Iran Digest Week of October 21st-28th
/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
‘Everyone thinks we have magic powers’: Biden seeks a balance on Iran
President Joe Biden faces growing calls from activists and even a former crown prince to openly back regime change in Iran as the country’s Islamist rulers face a wave of protests.
But Biden and his aides are unwilling to go that far.
Instead, the administration is charting a middle path — one that voices support for the Iranian protesters and helps them through both easing and imposing some sanctions, but which falls short of an all-out pressure campaign to isolate Iran’s government or abandon nuclear talks with the regime, according to six U.S. officials familiar with the issue.
(Politico)
Women of Iran
Iran's women protesters vow long fight for personal freedoms
At the end of September, Donya Rad dared to do something that many Iranian women dream of doing every day: go out in normal clothes and sit carefree in a cafe for breakfast. It cost her 11 days in jail.
Before her arrest, Rad posted a photo of herself and her sister at the cafe, located in the traditionally religious and poorer Javadiyeh neighborhood, in the south of Tehran. Under the picture she wrote, "While working, we took a short break to have breakfast."
A day later, her sister, Maryam (name changed), tweeted that Rad had been arrested.
Economy
The Challenges and Limitations in India-Iran Relations
India-Iran bilateral relations have been facing several challenges ever since the United States imposed sanctions on Iran after pulling out from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in 2018. The bilateral energy relations between India and Iran have not yet been restored, despite Indian refiners’ keenness to import oil from Iran. The U.S. sanctions on Iran remain the primary impediment to resuming energy cooperation between both countries.
In a recent attempt to further crack down on entities that enable Iran to trade oil, the United States imposed sanctions on several trading companies. Among those targeted by the U.S. Department of the Treasury was Tibalaji Petrochem Pvt. Ltd., a Mumbai-based petrochemical trading firm. This was the first direct U.S. response penalty toward an Indian firm for engaging in commercial activities with Iran concerning the oil trade.
Inside Iran
Iran’s Raisi links ‘riots’ to Shiraz shrine attack
Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi has said that “riots” pave the way for “terror” attacks, a day after a deadly assault on a shrine in the southern city of Shiraz was claimed by ISIL (ISIS).
“The intention of the enemy is to disrupt the country’s progress, and then these riots pave the ground for terrorist acts,” he said in televised remarks on Thursday, in an apparent attempt to link the shrine attack to ongoing anti-government protests in the country.
At least 15 people were killed on Wednesday in an attack on an important Shia Muslim shrine in Shiraz, according to official medi
‘This generation is really brave’: Iranians on the protests over Mahsa Amini’s death
Tens of thousands of Iranian protesters have marked 40 days since Mahsa Amini’s death by gathering in her home town, Saqqez, with people in Tehran, Mashhad and other cities also taking to the streets.
Security forces reportedly fired shots and used teargas in Saqqez.
Here, four Iranians describe the 40th day and how the protests have evolved in recent weeks.
'Live fire used again' as Iran protests swell
Three demonstrators have been killed during clashes with Iranian security forces in the western town of Mahabad, state media has reported.
The protesters reportedly targeted government buildings after attending the memorial ceremony of a man killed during unrest in the country.
Security forces also reportedly opened fire at a cemetery near Khorramabad.
Rights group Amnesty International says security forces have killed eight people since Wednesday.
(BBC)
Regional Politics
With unrest in West Bank, US and Israeli presidents focus on Iran
Talks at the White House between United States President Joe Biden and Israeli President Isaac Herzog have focused on Iran, the Israeli government said on Wednesday, as its military engaged in a crackdown on Palestinian groups in the occupied West Bank.
In remarks to reporters before the meeting in Washington, DC, the two leaders did not mention Palestinians despite mounting tensions and violence, especially in the West Bank city of Nablus, where six Palestinians were killed this week.
Instead, Herzog invoked the crackdown on anti-government protests in Iran as he sat next to Biden in the Oval Office.
(AlJazeera)
Global Relations
Iran Is Now at War With Ukraine
For the first time, Iran is involved in a major war on the European continent. Iranian military advisors, most likely members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, are on the ground in occupied Ukraine—and possibly Belarus—to help Russia rain down deadly Iranian kamikaze drones on Ukrainian cities and civilian infrastructure. According to an Israeli news report citing a Ukrainian official, 10 Iranians have already been killed in a Ukrainian attack on Russian positions. Tehran is now preparing to up the ante by providing Russia not only with potentially thousands of additional drones but also, for the first time, with two types of Iranian-made ballistic missiles to supplement Russia’s own dwindling stocks.
(Foreign Policy)
Iran protests spark solidarity rallies in the U.S. and Europe
Chanting crowds marched in the streets of Berlin, Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles on Saturday in a show of international support for demonstrators facing a violent government crackdown in Iran, sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in the custody of that country's morality police.
On the U.S. National Mall, thousands of women and men of all ages — wearing green, white and red, the colors of the Iran flag — shouted in rhythm. "Be scared. Be scared. We are one in this," demonstrators yelled, before marching to the White House. "Say her name! Mahsa!"
The demonstrations, put together by grassroots organizers from around the United States, drew Iranians from across the Washington D.C. area, with some traveling down from Toronto to join the crowd.
(npr)
Analysis
Why Is Iran’s Regime So Afraid Of This Song?
By: Nahid Siamdoust
“Baraye,” the anthem of Iran’s “Woman, Life, Liberty” protest movement—a song woven together entirely from a Twitter hashtag trend in which Iranians express their investment in the current protests—continues to unite Iranians in their opposition to the Islamic Republic several weeks after it was first released online.
For Iranians in Iran but also for the millions in the diaspora, this is the song of a generation, perfectly expressing this political moment and all that is at stake.
What makes this moment different from previous periods of protest is that the wall of acquiescence and pretense that maintained the state’s authority in the public realm has been torn down on a scale not seen since the 1979 revolution. In its recounting of all the painful grievances, “Baraye,” which translates in English to “for” or “because of,” signals the end of patience with the status quo and opens vistas onto a new future with a vocal crescendo that culminates in the word “freedom.”
