Tag: Ebrahim Raisi

  • Iran’s president tries to assuage anger as protests proceed

    Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on Tuesday appealed for nationwide unity and tried to allay anger towards the nation’s rulers, even because the anti-government protests which have engulfed the nation for weeks continued to unfold to universities and excessive colleges.

    Raisi acknowledged that the Islamic Republic had “weaknesses and shortcomings,” however repeated the official line that the unrest sparked final month by the demise of a lady within the custody of the nation’s morality police was nothing in need of a plot by Iran’s enemies.

    “Today the country’s determination is aimed at cooperation to reduce people’s problems,” he advised a parliament session.

    “Unity and national integrity are necessities that render our enemy hopeless.” His claims echoed these of Iran’s supreme chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who blamed the United States and Israel, the nation’s adversaries, for inciting the unrest in his first remarks on the nationwide protests on Monday.

    It’s a well-known tactic for Iran’s leaders, who’ve been mistrustful of Western affect because the 1979 Islamic Revolution and generally blame home issues on international enemies with out providing proof.

    The protests, which emerged in response to the demise of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini after her arrest for allegedly violating the Islamic Republic’s strict gown code, have embroiled dozens of cities throughout the nation and developed into essentially the most widespread problem to Iran’s management in years.

    A sequence of festering crises have helped gas public rage, together with the nation’s political repression, ailing financial system and international isolation.

    The scope of the continued unrest, essentially the most sustained in over a decade, nonetheless stays unclear as witnesses report spontaneous gatherings throughout the nation that includes small acts of defiance — comparable to protesters shouting slogans from rooftops, reducing their hair and burning their state-mandated headscarves.

    The hardline Kayhan day by day on Tuesday tried to downplay the dimensions of the motion, saying that “anti-revolutionaries,” or these against the Islamic Republic, “are in the absolute minority, possibly 1 per cent.” But one other hardline newspaper, the Jomhuri Eslami day by day, forged doubt on authorities claims that international nations had been responsible for the nation’s turmoil.

    “Neither foreign enemies nor domestic opposition can take cities into a state of riot without a background of discontent,” its editorial learn. “The denial of this fact will not help.” Iran’s safety forces have sought to disperse demonstrations with tear gasoline, metallic pellets, and in some circumstances dwell fireplace, rights teams say.

    Iran’s state TV studies that violent confrontations between protesters and the police have killed not less than 41 individuals, however human rights teams say the quantity is way greater.

    An escalating crackdown on the press, with dozens of journalists arrested in the previous few weeks, has stifled most unbiased reporting on delicate points such because the deaths of protesters.

    The latest disappearance and demise of a 17-year-old lady in Tehran, nevertheless, has unleashed an outpouring of anger on Iranian social media.

    Nika Shahkarami, who lived within the capital together with her mom, vanished one night time final month through the protests in Tehran, her uncle Kianoush Shakarami advised the semiofficial Tasnim information company. She was lacking for every week earlier than her lifeless physique was present in a Tehran avenue and was returned to her household, Tasnim reported, including kin had not acquired official phrase on how she died.

    Foreign-based Iranian activists allege she died in police custody, with a whole bunch circulating her picture and utilizing her identify as hashtag on-line for the protest motion. The prosecutor within the western Lorestan province, Dariush Shahoonvand, denied any wrongdoing by authorities and mentioned was buried in her village Monday.

    “Foreign enemies have tried to create a tense and anxious atmosphere after this incident,” he advised the Hamshari day by day, with out elaborating on what occurred.

    As the brand new tutorial yr started this week, demonstrations unfold shortly to college campuses, lengthy thought-about sanctuaries in occasions of turmoil.

    Videos on social media confirmed college students expressing solidarity with friends who had been arrested and calling for the top of the Islamic Republic. Roiled by the unrest, many universities moved lessons on-line this week.

    The prestigious Sharif University of Technology in Tehran grew to become a battlefield on Sunday as safety forces surrounded the campus from all sides and fired tear gasoline at protesters who had been holed up inside a car parking zone, stopping them from leaving.

    The pupil union reported that police arrested a whole bunch of scholars, though many had been later launched.

    In one video on Monday, college students at Tarbiat Modares University in Tehran marched and chanted, “Jailed students must be freed!” In one other, college students streamed via Khayyam University within the conservative metropolis of Mashhad, shouting, “Sharif University has become a jail! Evin Prison has become a university!” — referring to Iran’s infamous jail in Tehran.

    Protests additionally appeared to grip gender-segregated excessive colleges throughout Iran, the place teams of younger schoolgirls waved their hijabs and chanted “Woman! Life! Freedom!” within the metropolis of Karaj west of the capital and within the Kurdish metropolis of Sanandaj on Monday, in response to extensively shared footage.

    The response by Iran’s safety forces has sparked widespread condemnation. On Monday, President Joe Biden mentioned his administration was “gravely concerned about reports of the intensifying violent crackdown on peaceful protesters in Iran, including students and women.” The British international workplace summoned the Iranian ambassador in London.

