April
8, 2023
Cameras
are being installed in Iran to catch and punish women walking in public without
a headscarf, as the regime in Tehran cracks down on those defying strict dress
codes.
The
authorities want to rein in an increasing number of women who are defying the rule
on mandatory head coverings after the death of a young woman in police custody
last year ignited a nationwide anti-government protest movement.
Mahsa
Amini was detained by Tehran’s notorious morality police for apparently not
wearing her headscarf properly. Her death in September has sparked months of
anti-regime protests with women refusing to wear the hijab in solidarity.
The
cameras will be installed in public places and thoroughfares to identify and
penalise unveiled women, the police announced on Saturday.
After
they have been identified, violators will receive “warning text messages as to
the consequences”, police said, adding that the move is aimed at “preventing
resistance against the hijab law.”
The
law for women and girls over the age of nine to wear a headscarf in public
became compulsory two years after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Under
the former president, Hassan Rouhani, rules around their wearing were relaxed.
But since the ultraconservative Ebrahim Raisim came to power in 2021, the
country’s formidable morality police have taken a harder line against women who
flout the rules, demanding a “complete hijab”.
Videos
of unveiled women resisting the morality police since Amini’s death have
flooded social media. Women have been increasingly seen walking around unveiled
in malls, restaurants, shops and streets around the country.
Describing
the veil as "one of the civilisational foundations of the Iranian
nation" and “one of the practical principles of the Islamic Republic,” an
Interior Ministry statement said on March 30 that there would be no retreat on
the issue.
Attacks
on women
It
urged citizens to confront unveiled women, which in the past has emboldened
hardliners to attack women.
Last
week a video went viral showing a man throwing yoghurt at two unveiled women in
a shop.
The
incident, in the holy city of Mashad, came as Iran’s judiciary chief threatened
to prosecute women who defy the country’s strict rules on head coverings
“without mercy”.
In
the video, which surfaced as Iranians celebrated Nowruz, or the new year, a
mother and daughter can be seen at a shop counter.
A
man who noticed that neither was wearing a hijab then enters the shop and
confronts them before dumping a large tub of yoghurt over their heads.
Authorities
issued arrest warrants for the two women for “committing a forbidden act” by
removing their headscarves.
Tens
of thousands of people have protested since September, viewing Amini’s death as
emblematic of government corruption and civil oppression under the clerical
establishment.
Demonstrators
have burned their head coverings and shouted anti-government slogans.
The
police have responded aggressively, arresting nearly 20,000 people and killing
500, according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency.
Shot
in the eye deliberately
One
woman recently told the BBC she was shot deliberately in the eye. The PhD
student was protesting in a northeastern city near Mashad in September when the
bullet struck her and lodged in her head.
"You
aimed at my eyes but my heart is still beating," she said.
"Thank
you for taking the sight from my eye which has opened the eyes of so many
people.”
In
December, Iran's attorney general, Mohammad Jafar Montazeri, said parliament
and the judiciary were looking at whether the law on headscarves needed to be
changed.
Iran Could Soon Have a Nuclear Weapon. Will Israel Attack?
April
8, 2023
Israel Assault On Iranian Nuclear Sites
Unlikely: Israel is prepared for Iran’s inevitable attainment of nuclear
weapons technology and an atomic breakout; however, political calculations make
an attack difficult, if not impossible, in the near term.
What
Will Israel Do?
A senior Israeli official told Axios that
Israel would strike Iran should it determine that the Iranians had enriched
their uranium to a 60% level.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
estimated that Iran has obtained 87.5 kilograms in a February report. It stated
that Iran could build a single nuclear weapon if it reached 90% enrichment.
IAEA is investigating the Fordow underground nuclear facility where Iran had
enriched a small amount to 84% purity.
“Iran has been purifying uranium fuel for 10
years. It is worrisome. We can’t know yet if they are doing it or not. There
will be more checks by inspectors. My organization prevents nuclear experiments
but is not involved in where they purify it,” she said. “If the report by the
IAEC about finding in Iran uranium enriched to the level of 84% is indeed
accurate, then in theory, the Ayatollah regime already has nuclear fuel
suitable for making a bomb. It will be less effective than a quality bomb, but
certainly possible,” Israeli nuclear expert Naama Charit Yaari told the
Jerusalem Post.
Locked
and Loaded?
Last May, Israel’s air force carried out its
first large-scale exercise to practice hitting all of Iran’s nuclear sites.
The Jewish state has been practicing ways of
hitting these sites, which are hidden deep underground.
It will also have to practice for Iran’s
inevitable retaliation against Israel. Iran’s terrorist proxies would more than
likely launch a barrage of rockets and missiles fired by its terrorist proxies
in Lebanon and Gaza in response.
The exercise took place in the Mediterranean
Sea and included long-range aerial refueling and striking simulated targets.
According to Israel’s Channel 13, the exercise
included more than 100 aircraft and Israeli navy submarines. Israeli Dolphin
class submarines are believed to have been fitted with a vertical-launch system
(VLS) to fire cruise missiles at targets. The Israelis have kept their submarine
capabilities as a closely guarded secret.
What
Will Israel Do?
The Left-leaning Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz
expressed skepticism as to whether or not Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu would strike Iran’s nuclear facilities. It notes that Israel’s air
force has never carried out anything as complex as the air campaign needed to
neutralize Iran’s nuclear capabilities.
The 1981 attack against the Osirak reactor in
Iraq that effectively neutralized Iraq’s nuclear program involved an attack on
a single target. The same was true of Israel’s attack on a Syrian nuclear
reactor in 2007.
The strikes needed to defeat Iran’s
capabilities would require coordination with the United States, and
U.S.-Israeli relations have deteriorated since Netanyahu returned to the prime
minister’s office in December. The Biden administration likely would not allow
the U.S. Air Force to help Israel in the current political climate.
“Operational capabilities are just part of the
decision on whether to attack Iran. For this to happen, complete coordination
with the United States is required, as is the general consent of the public and
great trust between the political and military leaders. Social cohesion and
steadfastness are needed if a war with Hezbollah ensues, as is a total focus by
the air force and Military Intelligence,” Ha’aretz said. “But all this has
deteriorated since the Netanyahu government took over in late December as it
rushes to overhaul the judiciary. This ruins the credibility of the threat to
destroy Iran’s nuclear facilities.”
John
Rossomando was a senior analyst for Defense Policy and served as Senior Analyst
for Counterterrorism at The Investigative Project on Terrorism for eight years.
His work has been featured in numerous publications such as The American
Thinker, Daily Wire, Red Alert Politics, CNSNews.com, The Daily Caller, Human
Events, Newsmax, The American Spectator, TownHall.com, and Crisis Magazine. He also
served as senior managing editor of The Bulletin, a 100,000-circulation daily
newspaper in Philadelphia, and received the Pennsylvania Associated Press
Managing Editors first-place award in 2008 for his reporting.
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