IRGC Threatens To Retaliate Against Any Sabotage By 'Enemies'

Ali Khan-Mohammadi, the spokesperson of Iran’s Headquarters For Enjoining Right And Forbidding Evil, tasked with promoting the Islamic Republic’s interpretation of Islamic laws, said on Saturday that any cooperation and sending videos to Alinejad will be considered a violation of Article 508 of the Islamic Republic’s Penal Code, and can result in one to ten years imprisonment. 

He noted that the ban is not limited to sending photos and videos of protests against the compulsory Islamic dress code – or hijab, adding that any material that is deemed against the Islamic Republic will be punishable. According to Article 508, any collaboration with “enemies and hostile media networks” is a serious violation and lead to imprisonment.

Accusing Alinejad of being a CIA and UK foreign intelligence service MI6 agnet, Khan-Mohammadi said she is a “sworn enemy of the nation” who seeks to undermine the territorial integrity of the country and create division and polarization among the people. 

Iran’s security organs have also started arresting women who participated in a nationwide civil disobedience campaign July 12 against hijab. 

Following a call by women’s rights activists – including Alinejad -- for civil disobedience with the hashtag of ‘No2Hijab’ social media exploded with dozens of videos and photos of women unveiling in public.

A few days after female political prisoners were transferred from Qarchak to Evin, the political prisoners of the Fashafouyeh prisonwere also transferred to Evin on Sunday.

The transfers from Qarchak, also known as Rey or Shahr-e Rey Women Prison on July 20, and Fashafouyeh, aka the Greater Tehran Central Penitentiary, to Evin both were carried out abruptly and without any explanation by the authorities. 

Normally political prisoners demand to be transferred to Evin because that is where the Islamic Republic holds most of its political prisoners and Qarchak and Fashafouyeh are usually for people convicted of violent felonies and common criminals.

However, former political prisoner and civil rights activist Arash Sadeghi wrote on social media that the transfers were done with the aim of imposing restrictions and having more control on political prisoners rather than separating them based on crimes.

He added that for example there is limitations in access to telephones in Evin's women’s ward and the Ward Six of Evin – where the political prisoners of Fashafouyeh are held – is close to Ward 209 that belongs to the Intelligence Ministry, making it easier to put pressure and restrictions on the prisoners of conscience.

Moreover, considering the disastrous situations of the Qarchak and Fashafouyeh detention centers, which were being leaked out by the political prisoners, the Islamic Republic preferred to transfer them to Evin instead of closing or changing the conditions of these two prisons, he said, noting that in this way no more news from these two prisons will go out. 

The CBI report published last week indicates that in the fiscal year ending March 20, 2022, the country's revenues from exporting oil, gas, as well as oil and gas products and by-products, amounted to nearly $39 billion, $17 billion more than the previous fiscal year when oil prices were much lower.

The 84% increase in oil export revenues, however, was accompanied by a nearly 50% increase in capital flight in comparison with the previous fiscal year (ended March 20, 2021) as trust in the local economy and the political future of the country appeared to have diminished.

According to the latest OPEC figures, Iran earned more than $25 billion from selling crude oil in 2021. There have been numerous reports since late 2020 that Iran has been selling more oil, clandestinely, despite US sanction. Iranian shipments increased from as low as 200,000 barrels per day in 2019 to as high as more than one million barrels in January 2022. In 2020 Iran earned only around $8 billion due to enforcement of US sanctions.

The precise amount of capital leaving Iran is very difficult to calculate but it can be deducted from the official data on net capital account deficit. According to the CBI’s latest report, the net capital account deficit stood at $9.3 billion during the fiscal year ending March 20, 2022.

The hard currency outflow from the country is invested in various ways including in real estate, stocks, bonds, cryptocurrencies, or establishing of companies abroad. Investment in neighboring countries is particularly popular. The high rate of inflation and the huge drop in the value of the national currency have also hugely contributed to the urge to invest in such markets instead of domestic production and services.

In January this year Iran's central bank said that over $6 billion had been taken out of the country in six months (March 21-Sept. 20, 2021) because of political and economic uncertainty.

One of the indications of capital flight from Iran is the popularity of property acquisition in neighboring countries such as Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and Georgia which often goes hand in hand with business investments.

According to a report by the state broadcaster’s Young Journalists Club (YJC) in April, the value of assets held by Iranians abroad was estimated at between 3 to 4 trillion dollars in 2015, about 10 times the country’s gross domestic production.

Experts say CBI figures indicate that Iranians are fearful about the safety of their investments despite promises of government officials last year that the 2015 nuclear deal, Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) would be restored.

They argued that the administration of President Ebrahim Raisi does not tie the economy to the outcome of the nuclear talks and restoration of the JCPOA and therefore, the economy would not be damaged even if the talks to restore the deal failed and US sanctions continued.

Iran has also struggled to attract foreign investment since the United States withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal and slapped sanctions on oil exports, international banking, and officials of the Islamic Republic. Any entity worldwide supplying dollars to Iran is vulnerable to punitive US action.

According to official figures, Iran's net capital account balance was positive from 2001 to 2005 when there was foreign investment. But in the following years, except in 2014, the balance has been in the negative.

In a tweet on Sunday, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said that “a nuclear Iran is not a threat only to Israel, but to the entire region and the world.” 

Echoing remarks by the head of the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, the ministry said, "Today what we have is a nuclear program that has grown enormously....” and a country that does not seek nuclear weapons would not enrich uranium to 60 percent.

On July 22, Grossi told Spain's El Pais newspaper that the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program is "galloping ahead" and the IAEA has very limited visibility on what is happening. 

In 2019, Iran began breaching restrictions on its nuclear program following the 2018's pullout of the United States from the 2015 deal, the JCPOA, or the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. The process accelerated after President Joe Biden’s administration signaled it was ready to return to the JCPOA.

“If there is an agreement, it is going to be very difficult for me to reconstruct the puzzle of this whole period of forced blindness,” Grossi said. “It is not impossible, but it is going to require a very complex task and perhaps some specific agreements.”

Iran would like to see a nuclear agreement taking shape soon, but it will not act with emotion and haste, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Naser Kanaani said Monday.

In an interview with Al-Rai newspaper published on Sunday, he called for “a change of behavior” from the Islamic Republic, noting that Amman “does not want tensions in the region.”

“Jordan, like the rest of Arab countries, seeks good relations with Iran, with mutual respect, good neighborliness, respect for the sovereignty of other states, and non-interference in their affairs,” King Abdullah said.

Referring to regular anti-smuggling operations on the border with Syria -- dominated by Iran-backed fighters – he said that Jordan, like other Arab nations, was being targeted by drugs and arms smugglers in transit between Europe and Persian Gulf countries. “Jordan is coordinating with its brothers (Arab countries) to confront this and protect its borders.”

Back in May, the Jordanian army said Iran-backed forces in the Syrian army and militias loyal to Tehran are trying to smuggle hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of drugs across the Jordanian border to Persian Gulf markets.

"The Jordanian armed forces are facing a war along the borders, a drugs war and led by organizations supported by foreign parties. These Iranian militias are the most dangerous because they target Jordan's national security," army spokesperson Colonel Mustafa Hiari said. 

Jordan is concerned about Iran and its proxies filling a vacuum left by Russians in southern Syria, warning that this could lead to issues along the borders.