Saudi-Led Coalition Accuses Hezbollah Of Major Role In Yemen Conflict

Public relations manager of the Iranian Health Ministry, Mohammad Hashemi, said on Sunday that 14 people are confirmed to be infected with Omicron in several parts of the country.

The number of people with the new variant is probably much higher than 14 because Iranian authorities in the past have been slow in announcing outbreaks. The head of the Medical Sciences University of Semnan province, Kamran Qods, talked about a family of five who caught the virus in less than a day, a case that the government has not reported, as an example for the high rate of Omicron’s contagion.

Iran was the second country after China where the corovirus spread and Covid-19 became an epidemic, but the government was slow to admit the crisis and act to contain it in early 2020.

Iran has announced that it has closed all its land and sea borders to non-Iranians for 15 days, but air travel is still ongoing except from eight African countries and four European ones, namely England, France, Norway and Denmark.

Head of Iran's Roads and Transportation Organization Javad Hedayati said on Sunday that Iranian passengers can cross the borders with their vaccine cards and a negative PCR test.

He added that a travel ban has also been put in place for Iranian tourists who want to visit Turkey, because according to Turkish authorities Omicron accounts for 10 percent of new cases.

If that is the case in Turkey, then Iran should also have hundreds of people infected with Omicron.

However, restrictions, which started with Khuzestan province on Saturday have exempted holders of valid residence permits, student and work visas, students of seminaries and universities, as well investors and medical visas. These groups constitute the major bulk of the people who travel to and from Iran.

More than 6,000 flights have been cancelled worldwide over the Christmas weekend as pilots, flight attendants and other employees are calling in sick or having to quarantine after exposure to COVID-19.

A senior official of Iran’s national Coronavirus headquarters says the new variant will be the dominant type of Covid-19 in Iran in the following weeks, if it is not controlled.

Deputy health minister Kamal Haidari said last week that about 1,800 suspected cases were sent to laboratories for further tests.

Iran, which confirmed the first Omicron case on Sunday, December 19, is one of the worst hit countries in the Middle East by more than 131,000 deaths since February 2020.

President Ebrahim Raisi’s government has announced plans to stop providing dollars at a seven-fold cheaper exchange rate to importers of essential food staples, animal feed and possibly some medicines, as it faces a revenue crunch amid continuing US sanctions.

The special exchange rate was introduced in 2018 to control inflation when the United States pulled out of the Obama-era nuclear agreement known as JCPOA and imposed crippling sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

However, media and politicians have charged that the cheap dollars led to large-scale corruption as individuals and companies pretended to be importing essential goods while either speculating in the currency market or importing luxury goods.

It is still not clear if the government wants to completely scrap the cheap import dollars, which is essentially a subsidy or maintain support for animal feed and medicines. Prices have been rising alarmingly, leading to warnings of social unrest.

Iran is engaged in talks to resolve its nuclear dispute with the West, which would remove US sanctions, but so far months of negotiations have not led to an agreement.

The meeting was disclosed by Mohammad Mohajeri, an editorial-board member of Khabar Online website, in a Sunday tweet. "Even if no news gets out about the content of the recent one-hour meeting of Hassan Rouhani with the Supreme Leader, the news itself bears an important message for politicians, whether [they belong to the] right, or left, or are hardliners, etc.," Mohajeri noted.

Mohajeri's tweet was immediately picked up by several publications and social-media pundits ready to pronounce the encounter a success or disappointment for Rouhani.

Some media detected a possible signal that Khamenei would appoint Rouhani to a leading position, such as chairman of the Expediency Council, a post assigned to Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani after he stood down as president in 1997 and currently held by Sadegh Larijani, the former chief justice.

Under fire

Others saw the meeting as the leader recognizing the work of Rouhani, who has been under fire from principlists in government and parliament in recent weeks, with some parliamentarians arguing he should be put in trial.

Mohajeri did not give a date for the meeting. Javad Emam, a reformist politician, told the Iranian Labour News Agency (ILNA) that “sources close to Rouhani” had spoken of a meeting "a few weeks ago." Emam said to ILNA that the former president had told “friends” he was “very pleased with the meeting with the leader and their talks.”

Emam further suggested that the meeting − which he claimed Rouhani's critics had tried to prevent − could have related to talks in Vienna to revive Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Rouhani regarded the agreement as the first step to a wider expansion of cooperation with European powers but was stymied when the United States left the agreement in 2018 and imposed ‘maximum pressure’ sanctions.

"The gentlemen [in power now] admit that the experiences gained from the previous talks [under Rouhani] are now being used and are very useful,” Emam said.

Drained coffers

Ali Hassanloo, editor of the reformist Eslahat Press website tweeted Sunday said Khamenei had not offered Rouhani a new position: "Firstly, Rouhani had requested the meeting with the Leader. And it wasn't a good meeting either and Mr Khamenei criticized him for the conditions in which the government was handed over [to new president Ebrahim Raisi], particularly drained government coffers. No position was on offer either although Rouhani expected to be given the chairmanship of the Expediency Council.”

There were reports that Rouhani felt “humiliated” during Khamenei’s last meeting with outgoing ministers, in July, which lasted 17 minutes during which Khamenei offered no words of thanks but spoke only of other matters such as "the goals and fundamentals of the Revolution.” Khamenei pointed out that Rouhani had erred in "investing hope in the West and trusting it,” especially in economic policy. “You lingered there and could not progress," Khamenei reportedly said.

A similar meeting with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his cabinet members in 2013 lasted five hours during which Khamenei praised the outgoing government, although his relations with Ahmadinejad had long been sour.

Alizadeh made the comments after watching a concert in Tehran’s Vahdat hall, which opened its doors to people after a 22-month hiatus due to Covid-19 restrictions.

Alizadeh highlighted that even the Taliban is gradually opening Afghanistan’s music conservatories.

He appreciated solidarity among the Iranian artists, saying, “If music is being insulted, we are all being insulted.

His criticism was apparently a reaction to recent remarks by Iranian lawmakerKazem Mousavi, who said Western musical instruments should not be allowed in an Islamic country, noting that that anyone who desired a different lifestyle should leave Iran.

According to the head of Customs Administration Iran has classified musical instruments – along with sunglasses and over a thousand other commodities -- as luxury items and banned their import.

In a meeting with Culture Minister Mohammad-Mehdi Esmaeili on Thursday, firebrand cleric Ahmad Alamolhoda criticized artists in Iranfor feeling entitled.

“They should be asked what they have done for the Islamic revolution” said the staunch supporter of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who is the father-in-law of Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi.

Heydar Sakenborji, the head of the Fruit and Vegetables Association of the city of Mashhad, in Khorasan Razavi province, told Tejarat news that the low quality of the pesticides used is the main culprit.

He elaborated that after harvest, most agricultural produce should be quarantined for a specific period for pesticides to naturally become less harmful, but pesticides used in Iran stay longer on fruits and vegetables making them toxic for humans.

"According to the investigations, pesticides used in these agricultural products are imported from China," Sakenborji said, speculating that these pesticides don’t have the required standards and quality.

He also said that in about ten days Pakistan took over these Central Asian markets from Iranian fruits and vegetables.

The Uzbek government has reportedly returned around 3,500 tons of the potatoes to Iran and destroyed other 775 tons.

Recently, a trade representative in Tehran said various countries have banned imports of Iranian fruits and vegetables due to mold or high pesticide residues, adding that India, Russia, Uzbekistan, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar and some others no longer accept certificates issued by Iran.

Iran exported $6.5 billion in agricultural products last year.