share of water.

In 1999, the Taliban completely stopped the river’s flow, exacerbating environmental and economic challenges in the region.

The dispute reflects broader challenges of water management in a region plagued by climate change, prolonged drought, and rising demand.

Afghanistan, as an upstream country, argues that its projects are essential for national development. Iran, however, views the disruptions as violations of existing agreements that threaten its eastern provinces’ water security.

The wetlands in Sistan have largely transformed into salt flats, with the once-thriving wildlife now vanished and many local villages abandoned.

In 2019, after nearly two decades of drought, water from the Helmand River reached the Sistan wetlands in southeast Iran, partially reviving the Hamoun-e Hirmand Lake, recognized as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.

Despite diplomatic engagements, including Iran’s hosting of Taliban delegations, the water dispute has no subsided.

Videos and photos of Movahed’s unprecedented act of defiance went viral on social media very quickly, becoming known only as “The Enghelab Avenue Girl” after, having climbed a utility box on Enghelab (Revolution) Ave in Tehran on December 27, 2017, removed her white headscarf, tied it on a stick, and waved it in protest.

The young mother of 32 was arrested within minutes.

Movahed was freed from prison a month later after her first arrest, but her bravery inspired several other young women who came to be known as the 'Enghelab Avenue Girls', protesting on the same spot.

Authorities were eventually forced to build a gable on top of the utility box to stop more girls from climbing it to protest.

Nearly a year later, the young mother climbed a turquoise dome in the center of the very busy Enghelab Square in downtown Tehran with a bunch of red, white, and turquoise balloons and a red and black headscarf in her hand to protest again. She was arrested and was this time sentenced to one year in prison for “inciting people to corruption and immorality” by unveiling.

Movahed served eight months at the notorious Qarchak Prison in the south of Tehran. She has not been seen in public since being freed in 2019 but her name and memory are honored by many every year on social media.

And today, her legacy lives large, thousands of women now appearing unveiled in public arenas, forcing authorities to retreat from implementing a harsh new hijab law drawn up by ultra-hardliners.

The movement was given a rebirth in the wake of the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in the custody of the morality police. It sparked the Woman, Life, Freedom protests across the country in September 2022, protests which lasted for months and saw a tide turn against the compulsory Islamic dress.

During and after the Woman, Life, Freedom protests, scores of celebrities including artists and athletes posted unveiled photos on social media or attended public events with no headscarves. Most of the artists who expressed solidarity with the anti-compulsory hijab movement have been banned from acting, suffering other penalties such as bank account freezes and travel bans.

The public pressure has grown so much in the past year that even Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei appears to have agreed to the shelving of a new and more radical law to enforce hijab, for the fear of inciting unrest if brought into effect.

In a speech in April 2023, Khamenei said that flouting hijab was “religiously and politically haram (forbidden)”, accused foreign intelligence services of encouraging Iranian women to disobey the mandatory head-dress, and urged the authorities to do whatever it took to enforce it.

In his latest speech to a group of women on 17 December, very uncharacteristically, he did not refer whatsoever to the hijab issue and the controversies surrounding it.

Public acts in defiance of the hijab have grown to new heights in recent months despite authorities' threats of severe legal crackdowns, occasional violence against women on the streets, and measures such as impounding vehicles if unveiled women are spotted in them.

There have been a string of now iconic protesters since. In early November, another young woman, Ahu Daryaei, shed her clothes at a university campus in Tehran, reportedly after being harassed by hijab enforcers. She was arrested and sent to a mental health facility but was freed later without charges being brought against her after the story went worldwide.

A few weeks later, Parastoo Ahmadi, a songstress, performed in a historic caravansary in a black evening dress that showed her bare shoulders and streamed her concert live on YouTube. Ahmadi and her band were arrested too but were later released on heavy bail.

Before Movahed’s public act, women’s defiance of hijab had only been done in safe spaces. A campaign was launched by women’s rights activist Masih Alinejad in 2014 on Facebook, My Stealthy Freedom.

Women contributed photos of themselves taken in the car on quiet roads with their hair flowing on their shoulders or in other places where they could “stealthily” remove their headscarves.

But nothing could have predicted the country's biggest rebellion against the mandatory hair covering which has swept the nation, posing the biggest challenge to the government since the Islamic Republic was founded as women from all over Iran continue to rise up.

Local rights group Haalvsh, citing a statement by Ansar al-Furqan, reported on Sunday that the group claimed responsibility for the attack.

The attack took place outside a police headquarters in Bandar Lengeh, a town on the Persian Gulf coast.

While Iranian state media say Captain Mojtaba Shahidi Takhti, the head of Bandar Lengeh police intelligence was the only victim of the attack, a statement by Ansar al-Furqan claims Sohrab Hassan Zadeh, a senior IRGC intelligence member in Hormozgan province, and Bakhtiar Soleimanpour, a delegate from Tehran's central police intelligence unit were also killed in the incident.

Iran International cannot independently verify the militant group's claim.

Captain Javad Chatr-Sahar, the deputy head of Bandar Lengeh police intelligence, was injured in the attack, the IRGC-affiliated Tasnim News confirmed on Saturday citing the local governor.

The identity of the suicide bomber has not yet been precisely identified, the deputy security chief of Hormozgan province said on Sunday, but evidence suggests they were affiliated with what he called terrorist groups.

Authorities in Hormozgan province have arrested one individual in connection with the attack, Iran's judiciary's news agency Mizan reported Sunday citing the provincial judiciary chief.

The bomber was positioned on the two police officers' exit route and triggered the explosion with a remote control, the report by Tasnim news agency said.

Security forces promptly arrived at the scene after the incident and confirmed the attacker was also killed, Tasnim added, citing the local governor Foad Moradzadeh.

The attack came days before the anniversary of twin suicide bombings in January this year claimed by Islamic State which killed nearly 100 people at a southeastern Iran memorial for late top IRGC general Qassem Soleimani.

"A vehicle belonging to the Intelligence Organization of Iran's Law Enforcement Command overturned for unknown reasons while on duty on the Ardestan to Na'ein road, near the Noor Complex," Iranian news agency Rokna reported.

"In this incident, General Jalal Sharafat was martyred due to the severity of his injuries and Major Seyyed Mohsen Mirghasemi was injured," the report added.

Sherafat previously served as the head of the Iranian Anti-Narcotics Police's Cyberspace Center at least until 2019, but it is not clear what his position was at the time of his death.