    “The violence leveled at protests in Iran by the security forces is truly shocking,” mentioned British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly.
    Security forces have rounded up an untold variety of demonstrators, in addition to artists who’ve voiced help for the protests. Local officers report not less than 1,500 arrests.

    Shervin Hajipour, an Iranian singer who emerged as one thing of a protest icon for his wildly well-liked track impressed by Amini’s demise, was detained final week. His lawyer mentioned he was launched on bail Tuesday and rejoined his household in Iran’s northern metropolis of Babolsar.

    In his somber ballad, “For the sake of,” he sings of why Iranians are rising up in protest.

    “For dancing in the streets,” he intones. “For my sister, for your sister, for our sisters.”

  • Iran president says Mahsa Amini’s demise is ‘tragic incident’, however ‘chaos’ unacceptable

    Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on Wednesday stated that the demise of a younger lady in custody had “saddened” everybody within the Islamic Republic, however warned that “chaos” wouldn’t be accepted amid spreading violent protests over Mahsa Amini’s demise.

    Amini’s demise two weeks in the past has sparked anti-government protests throughout Iran, with protesters usually calling for the tip of the Islamic clerical institution’s greater than 4 many years in energy.

    “We all are saddened by this tragic incident … (However)Chaos is unacceptable,” Raisi stated in an interview with state TV, whereas protests continued across the nation. “The government’s red line is our people’s security … One cannot allow people to disturb the peace of society through riots.”

    Despite a rising demise toll and a fierce crackdown by safety forces utilizing tear gasoline, golf equipment, and in some instances, stay ammunition, social media movies confirmed Iranians persisting with protests, chanting “Death to the dictator”.

    Still, a collapse of the Islamic Republic appears distant within the close to time period since its leaders are decided to not present the form of weak spot they imagine sealed the destiny of the U.S.-backed Shah in 1979, a senior Iranian official instructed Reuters.

    Women in #Iran have been tortured, violently assaulted and sexually abused by safety forces.

    The worldwide neighborhood should take motion now!#DefendTheProtest ✊ pic.twitter.com/bHxgSEw4XW

    — Amnesty International (@amnesty) September 28, 2022

    Angry demonstrations have unfold to over 80 cities nationwide for the reason that Sept. 13 demise of 22-year-old Amini, after she was arrested for “unsuitable attire” by the morality police who implement the Islamic Republic’s strict gown code.

    Amini, who was from the northwestern Kurdish metropolis of Saqez, died in hospital after falling right into a coma, sparking the primary huge present of dissent on Iran’s streets since authorities crushed protests towards an increase in gasoline costs in 2019.

    Raisi, who had ordered an investigation into Amini’s demise, stated “forensics will present report on her death in the coming days”.

    Although Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has but to touch upon the protests, a hardline watchdog physique referred to as on the judiciary “to deal decisively with the main perpetrators and those responsible for killing and injuring innocent people and security forces.”

    Khamenei appoints six senior clerics of the 12-member physique, referred to as the Guardian Council.

    Growing help

    State media stated 41 individuals, together with members of the police and a pro-government militia, have died throughout the protests. Iranian human rights teams have reported the next toll.

    People gentle a fireplace throughout a protest over the demise of Mahsa Amini, a lady who died after being arrested by the Islamic republic’s “morality police”, in Tehran, Iran, Sept. 21, 2022. (WANA (West Asia News Agency) through Reuters)

    Raisi backed Iran’s safety forces, saying “they sacrifice their lives to secure the country”.

    Dozens of Iranian celebrities, soccer gamers and artists – inside and out of doors the nation – have backed the demonstrations. Iran’s hardline judiciary stated it’ll press prices towards them, in line with state media.

    “Whoever participated and ignited the chaos and riots will be held to account,” warned Raisi, whereas including that “no one should be afraid to express their views”.

    Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards stated on Wednesday they fired missiles and drones at militant targets within the Kurdish area of neighbouring northern Iraq, the place an official stated 9 individuals had been killed.

    Iranian authorities have accused armed Iranian Kurdish dissidents of igniting the unrest, notably within the northwest which is dwelling to most of Iran’s greater than 10 million Kurds.

    Washington condemned the assault, calling it “an unjustified violation of Iraqi sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

    Early on Wednesday, a video confirmed protesters in Tehran chanting “Mullahs get lost!” “Death to the dictator!” and “Death to the leader (Khamenei) because of all these years of crime!”

    Reuters couldn’t confirm the authenticity of movies on social media.

    Rights teams have reported the arrest of a whole bunch of individuals, together with human rights defenders, attorneys, civil society activists and not less than 18 journalists.

    Amini’s demise has drawn widespread worldwide condemnation. Iran has blamed Kurdish dissidents for the unrest in addition to what it referred to as “thugs” linked to “foreign enemies.”

    Tehran has accused the United States and a few European nations of utilizing the unrest to attempt to destabilise the Islamic Republic.

  • Mahsa Amini’s dying tragic however chaos unacceptable: Iran president amid raging protests

    Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on Wednesday stated that the dying of a younger girl in custody had “saddened” everybody within the Islamic Republic, however warned that “chaos” wouldn’t be accepted amid spreading violent protests over Mahsa Amini’s dying.

