State telecom contracts in Iraq are giving Iran-aligned companies a key role in one of Tehran's last allies in the Middle East, The Atlantic magazine reported, providing an important lifeline as sanctions and isolation deepen.
Iraq's Ministry of Communications awarded no bid contracts to state conglomerate the Muhandis General Company and an umbrella group of Iran-backed militias the Popular Mobilization Front to maintain the national fiber-optic network, the Atlantic reported.
The business gives the groups the opportunity for illegal profiteering, the magazine cited Iraqi officials and telecoms industry officials as saying, adding that it could give Tehran or its allies the possible ability to surveil Iraqis.
The US Treasury sanctioned MGC this month, accusing it of being led by Iranian Revolutionary Guards-backed militia Kata’ib Hizballah and siphoning off revenues from government contracts.
As parliamentary polls loom early next month, the Iraqi government has championed vast construction projects after decades of violence following a 2003 US invasion.
But Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani has cemented his position by folding Iran-aligned factions including militia leaders who helped win a national fight against Islamic militants into his economic and political fold.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio last week urged Baghdad to swiftly disarm Iran-backed militias in a phone call with al-Sudani, accusing the Shi'ite groups of diverting the Arab nation’s resources to Tehran’s benefit.
With this technical know-how, these militias or their Iranian backers could monitor civilian and government communications.
In a related development, Prime Minister Mohammad Shia al-Sudani sought to authorize a 5G mobile network contract for another consortium linked to the Popular Mobilization Front. A senior judge temporarily blocked the deal, citing national security risks, though legal experts say the suspension may not hold, The Atlantic reported.
Iran's former ambassador to Iraq said on Tuesday that Tehran aims to foster resistance far and wide.
"Resistance is not a proxy force; it transcends time and place, meaning today's resistance is not confined to the geography and ideology of the Islamic world," Tasnim News cited Hossein Kazemi Qomi, former ambassador to Iraq, as saying in Tehran.
"Westerners claim that the resistance is a proxy network backed by Iran, while their claim is baseless, as what has shaped the resistance is religious and ideological identity along with shared threats," he added.
Iran's armed affiliates in Gaza, Syria and Lebanon have suffered blows from Israeli attacks. The armed Houthi movement in Israel and Iraqi militias stand out as Tehran's more intact allies.
Demonstrations were reported in cities including Zanjan, Tabriz, Tehran, Esfahan, Gilan and Fars, with participants chanting slogans that reflected both economic hardship and political frustration, lapse in their pay and benefits.
In Zanjan and Tabriz, retirees gathered outside government buildings, chanting: “People's rights must be settled,” and “Yesterday's warriors are today's claimants. Yesterday's fighters are today's rights-seekers.”
The term “warriors” refers to veterans of the eight-year Iran-Iraq war, many of whom now face financial insecurity.
Iran’s Intelligence Ministry issued a confidential warning in August, anticipating serious fallout from the potential return of UN sanctions under the snapback mechanism.
In Tehran and Esfahan, protesters voiced anger at financial mismanagement, shouting: “The major shareholder devoured our rights,” and “Don't delay—settle our dues today.”
Some chants directly challenged official narratives, with demonstrators declaring: “Our enemy is right here; they lie that it's America.”
In Gilan and Fars provinces, retirees accused both parliament and the government of deceiving the public. “Parliament and government both lie to the nation,” one group chanted, while another called out: “Cry out against this endless injustice!”
Price hike on rise
The protests come amid a sharp rise in consumer prices following the reactivation of UN sanctions by European powers last month. Basic goods have become increasingly unaffordable for many Iranians, particularly those on fixed incomes.
A grocer in Tehran shared a video showing his dwindling stock of rice, lamenting the price rise: “Top-grade Pakistani rice was 14.5 million rials ($13) before. A month later, it hit 21 million rials ($19). How can a head of a family with monthly income of 20 million rials ($18) could afford just for rice?”
Iran’s minimum monthly wage for 2025 stands at 104 million rials ($96), leaving many unable to cope with the rising cost of living.
Another woman posted a video comparing rice prices year-over-year: “This rice cost 11 million rials ($10) last year. Now it’s 33 million rials ($30). Khamenei, for 46 years you chased missiles, war, death to this and that, conquering this and that peak. Today, every calamity you inflicted is boomeranging on you.”
In another clip, a woman displayed two plastic bags of fruit—bananas, oranges, apples, and grapes—costing 20 million rials ($18). She narrated a comparison during the video. “In 1977, a Mercedes Benz coupe was 4 million rials (equal to $3 now). Now I pay this amount for fruit that vanishes in two days.”
