Iran: Mahsa Amini Death Anniversary

Two weeks before the first anniversary of Mahsa Amini’s death in police custody and the many months of uprisings that followed Iran’s Islamic Republic has bared its iron fist towards the families and other Iranians preparing to pay their respects to the dead—over 500 women and men who sacrificed their lives and futures for the cause of “Woman, Life, Freedom.”

According to the critics, the regime has opted for a massive show of force and drastic measures to intimidate and crush all possible anti-government demonstrations. A month ago, it sent the Morality Police back to the streets of Iranian cities, which were quietly withdrawn last October, and is putting in place additional security forces to ensure women observe the Islamic head covering, or hijab.

The regime’s message is that not only will women who don’t cover properly be targeted, but all demonstrations and protests on the streets, universities, and other public places will be crushed. Supporters of Mahsa say the regime fears it will be unable to contain or control a revival of the protest movement ignited last September. Nor, apparently, does the regime feel it can afford once again to arrest thousands and kill several hundred of its young citizens. Thus, early preparation of preventive measures is essential.

Lately, the BBC reported widespread arrests of women activists by judiciary and security forces in Gilan, Mahabad, Oshnouyeh, Tehran and Tabriz. The Gilan activists, with the usual hyperbole, were accused of “Preparing the ground for fomenting riots and insurrection in the Gilan province and some cities in the Kurdistan province.”

Families who sought information about where their women were being held were given none. Over 200 gender and political researchers, artists and journalists in Iran and the diaspora have protested the arrest of the activists in Gilan and other provinces, as well as the false accusations brought against them.

The regime is also threatening the families of the protestors killed during the demonstrations last year. These families are, by implication, being warned not to hold observance ceremonies, visit the graves of their loved ones, or pay their respects to those who lost their lives during the uprisings.

Reports are circulating that shopkeepers and businesses have been warned not to close their premises to mark the anniversary.

The deputy head of the judiciary also warned protestors who were pardoned by the Supreme Leader and freed from prison not to participate in any new demonstrations; if arrested for a second time, they would have to face harsh punishment, he said.

According to the opponents, the regime has been purging academics from universities across the country that supported the students who participated in last year’s demonstrations and protested the arrests and imprisonment of their colleagues.

The targeted institutions include Tehran University, Iran’s ‘mother’ institution of higher education, and Sharif University, a technical institution widely considered Iran’s MIT, where the country’s leading engineers and scientists are trained. A substantial number of students have also been barred from attending classes and completing their studies.

These measures represent a throwback to the so-called ‘cultural revolution’ of the early days of the Islamic Republic when large numbers of professors were dismissed from universities.  

Iran’s syndicate of university professors has publicly condemned the “destructive interference” of security and intelligence forces in university affairs.

The regime is replacing dismissed professors with less qualified academics. One professor compared this purge to the thirteen-century Mongol invasion of Iran, spreading waste and destruction everywhere.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Higher Education is revising the humanities curriculum of subjects like Western philosophy and dropping several topics, including English language and literature, cinematography, and sculpture. It also expands the teaching of Islamic philosophy, Islamic law and Islamic ethics.

According to some reports, a number of universities across the country will admit fewer women and are considering total segregation of women and men in university classes.

Even athletes and athletics have not been spared in this new crackdown. Last week, the people of Tehran woke up to astonishing news. On the eve of a popular national soccer tournament, whose matches are attended by tens of thousands of Iranians, bulldozers were busy demolishing the spectator stands in Tehran’s largest stadium.

Only last July, under pressure from international soccer organizations, the government decided women could attend these games – albeit sitting in segregated stands. The reason behind the recent demolition seems clear, the government cannot afford to have tens of thousands of male and female spectators under one roof.

The regime also cannot risk the probability that the majority of women will remove their hijabs or the high likelihood that the spectators will not only cheer the players but convert their cheering into slogans against the regime.

 

 

Commemorating the day Iranian President and Prime Minster were assassinated

Iranians commemorate National Day of Fight against Terrorism on August 30, which is considered a dark day in their country’s history. On a Sunday afternoon in 1981, only three years after the Islamic Revolution and amidst a full-scale war against Iran by its neighbor Iraq, a terrorist attack sent shockwaves throughout Iran. The country’s President Mohammad Ali Rajai and Prime Minister Mohammad Javad Bahonar were assassinated in an attack on a high-ranking meeting. 

