Iran Digest Week of July 21- July 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 associate Samuel Howell. Please note that the news and views expressed in the articles below do not necessarily reflect those of AIC.
US- Iran Relations
Iran kicks off air force drill as US sends more fighter planes to the region
Iran on Sunday began an annual air force drill in the central part of country, state media reported, as the U.S. sends more fighter planes to the region to deter the Islamic Republic from seizing commercial vessels in the Persian Gulf area.
The official IRNA news agency said 11 Iranian air force bases participated in the drill, dubbed Fadaeian Velyat-11, or Devotees of the Supreme Leader-11. It said an air base at the southern port of Bandar Abbas at the mouth of the strategic Strait of Hormuz is active in the drill.
The Strait of Hormuz is the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which 20% of all crude oil passes.
(AP News)
Nuclear Accord
Iran Gives Details to UN Inspectors About 2 Sites Where Manmade Uranium Was Found
Iran said Wednesday it gave new details to the United Nations about two sites near Tehran that inspectors say bore traces of manmade uranium, part of a wider probe as tensions remain high over the Islamic Republic's advancing program.
The comments by Mohammad Eslami, the head of Iran's civilian nuclear program, come as Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers remains in tatters and as Tehran enriches uranium closer than ever to weapons-grade levels. Resolving questions from the International Atomic Energy Agency could see Iran avoid further censure as an October deadline approaches that would lift international restrictions on its ballistic missile program as well.
Speaking after a Cabinet meeting, Eslami said Iran had sent “detailed answers” to the International Atomic Energy Agency.
(VOA)
Women of Iran
Spain grants nationality to self-exiled Iran chess player Sara Khadem
Sara Khadem, the Iranian chess player who fled to Spain after competing in an international tournament without wearing a mandatory hijab in solidarity with the mass protests back home, has been granted Spanish nationality, according to a government minister.
“In response to the exceptional circumstances concerning Mrs Sarasadat Khademalsharieh, I have just granted her Spanish nationality,” Justice Minister Pilar Llop was quoted in the country’s Official Journal of the State (BOE) as saying on Wednesday. He used Khadem’s full name.
A 26-year-old chess grandmaster, Khadem participated in a World Cup event in Kazakhstan in December 2022, without wearing the headscarf, which is compulsory for women in Iran.
Iran Files Case Against Online Retailer Over Failure To Enforce Hijab Rules
Iranian media outlets reported on July 27 that a legal case has been filed against the online book retailer Taghcheh because its female employees failed to observe the compulsory hijab law as the government continues to tighten its enforcement of dress code regulations.
The announcement of the case came hours after Mohammad Mehdi Esmaeili, Iran's minister of culture and Islamic guidance, issued a warning that decisive action against start-ups like Taghcheh, which are licensed by his ministry, would be enforced if they fail to observe rules regarding hijabs and chastity.
The publication of photos of Taghcheh's female employees not wearing the compulsory hijab led to an outcry among some sections of society, with the Fars news agency, which is affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), launching a campaign against the company.
Economy
Two-Thirds Of Airliners Grounded In Iran Due To Sanctions
Iran’s domestic transport services are facing a significant passenger crisis because of a lack of aircraft and trains.
National shortages of available aircraft and locomotives mean the country's aviation and rail sectors are struggling to meet the escalating demand for travel.
On Wednesday, the Mohammad Mohammadi-Bakhsh, head of the Iranian Civil Aviation Organization's, confirmed the existence of a "black market" for plane tickets in the country, expressing the urgency of augmenting the air fleet to alleviate the critical shortage.
Environment
Condition Critical: Desertification Threatens To Turn Iran's Future To Dust
Temperatures in Iran are hitting record highs, rivers and lakes are drying up, and prolonged droughts are becoming the norm, highlighting a water crisis that is turning much of the country’s territory to dust.
The desertification of Iran is occurring at a staggering pace, with officials last month warning that more than 1 million hectares of the country’s territory -- roughly equivalent to the size of Qom Province or Lebanon -- is essentially becoming uninhabitable every year.