A man driving through Tehran recorded a video responding to Interior Ministry claims that there has been no “visible shock” to the economy due to reimposition of UN sanctions.
“Want to see shock? Check the commodity basket. You're unfit to run the country. You must go. Islamic Republic corruption must end so someone honorable can govern.”
Meanwhile, an Iranian health official warned last week that about 120,000 Iranians die each year from nutrition-related causes, as rising food prices and declining consumption of staples such as dairy, meat, fruits and vegetables deepen the country’s public health crisis.
“All kinds of ceremonies, gatherings, advertising or sale of items related to what is known as ‘Halloween’ are completely prohibited in all public and business places,” Iran’s Chamber of Guilds said in a statement, citing the need to protect “cultural, religious and social values.”
It said police would take legal action against violators, including closing venues and referring managers to judicial authorities.
The move comes amid long-standing unease among Iranian authorities over the growing popularity of Western holidays such as Christmas, Valentine’s Day and Halloween among younger Iranians.
Officials and clerics have often described such events as cultural imports that conflict with Islamic values.
Young Iranians join global festivities
Despite the restrictions, public enthusiasm for Western-style festivities has continued to grow. In recent years, decorated shopfronts and cafes in Tehran, Isfahan and other cities have displayed Christmas trees and ornaments, while young people have gathered to mark holidays that once passed largely unnoticed.
The trend has fallen afoul with authorities. Two years ago, hundreds of Iranians gathered outside Isfahan’s historic Vank Cathedral, an ancient Armenian church, trying to attend a Christmas celebration before police dispersed the crowd.
Last December, social media videos showed people in Tehran’s shopping districts posing beside Christmas trees and taking photos with men dressed as Santa Claus, suggesting that such celebrations continue to grow despite official restrictions.
Christianity, Judaism and Zoroastrianism are officially recognized religions in Iran, but conversion from Islam remains punishable by death, and public displays of non-Islamic observances are tightly restricted.
The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) said in a report published Monday that Iran “has stepped up construction” at the so-called Pickaxe Mountain site, about one mile south of Natanz.
CSIS said satellite images taken between late June and late September showed Iran building a security wall around the facility, expanding tunnels, and covering several entrances with gravel and sand. “The increased activity points to the renewed need for greater transparency into Iran’s nuclear activities and ambitions,” CSIS analysts Joseph Rodgers and Joseph S. Bermudez Jr. wrote.
The researchers said it was unclear whether Iran was completing a planned centrifuge-assembly hall or repurposing the site to move other sensitive nuclear work underground. They said Iran could also be preparing a clandestine enrichment facility using its remaining stockpile of 400 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60 percent.
The report also said imagery of Iran’s other main nuclear sites -- Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan -- showed “virtually zero activity or attempts to rehabilitate” damaged facilities.
Construction and site security
A separate report published earlier this month by the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) said satellite images from September showed progress on the security perimeter and finishing work on tunnel entrances at the same site. The report said the site was not yet operational and that activity was focused on construction and reinforcement.
The area, known as Pickaxe Mountain or Mount Kolang Gaz-La, has been under development since 2020, when Iran announced plans to build a new centrifuge facility there after a fire at the Natanz enrichment plant.
Iran restricts IAEA access
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told parliament on Monday that International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors had not been granted access to any sites damaged during the June conflict.
“In recent inspections, the IAEA was not granted access to the sites targeted during June’s war; only two inspections — of the Bushehr power plant and the Tehran research reactor — were carried out with authorization from Iran’s Supreme National Security Council,” he said, according to state media.
He said requests for further access “must be referred to the Supreme National Security Council,” which has delegated the matter to the national nuclear committee.
Iran ends JCPOA limits but remains in NPT
The CSIS report followed Tehran’s October 18 announcement that its commitments under the 2015 nuclear deal had expired. Foreign Minister Araghchi told the United Nations that the move was “in full accordance with Resolution 2231,” which ended on that date, and said Iran was no longer bound by the deal’s restrictions.
Iran, however, remains a party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and continues limited cooperation with the IAEA under its safeguards agreement.
IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said earlier this month that diplomacy “must prevail” to prevent renewed confrontation and that Iran’s “technical know-how has not vanished” despite the June strikes. He said Tehran was allowing limited inspections “in dribs and drabs” and that talks were continuing to restore routine monitoring.