Iran Digest Week of May 21- May 28
/AIC’s Iran digest project covers the latest developments and news stories published in Iranian and international media outlets. This weekly digest is compiled by Communications Associate Elizabeth Kos. Please note that the news and views expressed in the articles below do not necessarily reflect those of AIC.
Nuclear Accord
Iran Says Inspectors May No Longer Get Images of Nuclear Sites
Iran’s parliament speaker said Sunday that international inspectors may no longer access surveillance images of the Islamic Republic’s nuclear sites, escalating tensions amid diplomatic efforts in Vienna to save Tehran’s atomic accord with world powers.
The comments by Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, aired by state TV, further underscored the narrowing window for the U.S. and others to reach terms with Iran. The Islamic Republic is already enriching and stockpiling uranium at levels far beyond those allowed by its 2015 nuclear deal.
“Regarding this, and based on the expiration of the three-month deadline, definitely the International Atomic Energy Agency will not have the right to access images from May 22,” Qalibaf said. May 22 was Saturday.
(Politico)
Iran Extends Agreement With Nuclear Agency, Averting Crisis
Iran agreed on Monday to a one-month extension of an agreement with international inspectors that would allow them to continue monitoring the country’s nuclear program, avoiding a major setback in the continuing negotiations with Tehran.
Under the agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency, Iran will extend access to monitoring cameras at its nuclear facilities until June 24, Rafael Mariano Grossi, the agency’s director-general, told reporters in Vienna.
Iran’s Supreme National Security Council said in a statement that the decision was made “so that negotiations have the necessary chance to progress and bear results.”
Iran Nuclear Deal: Are IAEA Safeguards ‘Dangerously Obsolete’
As United States and Iranian negotiators attempt to revive the 2015 nuclear deal, experts are sounding the alarm over the standards that govern how frequently international watchdogs inspect the world’s civilian nuclear facilities to ensure that weapons-grade materials are not diverted to military uses.
A report (PDF) released on Thursday by the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center (NPEC), a Washington, DC-based non-profit, warns that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is using long-outdated benchmarks for detecting amounts of redirected nuclear materials needed to make an explosive device with a destructive capacity rivaling the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.
Part of a larger two-year study to assess what will be needed in the coming decades to verify and enforce the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty, the report was released Thursday by NPEC to coincide with the latest round of talks aimed at bringing the US back into the Iran nuclear pact, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
Election
Iran Election Watchdog Disqualifies Three Main Candidates
Iran’s Fars news agency close to the Revolutionary Guard has reported that the election watchdog, the Guardian Council, has finalized the list of candidates eligible to run in the June 18 presidential election, and has published a list of seven names.
Fars said it has obtained the list and three crucial names are missing from the candidate line-up. Former parliament speaker Ali Larijani, former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and Vice President Es’haq Jahangiri.
While Ahmadinejad’s rejection was widely anticipated, the other two hopefuls being disqualified is a big surprise. Larijani, who is a conservative and has been appointed by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei as a special envoy for China, was expected to be the main challenger to the likely winner of the election, Ebrahim Raeesi, who is backed by hardliners.
The disqualification of Jahangir would eliminate the main centrist candidate and will almost seal Raeesi’s victory.
Economy
Iran Bans Crypto Mining After Summer Power Cuts Strike Early
Iran has banned all cryptocurrency mining for the next four months as widespread power outages stir public dissatisfaction across the country.
President Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday that all crypto mining operations in Iran – including legal ones – must shut down until the end of the sixth Iranian calendar month on September 22.
Cryptocurrency mining is the process in which banks of powerful energy-hogging computers known as “rigs” race to verify transactions in exchange for new tokens. The practice can be highly lucrative. But in Iran and other countries, the impact on power grids and the carbon footprint of Bitcoin mining, in particular, has elicited a strong backlash.
Environment
Iran’s Groundwater Depletion is Reaching Crisis Levels, Warn Researchers
The continuation of unsustainable groundwater management in Iran can lead to potentially irreversible impacts on land and the environment, threatening the country's water, food and socioeconomic security.
The authors write that an estimated 74 km3 of groundwater has been depleted from the country's 500 basins and sub-basins between 2002 and 2015. This has contributed to both growing soil salinity and an increase in land subsidence—basically, land sinking. Among the most at-risk regions of land subsidence is the Salt Lake Basin, which includes Iran's capital Tehran, home to some 15 million people and already at risk of severe seismic activity.
"In the short term, the unregistered wells need to be shut down," Nazemi says. "But longer term, Iran clearly needs an agricultural revolution. This requires a number of elements, including improving irrigation practices and adopting crop patterns that fit the country's environment."
(Phys.org)
Women of Iran
EU Calls on Iran to Review Sentencing of Female Activist
The European Union on Thursday called on Iran to review a case of a prominent female human rights activist who was sentenced to 30 months in prison and 80 lashes on charges of protesting against the killing of protesters during the country’s 2019 unrest.
A spokesperson for the bloc urged Iran to look into the case of Narges Mohammadi under “applicable international human rights law and taking into account her deteriorating health condition.”
She was released from jail in October 2020, after serving eight and a half years in prison, after her initial, 10-year sentence was commuted. In that case, she was sentenced in Tehran’s Revolutionary Court on charges including planning crimes to harm the security of Iran, spreading propaganda against the government and forming and managing an illegal group.
Regional Politics
Iran Leader Urges Muslim States to Back Palestinians Militarily, Financially
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Friday called on Muslim states to support Palestinians militarily and financially and help rebuild Gaza after an 11-day conflict with Israel, Iranian media reported.
"Muslim states must sincerely support the Palestinian people, through military...or financial support ...or in rebuilding Gaza's infrastructure," Khamenei said in a statement.
He urged Muslims to demand that their governments back Palestinians.
"All influential elements of (Israel's) regime and the criminal (Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu must be prosecuted by international and independent courts," Khamenei said.
(Reuters)
Rouhani Urges Closer Cooperation With China Against US ‘Cold War’
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani called for closer cooperation between Tehran and Beijing in confronting the American “cold war”.
In a phone conversation with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on Monday, he also stressed the need for the two countries’ closer collaborations in dealing with international issues, such as confronting the coalitions created by the US and its Western allies against independent nations, Tasnim News Agency reported.
Rouhani further praised China’s stances in support of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action in the Vienna talks, stressing the need for the removal of Washington’s unilateral sanctions on Tehran and calling for the acceleration of completion of Arak heavy water reactor in Iran in accordance with the 2015 nuclear deal.
Analysis
Khamenei’s Election Agenda May Slow Revival of Iran Nuclear Deal
By: Parisa Hafezi, John Irish
Weary negotiators appear increasingly unlikely to revive a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers before the Islamic Republic’s June presidential election, but an extension of talks could reap political gains at home for the supreme leader.
The man who ultimately matters in the Iranian nuclear question, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, would like the negotiations between Tehran and six global powers in Vienna to end Iran's economic isolation, officials and insiders say, but at a favourable time.
At stake in Iran is which political faction within the country's complex power structure will take credit for removing U.S. sanctions that were re-imposed after former U.S. President Donald Trump exited the 2015 pact three years ago.
