Iran Digest Week of September 15- September 22
/AIC’s Iran digest project covers the latest developments and news stories published in Iranian and international media outlets. This weekly digest is compiled by associate Samuel Howell. Please note that the news and views expressed in the articles below do not necessarily reflect those of AIC.
US- Iran Relations
Americans freed from Iran make emotional return to the U.S. after prisoner swap
Five Americans who were released after being wrongfully imprisoned in Iran for years made an emotional return to U.S. soil on Tuesday.
A plane carrying the five Americans and two of their relatives touched down at 5.25 a.m. ET at a military airfield near Washington, D.C. They had flown from the Gulf state of Qatar, which helped facilitate the transfer.
The group were freed as part of a prisoner exchange agreement that allowed Tehran to access $6 billion in oil revenues frozen under U.S. sanctions and also saw five Iranian nationals released from U.S. custody.
(NBC News)
Nuclear Accord
Crown prince confirms Saudi Arabia will seek nuclear arsenal if Iran develops one
The Saudi crown prince has confirmed his country would seek to acquire a nuclear arsenal if Iran developed one, throwing fresh doubt on a possible US-Saudi nuclear cooperation deal currently under negotiation.
Joe Biden’s Democratic allies in the US Senate have warned his administration will face a tough battle for approval of a deal normalising relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia if it includes substantial nuclear cooperation with Riyadh, because of distrust of Saudi intentions.
In an interview on Wednesday, Mohammed bin Salman added weight to suspicions that an ostensibly civilian nuclear programme could be diverted to military purposes if Saudi Arabia felt under threat.
Women of Iran
‘An Innocent and Ordinary Young Woman’
Her face has lit up a billboard in Times Square, and been painted on murals in Paris and Berlin. It has been splashed on the Barcelona soccer team’s private jet and commemorated on T-shirts with the red, white and green colors of Iran’s flag. Vienna and Los Angeles have even named streets after her.
At rallies across Iran and the world last year, tens of thousand of men and women waved placards with her face shouting, “Say her name: Mahsa Amini. Mahsa Amini.”
Saturday will mark one year since the 22-year-old woman from Saghez, a small city in a Kurdish province in northwest Iran, died in the custody of the country’s morality police on allegations of violating the hijab law, which mandates women and girls cover their hair and bodies.
Economy
Government Raises Bread Prices In Iran In Risky Move
Faced with an apparent financial crunch to subsidize bread, the Iranian government is gradually raising prices, a move that can have both political and inflationary repercussion.
To avoid public blame and anger the government is trying to redirect the responsibility to provincial officials, although the central government would remain the main decision maker.
Iran's economy minister Ehsan Khanzoudi said on Wednesday that provincial authorities are now authorized to decide the prices of various types of bread, always set nationally before, “based on local circumstances”.
Inside Iran
Iran’s parliament approves ‘hijab bill’; harsh punishments for violations
Iran’s parliament has passed a new “hijab and chastity” bill that lays out punishment for people, especially women, who violate the country’s mandatory dress code rules.
On Wednesday, lawmakers approved the three-year duration of the legislation on a trial basis, with 152 voting in favour, 34 against, and seven abstaining.
The Guardian Council, a powerful oversight body consisting of clerics and legal experts, would need to approve the bill before it can be implemented.
(AlJazeera)
Regional Politics
Iran and the Taliban: Counterterrorism cooperation?
"Iran and the Taliban are working well together to combat terrorism," says Iran's intelligence minister, Esmail Khatib.
In a video released on September 15 by the Iranian news agency Tasnim, which is close to Iran's Revolutionary Guards, Khatib claimed the West has driven the terrorist group known as Islamic State (IS) out of Syria and Turkey — and into northern Afghanistan.
"They have established themselves in mountainous areas where the Taliban government has little access and are carrying out attacks against members of the Taliban. We are working closely with the Taliban to take action against them," said Khatib.
(DW)
Qatar’s separate talks with Iran, US on drones, nuclear programme: Report
On the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, Qatar held separate talks with Iran and the United States on Iran’s nuclear programme and US concerns about Iranian drone transfers to Russia, according to a report by the Reuters news agency.
Two sources told the agency on Wednesday that the meetings took place on Monday and Tuesday in New York, US.
One of the sources, a diplomat in the Middle East briefed on the matter, said more talks would be held this week and that the meetings were “talks for talks” to lay a foundation for an “understanding” on the nuclear issue.
Global Relations
Iran accuses US of stoking Ukraine war in UN speech, sparking Israel walkout
Iran’s president Ebrahim Raisi, in a lengthy set-piece speech to the UN general assembly, accused America of fanning the flames of violence in Ukraine, prompting protests from Israel’s representative to the UN.
Raisi claimed any Iranian-made drones hitting Ukrainian cities had been sold before the war started and said he was in favour of peace in Ukraine, on the same day that Tehran hosted a Russian defence delegation led by its defence minister, Sergei Shoigu.
Raisi’s triumphalist speech claiming he had overcome US intelligence efforts to topple his regime, asserted the future belonged to countries in his sphere and the days of the west were over.
Russian Defence Minister Shoigu tours missile, drone display on Iran visit
Russian Defence Minister Sergey Shoigu, has met senior military and security officials in Iran and toured an exhibition of Iranian missiles and drones.
Shoigu arrived in Tehran on Tuesday and was officially received by Mohammad Bagheri, chief of staff of the Iranian armed forces.
He has met Iranian Defence Minister Mohammad Reza Ashtiani, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) aerospace chief Amir Ali Hajizadeh and security chief Ali Akbar Ahmadian.
(AlJazeera)
Analysis
Deciphering Iran’s UNGA agenda: Lessons learned from past CICA summits
By: Alex Vatanka
When the president of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ebrahim Raisi, visits New York for the opening of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) this week, he will try to project a sense of confidence. Since his inauguration in August 2021, Raisi’s administration has scored a series of foreign policy wins, which he may well point to: Iran’s accession to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), normalization of relations with Saudi Arabia, and an invitation to join BRICS (originally including Brazil, Russia, India, China, and, later, South Africa) have all occurred under his watch. The regime also managed to survive serious protests after the death of Mahsa Amini, which started to consume the Islamic Republic while Raisi was in Turtle Bay last year.
He will seek to showcase that Tehran has neutralized international sanctions, ended its isolation, and inverted the Abraham Accords by preventing its expansion into an anti-Iranian bloc. Coupled with a healthy dose of toxic anti-Israeli rhetoric, Tehran will seek to project that it is Israel, not Iran, that is isolated, whereas the Iranian regime is purportedly committed to building ties with its neighborhood. A potential planned meeting of foreign ministers from Iran, Iraq, and member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council on the sidelines of UNGA — being billed as a new, nascent regional dialogue forum — will reinforce this perception.
However, one gathering in New York is bound to upend the Islamic Republic’s mythmaking, and that is an informal ministerial council meeting of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA), scheduled for Sept. 21. CICA was founded in 1999 as “a multi-national forum for enhancing cooperation towards peace, security, and stability in Asia.” Both Iran and Israel are member states, not to mention the Islamic Republic’s Arab rivals, which regularly makes for an uncomfortable dynamic. It also demonstrates the limitations of regional dialogue platforms at a time when countries in the Middle East are pursuing de-escalation and engagement.