The two figures who had dedicated their lives to serving their country were attending a council meeting at the Islamic Republic Party's building, discussing the pressing issues facing the country. Little did they know that a security personnel, entrusted with protecting them, would betray that trust and proceed to assassinate them.

The security man, named Massoud Kashmiri, entered the room with a briefcase that contained a bomb. In an instant, lives were lost, and the two senior officials were killed. The explosion also took the lives of two servicemen and a woman who happened to be passing by the building.
Mujahedin-e-Khalq, a terrorist organization, proudly claimed responsibility for the cowardly attack. They admitted to giving Kashmiri the mission to assassinate the two top officials. 

The news of the loss quickly spread across the country. The Tehran Times was one of the outlets that covered the tragedy and the countless reactions to it. According to a report published by the Tehran Times on September 01, hundreds of thousands of people attended the funeral ceremony of Bahonar and Rajai to bid farewell to the two beloved officials.   

Iran’s parliament released a statement after the attack urging people to not lose hope and to continue their mission toward full freedom. “Once again people like Banisadr, Bakhtiar, the MKO, and other hypocrites, have used their political and military fronts to undermine the Islamic Revolution. They have used all their powers to shatter the power and firmness of the Islamic republic, but to no avail, for the ship of the revolution is sailing at full speed ahead,” read the statement. 

Other officials congratulated the two men’s martyrdom, saying “No power can stain divine light” and that the revolution will continue despite “plots of the enemies”.

“The martyrdom of these two pure sons of Islam took place to show once again the feebleness and the wickedness of terrorism,” said the then Defense Minister Mousa Namjoo.

More than four decades after Bahonar and Rajai’s assassination, the two figures are still regarded as role models for their sincerity, perseverance, enthusiasm, and hard work. That’s while the terror organization responsible for their killing has not been able to take a breather from nonstop misery ever since.

The MKO, which was once on Washington’s list of terrorist organizations, began an unsuccessful quest to find safety soon after the Iran-Iraq war ended. 

The terrorists were first relocated from their primary camp, Ashraf, in Iraq’s Diyala Province to Camp Hurriyet, a former US military base in Baghdad, where they lived under constant fear of getting targeted by Iranian forces. They were later sent to another camp in Albania until 2023 when their residence was raided by Albanian police. Some reports suggest the group should be looking for a new shelter as their kingpin, Maryam Rajavi, was banned from entering the Eastern European country and the group was put under investigation by Albania’s judiciary. 

It seems that the terrorists who thought they would be able to change the course of Iran’s history by assassinating top figures and killing innocent civilians have finally reached their end. 

 

 

PetroChina posts record profit

State-owned energy giant PetroChina, reported a record-high net profit for the first half of the year 2023, driven by increased oil and gas output and resurgent refined fuel sales.

Net profit attributable to shareholders was 85.3 billion yuan or US$11.70 billion, up 4.5% for the same period last year, according to a filing with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Wednesday.

Total revenue was down 8.3% to 1.48 trillion yuan, due to a sustained fall in global oil prices after an initial spike in the immediate aftermath of Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

The company reported realized crude oil prices of US$74.15 per barrel, having slid 21.7% on the average for the same period last year.

However, PetroChina's total crude oil and natural gas equivalent output was 893.8 million barrels, representing a 5.8% increase on last year, supporting a 3.7% increase in operating profit for the group's upstream segment.

Domestic crude output rose 1.2%, whilst the development of key projects in Central Asia and the Middle East saw overseas crude production leap 27.8% over the period.

Total domestic refinery throughput for the first half was 673 million barrels, a 12.6% increase as compared to last year when extensive COVID-19 lockdowns hammered demand for refined fuel products in the country.

The group previously announced to raise crude throughput to 1.29 billion barrels this year, up 6.6% from 2022.

Operating profit from the group's sales segment jumped 28.4% as compared to last year. Total sales volume of gasoline, kerosene and diesel increased 12.9% to 80.7 million metric tons, with domestic sales accounting for around 74% of this.

While domestic demand for transport fuels such as kerosene and gasoline has rebounded with the removal of travel restrictions, the group saw weaker earnings from petrochemical products such as polypropylene, amid a glut of domestic supply.

