Women in Iranian cabinet

Haleh Esfandiari of Wilson Center, discusses the singular appointment of a woman to the new Iranian presidential cabinet. She reviews the short history of female appointees and discusses the expectations of President Masoud Pezeshkian regarding women’s issues.

Iran’s new president, Masoud Pezeshkian, appointed one woman, Farzaneh Sadegh, to his cabinet as minister of roads and urban development. This is only the second time in the 45-year history of the Islamic Republic that a woman has made it into the cabinet. Even so, she faced strong opposition in the Majlis, or parliament, whose members must approve all cabinet appointments.  

The deputies claimed they objected to her appointment not because of her sex but because of her lack of qualifications. But Sadegh is hardly unqualified: she is an engineer by training, has experience serving in different parts of the government, including as deputy minister of urban planning, and proved herself a tough match for objecting parliamentarians. She reminded them that she has always spoken her mind, objected to policies of previous administrations in which she served, and owes nothing to anyone. 

Nevertheless, President Pezeshkian was able to overcome parliamentary opposition to her appointment by invoking the name of the Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei. Pezeshkian reported that Sadegh was the choice of Ayatollah Khamenei himself and that the highest authority in the land (meaning the Supreme Leader) had approved his cabinet choices. Thus, the deputies dutifully fell into line and gave Sadegh their vote of confidence. 

The parliament’s reaction to Sadegh as a cabinet choice repeats a common pattern in the history of the Islamic Republic. Previously, President Mahmoud Ahmadi Nejad tried to name three women for cabinet posts; the parliament rejected two and approved one, Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi as minister of health. She was not reappointed in Ahmadi-Nejad’s second term due to a fallout with the president. 

Other previous presidents, including ‘reformist’ presidents Hashemi-Rafsanjani, Mohammad Khatami, and Hassan Rouhani, did not even try to name women to their cabinets, wishing to avoid disputes with parliament. The ultra-conservative Ebrahim Raisi followed suit. A handful of women have been elected to successive parliaments, ranging from four in the first parliament (1979-1983) to 16 in the current parliament, but the Majlis has remained a bastion of male members. 

Presidents have sought to appease the women’s constituency by appointing women as advisors and vice presidents (Presidents can appoint several vice presidents, assigning them different responsibilities). The reason is simple: the president does not need parliamentary approval for such appointments. Presidents Khatami, Rouhani, and Ahmadi Nejad named women variously as vice presidents for environmental affairs, women’s affairs, and cultural affairs. 

Following this tradition, Pezeshkian named two women as vice-presidents: Shina Ansari, a career environmentalist, as head of the Department of the Environment, and Zahra Behrouz-Azar as vice-president for women’s affairs. Behrouz-Azar has been a critic of the morality police and their harsh crackdown, arrests, and mistreatment of women during the 2022 protest movement and against the enforcement of the hijab.

President Pezeshkian also appointed Fatemeh Mohajerani as the government spokesperson, a first in the history of the Islamic Republic. According to the Tehran Times, a daily English paper in Iran, she has a doctorate in business administration from the Edinburgh campus of Heriot-Watt University in Scotland. Her career has been mostly as an educator. 

Activist women are waiting to see whether President Pezeshkian will curb the morality police and provide a safe environment for women on the streets, in public places, and on university campuses, and whether he will secure the release of the many young women and men serving long prison sentences. He recently told his minister of higher education to look into reinstating university professors and students dismissed for participating in the 2022 ‘Women, Life, Freedom’ protests. For the moment, the public has adopted a ‘wait and see’ attitude towards the president, but their patience may not last long. 

 

 

Saudi Arabia slams Israeli statements regarding Philadelphi Corridor

Saudi Arabia strongly condemned the recent Israeli statements with regard to the Philadelphi Corridor, a narrow band along Gaza’s border with Egypt.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed the Kingdom’s strong condemnation and denunciation of the Israeli statements regarding the Philadelphi Corridor, and the futile attempts to justify the continued Israeli violations of international laws and norms. In a statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency, the ministry vowed its solidarity and support for Egypt in the face of these Israeli allegations.

Saudi Arabia warned of the consequences of these provocative statements, and their repercussions in undermining the mediation efforts being undertaken by Egypt, Qatar, and the United States of America, to reach a permanent ceasefire.

The ministry stated that such provocative statements would increase the severity of the dangerous escalation witnessed by the region. It also emphasized the importance of putting an end to the suffering of the Palestinian people, and the necessity of concerted international efforts to enable them to exercise their inherent right to self-determination, and establish their independent state on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.

