Iran Digest Week of June 3 - June 10
/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 associates Tony Liu and Cynthia Markarian.. Please note that the news and views expressed in the articles below do not necessarily reflect those of AIC.
Nuclear Accord
Iran Turns Off U.N. Surveillance Cameras at Nuclear Site
Iran has turned off two surveillance cameras used by the U.N. watchdog agency to monitor a nuclear site, state television reported on Wednesday, the latest sign of rising tensions with world powers over the revival of a 2015 deal that limited Iranian nuclear activities in exchange for the easing of international economic sanctions.
The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran removed two cameras surveying an “online enrichment monitor” installed by the United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency to monitor uranium enrichment, according to Iran’s Press TV. The report went on to say that more than 80 percent
of the U.N. agency’s cameras would continue to operate as before under safeguard agreements.
Iran’s move comes after a snag in its negotiations with world powers over resurrecting the 2015 nuclear deal, which placed limits on the country’s enrichment of uranium. Russia is one of the signatories to the 2015 deal, and its war on Ukraine has further complicated the nuclear talks.
(The New York Times)
Iran’s nuclear chief questions IAEA impartiality as censure looms
Iran’s nuclear chief and other senior officials have questioned whether the global atomic watchdog is politically compromised, as Western powers, backed by Israel, introduce a resolution to censure Iran over its nuclear programme.
Mohammad Eslami, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), said in an interview with Al Jazeera on Monday that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) needs to put a stop to “infiltration by Iran’s enemies” in its operations.
Those reports have said that the agency is not satisfied with answers Iran has provided to the agency’s probes of three sites in Turquzabad, Varamin and Marivan where nuclear particles dating back several decades have been found.
But Eslami said Iran has provided “accurate” answers, and that the IAEA has so far lacked the “will” required to declare Iran’s answers convincing.
(Al Jazeera)
US May Allow More Iran Oil to Flow Even Without Deal, Says Vitol
The US may allow more sanctioned Iranian oil onto global markets even without a revival of the 2015 nuclear accord, according to the biggest independent crude trader.
While a new agreement would limit Iran’s atomic activities and ease US sanctions on its energy exports, talks between Tehran and world powers have stalled since March. Oil traders are increasingly pessimistic that negotiators will strike a deal.
Still, US President Joe Biden could decide that the need to bring down record-high pump prices ahead of November’s midterm elections outweighs the benefit of strictly enforcing sanctions, including by seizing more Iranian oil tankers.
(Bloomberg)
Economy
Carrying Bare Tablecloths, Iranian Pensioners Protest For Third Day
Pensioners and retired government employees, some carrying bare tablecloths as a symbol of how little they have, took to the streets across Iran for a third consecutive day of protests to demand a pension increase.
Protesters on June 8 in the industrial city of Arak, located southwest of Tehran, chanted "our tablecloth is bare" and "Raisi, death to your tricks," a reference to President Ebrahim Raisi, criticizing the government's economic policies despite the president's promises to help families.
The recent round of protests by pensioners and retirees comes after the government announced on June 6 that it would increase the monthly salaries of nonminimum wage retirees by 10 percent, far below a previous pledge for a hike of 38 percent plus 5.15 million Iranian rials ($16).
(Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)
Women of Iran
If I go back to Iran, my husband will kill me
Parisa fled Iran to Turkey to escape her abusive husband. He has threatened to kill her for leaving. Now she risks being deported back to Iran, where he could find her.
Human rights activists say the number of reported so-called honour killings in Iran is rising.
An ‘honour killing’ is simply a murder, most often of a woman by male family members. The victim is killed by a family member or a partner because they are accused of bringing ‘shame’ to the family with their behaviour. The term is highly controversial, as it brings the idea of 'honour' into what is a brutal crime.
(The BBC News)
Inside Iran
Train derailment kills at least 17 in Iran
17 people have died after a passenger train derailed in eastern Iran, the semi-official Fars news agency has said, while over 50 passengers were seriously injured.
The number of casualties could rise, though initial details about Wednesday’s disaster involving a train reportedly carrying some 350 passengers remained unclear.
Four of the seven carriages in the train derailed in the early morning darkness near the desert city of Tabas, Iranian state television reported. Tabas is some 550km (340 miles) southeast of the capital, Tehran.
Rescue teams with ambulances and helicopters have arrived in the remote area where communication is poor. At least 16 people suffered critical injuries, with some transferred to local hospitals, officials said.
(Aljazeera)
Regional Politics
Senior Iranian Officer Dies, Leaving Questions About His Death
The death of a senior Iranian military officer at his home in a Tehran suburb a week ago has fueled conflicting reports that he fell from a balcony, committed suicide or was killed.
The officer, Col. Ali Esmaelzadeh, died about a week after another high-ranking officer in the same unit, Col. Sayad Khodayee, was killed in a drive-by shooting in Tehran.
Their deaths come amid a new wave of heightened tensions between Iran and Israel, which for years have conducted a clandestine war of sabotage and targeted killings.
Iran blamed Israel for the killing of Colonel Khodayee, the deputy commander of the unit, and Israel told American officials that it was behind the killing, according to an intelligence official briefed on the communications.
(The New York Times)
Arab countries normalizing ties with Israel will be exploited: Leader
“Arab and non-Arab governments that moved to normalize relations with the Zionist regime, against the will of their people, and for the will of the United States, must know that these interactions will bring them nothing but exploitation at the hands of the Zionist regime,” Ayatollah Khamenei said while addressing a gathering of Iranian officials in charge of Hajj, the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca.
The Leader said the Zionists are an immediate and obvious plague for the Muslim world, according to Press TV.
Four Arab countries normalized their relations with Israel in 2020 under agreements pushed by former US president Donald Trump. The Arab countries, namely the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco, sparked condemnations in the Muslim world, especially in Palestine.
(Iran Daily)
Greece: Appeals court overturns seizure of Iran tanker's oil
A court in central Greece has overturned a ruling that authorized the confiscation of crude oil from an Iranian-flagged tanker at the center of a volatile dispute over international sanctions.
Greek and Iranian officials confirmed Thursday that an appeals court in the port city of Halkida reversed a lower court’s decision to allow the removal of the Lana’s cargo. Greek authorities temporarily seized the tanker in mid-April.
“By God’s grace, the entire oil shipment will be returned,” the Iranian Embassy in Athens said in a statement posted on social media after the court issued its ruling.
“The issue remains the subject of intense consultations between the two countries to ensure full implementation of the ruling,” the embassy said.
(The Washington Post)
Analysis
Three Challenges That Are Testing Iran’s Regime
By:Ray Takeyh
It has been a year since Ibrahim Raisi’s election as president of Iran, which is grappling with a weak and failing economy, stalled diplomacy over the nuclear deal, and resurgent security threats in the form of targeted assassinations. It’s another round of towering challenges for an Iranian regime that seems intent on hard-line crackdowns on domestic protests and has shown an ability to muddle along on foreign policy.
The Raisi administration is undertaking what it refers to as “economic surgery” to deal with a budget deficit in the tens of billions of dollars and annual inflation running at 40 percent. This effort is not only meant to deal with current economic problems driven in part by U.S.-led sanctions over its nuclear program and its regional activities; it’s also an attempt to address a subsidy issue that has plagued Iran’s economy for decades.
The Islamic Republic is a vast welfare state that subsidizes not just basic food stuffs but critical sectors such as health care and education. Raisi seems intent to move on this front, reducing subsidies on products such as wheat and flour even amid grain shortages caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The Raisi administration has insisted from the beginning that it will not wait for a revived nuclear deal to address economic shortcomings.
(Read More Here)
