December 10, 2022
CAIRO (AP) — Iran’s currency fell to a record low against the dollar on Sunday, with nationwide anti-government protests now in their third month. A breakdown in negotiations to restore Tehran’s nuclear deal has also hurt the value of the rial.
Iran has been gripped by nationwide protests since September. Demonstrations broke out following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in the custody of the country’s morality police. She was detained by the force for allegedly violating the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code for women. The status of the morality police remains unclear after Iran’s chief prosecutor, Mohamed Jafar Montazeri, said last week that the force had ’’closed down.″ Iranian state media has distanced itself from Montazeri’s claim.
Protesters have focused much of their anger on the country’s heavy-handed policing and the deep-rooted power of its Islamic clergy. But the poor state of Iran’s economy is also another factor driving the protests, with soaring prices, high unemployment and corruption a common complaint among protesters.
Iran’s government for months has been trying to argue that foreign nations are driving the unrest but has offered no evidence to support this claim.
So far, at least 485 people have been killed and over 18,200 others arrested in the protests and the violent security force crackdown that followed, according to Human Rights Activists in Iran, a group monitoring the demonstrations. On Friday, Iran said it executed the first person convicted of a crime allegedly committed during the protests. At least 12 other protesters have been handed death sentences by Iranian courts since the demonstrations began, according to data recorded by HRNA.
Efforts to revive Iran’s nuclear deal stalled months ago. The United States and European Union have since imposed further sanctions on Tehran for its crackdown on the demonstrators and its decision to supply Russia with hundreds of drones for its war against Ukraine.
Last week, Iran began construction on a new power plant. Last month, Iranian authorities said they had begun producing enriched uranium at 60% purity, one short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%.
Iran halts funds to Palestinian terror groups, sparking crisis – report
December 11, 2022
Iran has stopped channeling funds to a number of Palestinian factions, the Palestinian newspaper Al-Quds revealed on Sunday.
The paper quoted unnamed informed sources in Lebanon as saying that the factions are currently suffering from a financial crisis because of the Iranian move, which was taken three months ago.
The sources did not name the factions that have been affected by the move.
However, it’s believed that Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) are among the factions that depend on funding from Iran.
The sources claimed that the factions used the Iranian money to pay salaries to their leaders and members and cover the costs of their “various activities.”
Palestinian Hamas militants take part in an anti-Israel rally in Gaza City May 22, 2021 (credit: REUTERS/MOHAMMED SALEM)
In the past, Hamas and PIJ officials admitted that Iran has been supplying their groups with financial and military aid.
The sources said the reason for halting the financial aid was unknown, though it may be related to the ongoing protests and violence in Iran.
Who will be impacted by Iran halting Palestinian funds?
The sources said the crisis has affected the factions both in the Gaza Strip and abroad to a point where some of them were unable to pay their electricity bills and other expenses.
Media outlets belonging to the factions may also be affected as a result of the absence of Iranian funding, the sources added.
Recently, a well-informed PIJ source in the Gaza Strip told the Al-Monitor news website that his group’s leaders were following with great concern the disturbing and escalating protests inside Iran. “We are concerned the protests will also affect the future of Iran's financial and military support," the source said.
Iran strengthens political, economic hold over Iraq
December 11, 2022
For years, Iraq has been caught in a delicate balancing act between its two main allies Tehran and Washington, themselves arch foes.
After a 2003 US-led invasion toppled Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, Iran's influence has grown through political links among both countries' Shiite-Muslim majorities.
Pro-Iran parties now dominate Iraq's parliament, and in October they named a new prime minister following a year-long tussle with their Shiite rivals.
Iraq has become an "economic lifeline" for Iran, said Ihsan al-Shammari, a political scientist at the University of Baghdad.
This is "even more so with sharpening Western economic sanctions and nuclear negotiations that do not seem to be leading to a favourable deal for Iran", Shammari said.
"Iran's role will be even more important than during previous (Iraqi) governments"
During a visit to Tehran late last month, Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani and Iranian officials urged greater bilateral cooperation in all fields.
