Iran Abstained From UN Vote To Declare Clean Environment As Human Right

The protesters, mostly followers of influential Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr who seeks to curb the influence of the Islamic Republic in Iraqi politics, gathered at the end of a bridge leading to Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone district – which houses government buildings and foreign embassies and mounted onto concrete barriers. According to Iran International’s correspondent Truska Sadeghi, they are heading for the Iraqi judiciary building.

Brandishing Iraqi flags and portraits of Sadr, the protesters chanted "All the people are with you Sayyed Moqtada," referring to Sadr with his title as a descendant of prophet Muhammad.

Calling for a consensus government and reforms, they demand ending foreign interference, particularly by the Islamic Republic, handing over corrupt officials to the law, and dissolving the parliament and the Coordination Framework, a coalition of Shiite parties close to Tehran.

Stressing the need for an independent government in Baghdad, they emphasize that they do not want an Iranian-linked government or a subordinate one. Protesters say they are not just the followers of Sadr; “we are all of Iraq,” they say.

Friday night, Sadr’s supporters shut down several offices of Iran-backed Hizb-ul-Dawa (The Islamic Dawa Party) and the Iraqi National Committee.

A senior Shiite scholar said on state TV that, “We will not let Iran’s Revolutionary Guard manage our country, we will cut off Iran's hand.”

According to unconfirmed reports, at least one protester is dead and several more are injured during the clashes with security forces.

There are also reports that Iran-backed Hashd al-Shaabi forces, also known as Popular Mobilization Forces, are on high alert.

Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi has also called on protesters to show restraint to protect the safety and lives of the demonstrators.

In a show of strength on Wednesday, July 27, protesting Iraqis forced their way into the parliament, walked on tables, waved Iraqi flags, sat in lawmakers' chairs, and chanted anti-Iran slogans to protest a Tehran-backed prime ministerial nominee. On Monday, July 25, the Coordination Framework nominated Mohammed al-Sudani as the prime minister, a decision opposed by Sadr.

The mass gathering was considered a show of force by the firebrand cleric whose party won the highest number of seats in the October 2021 national elections but withdrew after failing to form a government with Sunni and Kurdish allies in Iraq's hectic power-sharing system free of Iran-backed parties that have dominated many state institutions for years.

It was the largest protest since the federal elections and the second time al-Sadr has used his ability to mobilize the masses to send a message to his political rivals this month,and renewed his call to dismantle outlaw armed factions, referring to the Iran-backed Shiite militia Hashd al-Shaabi, which was led by former Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis before he was killed alongside Qasem Soleimani in January 2020 by a US drone strike.

According to official figures, as of Friday night, early Saturday, 56 people were confirmed killed in the floods, and at least 16 others missing. Nineteen of Iran’s 31 provinces, 38 cities and 106 towns are affected by heavy rains and floods.

Indian sub-continent summer monsoons usually bring some rain showers to Iran’s arid plateau, but every few decades the impact becomes more intense and causes flooding.

This week the storms spread throughout the arid regions. The central Yazd city, with an annual precipitation of just 4 centimeters, received 5 centimeters of rain from Thursday to Friday. There are videos showing centuries-old historic buildings destroyed or severely damaged in the province of Yazd. This perhaps is an indication of the unprecedented impact of the monsoon rains.

The video below shows historic buildings collapsing in Yazd province

Partly due to the arid nature of the land and partly because of neglect in urban planning, even a modestly strong storm leads to deadly floods in Iran. Many dry riverbeds are choked off with construction or debris dumped by residents, leading to sudden flash floods in places no one expected one.

This year some forecasts had said that the Indian monsoon will have above-average intensity, but why the impact has moved so far west of India, is not clear. What some experts say is that warmer temperatures and more dust storms in the Middle East can contribute to the intensification of monsoon conditions over the Indian ocean. Western parts of Pakistan near Iran were hit hard in June and early July with dozens of people dying in floods.

The last time a very strong Indian or South Asia monsoon hit Iran was in 1956, with devastating floods.

Areas in and around Iran’s capital, Tehran experienced flash floods on Thursday and Friday with more than 20 killed and large mud slides covering densely populated urban parts of the 15-million Greater Tehran region. Authorities warn of more rains until Sunday, July 31.

Officials in the northern Caspian Sea region on Friday spoke of three “foreigners” killed in floods and 8 missing, but did not mention their nationalities. The Caspian coast, which has a subtropical climate and forested hills is a popular destination for Iranian tourists and occasionally foreigners.

Before the storms, Iran was experiencing its most arid year, with extremely high temperatures in the south, at times nearing 50 degrees Celsius or more than 120 Fahrenheit, with heavy dust pollution. Deaths were reported from the high temperatures and dust storms.

Precipitation was at least 30 percent less than last year, which itself was a drought period. Water reservoirs behind major dams were down by an average of 70 percent from their top capacity. The destructive monsoon rains will partly alleviate the water shortage, but it is not clear how much of the water will end up behind dams.