Capex for the first half was 85.1 billion yuan, down 7.8% as compared to last year. PetroChina had previously set a capex target of 243.5 billion yuan for 2023, which would represent an 11% drop as compared to last year.

Looking forward to the second half of the year, the group stated it will further deepen cooperation in overseas oil and gas markets, actively acquire large-scale and high-quality projects and continuously optimize asset structure.

 

 

European energy crisis may be back soon

According to the Financial Trend Forecaster, European natural gas prices soared almost 40% on the risk of a global liquefied natural gas shortage. European wholesale power prices remain below the record highs of the energy crisis but have steadily climbed as the volatility in the international commodity spectrum underscores the fragility of the European energy system.

Unfortunately, the European Union bureaucrats declared the end of the energy crisis as if it were the result of decisive policy action, but the reality is that the energy problem in the EU was only diminished by purely external factors: a very mild winter and the decline in global commodity prices due to the central bank rate hikes. Thus, the energy crisis remains, and the problems of security of supply and affordability of the system persist.

The European Union’s dependency on Russian gas has not been solved; it has only been disguised by a massive increase in dependency on coal (lignite) in the case of Germany and expensive liquefied natural gas imported from the rest of the world.

At the end of 2022, Germany’s energy mix was the clearest example of its energy policy failure. Hard coal and lignite accounted for 31.2%, natural gas 13.8%, and mineral oil 0.8%, with nuclear at 6.0%. After almost 200 billion euros in renewable subsidies, Germany needs more coal and imported natural gas.

What did the government decide after facing the mistake of shutting down almost all its nuclear fleet? Double down and continue with the process of closing the remaining ones. No wonder Germany is in recession. Its industrial model requires abundant and affordable energy, and the different governments have made the cost of energy uncompetitive.

Same is the problem with Spain, the government decided to implement an “Iberian exception” that eliminates the cost of gas from the wholesale power price only to charge it back to consumers as a surcharge in the bill. The result is Spain has the fifth highest electricity bill in Europe, which sent hundreds of millions of euros to France and Portugal that purchased the subsidized energy while the Spanish consumer paid the bill to natural gas producers, and its imports of Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) soared, but the government tried to convince citizens that LNG from Novatek is not Russian gas because it is not a pipeline Gazprom supply, even when the supplier is a leading Russian energy multinational.

Even worse, the consumers have not seen the improvement in commodities in their bills. If we look at the latest reported Eurostat figures of household electricity prices, these increased in all but two EU Member States in the second half of 2022, compared with the second half of 2021, just as commodities slumped in international markets.

The average for the EU stands at 252 euros per MWh and 261 euros per MWh for the euro area. This is 20% to 30% higher than the average residential electricity rate in the United States, according to data from Energy Sage.

The European energy crisis was not solved. It was disguised thanks to a mild winter and the slowdown in coal and gas imports from China. European governments continue to place all their bets on a misguided energy transition that ignores security of supply and competitiveness and will make the EU depend on China for rare earths and metals as well as the US and OPEC for commodities.

The European Union should have abandoned ideological decisions and allowed technology, competition, and industry to provide the optimal solution that delivers a competitive and secure supply of energy.

Deciding to forbid the development of domestic resources and focus on intermittent and volatile sources of energy before the battery technology is fully operational is an enormous mistake that condemns the European Union to suffer higher costs and lower growth. Environmental policies must be considered from a global perspective.

The EU accounts for less than 10% of global emissions but almost 100% of the cost. It needs to focus on competitiveness, security of supply, and respect for the environment from an industrial perspective. Ignoring the importance of making the most of nuclear, hydroelectric, gas, and all other available sources is dangerous.

In China or the United States, affordability, security of supply, and competitiveness are the drivers of energy policy.

In Europe, it is a misguided view of “not in my backyard” that is making the continent more dependent on others, not less. Subsidies are delaying the necessary development of intermittent and volatile energy sources because policymakers reject the importance of creative destruction and competition as driving forces of progress. Interventionism is not delivering better or cheaper energy; it is making the European Union lose in the technology and energy security race.

What does BRICS entry mean for Iran?

On August 24, 2023 BRICS adopted Iran together with five other countries as new members defying Western rhetoric and discourse. The historic enlargement of BRICS will create new opportunities and will enhance global efforts against hegemony and unilateralism.

