Iran Politics Report Monday, June 26, 2018
Protests in Tehran primarily instigated by hiking Dollar prices
Iran former IRGC chief-commander signals abolishing the government
As part of Iranwire.com “Decoding Iran Politics” series that digs deep into the complexities of politics in Iran with a critical approach, we’ve decided to present its recently published article “Anti-Semitism in Iran,” in brief.
An update on Iran’s fight against illicit drug trafficking; two border guards killed in clashes.
While a large number of shops in Tehran’s grand Bazaar are closed, the situation seems to be back to normal, while in previous days rising USD exchange rate against rial took hundreds of Tehran electronic shop keepers to the street in downtown on Sunday and Monday.
Here’s a combination of different news outlets’ reporting of the protests:
Tehran’s cell phone market went on strike on Sunday June 24, with store owners and people marching in protest in Jomhouri (Republic) Avenue as the city’s Forex market, just a stone- throw away, recorded the highest value for US dollar against the Iranian currency rial.
Cell phone sellers decided it was impossible to sell any handset considering the exchange rate of over 90,000 rials per dollar. They said the rising exchange rate has brought about an uncertainty in the market which made cell phones extremely expensive for buyers. User generated videos received by Radio Farda show buyers urging store owners to shut down and protest and the crowd pours into the street, with others joining them.
Videos posted to social media showed protesters at the bazaar heckling shopkeepers who refused to close, shouting in Farsi: “Coward!”
https://youtu.be/sp2-kIZnCDQ
Meanwhile traders stopped buying and selling dollars at the unofficial forex market, aka the black market, Iranian Students News Agency ISNA reported on Sunday. The U.S. dollar rose from 80,000 rials to 90,000 in just one day.
The forex market also experienced a record high for other foreign currencies. GB Pound was traded for over 120,000 rials and Euro for 106,000 just before the market decided to close, the
report said. The market for gold coins also came to a standstill as the price of standard coin reached 32 million rials, almost three times its price in March.
According to reformist news website Jamaran, protesters chanted slogans that reflected their concern as the price of dollar nears 100,000 rials. “We don’t want dollars at 100,000,” they shouted. The report said protesters were marching toward Baharestan Square where the Iranian Parliament (Majles) is located when the police stopped them and dispersed the crowd.
ISNA reported on Saturday that the price of US dollar was rising in the market because of an increase in the official rate and the Central Bank’s inability to supply dollars to the markets and the banks. The report said until last week, the Central Bank still tried various measures to control the rate of exchange for the dollar, but it has now stopped pouring dollars into the market.
The government does not officially recognize the free foreign exchange market and considers any trading outside the banking system a form of smuggling. Nevertheless, according to ISNA, the unofficial market has been active after the Rouhani administration imposed limitations on the market and attempted to force the price of 42,000 rials per dollar, which the market never respected.
Tehran’s Grand Bazaar Went on Strike as Iran’s Economic Crisis Worsens Let’s begin with the latest on Tehran Grand Bazaar event:
Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi, prosecutor general of Tehran, has announced that the main perpetrators of Tehran grand bazaar have been arrested and would not be released until the day of prosecution. Earlier in his remarks Dolatabadi had said that the United States is plotting to provoke unrest and civil disobedience in the Islamic republic through economic pressures.
"They (the U.S. officials) want to create fear in the hearts of the (Iranian) people by a psychological war and increase economic pressure through imposing sanctions against banks,"
Dolatabadi was quoted as saying. In order to reach its goal, the U.S. held talks with high-ranking officials of a number of countries, he said. Dolatabadi said though the protests in Tehran over price hikes were peaceful, "the enemy wants to portray the public demands as civil disobedience."
The prosecutor also called on the country's officials and citizens to be vigilant against the U.S.
plots so that the people's "legitimate demands" would not turn into civil disobedience.
Store owners at Tehran’s Grand Bazaar closed their shops Monday morning, June 25, in protest to the dramatic rise in the rate of exchange of foreign currencies that have adversely affected the market and made prices unaffordable for buyers.
Tehran’s sprawling Grand Bazaar has long been a center of conservatism in Iranian politics and remains an economic force within the country, despite the construction of massive malls around the city. Bazaar families opposed the Iranian Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and supported the 1979 Islamic Revolution that saw him replaced by the Shia theocracy and elected officials.
The move came one day after strike and protests broke out at Tehran’s cell phone market.
According to semi-official Fars news agency, traders in the bazaar staged a protest gathering in the traditional Grand Bazaar in downtown Tehran and “protested against recession, fluctuations in the rates of exchange for foreign currencies, declining demands and rising prices.”
Videos released on social media show demonstrators chanting slogans against the rising prices and Iran’s involvement in the Syrian civil war. “Leave Syria alone, think of our own,” the demonstrators chanted.
Central Bank Governor Valliollah Seyf has announced plans to launch “a second forex market,”
operating based on three different rates of exchange. “The rate for importing essential commodities including medicine would be 42,000 rials, while importers and exporters will have to agree on the rate for importing non-essential goods,” Iranian media quoted Seyf as saying.