    Amini’s dying two weeks in the past has sparked anti-government protests throughout Iran, with protesters usually calling for the top of the Islamic clerical institution’s greater than 4 many years in energy.

    “We all are saddened by this tragic incident … (However)Chaos is unacceptable,” Raisi stated in an interview with state TV, whereas protests continued across the nation.

    “The government’s red line is our people’s security … One cannot allow people to disturb the peace of society through riots.”

    Despite a rising dying toll and a fierce crackdown by safety forces utilizing tear gasoline, golf equipment, and in some instances, reside ammunition, social media movies confirmed Iranians persisting with protests, chanting “Death to the dictator”.

    Still, a collapse of the Islamic Republic appears distant within the close to time period since its leaders are decided to not present the sort of weak spot they imagine sealed the destiny of the U.S.-backed Shah in 1979, a senior Iranian official informed Reuters.

    Angry demonstrations have unfold to over 80 cities nationwide for the reason that Sept. 13 dying of 22-year-old Amini, after she was arrested for “unsuitable attire” by the morality police who implement the Islamic Republic’s strict costume code.

    ALSO READ| Security forces conflict with protestors, over 75 killed as anti-hijab protests intensify in Iran

    Amini, who was from the northwestern Kurdish metropolis of Saqez, died in hospital after falling right into a coma, sparking the primary massive present of dissent on Iran’s streets since authorities crushed protests in opposition to an increase in gasoline costs in 2019.

    Raisi, who had ordered an investigation into Amini’s dying, stated “forensics will present report on her death in the coming days”.

    Although Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has but to touch upon the protests, a hardline watchdog physique referred to as on the judiciary “to deal decisively with the main perpetrators and those responsible for killing and injuring innocent people and security forces.”

    Khamenei appoints six senior clerics of the 12-member physique, generally known as the Guardian Council.

    GROWING SUPPORT

    State media stated 41 individuals, together with members of the police and a pro-government militia, have died throughout the protests. Iranian human rights teams have reported the next toll.

    Raisi backed Iran’s safety forces, saying “they sacrifice their lives to secure the country”.

    Dozens of Iranian celebrities, soccer gamers and artists – inside and out of doors the nation – have backed the demonstrations. Iran’s hardline judiciary stated it can press fees in opposition to them, based on state media.

    ALSO READ| ‘Death to the dictator’ slogan raised in Iran’s anti-hijab protests, 75 killed

    “Whoever participated and ignited the chaos and riots will be held to account,” warned Raisi, whereas including that “no one should be afraid to express their views”.

    Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards stated on Wednesday they fired missiles and drones at militant targets within the Kurdish area of neighbouring northern Iraq, the place an official stated 9 individuals have been killed.

    Iranian authorities have accused armed Iranian Kurdish dissidents of igniting the unrest, notably within the northwest which is house to most of Iran’s greater than 10 million Kurds.

    Washington condemned the assault, calling it “an unjustified violation of Iraqi sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

    Early on Wednesday, a video confirmed protesters in Tehran chanting “Mullahs get lost!” “Death to the dictator!” and “Death to the leader (Khamenei) because of all these years of crime!”

    Reuters couldn’t confirm the authenticity of movies on social media.

    ALSO READ| Fire, blood and Bella Ciao: Key moments from raging anti-hijab protests in Iran

    Rights teams have reported the arrest of a whole bunch of individuals, together with human rights defenders, legal professionals, civil society activists and not less than 18 journalists.

    Amini’s dying has drawn widespread worldwide condemnation. Iran has blamed Kurdish dissidents for the unrest in addition to what it referred to as “thugs” linked to “foreign enemies.”

    Tehran has accused the United States and a few European international locations of utilizing the unrest to attempt to destabilise the Islamic Republic.

    — ENDS —

  • Iran’s anti-veil protests draw on lengthy historical past of resistance

    A younger girl climbs to the highest of a automobile in the midst of Mashhad, a conservative Iranian metropolis famed for its Islamic shrines. She takes off her headband and begins chanting, “Death to the dictator!”

    Protesters close by take part and automobiles honk in assist.

    For many Iranian ladies, it’s a picture that may have been unthinkable only a decade in the past, mentioned Fatemeh Shams, who grew up in Mashhad. “When you see Mashhad women coming to the streets and burning their veils publicly, this is really a revolutionary change. Iranian women are putting an end to a veiled society and the compulsory veil,” she mentioned.

    Iran has seen a number of eruptions of protests over the previous years, lots of them fueled by anger over financial difficulties. But the brand new wave is exhibiting fury towards one thing on the coronary heart of the identification of Iran’s cleric-led state: the obligatory veil.

    Iran’s Islamic Republic requires ladies to cowl up in public, together with carrying a “hijab” or headband that’s purported to fully cover the hair. Many Iranian ladies, particularly in main cities, have lengthy performed a sport of cat-and-mouse with authorities, with youthful generations carrying unfastened scarves and outfits that push the boundaries of conservative costume.