He thanked Iran which provides gas and electricity -- around one-third of Iraq's needs -- and added this would continue until Iraq was self-sufficient.
His country is already the number one importer of Iranian goods.
In Shammari's view, Tehran has an "urgent need" to keep Iraq close.
Under a 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, Iran agreed to curbs on its atomic programme in exchange for relief from economically crippling sanctions.
The deal began unravelling in 2018 when then-president Donald Trump withdrew the United States, and reimposed financial penalties including a ban on Iran's oil exports. Efforts to revive the nuclear deal since then have largely stalled.
Western countries have imposed additional sanctions following Iran's crackdown on protests that have rocked the country since September.
Iran accuses exiled Kurdish opposition groups of fomenting the unrest, and has carried out cross-border strikes in Iraq against them.
"Iraq is contested by the United States and Iran, with Turkey in third place in the north," said Fabrice Balanche, from France's Lumiere Lyon 2 university.
"With a pro-Iranian figure at the head of the government, Iran will be able to further take advantage of the Iraqi economy," he added, referring to Sudani, who is close to pro-Iran former prime minister Nuri al-Maliki.
Iran's influence can also be seen through its links with Iraq's Hashed al-Shaabi, a former paramilitary force made up mainly of pro-Iran militias that have since been integrated into the regular forces.
The Hashed played a major role in defeating the Islamic State group in Iraq and now has a significant presence in the country's politics.
Its representatives are part of the Coordination Framework parliamentary bloc, which controls 138 of the legislature's 329 seats and is made up of pro-Iran factions, including that of Maliki.
Last month, Iraq's government handed the Hashed control of a new public company, endowed with around $68 million in capital.
The Al-Muhandis firm's mission in oil-rich but war-ravaged Iraq is "provincial rehabilitation and development: infrastructure, housing, hospitals, factories", said a Hashed communications official on condition of anonymity, in keeping with the low profile officials have adopted over the project.
The company's name is in homage to Hashed deputy commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis. He was killed in a US drone strike in Baghdad in 2020 along with Iranian General Qasem Soleimani, who headed that country's Quds Force, the foreign operations arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
In November, Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein said it was "not fair" to consider his coalition government "an attachment" to Iran's.
The Iraqi Kurdish diplomat pointed to its multi-party and multi-confessional make-up as showing "balance" between the different forces.
But pro-Iran parties appear to now have free rein, after rival Shiite leader Moqtada Sadr tried for months to name a prime minister and prevent Sudani's appointment.
The standoff led to deadly clashes in late August that pitted Sadr supporters against Hashed members and the army.
As Iran's influence grows, ally the United States still remains present, with around 2,500 US troops stationed in Iraq as part of ongoing efforts to combat the Islamic State group.
Sudani has held several meetings with the US ambassador Alina Romanowski since her appointment.
Balanche noted that Washington monitors Iraq's banking system to ensure Iran is not using it to evade existing restrictions, and US influence is present via "the threat of financial sanctions".
"The United States is staying in Iraq so as not to totally abandon the country to Iran," he added.
Australia sanctions Iranian ‘morality police’ for human rights abuses and violations
December 10, 2022
The Australian Foreign Ministry has imposed sanctions against Iran's 'Morality Police', Basij forces and six Iranian individuals for committing egregious human rights violations and abuses in the context of protests over the death of Masha Amini.
Penny Wong's portfolio announced in a statement released on Saturday that "these sanctions target serious human rights situations where perpetrators continue to act with impunity".
The Australian government wants these measures to demonstrate a "commitment to take clear action" to hold perpetrators of serious human rights violations and abuses accountable.
In addition, seven other Russian nationals involved in the attempted assassination of opposition figure Alexei Navalni have been sanctioned.
Australia has also announced further economic sanctions targeting three Iranian individuals and a company responsible for supplying drones to Russia to attack Ukraine.
The Ministry has denounced that these drones are intended to attack critical infrastructure, which has left the Ukrainian people without power, heating and water in the middle of winter.
It has therefore highlighted Iran's role in "destabilizing global security," particularly in the conflict in Ukraine, and has guaranteed that "those who provide material support to Russia will face consequences."
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