The year 2023 marks the 17th anniversary of BRICS inception. Albeit different in geopolitical locations, political systems and cultural backgrounds, members of BRICS do share development-oriented agendas. Members are either newly emerging economies featuring high economic growth or developing countries aspiring for development.

This is sharply different from the approach of the United States and the West to shape the world with a democratic model defined by their own. In addition, they all enshrine the principle of independence in their foreign policy.

BRICS member states have been very clear that the mechanism will be inclusive adhering to the principle of multilateralism and cultural diversity. The practices of BRICS had particularly demonstrated respect for all member states. That should be one of the reasons why BRICS had proved to be attractive, particularly for countries that had long been oppressed and humiliated by Western hegemonic powers.

The development of BRICS reflected a very strong global trend of anti-hegemony and anti-unilateralism. Most BRICS members, like China, Russia and Brazil, had been vociferous about their dissatisfaction against US financial hegemony and the weaponization of dollar as a payment channel. None of the BRICS members had shared with the US and the West their discourse on the Russia-Ukraine conflicts, and none of them had sided with the US on its efforts to provoke the fire.

The Johannesburg Summit had sufficiently demonstrated the attraction of BRICS. Six countries had been admitted into the mechanisms, more than 20 countries had formally applied to enter the mechanism, more than 40 countries had expressed their wish to be part of the mechanism, and more than 60 countries across the world had participated in various activities of the Summit, which was about 30 percent of the member states of the UN.

The enlargement will predictably make BRICS more important in international affairs as the share of member states in world economy will increase significantly and the political representation of the mechanism will grow. Therefore, BRICS will not only serve to maintain the right direction of global governance in a variety of areas including trade and financial cooperation, which had become dysfunctional as a result of confrontational mentalities of some Western countries. BRICS will also boost business opportunities for both old and new industries of all their members, and will create opportunities for its member states to reshape and even reverse the unreasonable narratives of some western powers on various issues including Russia-Ukraine conflicts and other issues.

Iran’s membership will especially enhance Iran’s international status in the international community. Over the last decades, Iran has made friends across the world in defiance of the efforts of certain hegemonic powers to isolate Iran. Entering BRICS will mean new opportunities for Iran to improve its standing.

Presence of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi at the Johannesburg summit with delegates from more than sixty countries across the world had signified another breakthrough in its diplomacy against Western efforts to isolate the Islamic Republic.

With the dual memberships in SCO and BRICS, Iran as a nation of great civilizations and economic potentials will see more opportunities to increase its international status. The leaders of BRICS countries have a valuable opportunity to leverage the space that has been created and enhance their mutual and multilateral interactions. If Iran holds SCO and BRICS summits, it will mean that dozens of heads of state and governments will travel to Tehran, which will naturally make Tehran a center of global politics and focus of international media, which will extremely nullify the efforts of the West to isolate Iran.

Multilateral diplomacy will mean natural economic opportunities. By presence at the summits, members have the opportunity to promote their business relations. Iran will also benefit from the joint efforts of de-dollarization judging by the consensus reached on this issue in Johannesburg. It should be considered that economic benefits would not come as soon as political achievements. However, it assumes that the policies adopted by Iran will contribute to the future strengthening of the country's economy.

Iran’s accession into BRICS is also a milestone in China-Iran relations. Iran’s application for BRICS membership, as well as SCO membership, not only demonstrated Iran’s identification with the principles and spirits of the BRICS, which could be generally categorized as inclusiveness, diversity and respect, but also trust for China as a major leading actor of BRICS.

China’s support for Iran’s accession very well indicated that China had been very serious in helping Iran to get further integrated with international community. Mutual trust between the two will be further enhanced after Iran’s dual memberships.

Iran’s accession will secondly enhance China-Iran cooperation on the reconstruction of international order. It had long been China’s policy to oppose sanctions against Iran and to help improve Iran’s status in the international community as the two shared a long history of peaceful exchange of civilizations and shared the same experience struggling for justice and fairness of international order.

With Iran’s membership in both SCO and BRICS, China and Iran with other countries in the two institutions, can work better together on issues relating to the great changes and reconstruction of international order.

On top of all, it will serve to materialize cooperation projects between the two countries. China and Iran both had been working hard to materialize the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership announced in 2016, the Comprehensive Cooperation Agreement in 2022 and various agreements in 2023 when President Raisi visited China.