    Updates on the Iran protests over the demise of Mahsa Amini:

    ➡️ At least 41 folks killed in line with state TV
    ➡️ Main reformist get together requires repeal of obligatory Islamic costume code
    ➡️ Skype, Instagram amongst web sites restricted

    Full story: https://t.co/1RmNpjdSR7 pic.twitter.com/vewvjtOfdB

    — AFP News Agency (@AFP) September 24, 2022

    That sport can finish in tragedy. A 22-year-old girl, Mahsa Amini, was arrested by morality police within the capital Tehran and died in custody. Her demise has sparked practically two weeks of widespread unrest that has reached throughout Iran’s provinces and introduced college students, middle-class professionals and working-class women and men into the streets.

    Iranian state TV has urged that no less than 41 protesters and police have been killed. An Associated Press rely of official statements by authorities tallied no less than 13 useless, with greater than 1,400 demonstrators arrested.

    A younger girl in Tehran, who mentioned she has regularly participated up to now week’s protests within the capital metropolis, mentioned the violent response of safety forces had largely decreased the scale of demonstrations.

    “People still are coming to the streets to find one meter of space to shout their rage but they are immediately and violently chased, beaten and taken into custody, so they try to mobilise in four- to five-person groups and once they find an opportunity they run together and start to demonstrate,” she mentioned, talking on situation of anonymity. “The most important protest they (Iranian women) are doing right now is taking off their scarves and burning them,” she added. “This is a women’s movement first of all, and men are supporting them in the backline.”

    Iranian ladies in spiritual and western model costume exhibit for equal rights in Tehran, March 12, 1979. (AP, File)

    A author and rights activist since her scholar days at Tehran University, Shams participated within the mass anti-government protests of 2009 earlier than having to flee Iran.

    But this time is completely different, she mentioned.

    Waves of violent repression towards protests up to now 13 years “have disillusioned the traditional classes of society” that after had been the spine of the Islamic Republic, mentioned Shams, who now lives within the United States.The proven fact that there have been protests in conservative cities like Mashhad or Qom — the historic heart of Iran’s clergy — is unprecedented, she mentioned. “Every morning I wake up and I think, is this actually happening? Women making bonfires with veils?”

    Modern Iranian historical past has been stuffed with surprising twists and turns. Iranian ladies who grew up earlier than the overthrow of the monarchy in 1979 bear in mind a rustic the place ladies had been largely free to decide on how they dressed.

    People of all stripes, from leftists to non secular hardliners, participated within the revolution that toppled the shah. But ultimately, it was Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and his followers who ended up seizing energy and making a Shiite cleric-led Islamic state.On March 7, 1979, Khomeini introduced that every one ladies should put on hijab. The very subsequent day — International Women’s Day — tens of 1000’s of unveiled ladies marched in protest.

    Iranian ladies argue throughout demonstration for equal rights in Tehran, March 12, 1979. (AP, File)

    “It was really the first counter-revolutionary movement,” mentioned Susan Maybud, who participated in these marches and was then working as a information assistant with the overseas press. “It wasn’t just about the hijab, because we knew what was next, taking away women’s rights.” She didn’t even personal a hijab on the time, she recalled. “What you’re seeing today is not something that just happened. There’s been a long history of women protesting and defying authority” in Iran.

    The hijab has been “the lightning rod of opposition,” defined Roham Alvandi, an Iranian historian and affiliate professor on the London School of Economics and Political Science. “It represents the ability of the Islamic Republic to reach down and control the most private and intimate aspects of Iranians’ lives,” he mentioned.

    A century or extra in the past, strict veiling was largely restricted to Iran’s higher lessons. Most ladies had been in rural areas and labored, “so hijab wasn’t exactly possible” for them, mentioned Esha Momeni, an Iranian activist and scholar affiliated with UCLA’s Gender Studies Department.

    Many ladies wore a “roosari” or informal headband that was “part of traditional clothing rather than having a very religious meaning to it.” Throughout the late nineteenth century, ladies had been front-and-center in avenue protests, she mentioned. In Iran’s first democratic rebellion of 1905, many cities and cities shaped native ladies’s rights committees. This was adopted by a interval of top-down secularizing reforms beneath the army officer-turned-king Reza Shah, who banned the carrying of the veil in public within the Thirties.

    Iranian ladies exhibit for equal rights, March 12, 1979. (AP, File)

    During the Islamic Revolution, ladies’s hijab turned an vital political image of the nation “entering this new Islamic era,” Momeni mentioned. Growing up in Tehran, she remembers “living between two worlds” the place household and pals didn’t put on the veil at personal gatherings however feared harassment or arrest by police or pro-government militias in public.

    In 2008, Momeni was arrested and stored in solitary confinement for a month at Tehran’s infamous Evin Prison, after engaged on a documentary about ladies activists and the 1 Million Signatures Campaign that aimed to reform discriminatory legal guidelines towards ladies. She was later launched and joined the 2009 “Green Movement” protests.

    Like Shams, she sees right now’s wave of protests as shaking the foundations of the Islamic Republic.“People are done with the hope of internal reform. People not wanting hijab is a sign of them wanting the system to change fundamentally,” Momeni mentioned.