Mehr news agency reported that the decision was made at a meeting between President Hassan Rouhani and his cabinet’s economic ministers on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Iranian Students News Agency ISNA, which is close to the Rouhani administration, reported on Monday, that a third rate of exchange between 60,000 to 65,000 rials per US dollar will be also announced soon.
The Rouhani administration had promised to come up with a single rate of exchange for dollar and in March 2018 introduced the new rate of 42,000 rials per dollar, which the market simply ignored and several reports from Iran said that banks were not able to provide foreign currency to traders and passengers at this rate.
Iranian media say unofficial foreign exchange traders have stopped buying and selling dollars and others currencies since Sunday, June 24.
The Rouhani administration officials insist that there are no economic reasons for the rise in prices. The administration’s spokesman, Mohammad Baqer Nobakht, however, says “the rise in the rate of exchange is due to a rise in demands as people are interested in converting their assets into US dollars,” Iranian media quoted him as saying.
In the meantime, further reports from Tehran say the closure of the bazaar started from the garments market and soon spread to other markets including the relatively more modern marketplace for home appliances.
Traders at the Tehran forex market as well as economic analysts abroad have said that the rise in the value of US dollar against the Iranian currency rial, which has led to a dramatic rise in prices across Iranian markets, are linked to political developments such as the US withdrawal from the nuclear deal with Iran, the resumption of sanctions against Iran and the ambiguous future of the nuclear deal, also called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
It also signaled widespread unease beneath the surface in Iran in the wake of President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw America from Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers.
Meanwhile, some hard-liners have called for new elections or for Rouhani’s civilian government to be replaced by a military-led one. The Fars news agency, believed to be close to Iran’s hard- line paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, made a point Monday to publish an article from the Sobh-e No daily newspaper describing the government as being ready to “bow down to foreign threats and sit at the negotiation table.”
Series of videos on the recent Protests in Tehran’s grand Bazaar, around Parliament and other places published on Iran International:
https://twitter.com/iranwire/status/1011201066652839936
Yahya Rahim Safavi, top military aide to Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei suggested that the country is better run without the government.
The former IRGC chief, noted that Iran “has a troublesome administration,” adding “ people’s demands are not met when they express their issues at different organizations and this bring dissatisfaction which subsequently becomes an excuse for anti-revolutionary mercenaries to reflect people’s unhappiness and of course a large part of it is because of or authorities inefficiency.”
Former IRGC chief’s recent comment comes at a time when Rouhani administration is seen by Iran’s conservatives as the only body responsible for Iran’s worsening economy. This is while a number of analysts suggest that the current dire economic situation is the result of conservatives’
surreptitious move to undermine the administration by fueling the widening divide between people and the government. When Rahim Safavi, said “it seems the country is better run without a government” many are taking his remarks as a prelude to a greater dirty game the conservatives are playing against Rouhani and his team. Simply put, when the hate toward Rouhani administration reaches enough highs, conservatives enter as a peace force by stripping Rouhani of power and replace him with a military government totally in line with the ideals of the office of Iran’s Leader and company.
Later in his remarks Rahim Safavi threatened Saudi Arabia with “a barrage of missiles.”
“If Saudis dare to attack Iran, the royal palaces in Riyadh will be immediately showered with 1,000 missiles,” said Safavi, former chief-commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), in response to a question concerning a possible Saudi attack against Iran.
Describing Iran as the most powerful military force in the region, Safavi seized the chance to threaten Israel, as well. “Lebanese Hezbollah, armed with 80,000 rockets, has turned into a permanent threat for the Zionists (Israel),” he said.
Has Iran been able to actually live up to its verbal commitments to preserve the rights of Jews in the country?
In February 2018, the mass arrests of environmental activists hit the headlines in Iran. The intelligence agency of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) accused the detainees of spying for foreign countries (in particular, Israel and the US).
Iranian hardline media also published many security-related accusations against a number of environmental activists. One of the allegations was that three of these activists were “Jews.” The claim was not true, but the fact that hardliners used it to justify security allegations against people alarmed human rights activists, who saw it as a clear indication that anti-Jewish conspiracy theories were being circulated within Iran’s hardline circles.
How do Iranian Hardliners Propagate Anti-Jewish Conspiracy Theories?
Since 1979, many state officials have often regarded the Iranian Jewish community as being a potential “collaborator with Israel”. This mistrust has sometimes led to persecution in the courts, and to intelligence agents exerting pressure on Jewish communities.
One of the most famous cases of these persecutions took place in 1999, when 13 Iranian Jews were arrested on charges of espionage for Israel. Iran’s judiciary could not prove that they had really collaborated with Israel’s intelligence agencies and most of them were released after a few years in prison. Nevertheless, the 1999 case had a significant impact on the Iranian Jewish community and, according to its leaders, led to the “third wave of emigration” of Jewish people from the country. The first and the second waves had taken place in the aftermath of the 1979 revolution following the establishment of a religious regime, and then over the course of the Iran-Iraq War because of the dire conditions the war produced. It is important to bear in mind that before the Islamic Revolution, more than 100,000 Jewish people lived in Iran. Today, the number of Jewish people in the country is estimated to be between 15,000 and 20,000.