Iran’s accession into SCO and BRICS will make these cooperations more feasible. In addition to bilateral mechanisms, leaders of the two sides will predictably meet with each other twice annually respectively within SCO and BRICS frameworks, and they can talk directly about the concrete issues, which will greatly facilitate cooperation between the two.

All in all, the enlargement of BRICS will create new momentums for global governance and the evolution of international order for the benefits of emerging economies and developing countries and the whole world as well.

Iran’s accession into BRICS, in addition to SCO, will greatly enhance Iran’s international status and will benefit Iran economically. The world will see how Iran can translate these new political momentums into economic benefits.

 

Iran demands United States should explain links with Sharmahd

The United States should explain its links with the Iranian-German national Jamshid Sharmahd sentenced to death in Iran, Tehran's foreign ministry spokesperson said on Monday, adding that progress had been made in a prisoner swap deal with Washington, reports Reuters.

Nasser Kanaani's remarks came after a US envoy for Iran, Abram Paley, met on Friday with the family of Sharmahd, who was convicted of heading a pro-monarchist group accused of a deadly bombing in 2008.

Sharmahd, who also has US residency, was sentenced to death by an Iranian Revolutionary court in February on charges of corruption on earth.

His daughter has urged Washington not to exclude Sharmahd from the developing prisoner exchange deal between the United States and Iran, under which US$6 billion in Iranian funds in South Korea would also be unfrozen.

Iran on August 10 released four imprisoned US citizens into house arrest, where they joined a fifth already under home confinement, in the first step of a deal under which the five would eventually be allowed to leave the Islamic Republic.

Kanaani said progress has been made regarding implementation of the deal, thanking the constructive role of neighbouring Gulf Arab states Qatar and Oman in facilitating the agreement.

Bangladesh faces deluge after India opens Gajoldoba barrage gates

According to media reports, the flood situation has now shifted to northern Bangladesh after recent flooding in Chittagong. This shift comes after India opened all gates of the Gajoldoba barrage, causing the waters of the region’s rivers to significantly swell.

Several areas on the bank of Teesta River in Gaibandha and Kurigram have been inundated by floods triggered by water from the upstream and heavy rains. As a result, hundreds of families have become marooned in these two districts.

Around 30 meters of the flood control spur dam in the Teesta River at Burirhat in Rajarhat upazila of Kurigram have been washed away.

Rivers in the district kept swelling due to the onrush of water from the upstream, flooding low-lying areas in Rajarhat upazila.

The Teesta was flowing 30cm above its danger level at Kawniya rail bridge point Sunday morning.

Sardar Uday Raihan, executive engineer of the Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre of the Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB), said that heavy rainfall in West Bengal’s Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, and Sikkim regions has led to the surge in water levels.

However, he said, information about the opening and closing of the Gajoldoba barrage’s gates is not consistently communicated by India, making it challenging for Bangladesh to predict water level changes.

A bulletin of the Flood Forecasting and Warning Center (FFWC) said there is a chance of medium to heavy rainfall in the northwestern Indian states and adjoining Bangladesh in the next 48 hours in the Brahmaputra basin.

“Water levels of the Teesta may fall to improve the flood situation in low-lying areas of Lalmonirhat and Rangpur districts while Jamuna may flow close to its respective danger marks at several points in the next 24 hours,” the bulletin added.

In Nilphamari, at least 50 houses built under the Ashrayan Project of the government in Dimla area have gone underwater. As a result, the affected families are spending days amid great suffering. Local people said they have nowhere to go as the lone school building in the area is also underwater.

In Gaibandha, a number of houses in the low-lying areas have been inundated. Some families are also in fear of losing their homes due to river erosion.

In Kurigram, 50 houses went into the gorge of the river and 500 houses were inundated by floodwater in Bidyanondo and Ghorialdanga unions of Rajarhat upazila.

Many roads went under flood water that snapped road communication in the two unions, said members of the two union parishads.

Two government primary schools and a kitchen market in Bidyanondo union are on the brink of river erosion.

The FFWC said water levels of Jamuna River are rising and may flow close to their respective danger level at Fulchhari, Bahadurabad and Sariakandi points in the next 24 hours, the bulletin continued.

Levels of water of the Brahmaputra are rising and may flow well below the danger level at Noonkhawa, Hatia, and Chilmari points during the next 24 hours as the rate of onrushing water from upstream lessened during the last 24 hours.