Iran Digest Week of November 4th- November 11th
/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.
Nuclear Accord
U.N. agency: Iran continues to block nuclear probe, scales up its nuclear program
The U.N. nuclear watchdog on Thursday said that Iran continues to increase its highly enriched uranium stockpile, which is just a small step away from weapons-grade.
In its latest quarterly report circulated to member states on Thursday and seen by POLITICO, the International Atomic Energy Agency said that Iran increased these reserves further since its last report in September.
More specifically, the IAEA estimated that as of Oct. 22, Iran had 62.3 kilograms of uranium enriched to up to 60 percent fissile purity, an increase of 6.7 kilograms from September.
(Politico)
Women of Iran
Prominent Iranian actor removes mandatory headscarf in defiant protest
One of Iran’s most prominent actors posted an image of herself on social media on Wednesday without the headscarf mandatory for women in the Islamic republic
Taraneh Alidoosti’s apparent act of defiance comes as weeks of protests have rocked the country since the death of Mahsa Amini. The 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman died in mid-September after being arrested by the morality police in Tehran for allegedly flouting the country’s strict dress rules for women.
Alidoosti, one of the best-known actors remaining in Iran, who has publicly backed the protest movement, posted the image of herself with her head uncovered on her official Instagram account.
Economy
EU To Discuss New Iran Sanctions Monday
EU foreign ministers will Monday discuss slapping Iran with new sanctions over its deadly crackdown on protests and support for Russia in Ukraine, member state Lithuania said.
"We will be suggesting additional (Iranian) listings that could be added... to the sanctions list," said Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis on Friday during a visit to Berlin.
"It would have two parts -- for Iranian participation in the war on Russia's side in Ukraine, but also for the human rights abuses that are happening in the cities of Iran."
(Barron's)
Crypto exchange Binance helped Iranian firms trade $8 billion despite sanctions
Crypto giant Binance has processed Iranian transactions with a value of $8 billion since 2018 despite U.S. sanctions intended to cut Iran off from the global financial system, blockchain data show.
Almost all the funds, some $7.8 billion, flowed between Binance and Iran's largest crypto exchange, Nobitex, according to a review of data from leading U.S. blockchain researcher Chainalysis. Nobitex offers guidance on its website on how to skirt sanctions.
Three-quarters of the Iranian funds that passed through Binance were in a relatively low-profile cryptocurrency called Tron that gives users an option to conceal their identities. In a blog post last year, Nobitex encouraged clients to use Tron - a mid-tier token - to trade anonymously without "endangering assets due to sanctions."
(Reuters)
Inside Iran
Iran says it has built hypersonic ballistic missile
Iran has built a hypersonic ballistic missile, the semi-official Tasnim news agency quoted the Revolutionary Guards' aerospace commander as saying, in remarks likely to heighten concerns about Iranian missile capabilities.
"This missile has a high speed and can manoeuvre in and out of the atmosphere. It will target the enemy's advanced anti-missile systems and is a big generational leap in the field of missiles," commander Amir Ali Hajizadeh was quoted as saying.
Hypersonic missiles can fly at least five times faster than the speed of sound and on a complex trajectory, which makes them difficult to intercept.
(Reuters)
Global Relations
Former FIFA head Blatter says Iran should be barred from World Cup
Former FIFA President Sepp Blatter thinks Iran should be barred from the World Cup amid widespread protests in the Islamic Republic sparked by the death of a woman in the custody of morality police, a Swiss paper quoted him on Friday as saying.
"Iran should be excluded from the World Cup," the Blick tabloid reported, saying Blatter at a talk at its publisher's headquarters had demanded harsh consequences and that he would have removed Iran from competition had he still been in charge.
The protests in Iran pose one of the boldest challenges to Iran's clerical rulers since the 1979 Islamic Revolution
(Reuters)
Iran and Russia find common ground through Syrian and Ukraine wars
When a Russian plane arrived in Iran with €140m in cash and a booty of captured western weapons, an exchange for Iranian drones, it marked a new phase in a seven-year alliance between two unlikely bedfellows.
The delivery of cash and weapons was reportedly made in August, after Russia received its first deliveries of drones to support its war in Ukraine. It was Iran’s first known contribution to the Russian offensive in Europe. But the bond between the two countries had been forged on another continent ravaged by war, the Middle East.
At the height of Bashar al-Assad’s scramble to save Syria from forces who had battered his army to the point of defeat, the Iranian general Qassem Suleimani flew to Moscow to meet Vladimir Putin. There he rolled out maps in front of the Russian leader and spelled out Assad’s travails. The visit laid the ground for Russia’s 2015 intervention, and created a pact between two countries with little in common except a shared desire to shred the established order and undermine the west.
Iranian protesters look to outside world for help
The anti-government protests sweeping Iran are now in their eighth week, with no sign of ending, despite a bloody crackdown. The rest of the world has watched with alarm, with some countries taking steps in support of the protests.
The protesters first want to be heard and get news coverage by the world's media. The Iranian government has taken steps to minimise this as much as possible. For instance, foreign correspondents there (the BBC and others are banned) are not permitted to report the protests, film them or even take pictures.
As a result, citizen journalism and posting videos of protests on social media are key to getting the news out. But the government tries to stop this also. According to internet monitoring group NetBlocks, during the last seven weeks, the internet in Iran has often been shut down or massively interrupted.
(BBC)
Iran diplomat summoned by UK Foreign Office after 'credible and significant' threats to journalists
Iran's most senior diplomat has been summoned by the Foreign Office over "credible and significant" threats against journalists living in the UK.
It comes after Iran International, the independent UK-based Farsi-language news channel, released a statement on alleged threats from Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guards.
"Two of our British-Iranian journalists have, in recent days, been notified of an increase in the threats to them," the statement said.
(Sky News)
Analysis
How Iran's Morality Police Enforces a Strict Interpretation of Islamic Law
By: Sanya Mansoor
In 2007, Pardis Mahdavi was 13 minutes into her lecture at a university in Tehran about gender and sexuality in post-revolutionary Iran when the morality police stormed through the auditorium doors.
“Pandemonium erupted. I was…pulled off stage. I was frozen in a state of suspended animation and…turned to look at one of them who had raised a hand and then I blacked out,” Mahdavi says. Iranian authorities charged Mahdavi, who is provost of the University of Montana, with trying to foment a revolution. She was under house arrest for 33 days.
Much of Mahdavi’s research has focused on sexual politics in Iran, a large part of which entails the morality police, an entity that has faced increasing international scrutiny over their role in the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini. (The E.U. and U.S. imposed sanctions on the morality police following Amini’s death and subsequent crackdowns on anti-government protests.) Amini died in state custody after being arrested for “improper hijab.” Her death sparked a sweeping movement in which many women and girls took their hijabs off and cut their hair.
