Daily Report for Thursday, August 4, 2016
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Report for
Thursday, August 4, 2016 Mordad 14, 1395
Highlights, Page 2 News Briefs, Page 3 Other Stories, Page 3
The taming of the rude: Ultraconservative weekly shut down after calling actors “cuckold”, Page 5
Breach of promises weakens moderation in Iran‟s nuclear policy, Page 7
Daily Report for Thursday, August 4, 2016
2 Highlights
To target non-orthodox appearance of actors and actresses, Lasarat weekly has gone to great lengths. Will it pay the price this time? (See Page 5)
In a short period of time as compared to 12 years in which the nuclear case was in limbo, [President Rouhani] managed to put this case in order in the hope that following a nuclear agreement with world powers, Iran’s relations with the rest of the world would be facilitated. (See Page 7)
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News Briefs
* Etemad newspaper reports that heart attack is the leading cause of death for Tehran residents in the past four months.
* Etemad newspaper reports that a total of 17,797 Tehran residents have died since the start of the current Iranian year [started March 2016].
* Etemad newspaper reports that Iranian cyber police has denied that the Telegram accounts of 15 million Iranian users have been hacked.
* Mardom Salari newspaper reports that about 18 million people living in the areas around the Tehran city.
* Mardom Salari newspaper reports that police have arrested six drug smugglers along with more than 180 kilos of drugs in Nahavand, Hamadan Province.
* Khorasan newspaper writes that salespersons who market milk powder do so aggressively, so much so that they even take doctors to foreign trips.
* Mardom Salari newspaper writes that the high cost of dental services makes it essential to offer health insurances for Iranians who need to go to dentists.
* Ebtekar newspaper reports that Tehran Governor-General‟s office will supervise an operation overseeing removing beggars from Tehran streets from Saturday.
* Etemad newspaper reports that police have arrested a woman who had murdered her 4-year-old daughter because the 30- year-old woman saw her daughter as a obstacle to re-marriage.
* Mardom Salari newspaper reports that a man accidentally ran over his 3-year-old daughter when he going in reverse in front of their home.
* Khorasan newspaper reports that Center for Disaster and Emergency Medicine will be employing 3,800 personnel for its 2,200 emergency centers across Iran.
Other stories
Judiciary head proposes human rights talks with Europe, excluding U.S.
State-owned newspaper Iran reports that Judiciary Head Ayatollah Sadegh Amoli Larijani made an
“unprecedented proposal” for Iran to hold talks with European countries on human rights.
Larijani specifically called for the U.S. to be excluded from any talks, stating, “They are deceptive, and they showed it in the nuclear agreement. We are not discussing human rights with them.”
Western activists and organizations have repeatedly censured the Iranian government for its human rights record. Iran executed 966 prisoners in 2015, the largest number in nearly two decades, according to the UN‟s Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran.
Report denies Iran sent message to Mahmoud Abbas after MEK meeting
Iranian Students’ News Agency (ISNA) reports that an anonymous “informed source” in the Foreign Ministry denied that Iran sent a message to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas after his recent meeting with the president of the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), a controversial Iranian opposition group.
The Palestinian ambassador in London had claimed that the Iranian chargé d‟affaires gave the message for Abbas to him. The anonymous source rejected the ambassador‟s claim as “completely false and incorrect” and stated, “No type of meeting [between the chargé d‟affaires and ambassador] or transfer of a message occurred.”
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MOIS issues statement on security operations against
“terrorist group”
Fars News Agency reports that the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) announced that security forces have identified 102 members of a “takfiri terrorist group” named “Towhid and Jihad,” a number of whom have either been arrested or killed.
The ministry said that the group has been active for almost a decade and was responsible for the 2009 assassination of Mohammad Sheikholeslam, a Sunni cleric who was a member of the Assembly of Experts at the time.
It notes that while “at first it appears that this was the work of the Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK)... the investigation conducted by the Ministry of Intelligence and Security indicates that this assassination was conducted by the takfiri group „Towhid and Jihad.‟”
On August 2, the chief prosecutor for Kurdistan province announced the execution of a number of alleged “takfiri terrorists” who were members of this group.