    The 2009 protests had been led by Iran’s “reformist” motion which referred to as for a gradual opening-up of Iranian society. But none of Iran’s political events — even probably the most progressive, reformist-led ones — supported abolishing the obligatory veil. Shams, who grew up in comparatively spiritual household and typically wore hijab, recounted how in the course of the 2009 protests, she renounced the headband publicly. She discovered herself beneath assault by pro-government media, but additionally shunned by figures within the reform motion — and by her then-husband’s household.

    People gentle a fireplace throughout a protest over the demise of Mahsa Amini, a girl who died after being arrested by the Islamic republic’s “morality police”, in Tehran, Iran, Sept. 21, 2022. (WANA (West Asia News Agency) through Reuters)

    “The major reason for our divorce was compulsory hijab,” she mentioned.

    As Iran has been besieged by US sanctions and several other waves of protests fueled by financial grievances, the management has grown insular and uncompromising. In the 2021 presidential election, all critical contenders had been disqualified to permit Ebrahim Raisi, a protégé of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, to take the presidency regardless of report low voter turnout.

    The demise of Mahsa Amini, who hailed from a comparatively impoverished Kurdish space, has galvanized anger over types of ethnic and social — in addition to gender — discrimination, Shams mentioned. From Tehran’s universities to far-flung Kurdish cities, women and men protesters have chanted, “Whoever kills our sister, we will kill them.”

    Shams says Iran’s rulers have backed themselves right into a nook, the place they concern yielding on the veil might endanger the 44-year-old Islamic Republic.

    “There is no way back, at this point. If the Islamic Republic wants to stay in power, they have to abolish compulsory veiling, but in order to do that they have to transform their political ideology,” she mentioned. “And the Islamic government is not ready for that change.”

  • Under stress, Iran’s chief asks UN: ‘Are deaths of Americans at the hands of US police investigated?’

    The loss of life of an Iranian girl within the custody of the nation’s morality police have to be “steadfastly” investigated, Iran’s president mentioned Thursday, whilst he turned the tables on the nation he was visiting for the UN General Assembly and requested: What about all of the folks killed by American police?

    “Did all these deaths get investigated?” Ebrahim Raisi mentioned at a information convention held in New York on the sidelines of the annual assembly of the world’s leaders.

    He lamented what he mentioned have been “double standards” within the West close to human rights.

    Of Mahsa Amini’s loss of life, which has produced clashes between protesters and safety forces in Iran, he mentioned authorities have been doing what they wanted to do.

    “It must certainly be investigated,” he mentioned. “I contacted her family at the very first opportunity and I assured them we would continue steadfastly to investigate that incident. … Our utmost preoccupation is the safeguarding of the rights of every citizen.”

    A newspaper with a canopy image of Mahsa Amini, a lady who died after being arrested by Iranian morality police is seen in Tehran. (AP)

    Clashes between Iranian safety forces and protesters offended over the loss of life have killed a minimum of 9 folks because the violence erupted over the weekend, based on a tally Thursday by The Associated Press. Iranian police say Amini, detained for violating the morality police’s strict costume code, died of a coronary heart assault and was not mistreated. Her household has solid doubt on that account.

    The scope of Iran’s ongoing unrest, the worst in a number of years, nonetheless stays unclear as protesters in additional than a dozen cities — venting anger over social repression and the nation’s mounting crises — proceed to come across safety and paramilitary forces.

    Raisi, who addressed the General Assembly formally on Wednesday, identified that unhealthy issues occur to folks by the hands of authorities in all places.

    “What about the death of Americans at the hands of US law enforcement?” he requested about his nation’s rival nation, additionally mentioning deaths of girls in Britain that he mentioned weren’t investigated. He referred to as for the “same standard” around the globe in coping with such deaths by the hands of authorities.

    Raisi’s comparability displays a standard strategy by Iranian leaders, who when confronted with accusations of rights violations usually level to Western society and its “hegemony” and demand that these nations equally be held accountable. Neither the United States nor Britain, nevertheless, has morality police vested with authority over residents.

    Raisi, who led the nation’s judiciary earlier than turning into president, mentioned the inquiry into Amini’s loss of life finally rests there. While elections and open debate happen in Iran, the highest echelons of presidency hew carefully to the supreme chief, who has last say on key state issues and appoints the top of the judiciary.

    The protests have grown within the final 5 days into an open problem to the federal government, with girls eradicating and burning their state-mandated headscarves within the streets and Iranians calling for the downfall of the Islamic Republic itself. They are essentially the most severe demonstrations since 2019, when protests erupted over a authorities hike within the worth of gasoline.

    UN Women is deeply involved and saddened by the loss of life of #MahsaAmini in Iran.

    We echo the decision of @UNHumanRights
    , for a immediate, neutral, & efficient investigation by an unbiased competent authority.

    👉 Read our assertion: https://t.co/y0TTyJPQXg pic.twitter.com/GIGzRmyvo0

    — UN Women AsiaPacific (@unwomenasia) September 23, 2022

    While not outright condemning the protests, he appeared to aspect with the deadly response to that has left some protesters useless.

    “What is occurring, having demonstrations … of course these are normal and fully accepted,” he mentioned. “We must differentiate between demonstrators and vandalism. Demonstrations are good for expressing specific issues.” He added: “There is debate in Iran.”