The ministry statement comes in the wake of the recent statement of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the Philadelphi Corridor will be under the control of Israel in any ceasefire deal.

Türkiye arrests Mossad financial network chief

Istanbul Police have arrested Liridon Rexhepi, identified by the Turkish National Intelligence Organization (MIT) as the head of Mossad’s financial network in Türkiye, security sources said on Tuesday.

According to the sources, Rexhepi was responsible for managing the financial operations of the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad within Türkiye.

Under the instructions of Israeli intelligence, he allegedly conducted drone surveillance and psychological operations against Palestinian politicians and transferred funds to field agents gathering intelligence on Syria.

Rexhepi’s activities, including suspicious financial transactions, were closely monitored by MIT, revealing significant money transfers through Western Union to Mossad field agents in Türkiye.

MIT had tracked his activities since he entered the country on August 25, culminating in his detention on August 30 by MIT and Istanbul Police. During interrogation, Rexhepi admitted to his role in transferring funds.

Two more ships hit in Red Sea

According to the Seatrade Maritime News, two successful attacks on merchant ships in the Red Sea were carried out within hours of each other during the morning of September 02, 2024.

According to UKMTO reports, the first attack occurred when a vessel was struck by two unknown projectiles around 70 nautical miles northwest of Saleef, Yemen. A third explosion was reported close to the vessel, and no casualties were suffered during the attack. 

“Damage control is underway,” the report stated.

Media reports claim the vessel was Blue Lagoon I, a Panama-flagged shuttle tanker, and the projectiles have since been confirmed as missiles.

In a separate incident a ship was hit by an Uncrewed Aerial System 58 nautical miles west of Al Hudaydah, according to the master’s report to UKMTO.

Both ships reported that they were proceeding to their next ports of call.

The attacks come as tanker Sounion remains ablaze off Yemen. The ship was attacked by Houthis on August 21 and has been on fire since August 23 when Houthi forces boarded the ship and planted remotely-detonated explosives across its deck.

The Houthis, who claimed responsibility for the initial attack and recorded the subsequent boarding and remote detonation of explosives, have given their approval for salvors to approach the stricken tanker. Sounion is carrying around a million barrels of crude oil, and poses a significant risk to navigation and the environment.

 

China oil imports from Iran surge to 1.75 million bpd

According to reports, Chinese import of Iranian oil has reached a record of 1.75 million barrels per day (bpd) in August. The current figure has surpassed the previous peak of 1.66 million bpd achieved in October 2023 and is almost 50% higher compared with 1.24 million bpd in July.

Shipments into Rizhao and Dalian are significantly higher month on month, said Muyu Xu, an analyst with Kpler

“Chinese teapots see refining margins slightly improving, they now have stronger motivation to ramp up production and therefore need more feedstock,” she said.

Flows into Lanqiao/Rizhao and Dalian almost doubled compared to the previous month to 342,000 bpd and 132,000 bpd, respectively.

Oil from Iran has become the cheapest option for Chinese buyers, even more than Russia and more independent refiners are seeking barrels from the OPEC producer to boost their margins, said traders who participate in the market.

Iranian Light was last offered at a discount of US$6.0 a barrel to ICE Brent, they added, compared with a discount of less than a dollar for comparable crude from Russia.

Importers registered in China’s Shandong province were the biggest buyers of Iranian crude - masking as Malaysian - accounting for over 70% of the volume, according to customs data. Overall, eight Chinese regions including Liaoning and Henan took oil from the Southeast Asian nation, the most since October 2023.

Earlier this month, Reuters reported that Iran has also been expanding its oil destination markets as the country is pushing to send more oil to the global markets in an attempt to neutralize Western sanctions.

Iran has sent shipments of crude oil to new destinations such as Bangladesh and Oman, according to shipping sources and data cited by Reuters.

Oil sales are Iran's major revenue source and the country has been looking for ways to sidestep US sanctions on its crude exports that former president Donald Trump re-imposed in 2018 over Tehran's nuclear program.

Iran, which is exempt from output quotas set by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), is striving to maximize production and exports.

Former Oil Minister Javad Oji said in July that Iran was selling crude oil to 17 countries, including those in Europe, according to Mehr News Agency.

In one new trade, the Golden Eagle tanker sailed near the port of Chittagong in Bangladesh earlier this year after receiving oil from another vessel that loaded it from Iran’s Kharg Island according to available evidence based on shipping data, Claire Jungman, from US advocacy group United Against Nuclear Iran, told Reuters.