Artesh critic arrested
Jomhouri Eslami conservative newspaper reports that Iranian security forces arrested Hassan Abbasi, a prominent scholar linked to the IRGC, over his recent controversial criticism of the Artesh.
Abbasi had apologized during a preliminary trial in a military court but
reportedly failed to post bail, which led to his eventual arrest. Iranian news agencies reported that he was charged with
“disseminating lies” and “creating skepticism about the armed forces.”
An “informed source in the Artesh” told Tasnim News Agency that the Artesh will not lift its original complaint against Abbasi and stated, “We are awaiting the decision of the court and this issue will proceed through the legal channels.”
Iranian casualties in Syria
A Basij medic has reportedly been killed in Syria.
Mohammad Hassan Ghassemi, a member of the Basij Organization Medical Society, was reportedly killed near the city of Aleppo.
He has been identified as the Medical Society‟s first martyr in Syria.
One medic remains imprisoned and another is missing in Syria, according to the Basij Organization Medical Society president.
In December 2015, a Syrian opposition group announced that it had captured two Basij members, one of whom identified himself as an ambulance driver and the other as a medic.
Fatimiyoun commander has been buried in Tehran. Sadegh Mohammad Zadeh was a commander of a detachment of Fatimiyoun fighters and reportedly was killed in the vicinity of Aleppo.
Daily Report for Thursday, August 4, 2016
5 The taming of the rude: Ultraconservative weekly shut down after calling actors “cuckold”
IRDiplomacy news website: They paraded on the red carpet, flaunted their sense of fashion (some less appreciable than others), and received awards on Saturday 23rd of July. Though all are familiar with post-event objections to their appearance, few would have guessed insults would be part of the package.
The 16th edition of Hafez Awards, annual competition and gala of Iranian cinema which is sponsored by Donya-ye Tasvir film review magazine, was held in Roudaki Hall, west of Tehran early last week.
As usual, circulation of the events photos, now faster than ever thanks to social media, infuriated conservatives. Ahad Azadikhah, Principlist MP and speaker of the parliament‟s cultural committee, related to Tasnim News Agency on July 29th that Minister of Culture Ali Jannati, a favorite punchbag of hardliners, will be summoned to Majles to explain about what Azadikhah called “violation of norms” and “spread of cultural libertarianism” in the Hafez gala.
The tide turned against hardliners, however, when a clipping from an ultraconservative weekly went viral. Lasarat, affiliated with hardliner group Ansar Hezbollah, had published photos from actors and their wives (dressed up, heavy makeup) decorated with the headline “Who‟s a Cuckold?”
Though Lasarat has a long history of badmouthing its diverse range of targets (Reformists, feminists, „mal-hijab-ed‟ women) with enviable impunity, this had been the first time it went to extreme lengths to attack a target. The backlash was overwhelming.
Mehran Ghafourian, male comedian and one of those whose couple photo was published in Lasarat, responded by recreating his Hafez award photo, but this time next to an unidentifiable individual fully covered with a blanket. Shahab Hosseini, 2016 Cannes Festival‟s best male actor, a normally reticent figure on social and political affairs, strongly slammed the weekly on his Instagram account, asking it to
“put pens down”, “join [their] Daesh comrades” and “wash [their] mouth” before
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talking about Iranian artists. House of Cinema, blanket alliance of cinematic guilds, called Lasarat‟s name-calling “immoral” and “insincere”.
On Monday, August 1st, pressures finally came to a result and Hossein Noushabadi, speaker of the Ministry of Culture announced that the weekly had been ordered to shut down for its “ignoble language” and “using words that have no place in [Iran‟s]
religious culture.”
Nonetheless, it is a matter of question whether the shutdown would do much to correct such behaviors, mostly by hardliner media. Lasarat was involved in a similar controversy in January for bashing the outspoken Vice President on Women and Family Affairs Shahindokht Molaverdi, calling her a “shrew” with unpardonable feminist ideas. The weekly‟s license was revoked by the Ministry of Culture after the slander. However, the decision was overturned by Lasarat sympathizers in the judiciary and the hardliner weekly was given a temporary license to continue publication. Such a safety net gives the weekly confidence to follow its current line. In his interview with moderate Principlist newspaper Sobh-e No, Lasarat editor-in-chief Abdol Hamid Mohtasham denied allegations of insult: “if anyone feels we have insulted them, they can sue us. We hold ourselves accountable and humble against the law”.