    The demonstrations in Iran started as an emotional outpouring over the loss of life of Amini, whose loss of life has been condemned by the United States, the European Union and the United Nations.

    The US authorities imposed sanctions on the morality police and leaders of different Iranian safety companies, saying they “routinely employ violence to suppress peaceful protesters.”

    Iranian police say Amini died of a coronary heart assault and was not mistreated, however her household has solid doubt on that account. Independent consultants affiliated with the UN mentioned Thursday that stories steered she was severely crushed by the morality police, with out providing proof.

  • Israel sees no new Iran nuclear deal earlier than U.S. November mid-terms

    Israel doesn’t anticipate a renewal of Iran’s nuclear take care of world powers earlier than the U.S. mid-term elections in November, an Israeli official stated on Sunday, after European events to the negotiations voiced frustration with Tehran.

    Having supported then-U.S. President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from a 2015 Iranian nuclear deal which it deemed too restricted, Israel has equally been advocating in opposition to the re-entry sought by the present U.S. administration.

    On Saturday, Britain, France and Germany stated that they had “serious doubts” about Iran’s intentions after it tried to hyperlink a revival of the take care of a closure of U.N. watchdog probes into uranium traces at three of its nuclear websites.

    Tehran referred to as the European assertion “unconstructive”.

    “At this point in time, it appears that a nuclear agreement with Iran will not be signed at least until after the (U.S.) mid-term elections,” the Israeli official advised reporters on situation of anonymity.

    Some Israeli commentators noticed the comment as anticipating reluctance by U.S. President Joe Biden to enter a deal shut sufficient to the vote for Republican rivals to make use of it of their home campaigns in opposition to his Democratic Party.

    Briefing the Israeli cabinet on Sunday, Prime Minister Yair Lapid thanked the European powers “for their forthright stand”.

    “Israel is conducting a successful diplomatic drive to halt the nuclear deal and prevent the lifting of sanction on Iran,” he stated. “It’s not over yet. The road is long. But there are encouraging signs.”

    Iran, which denies looking for nuclear arms, has because the U.S. walkout itself breached the 2015 take care of ramped-up uranium enrichment, a course of that may create bomb gas down the road.

    Israel is just not a celebration to the Vienna talks. But its worries about Iran and threats to take army motion in opposition to its arch-foe if it deems diplomacy a useless finish maintain Western capitals attentive.

  • Iran says it detains Israel-linked community planning sabotage

    Iran mentioned on Saturday its safety forces had arrested a community of brokers working for Israel earlier than they have been capable of perform sabotage and “terrorist operations”, state media reported.

    The announcement by Iran’s Intelligence Ministry got here amid heightening tensions with arch-enemy Israel over Tehran’s nuclear programme.

    “This network’s members were in contact with (Israel’s) Mossad spy agency through a neighbouring country and entered Iran from (Iraq’s) Kurdistan region with advanced equipment and strong explosives,” the ministry mentioned in a press release carried by state media.

    The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office, which oversees Mossad, declined to remark.

    Iran usually accuses its enemies or rivals overseas, corresponding to Israel, the United States and Saudi Arabia, of making an attempt to destabilise the nation.

    The Intelligence ministry didn’t say how many individuals have been arrested and didn’t disclose their nationality. The community deliberate “acts of sabotage and unprecedented terrorist operations in sensitive locations”, its assertion mentioned, with out giving particulars.

    Earlier this month, U.S. President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid signed a joint pledge to disclaim Iran nuclear arms. Tehran says its nuclear programme is peaceable and denies in search of nuclear weapons.

  • Oil producers Iran and Venezuela signal 20-year cooperation plan

    Iran and Venezuela signed a 20-year cooperation plan in Tehran on Saturday as the 2 international locations, among the many world’s prime oil producers, grapple with U.S. sanctions which might be crippling their exports.

    The signing ceremony, carried by Iranian state TV, was overseen by Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his Venezuelan counterpart Nicolas Maduro and happened on the Saadabad Palace in north Tehran.

    The plan consists of cooperation within the fields of oil, petrochemicals, defence, agriculture, tourism, and tradition and was signed by overseas ministers Hossein Amirabdollahian and Venezuela’s Carlos Faria.

    It additionally consists of restore of Venezuelan refineries and the export of technical and engineering providers.

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    “Venezuela has shown exemplary resistance against sanctions and threats from enemies and Imperialists,” Iran’s Raisi mentioned. “The 20-year cooperation document is testimony to the will of the two countries to develop ties.”

    “Sanctions and threats against the Iranian nation over the past 40 plus years have been numerous, but the Iranian nation has turned these sanctions into an opportunity for the country’s progress,” he mentioned.

    Maduro mentioned via an interpreter {that a} weekly flight from Caracas to Tehran would start on July 18.

    Maduro, who arrived in Tehran on Friday, is on a two-day go to and heads a high-ranking political and financial delegation. Earlier, he visited Turkey and Algeria.

    Maduro and Raisi later attended a ceremony marking the supply to Venezuela of the second of 4 Aframax-sized oil tankers, with a capability of 800,000 barrels every, which it has ordered from Iran’s SADRA firm, the Iranian state information company IRNA mentioned.

