Iran Digest Week of March 8- March 15
/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
US held secret talks with Iran over Red Sea attacks
The US has held secret talks with Iran this year in a bid to convince Tehran to use its influence over Yemen’s Houthi movement to end attacks on ships in the Red Sea, according to US and Iranian officials.
The indirect negotiations, during which Washington also raised concerns about Iran’s expanding nuclear programme, took place in Oman in January and were the first between the foes in 10 months, the officials said.
The US delegation was led by the White House’s Middle East adviser Brett McGurk and its Iran envoy Abram Paley. Iranian deputy foreign minister Ali Bagheri Kani, who is also Tehran’s top nuclear negotiator, represented the Islamic republic.
Women of Iran
Iran Arrests Four Over Video of Woman's Argument With Cleric
Iran has arrested four people on suspicion of giving a foreign-based broadcaster video of an argument between a Shiite cleric and a woman not wearing the mandatory headscarf, Iranian media reported Tuesday.
Closed-circuit television footage of the row in Iran's Shiite clerical center of Qom has gone viral on social media and has also been aired by the London-based news channel Iran International, regarded as an "enemy media" outlet by the Tehran authorities.
In the video, the woman confronts the cleric for allegedly taking photographs of her waiting with her child in a Qom clinic without the headscarf that has been obligatory for women in public since the years after the 1979 revolution.
(VOA)
Health
Iran Official Says Health System Faces 'Disaster' Over Nurse Exodus
A member of the leadership of Iran's Medical Council (IRIMC) says the issue of nurses migrating to other countries has become a full-blown crisis, leaving Iran's hospitals far below international standards for treating patients.
Abolghasem Talebi, a member of the Supreme Council of IRIMC, told state-run radio on March 11 that the stark disparity between Iran and the global standard for nurse-to-bed ratios highlights the critical state of the country's health-care system.
He said nearly 3,000 nurses leave Iran each year, a figure that starkly contrasts with the 10,000 individuals trained annually at the country's educational institutions. This mass exodus, Talebi said, creates a "disaster" for the nation's health-care system.
Economy
Iranian Workers Left Hanging As Talks On Minimum Wage Stall
Negotiations to determine the minimum wage have stalled, leaving workers dangling about their future just five days before the Iranian New Year.
Mehdi Bagheri, the workers’ representative in Iran’s Supreme Council of Labor, said the council’s meeting on Wednesday failed to reach a final decision regarding the minimum wage as both the representatives of employers and the government do not “appreciate” workers and their efforts.
“We do not have much time to decide on the most important issue for workers and we are not the plaything of any group,” Bagheri stressed, further accusing the government and employers of manipulating statistics in an attempt to lower the worker’s minimum wage.
Environment
Heat, Oil, and Dust: The State of Iran’s Lakes and Its Climate Future
Iran’s southeastern province of Khuzestan—which borders Iraq—was already a dry and dangerous place. It was the site of the fiercest battles in the Iraq-Iran war which followed the Iranian Revolution in 1979, and to this day, the region still has many unexploded landmines.
Yet this legacy of violence is not the only issue facing its residents. As climate impacts mount in Khuzestan, the future looks bleak for both the region’s ecosystems and the people already living on this borderline.
Over the years, Khuzestan also has seen periodic bouts of anti-government protest, including continuing strikes from the region’s steel industry throughout January and February 2024. These labor protests and other unrest have been met with harsh responses from authorities, including a shutdown of internet services, arrests of leaders, and even the use of live ammunition against protestors.
Environment
Heat, Oil, and Dust: The State of Iran’s Lakes and Its Climate Future
Iran’s southeastern province of Khuzestan—which borders Iraq—was already a dry and dangerous place. It was the site of the fiercest battles in the Iraq-Iran war which followed the Iranian Revolution in 1979, and to this day, the region still has many unexploded landmines.
Yet this legacy of violence is not the only issue facing its residents. As climate impacts mount in Khuzestan, the future looks bleak for both the region’s ecosystems and the people already living on this borderline.
Over the years, Khuzestan also has seen periodic bouts of anti-government protest, including continuing strikes from the region’s steel industry throughout January and February 2024. These labor protests and other unrest have been met with harsh responses from authorities, including a shutdown of internet services, arrests of leaders, and even the use of live ammunition against protestors.
Regional Politics
The Azadi Briefing: Taliban's Investment In Iranian Port Signals Shift Away From Pakistan
The Taliban has said it will invest around $35 million in Iran's strategic Chabahar Port, located in the country’s southeast.
The move announced in late February is seen as an attempt to lessen landlocked Afghanistan's dependence on Pakistani ports to access international markets.
Relations between the Taliban and Pakistan, longtime allies, have plummeted in recent years. Islamabad has accused the Taliban of harboring anti-Pakistani militants.
Global Relations
G7 warns Iran not to give Russia ballistic missiles for Ukraine war
The Group of Seven (G7) industrialised powers told Iran on Friday not to transfer ballistic missiles to Russia to use in its conflict with Ukraine, warning that they would take action against Tehran if it did so.
"Were Iran to proceed with providing ballistic missiles or related technology to Russia, we are prepared to respond swiftly and in a coordinated manner including with new and significant measures against Iran," the G7 leaders said in a statement.
Iran has provided Russia with a large number of powerful surface-to-surface ballistic missiles, sources told Reuters last month, deepening the military cooperation between the two countries, which are both under U.S. sanctions.
(Reuters)
China, Iran and Russia stage joint naval drills in Gulf of Oman
The navies of China, Iran and Russia have begun joint drills in the Gulf of Oman, their fifth common military exercise in recent years.
The war games starting on Tuesday coincide with heightened tensions in the region as Israel’s war on Gaza rages for a sixth month and Yemen’s Houthi rebels have launched attacks on ships in the Red Sea in response.
Russia’s defence ministry said the exercises that will run through Friday and involve warships and aviation would focus on the protection of “maritime economic activity”.
Analysis
Saudi-Iranian Relations Restored But Remain Tense
By: David Ottaway
A year after restoring diplomatic ties, Saudi Arabia and Iran still experience tensions. Conversations and diplomatic reopenings haven't translated into significant agreements due to ongoing regional conflicts and deep-seated distrust, especially concerning their allies and the situations in Yemen and Lebanon.
One year ago, on March 10, Saudi Arabia and Iran agreed to renew diplomatic relations after a seven-year rupture and pledged to open up a new era of cooperation in their stormy rivalry for primacy in the Persian Gulf. They have exchanged ambassadors, re-opened their embassies, and held numerous high-level meetings capped off by President Ebrahim Raisi’s visit to Riyadh in November, the first Iranian of his rank to visit Riyadh in eleven years.
The tone of their relationship has changed considerably from outright antagonistic to extremely cautious. They have also both worked to avoid an escalation of the Israel-Hamas war into a regional conflict that attacks on Red Sea commercial shipping by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen threatened to do, as well as upsetting fragile peace talks with Saudi Arabia to end the nine-year-old Yemeni civil war.