Daily Report for Thursday, August 4, 2016
7 US breach of promises weakens
moderation in Iran’s nuclear policy
Iran Review news website. Hossein Kebriaeezadeh, Expert on Middle East Issues: Three years have passed since Iran‟s moderate president came to office. After winning presidential election in 2013, Hassan Rouhani made the most important changes in the fields of the country‟s foreign policy, especially with regard to Iran‟s nuclear case. In a short period of time as compared to 12 years in which the nuclear case was in limbo, he managed to put this case in order in the hope that following a nuclear agreement with world powers, Iran‟s relations with the rest of the world would be facilitated.
The new Iranian president took advantage of such seasoned diplomats as his Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and introduced constructive interaction with the world as the central signifier of his moderate discourse in order to make possible practical introduction of such concepts as peaceful coexistence, mutual respect, confidence building, détente and so forth.
In this way, Iran‟s nuclear policy took a new approach and managed to achieve its goal of clinching an agreement with the P5+1 group of countries. However, from the viewpoint of Tehran, the nuclear deal was not simply aimed at putting an end to the nuclear standoff, but was a tool through which the Iranian administration sought to boost people‟s welfare state. As put by President Rouhani, they wanted to improve people‟s livelihood while helping the country‟s nuclear technology thrive.
However, one year after the conclusion of Iran‟s nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the situation has not fared as Rouhani‟s administration had projected and the economic improvement sought by Iran‟s moderate administration has not been realized for certain reasons. Part of this problem is related to Iran‟s economic infrastructure and mismanagement of the Iranian society‟s expectations from the JCPOA. However, the behavior of the United States in the post-JCPOA period has been also an important reason why the JCPOA has not improved people‟s livelihood or its impact has been minimal. For example, the United States has been obstructing any improvement in Iran‟s foreign trade and blocking any economic advantage that the Islamic Republic could have derived from the post- JCPOA conditions, thus, practically proving that containing Iran is still more important to the United States than implementation of the JCPOA.
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Despite the fact that the main basis for the implementation of the JCPOA has been joint action combined with goodwill of all involved parties in order to maintain the constructive atmosphere created by the JCPOA, the behavior of the US government in keeping sanctions in place and steps it has taken to scuttle Iran‟s economy are at odds with the letter and spirit of the nuclear agreement. This issue can be also viewed from the standpoint of the rights of treaties, which cannot be discussed here, but in practice, it has reinvigorated the theory that the United States is the enemy of the Iranian nation, elites and citizens. This theory was in decline following the conclusion of the JCPOA, but now it has returned to the Iranian society with more force and intensity.
The present conditions have been achieved through multilateral and complicated negotiations and have been also endorsed by the United Nations Security Council, but even these conditions have failed to make one of the main parties behind the JCPOA, that is the United States, to abide by the agreement.
As a result of these conditions and on the first anniversary of the JCPOA, senior Iranian officials, who believe in negotiations and diplomacy, including President Rouhani and Foreign Minister Zarif, have indicated their consternation at the performance of the international community led by the United States through both statements and online tweets. The clear warning Iran has given to the West about rapid return to pre-JCPOA conditions if the United States continues to breach its promises, shows that the understanding of Iran‟s moderate decision-makers of the nuclear case has undergone tangible change. Perhaps, if nuclear negotiations had been held under these conditions, the legal document that would have come out of them would be legally more precise compared to the current text of the JCPOA both in terms of incentives and deterrence.
On the whole, it is clear that due to breach of promises by other parties to the nuclear deal about removal of sanctions against Iran, and as a result of the absence of tangible economic improvement in Iran following the nuclear deal, not only the understanding of Iran‟s moderate politicians, who are under pressure from public opinion, is changing, but also the mentality of the society, which sees no economic improvement, about taking a moderate approach to the West. This trend, in addition to the changing role of Iranian institutions as a result of the link between removal of nuclear sanctions and the country‟s defense policies and human rights issues, can have untoward effect on promotion of constructive interaction between Tehran and the rest of the international community and may cause all the achievements of lengthy and complicated negotiations between six world powers and Iran to finally fall apart.
