Iran Digest Week of November 11- November 18th
/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
U.S. Navy intercepts 'massive' shipment of explosive material in Gulf of Oman
The U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet said on Tuesday it had intercepted a fishing vessel smuggling "massive" amounts of explosive material while transiting from Iran along a route in the Gulf of Oman that has been used to traffic weapons to Yemen's Houthi group.
U.S. forces found over 70 tonnes of ammonium perchlorate which is commonly used to make rocket and missile fuel as well as explosives, the Fifth Fleet said in a statement.
A Saudi-led military coalition battling the Iran-aligned Houthis in Yemen since 2015 has repeatedly accused Iran of supplying the group with weapons, a charge Tehran denies.
(Reuters)
Nuclear Accord
Iran must cooperate with uranium probe, says IAEA board resolution
The United Nations atomic watchdog's 35-nation Board of Governors passed a resolution ordering Iran to cooperate urgently with the agency's investigation into uranium traces found at three undeclared sites, diplomats at Thursday's closed-door vote said.
The resolution drafted by the United States, Britain, France and Germany says "it is essential and urgent" that Iran explain the origin of the uranium particles and more generally give the International Atomic Energy Agency all the answers it requires.
While it was not the first resolution the board has passed against Iran on the issue - another was adopted in June - its wording was stronger and hinted at a future diplomatic escalation.
(Reuters)
Women of Iran
Do Iran’s Women Protesters Have the Power to Topple the Regime?
Since Iran’s 1979 revolution, women have had limited roles in government while men have held the highest positions of power. Yet women have regularly challenged the regime and incrementally won some rights. Since coming to power in 2021, President Ebrahim Raisi’s government has been especially hostile toward women, and it now is struggling to subdue anti-government protests triggered by the death of Mahsa Amini, a Kurdish Iranian woman.
How much political power do Iranian women have?
Very little. Women have been parliamentarians, diplomats, and cabinet-level ministers, but they are far outnumbered by male officials and have never reached Iran’s highest offices. Iran’s supreme leader must be male, and no woman has been approved as a presidential candidate.
Economy
US slaps sanctions on Iranian media members
The United States has sanctioned six senior members of Iranian state-run media, accusing them of broadcasting forced confessions to undermine the protests roiling Iran.
In a statement on Wednesday, the US Treasury Department said Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) recently produced and broadcast “interviews of individuals being forced to confess that their relatives were not killed by Iranian authorities” during the demonstrations.
Two of the sanctioned individuals, Ali Rezvani and Ameneh Sadat Zabihpour, were identified as “interrogator-journalists”, accused of collaborating with Iranian intelligence agencies to extract forced confessions.
Inside Iran
Iran Cracks Down as Protests Show No Sign of Easing
The Iranian authorities moved aggressively to disperse demonstrations in dozens of cities across the country on Tuesday, as an uprising demanding an end to clerical rule entered its third month, and neither protesters nor the government showed any signs of backing down.
Security forces, adopting new tactics, flew drones and helicopters low over the crowds of protesters, sometimes opening fire on them, videos posted on social media showed.
At a metro station in the capital, Tehran, security forces shot at people waiting for a train on a platform, setting off a rush as panicked commuters screamed and tried to dodge bullets, videos showed. Metro stations have been a common site for protests during the uprising.
Iran’s protesters are painting for freedom
At first they tried performance art. Across Iran, young women and men crouched down, heads hanging in submission, arms cuffed to trees or lampposts. When the police began rounding them up, protesters padlocked mannequins bent double to street signs. In sports matches players adopted similar poses when they scored, re-enacting the fate of Khoda Nour, a protester the mullahs’ men tied to a flagpole without food or drink, a glass of water placed before him, just out of reach.
Then they switched from theatre to visual art. Two months after the death of a Kurdish woman, Mahsa Amini, arrested for showing her hair beneath her mandatory veil, protest art is changing cityscapes. Stencils of Amini and other women killed in the uprising plaster walls, rivalling the state’s ubiquitous murals glorifying martyrdom. Public fountains spew red dye, prompting the authorities to drain them. Stickers cover old street signs with new names. Ekbatan, a western suburb of Tehran, the capital, has been dubbed Arman after a young man shot dead in the protests. Demonstrators brandish the black flag of Islam mockingly cut into slivers like wavy hair. Girls in middle-class north Tehran sport a new style of handbag, with red splashes mimicking bullet wounds.
Global Relations
US and Israel blame Iran after drone strikes oil tanker off Oman
The US and Israel have pointed the finger at Iran after an oil tanker associated with an Israeli billionaire was struck by a bomb-carrying drone off the coast of Oman.
The drone attack on the Liberian-flagged oil tanker Pacific Zircon happened on Tuesday night off the coast of Oman, a Middle East-based defence official told the Associated Press.
The Pacific Zircon is operated by Singapore-based Eastern Pacific Shipping, which is a company ultimately owned by Israeli billionaire Idan Ofer. In a statement, Eastern Pacific Shipping said the Pacific Zircon, carrying gas oil, had been “hit by a projectile” 150 miles (240km) off the coast of Oman.
Ukrainian Analysis Identifies Western Supply Chain Behind Iran’s Drones
New intelligence collected from downed Iranian drones in Ukraine shows that a majority of the aircrafts’ parts are manufactured by companies in the U.S., Europe and other allied nations, stoking concern among Western officials and analysts and prompting a U.S. government investigation, according to people familiar with the matter and documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.
The documentation of Western parts shows how Tehran has been arming itself and its allies with powerful new weaponry despite being the target of one of the most comprehensive sanction regimes in modern history.
Ukrainian intelligence estimates that three-quarters of the components of the Iranian drones downed in Ukraine are American-made, according to documents reviewed by the Journal. The findings were made after the Ukrainian military downed several drones, including an Iranian Mohajer-6 drone that agents hacked midflight and landed intact, according to Ukrainian investigators.
Iran organised 10 kidnap and death plots, MI5 says
There have been at least 10 potential threats by Iran to kidnap or kill British or UK-based people this year.
The figure was revealed by the head of MI5, Ken McCallum, in his annual update on threats facing the UK. Mr McCallum also warned the UK "must be ready for Russian aggression for years to come".
But he said Russia had suffered a strategic setback after a mass expulsion of its spies around the world in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine.
(BBC)
Analysis
What to Know About Protesters Facing Execution in Iran
By: Astha Rajvanshi
In September, a 22-year-old woman named Mahsa Amini died three days after being taken into custody by Iran’s morality police. Since Amini’s death, protesters have taken to the streets to demand a change in Iran’s leadership and an end to gender discrimination and state impunity for weeks. Now, Iranian authorities are cracking down on those taking part in the protests, leading to violence and the deaths of protesters.
But a false claim that Iran plans to execute 15,000 protesters went viral on social media this week. The message took hold when various tweets and infographics began circulating, including one image which read, “Iran sentences 15,000 protestors to death as a ‘hard lesson’ for all rebels.”
While the claim is not accurate, major public figures including Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as well as actors Viola Davis and Sophie Turner, shared the post on their social media.