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    SADRA has been underneath U.S. sanctions for greater than a decade over its hyperlinks to Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards.

    Iran and Venezuela have expanded cooperation since 2020, significantly in vitality tasks and oil swaps.

    In May, Iran’s state-owned National Iranian Oil Engineering and Construction Co signed a contract value about 110 million euros to restore Venezuela’s smaller 146,000 barrel-per-day refinery.

    That settlement was sealed after current negotiations attended by Iranian Oil Minister Javad Owji, who was in Venezuela early final month.

  • Russia and Iran placed on a present of unity — towards the US

    Sitting throughout an extended desk from President Vladimir Putin at a COVID-conscious distance, President Ebrahim Raisi of Iran reminded his Russian counterpart Wednesday that Tehran had been “resisting America for 40 years.”
    And now that Russia was plunging deeper into its personal confrontation with the United States, Raisi advised Putin in televised remarks, it was time to tackle “the power of the Americans with an increased synergy between our two countries.”
    It was a little bit of geopolitical theater on the Kremlin at a important second for Washington and its adversaries. Raisi, the hard-line Iranian chief, began a two-day journey to Moscow on Wednesday designed to showcase tightening bonds between two nations with often-diverging pursuits and a historical past of strained relations — however, more and more, together with China, a single adversary: the United States.
    For Putin, embroiled in a dispute with the United States over spheres of affect and going through harsh sanctions if he follows via on a threatened invasion of Ukraine, it was an opportunity to indicate that Russia has buddies it may well name on in its battles with the West. In retaining with that message, the go to will embrace an deal with by Raisi to Russia’s decrease home of Parliament, a uncommon honor for a visiting chief.
    Iran, its financial system already strangled by US sanctions, is concerned in delicate negotiations to revive the 2015 nuclear accord. Raisi nonetheless voiced tacit assist for Putin in Ukraine, and Iran’s overseas minister emphasised that the 2 presidents had agreed on the “framework” of an settlement governing elevated financial and army cooperation.
    No offers had been signed publicly, nonetheless, and the extent of the Kremlin’s willingness to promote to Iran extra of the fashionable Russian weaponry that Tehran has lengthy sought remained unclear. But together with an upcoming naval train combining warships from Russia, Iran and China, the Kremlin appeared intent on sending a message that it was persevering with to foster new ties that would function a counterweight to the West. Iran, too, is signaling that it additionally has options if Western sanctions usually are not lifted.
    “On the international arena, we are cooperating very closely,” Putin advised Raisi, noting the crises in Syria and Afghanistan, and pledging to deliver Iran nearer to the Russia-led commerce bloc generally known as the Eurasian Economic Union.

