April 18, 2023
The Iranian
“Sandero”, a car that might in fact be taken for an analogue of the Mark 1
Dacia Logan and will be sold in both Iran and Russia, has been unveiled.
Prior to 2019,
Renault had agreements with three Iranian manufacturers to produce the Logan in
Iran but pulled out of the Islamic Republic as the US applied renewed sanctions
pressure on Tehran. The Sandero, a rehashed version of the Logan, also referred
to as the “L90”, was developed partly thanks to help from Russia’s Lada maker,
AvtoVAZ, which produces the engine block.
Iranian Minister of
Industry, Mine and Trade Reza Fatemi Amin, who unveiled the Sandero, said: “For
this product there is now the process of ordering parts, production and
standardisation, and preliminary agreements have been made for this car to be
produced in Russia in addition to Iran.”
According to Quds
Online, the car is produced by Pars Khodro (previously General Motors Iran but
now controlled by second largest Iranian automaker SAIPA), with the final
version built on the Logan platform. That platform has now produced three
vehicles: the Thunder (L)90, Sandero and Sandero Stepway.
The engine used for
the Sandero is based on the Renault K4M l90 engine.
As part of the car
production deal with Russia, a version of the Sandero will be shipped to the
Russian market under the name “Cadilla.”
According to a
February report by Tejarat Online, SAIPA has signed an agreement for the export
of 45,000 vehicles to Russia over the current Persian year (started March 21),
marking the company's entry onto the Russian market.
SAIPA has expressed
a desire to capture the lower end of the Russian car market, left vacant
following the exit of European and Japanese car brands due to the economic
backlash against Russia that has followed the Ukraine invasion. However, the
Iranian automaker will face fierce competition from low-cost Chinese imports
and also from AvtoVaz.
Auto industry trade
journals note that Iranian cars, built on localised foreign platforms, have
never been properly tested in the harsh winter conditions of Russia.
Iran cracks down to
enforce strict dress codes months after anti-hijab protests shook the country
April 18, 2023
Iran is attempting
to reimpose strict dress codes months after a wave of unrest following the
death of a young woman who had been detained by morality police saw women and
girls remove their headscarves in protest.
The moves came as the
government tries to reassert control after months of the sometimes violent
nationwide demonstrations posed the biggest challenge to the clerical
establishment since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, which overthrew the
U.S.-backed monarchy.
Over the weekend,
thousands of text messages were sent to business owners and drivers, reminding
them of the renewed crackdown on women not wearing hijabs, the head coverings
worn by some Muslim women, according to the Iranian state broadcaster IRIB
News.
Officials also announced
that people who encourage women to remove their hijabs would be prosecuted.
“The crime of
promoting unveiling will be dealt with in the criminal court whose decisions
are final and unappealable,” Deputy Attorney General Ali Jamadi said Saturday, according
to the semiofficial Mehr News Agency.
The chief commander
of Iran's police forces, Ahmad-Reza Radan, recently announced a set of
procedures that came into place Saturday.
Stores in which
female employees do not wear head coverings will first receive a warning, and
could face closure if the employees do not comply, he added.
Following the death
of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian, in a hospital Sept. 16 after
being detained for allegedly breaking the laws governing dress, the hijab became
a symbol of official repression, with women and girls defiantly removing their
headscarves in public.
The unrest has been
largely quelled by force and mass arrests, and the government had spent a few
months building up to its renewed emphasis on women's dress codes.
Iranian President
Ebrahim Raisi underlined the importance of the dress code, in particular the
headscarf, in a recent speech in Tehran.
The headscarf is a
“religious necessity,” he said, according to a video posted on Twitter by the
government's public affairs office.
“Today, the issue of
hijab is a legal matter, and all members of our society should adhere to the
hijab, as they have been so far,” Raisi said at the event April 1.
The renewed emphasis
on the hijab was announced April 8, with implementation beginning over the
weekend.
The plans were met
with criticism from some Iranian women.
“This harsh and rude
response will definitely either make things worse or will not lead anywhere,”
Parinaz Mobarhan, a resident of Tehran, told the West Asia News Agency in video
distributed by Reuters.
“The hijab is a
voluntary matter,” said another resident, Nasiri, who only provided one name.
“The person herself has to decide whether they want to have this scarf around
them or not. I think forcing this will yield the opposite result.”
The hijab has been
obligatory for all women in Iran since the early 1980's Among the most obvious
rules governing the population's behavior were those based on the conservative
establishment's interpretation of Islamic dress codes.
Morteza Aghatehrani,
a hard-line member of the Iranian Parliament, said that the hijab was
“appointed by God,” and that it was an old law that was in need of revision.
“The Parliament,
government and judiciary are currently discussing this,” he told NBC News,
adding that it “needs serious changes so it could be implemented.”
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