During their hour-long phone call he two presidents underscored the importance of strategic relations between Tehran and Beijing but nothing truly new was reported in the readouts of the talk. The Chinese president had a call with US President Joe Biden the day before.

According to the Iranian readout of the call, Raisi reiterated that reviving the 2015 agreement, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) depends on a "political decision" by Washington as it was the US that left the agreement and imposed sanctions on Tehran. There was no mention of the nuclear deal in the Chinese readout of the phone conversation. 

Somehow similar to Xi’s call with Biden, in which the “one China” policy was among the main topics, the issue of Taiwan also came up in his call with the Iranian president. 

"Support for the One China policy is a definite and principled policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran," Raisi said, criticizing the US interference in the internal affairs of countries. 

Raisi told Xi that Tehran is resolved to expand relations with Beijing in all fields regardless of international developments, especially in providing maritime security and transfer of energy.

The two also talked about the implementation of the 25-year strategic partnership agreement between Tehran and Beijing as well as regional and extra-regional arrangements such as the group of the world’s emerging economies, known as BRICS, and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. 

Kamal Hosseinpour, the representative of Sardasht in the West Azarbaijan province in the parliament, said on Friday that over four months have passed since the beginning of the year but the government has not provided the allocated budget for the construction projects of the province.

Criticizing the mismanagement of the budget allocations, he said, “The Plan and Budget Organization of the country tells us that we don't have money and it's like they don't have any plan for their work, they don't even provide technical details.” 

He added that in many parts of the country only one to two months are left of the construction season due to the cold season approaching but no money has been released yet. 

They do not complete important projects such as the sewage treatment plant in the city of Rabat near Sardasht, where the sewage water of 20,000 people enters the dam that supplies the city’s drinking water, the lawmaker complained.

Earlier in the month, the Supreme Accounting Office released a report covering the period March 21- May 20 that shows government facing a serious problem in collecting revenues. Except tax revenues, all other major sources of income, including oil exports, grossly underperformed, which local media said was a serious warning for the government and the economy.

“My dear sisters and children, I'm aware of the hardships you are going through and I'm proud of your courage and power in seeking freedom,” the exiled Queen Farah Pahlavi said in a video message obtained by Iran International referring to the escalation of government pressure on ‘Mothers for Justice’ and violence against anti-hijab activists and protesters.

The group of activist mothers whose children were killed by the government during anti-government protests in recent years has come to be known as ‘Mothers for Justice’. They have tried to keep the memory of their loved ones alive while relentlessly calling for justice for them despite intimidation, harassment, arrests and even prison. ‘Mothers for Justice’ have also been supportive of women's rights campaigns and the anti-hijab movement.

“You and your families are in my thoughts. I hope that Iran will be freed, in the same way that you want it to be freed, and particularly that you are freed [from oppression] yourselves,” the former Queen of Iran said in her message.

The movement against compulsory hijab has picked up pace in the past few weeks following the harsh crackdown on ‘bad-hijab women’ by the ‘Morality Police’ and extra measures ordered by authorities, including denying service to women who do not fully comply with hijab rules at government offices, banks, and public transportation.

On July 12, following a call by women’s rights activists for civil disobedience with the hashtag of ‘No2Hijab’ social media exploded with dozens of videos and photos of women unveiling in public.

In another statement released on Sunday, the exiled Queen condemned the widespread arrests of civil and human rights activists in Iran, particularly the anti-hijab activists. Denouncing the violent behavior of the morality police’s hijab enforcement patrols (Gasht-e Ershad) and the arrest of anti-hijab activists and protesters, she said in her statement that the civil struggle of Iranian women and men against all forms of coercion and discrimination is a “source of pride and honor.”

Farah Pahlavi, who married Mohammad Reza Shah at the age of 21 in 1959, is 83 years old and lives in Paris. She has come to be seen by many Iranians as a respected elder who contributed to the realization of women’s rights during the secular monarchy.

“Today, Iran has stood up and despite [government] killings in streets, repression, prisons, torture and executions, Iranian freedom fighters, Iran's unique women, alongside men, have not hesitated in conveying their outrage at the regime's leaders to the world,” she said Wednesday in another message on the 42nd death anniversary of her husband, King Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, who was ousted by the Islamic Revolution of 1979.

In recent years as economic crisis and heavy-handed policies by the Islamic Republic have worsened, many Iranians have come to praise the Pahlavi dynasty for modernizing the country in the 20th century and have chanted slogans praising the Pahlavi monarchs during anti-government protests.

The former crown prince, Reza Pahlavi, has on several occasions said that he is not seeking to return to power but in his messages to the nation over the waves of protests in the country in the past few years he has repeatedly called for a coordinated front to organize anti-government activities.