In an effort to reduce hardliners’ mistrust, Iranian Jewish leaders have often tried to establish good relations with Iranian regime authorities. For instance, they have always condemned Israeli
government policies as well as the pressure the US has applied on the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Under the presidencies of Hassan Rouhani and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the sole Jewish member of Iran’s parliament has accompanied the two Iranian presidents on annual trips to the UN General Assembly during such trips, the MP, Siamak Moreh Sedgh, made clear his support for Tehran’s stance on international issues.
At the same time, Iranian leaders have always argued that the Islamic Republic’s anti-Israel policies do not mean that they are anti-Semitic. Nevertheless, many Iranian state institutions – particularly those under the control of associates of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei – propagate anti-Jewish conspiracy theories.
Despite the fact that most of this propaganda is produced by hardliners affiliated to state institutions, some Iranian opposition activists have demonstrated anti-Semite tendencies, too. For instance, a number of Iranian regime opponents have resorted to using anti-Jewish conspiracy theories to harm the reputation of a number of regime officials, claiming they are Jewish descendants. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is one such official to have been subjected to such claims, even after making tough anti-Israel statements and inviting the world’s most provocative Holocaust deniers to the “International Conference to Review the Global Vision of the Holocaust” in 2006 — a move that made international headlines.
The claims about the Jewish origin of some Iranians officials are baseless, but using this tactic to
“discredit” politicians indicates that anti-Jewish conspiracy theories have a certain level of acceptance among some groups of regime opponents.
Are Iranian Laws anti-Semitic?
The legal system of the Islamic Republic of Iran introduced a set of discriminative laws against non-Muslim citizens, including the members of the Jewish community.
According to Iran’s constitution, this community has a permanent seat in Iran’s parliament. But Jewish people and other non-Muslims are not legally eligible to hold most state positions. For instance, they are not allowed to run for president or occupy any position in Iran’s judicial system. And there are many other discriminatory measures that are not specified in the law but have consistently been carried out against Jewish people. For instance, as the leaders of the Jewish community have indicated, the government offices have not recruited Jewish people since the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Iran’s judicial system perpetuates many other discriminations against non-Muslim citizens, too.
For instance under Iranian law, the court can completely ignore the testimony of a non-Muslim against a Muslim. If a Muslim kills a non-Muslim, the murderer will not face capital punishment, whereas this punishment can be applied if the victim is a Muslim. These discriminatory measures, and a number of similar measures, directly affect Iranian Jewish people, as well as the country’s other non-Muslim citizens.
To What Extent do Iranian Citizens Advocate Anti-Jewish Views?
The propagation of anti-Jewish conspiracy theories by Iranian hardliners has undoubtedly affected various layers of Iranian society. It is also undeniable that a considerable number of Iranian people have often had negative views regarding members of the Jewish community.
Nevertheless, there is evidence that suggests that anti-Semitism is possibly much less widespread in Iran in comparison to the other countries of the Middle East and North Africa region.
Astonishing statistical evidence regarding this issue emerged from a 2014 opinion poll commissioned by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), an international organization that fights anti-Semitism. According to the poll, Iranians were the least anti-Semitic people in the Middle East and North Africa region (with the exclusion of Israel). This poll demonstrated that Iranian respondents scored the lowest (56%) in terms of holding negative views about Jewish people, while in other countries in the region, the figure ranges from 69% in Turkey to 93% in the Palestinian territories.
The 2014 ADL poll showed that a large part of Iran's population had not been influenced by the negative narratives the country's hardliners had presented about Jewish people. One could even conclude that because of their distrust of the ruling hardliners, many Iranians may simply reject much of what the regime says, including the anti-Jewish propaganda it propagates.
Find full version at:
https://iranwire.com/en/features/5369
Iran security guards clash with drug smugglers in Southestern province of Sistan &
Balouchestan.
On two separate operations, Iran’s border security guards have been able to seize over 1.1 tons of various illicit drugs in their fight against smugglers near Zabol & Zahedan borders in Sistan &
Balouchestan province. The clash happened on 21 June. Warrant officer Mohsen Sharaki and soldier Jalal Behboudi were killed in the armed clash with drug smugglers last night, Iranian
media outlets reported. They served at Talib-Khan Hill station from the Tasouki company, part of the Zabol border regiment.
On smugglers’ side two were killed and the rest went back to Pakistan.
Iranian Border Guard Commander Brigadier General Qasem Rezaei said the armed forces also managed to confiscate considerable amount of light and heavy weapons and munitions, military and telecommunication equipment.
Iran sits on a major drug route between Afghanistan and Europe, as well as the Persian Gulf states. The Islamic Republic shares about 900 kilometers of common border with Afghanistan, over which 74 percent of opium is smuggled.
Speaking to reporters in Tehran on Saturday, Brigadier General Qassem Rezaei said he will head for the Afghan capital of Kabul on Tuesday to hold talks with senior security officials of the neighboring country about the recent attack on Iranian border guards in Zabol.
The fight against drug trafficking annually costs Iran about $1 billion, according to the official estimates.
According to the statistics, there are about two million drug users in Iran.