The situation has Tehran scrambling to gain control of the situation in a country where up to 90 percent of the land is arid or semi-arid. But the clock is ticking to stave off what even officials have acknowledged could lead to an existential crisis and the mass exodus of civilians.
Inside Iran
Proton Sees Whopping 6,000% Surge In VPN Sign-Ups In Iran
Internet privacy company Proton revealed a jaw-dropping 6,000-percent surge in sign-ups for its virtual private network (VPN) in Iran during October 2022.
This remarkable increase coincided with a notable escalation in the Iranian regime’s crackdown on internet access, a move that followed the death of Mahsa Amini whilst she was police custody.
As demonstrations swept through Iran in mid-September, the government swiftly imposed restrictions on Instagram, the sole international social media platform that citizens were previously permitted to access. Other social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Telegram had already faced bans following the 2009 Presidential election and the aftermath of the November 2019 protests.
Regional Politics
Jordan's War on Illegal Drugs From Syria May Need Iran
When Jordan and other Arab nations brought Syria back into the Arab League, one of the conditions was that it tackle its burgeoning unregulated drug production and stop using Jordan as a transit point for its criminal drug trade to wealthy Gulf nations. However, observers say they are seeing little action from Damascus.
On Monday, Jordan's border forces shot down a drone carrying two kilograms of crystal methamphetamine from Syria. The bust came just a day after Syrian and Jordanian security officials met in Amman to discuss how to end illegal cross-border drug smuggling. Damascus has pledged to rein in its flourishing criminal drug trade in exchange for changing its pariah status with its 2011 brutal civil war.
Observers blame the Syrian leadership of Bashar al-Assad, its military and Iran-backed militias in southern Syria for overseeing the smuggling of mainly the amphetamine Captagon, which is cheaply produced and very addictive, destined for Gulf Arab states. The Syrian government denies any involvement in the production of Captagon.
(VOA)
Global Relations
Argentina demands that Bolivia explain its new defense agreement with Iran
The Argentine government and members of Bolivia's opposition demanded answers Monday following the sealing of an opaque defense agreement between Iran and Bolivia that raised concerns in South America's Southern Cone it could be a way for Tehran to boost its influence in the region.
The deal reached last week has particularly raised concerns in Argentina, where prosecutors have long alleged that Iranian officials were behind the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people. Iran has denied any involvement in the attack.
Argentina’s Foreign Ministry sent a note to the Bolivian embassy in Buenos Aires on Monday “requesting information about the scope of the discussions and possible agreements reached during the official visit of ( Bolivian Defense) Minister Edmundo Novillo to the Islamic Republic of Iran,” an official at Argentina’s Foreign Ministry said, requesting anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record.
(ABC News)
Analysis
The delusional lure of Iran’s ‘anti-hegemonic’ front
By: Jacopo Scita
While most of the Middle East is enjoying a new “multialigned” momentum, Iran has regressed to pursuing a two-decade-old “Look to the East” policy at full speed.
Iran’s leaders have reacted to the apparent death of the 2015 nuclear deal and growing ostracism in Europe due to Iran’s military support for Russia’s war in Ukraine by seeking friends and partners among those sympathetic to its revisionist struggle. But with great powers that ultimately are self-interested and junior partners that have little to offer, the notion of building a successful anti-hegemonic front is more delusion than reality.
Today, the Islamic Republic’s foreign policy appears guided by three interconnected assumptions: first, a rupture from a recent past in which, according to the administration of President Ebrahim Raisi, Iran neglected its ties with China, Russia, and the developing world. Second, the not-so-openly-expressed idea that Tehran can substitute a new web of partnerships for economic and political relationships with Europe and Western-aligned Asian countries. Lastly, the perception that the global order, pushed by the Ukraine War, is shifting from a declining West to a powerful East, and that Iran has a leadership role to play in that arena. All these assumptions, however, seem more the product of an ideological worldview than of realistic calculation.