    Russia and Iran nonetheless have a number of variations. Despite years of sanctions, Russia’s financial system, not like Iran’s, stays carefully built-in with the West. Putin has labored to foster shut ties with Israel, which Iranian leaders see as an enemy. And in Vienna, Russia has been working with the United States and Europe to attempt to resuscitate faltering negotiations over restoring the deal proscribing Iran’s nuclear program.
    But as Russia’s battle with the West intensifies, Russian officers are more and more prepared to look previous these variations. Grigory Lukyanov, a global relations specialist on the Higher School of Economics in Moscow, mentioned that Russian officers had grown extra aligned lately with the extra strident anti-Western stance of some Iranian counterparts. And Raisi, an ultraconservative cleric who turned president in August, has spoken out in favor of nearer ties to Russia regardless of skepticism within the Iranian public.
    “This visit is oriented not so much toward the domestic audience in both countries but, most of all, toward the West,” Lukyanov mentioned of Raisi’s journey to Moscow. “There are now more supporters in the Russian leadership of adopting Iran’s radical course, which used to be considered unacceptable in Russia.”
    Russia has massed some 100,000 troops round Ukraine, whereas demanding ensures that the NATO alliance not broaden into Ukraine or elsewhere in Eastern Europe. Western officers say Putin might launch an invasion of Ukraine at any time, and have threatened crushing sanctions towards Russia and new army assist to Ukraine if he does so. Raisi, within the public portion of his assembly with Putin, didn’t deliver up Ukraine, however echoed the Kremlin’s longtime disdain for the Western army alliance.
    “NATO’s influence under any pretext in the Caucasus and Central Asia is a threat to the mutual interests of independent countries,” Raisi mentioned, in accordance with the Iranian authorities’s account of the assembly. He was referring to 2 different areas that had been as soon as throughout the Soviet Union and that the Kremlin nonetheless sees as a part of Russia’s rightful sphere of affect.
    Raisi’s presidency consolidated the facility of a hard-line faction that had criticized the earlier centrist authorities of President Hassan Rouhani as too accommodating to the West, aligning Iran extra carefully with Putin’s stance.
    Putin met with Raisi regardless of the Kremlin’s intense efforts to defend Putin from the coronavirus, with the omicron variant coursing via Moscow. The two leaders sat some 20 ft aside, and Putin’s spokesman later advised the Russian information media that the seating association was due to “measures of sanitary necessity.”
    “Neither video conferences nor phone calls can replace in-person contact — even like this,” Putin advised Raisi, pointing on the lengthy desk between them.
    After Wednesday’s assembly on the Kremlin, the Iranian overseas minister, Hossein Amir Abdollahian, posted on Twitter that the 2 presidents had “agreed on the framework of a long-term agreement.” In his remarks Wednesday, Raisi mentioned the doc had been “delivered” to Putin.
    “Tehran and Russia relations entered a new, fast-paced and dynamic path,” Amir Abdollahian mentioned. “Excellent cooperation will begin in this new phase of relations.”
    The 20-year settlement mentioned by Putin and Raisi, Iranian officers mentioned, focuses on know-how transfers from Russia, the acquisition of Russian army gear and Russian investments in Iranian power infrastructure. Iran has mentioned the settlement can be modeled after a sweeping financial and safety deal signed in September between Iran and China. Under that settlement, China will make investments practically $400 billion in a variety of initiatives in Iran in alternate for discounted oil for 20 years.
    “We are definitely pursuing a long-term agreement with Russia because it is a necessity,” Mahmoud Shoori, deputy director of the Institute for Iran and Eurasian Studies in Tehran, mentioned in a telephone interview. “More important than economic partnership with Russia is a military and intelligence alliance.”
    In Russia, many analysts consider that the prospect of elevated Russian army cooperation with different American adversaries is likely one of the Kremlin’s greatest factors of leverage towards Washington. On Tuesday, warships from Russia’s Pacific Fleet entered Iran’s Chabahar port on the Gulf of Oman forward of a deliberate joint naval train with Iran and China, the Russian Defense Ministry mentioned.
    But maybe the thorniest subject confronting Moscow and Tehran is the way forward for Iran’s nuclear program. In his televised feedback Wednesday, Putin advised Raisi that it was “very important to hear your position” on the negotiations in Vienna.
    Talks to revive the 2015 accord, which President Joe Biden needs to rejoin after President Donald Trump withdrew from it in 2018, are floundering. Diplomats counsel they might have just a few weeks left to run earlier than Iran has breached the unique limits so completely that reviving the deal can be meaningless.
    Last November, after a break for Iran’s presidential election, the Raisi authorities returned to the talks and rejected the concessions the earlier authorities had made. With some strain from Russia, Iran then agreed to barter on the idea of the sooner talks, however with out accepting all their earlier concessions.

    Russia, analysts consider, continues to play a constructive position within the Vienna talks, seeing neither a nuclear-armed Iran nor an American or Israeli assault on Iran as a palatable various to the nuclear deal. That means Putin was prone to strain Iran to maneuver quicker — although he could possibly be tempted to make use of Russian cooperation within the talks as bargaining leverage in Russia’s standoff with the West over Ukraine.
    “Russia neither wants Iran with a bomb nor Iran bombed,” mentioned Ali Vaez, the Iran director of the International Crisis Group. “The Russians are very good at compartmentalizing their differences with the West.”

  • Iran, Russia upbeat about progress of nuclear talks in Vienna

    Iran and Russia sounded upbeat about talks on salvaging the 2015 Iran nuclear deal on Tuesday, with Tehran saying an accord was attainable if different events confirmed “good faith” and a Russian negotiator reporting “indisputable progress”.
    Iran and the United States resumed the oblique talks in Vienna on Monday, with Tehran centered on one facet of the unique cut price – lifting sanctions in opposition to it – regardless of what critics see as scant progress on reining in its atomic actions.
    “The Vienna talks are headed in a good direction… We believe that if other parties continue the round of talks which just started with good faith, reaching a good agreement for all parties is possible,” Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian informed reporters in Tehran.
    “If they show seriousness, in addition to the good faith, arriving at a deal soon and in the near future is conceivable,” Amirabdollahian mentioned in a video of his remarks on state media.

    Russian envoy Mikhail Ulyanov mentioned on Twitter: “We observe indisputable progress… Sanctions lifting is being actively discussed in informal settings” in a working group on the talks.
    The seventh spherical of talks ended 11 days in the past after including some new Iranian calls for to a working textual content.
    Western powers mentioned the talks had made little discernible progress since they resumed for the primary time after Iran’s hardline president, Ebrahim Raisi, was elected in June. They mentioned negotiators had “weeks not months” left earlier than the 2015 deal turns into meaningless.
    Little stays of that deal, which lifted sanctions in opposition to Tehran in trade for restrictions on its atomic actions. Then-President Donald Trump pulled Washington out of it in 2018, re-imposing U.S. sanctions, and Iran later breached most of the deal’s nuclear restrictions and saved pushing effectively past them.

    Iran refuses to satisfy immediately with U.S. officers, which means that different events to the deal – Russia, China, France, Britain, Germany and the European Union – should shuttle between the 2 sides.
    The United States has repeatedly expressed frustration at this format, saying it slows down the method, and Western officers nonetheless suspect Iran is just enjoying for time.
    Separately, Iranian media mentioned on Tuesday that Raisi was planning to go to Russia in early 2022 on the invitation of President Vladimir Putin.