The Golden Eagle offloaded parts of the cargo to smaller tankers in ship-to-ship transfer operations around Chittagong in April, said Jungman, whose organization tracks Iran-related tanker traffic via satellite data.

The shipment to Bangladesh was separately confirmed by another oil export tracking source.

An official with state-owned Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation, which operates the country's main refinery, said it did not buy the cargo and it was difficult to establish who the buyer was.

Will Modi come to Pakistan to attend the SCO meeting?

The PML-N love for India has invited Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the upcoming Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) meeting in Islamabad, despite India-Israel relationship, particularly in munitions supply and ongoing genocide in Gaza.

One of the narratives is that Pakistan being the host has to extend the invitation to India, but the other narrative is that Modi should decline the invitation and send foreign minister instead.

The two countries downgraded their diplomatic ties in August 2019 and recalled their high commissioners. This is now the longest period in peacetime that the two countries have been without their top diplomats in each other’s capital.

SCO is a multilateral platform, but Modi’s presence in Islamabad would nevertheless would be seen significant. If nothing else, the sidelines of the SCO summit offer the two sides a chance to start talking about talks.

It is a harsh reality that the hawks on both sides are not interested in normalization of relationships. India considers itself a regional super power, it has joined various economic cooperation groups, but seems least interested in relations with SAARC members.

There is no denying that there are major differences between the two countries, as well as the thorny disputes that they have fought many wars on. There seems no hope of easing the tension, yet for a like SCO offers opportunity to establish working relationships.

Pakistan made the first move in May last year when then-foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari went to Goa to attend the SCO’s Council of Foreign Ministers. Though the reception in India was far from warm despite the significance of his visit, Bilawal’s presence sent a positive signal that Pakistan remains open to engaging with New Delhi diplomatically.

The SCO is a multilateral platform and, therefore, of limited import as far as India-Pakistan ties are concerned. Still presence of Indian delegates in Islamabad should bring some positivity. If nothing else, the sidelines of the SCO summit offer the two sides a chance to start talking about talks.

 

PSX average daily trading volume up 28.5%WoW

The benchmark index of Pakistan Stock Exchange showed signs of weakness earlier in the week since Pakistan was not included in the IMF’s executive board meeting agenda, which led to a weekly loss of 0.4%WoW, closing at 78,488 points.

The Government of Pakistan (GoP) has requested Saudi Arabia to increase it’s lending by US$1.5 billion from existing US$5 billion and are also seeking US$4 billion from Middle East based commercial banks to seize the external financing gap.

The global rating agency Moody’s upgraded Pakistan’s debt ratings to Caa2 from Caa3 which instilled positivity among investors.

Market participation remained elevated, with the average daily traded volume rising to 602.12 million shares from 468.06 million shares a week ago, up 28.6%WoW.

According to news flows FBR is likely to miss August 2024 collection target by PKR50 billion.

Foreign exchange reserves held by State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) rose by US$112 million on a weekly basis to US$9.4 billion as of August 23, 2024.

During the week secondary market yields saw a marginal increase, which brought the 3-month yield to 18.05% and 1-year to 16.95%.

Furthermore, PKR largely remained stable against the greenback throughout the week, closing the week at PKR278.54/US$. 

Other major news flows during the week included: 1) Punjab extended PKR14/unit power relief to federal capital, 2) finance minister announced incentives to attract foreign direct investment, 3) CPEC debt re-profiling plan amounting to US$8 billion prepared, 4) ECC approved two remittance incentive schemes and 5) Foreign investors repatriate US$139 million in July 2024.

Jute, Transport, Exchange Traded Funds, Food & Personal care products and Textile Weaving were amongst the top performing sectors, while Textile spinning, Leather & Tanneries, Vanaspati & Allied Products, Real Estate Investment Trust and Paper & Board were amongst the worst performers.

Major net selling was recorded by Banks/DFI with a net sell of US$3.85 million. Individuals absorbed most of the selling with a net buy of US$5.84 million.

Top performing scrips of the week were: NBP, COLG, GLAXO, MTL, and MARI, while top laggards included: ABOT, AVN, SRVI, SML, and PSX.

Looking ahead, market is expected to continue its positive momentum with anticipated August 2024 lower inflation reading, upcoming MPC result and any development on the IMF deal remaining in focus.

Analysts opine that sectors benefiting from monetary easing and structural reforms would remain in the limelight. With declining fixed income yields, high dividend-yielding stocks are expected to remain favorable.