Israel Hoping For Breakthrough With Saudis During US Security Advisor Visit

The director general of social insurance in Iran’s Ministry of Labor, Sajjad Badamforoush, said: “Even if we sell two to three million barrels of oil with sanctions removed, we still cannot solve the pensioners' issues."

Although most observers in Iran took the director's statement with a pinch of salt as typical Iranian exaggeration, yet, what he said shed light on the fact that the country's Pension Fund, once one of the richest institutions in Iran is on the verge of bankruptcy because of corruption and mismanagement.

Iran’s Social Security Organization is a public institution that provides health insurance, pension and unemployment benefits to its members. They range from workers and government employees to self-employed individuals. More than half the population receive some type of benefit from the organization.

The official said that not only the Pension Fund is unable to pay the pensioners, it also does not have enough resources to cover its debts to domestic and foreign creditors. 

Iranian economist Ahmad Maydari noted that the idea of selling islands to make up for the Pension Fund's deficits comes as a movie based on a true story that took place in Greece. This, he said cannot happen Iran. Instead, he suggested that the government needs to change the laws that allow ad hoc withdrawals from the fund. 

Lawmaker Mohsen Pirhadi has said that 15 percent of this year's budget will be spent on the repayment of loans taken by the Pension Fund. 

A pessimistic report in Rouydad24 website, however, pointed out that the crisis concerning the Pension Fund will paralyze Iran and will plunge its economy into a new crisis in less than two decades. 

A former chief of the Pension Fund, Mahmoud Eslamian says the problem is the result of successive governments failing to pay social security premiums to the fund for tens of millions of people. 

What the presidential administrations have done with the massive amount of money is not clear. One observer likened the problem to a clock bomb that will surprise everyone when it is detonated. 

A former vice-president under President Hassan Rouhani said 8 years ago that the problem of the Pension Fund is one Iran's three major looming crises along with water shortage and damage to the environment. 

However, most officials who speak about the problem ignore corruption and mismanagement as the underlying reason for waste and embezzlement of financial resources. 

One thing which is clear, political appointees, especially since the presidency of populist Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, invested funds in Iran’s state-controlled unprofitable companies managed by cronies, with a high potential of corruption.

Economist Mohammad Khoshchehreh accused Iranian officials for delaying the crisis rather than solving it for decades. "They did not solve a small problem and instead simply watched it as it grew into a major crisis," said Khoshchehreh, adding that it is now turning into a super crisis. The economist pointed out that solving this crisis needs efficient strategic management.

A quick temporary solution is increasing the age of retirement, he said, noting like many others that some Iranians retire even between the ages of 40 and 50 and that adds more burden on the Pension Fund. 

Labor market specialist Hamid haji Esmaili got closer to the main problem and told Khabar Online that political appointees are using the Pension Fund as their personal backyard, referring to past scandals about government officials channelling funds to the wrong direction for personal or political gain. This crisis, he warned, will ruin all of the country's economic structures. 

Meanwhile, Haji Esmaili observed that part of the current crisis would have not happened if the government was not facing a budget deficit and did not have to put its fingers in the pensioners' pockets. He regretted that "Unfortunately, like its predecessors, the current government has no plans whatsoever to tackle the problem." 

The Iranian state news agency IRNA reported the move on Friday, saying that four diplomats in Tehran and Tabriz have been declared as “persona non grata” and should leave the country immediately.

Describing the measure as a tit-for-tat action, the report said it was a response to Azerbaijan's expelling four Iranian diplomats in early April.

Azerbaijan had said it was expelling the Iranian diplomats over "provocative actions" referring to a series of actions in recent months including military exercises carried out by Iran's armed forces on the border. Baku's decision was announced shortly after it arrested six Iran-funded agents accused of a coup plot.

In January, a gun attack at the Azerbaijan embassy in Tehran left one man dead and last month, there was an attempted murder by what is believed to be an Iranian cell, of Azerbaijani MP, Fazil Mustafa.

The move was seen in part due to Baku's improving relations with Tehran's archnemesis Israel, the dispute spiking when Baku opened an embassy in Israel in late March, slammed by Iran as an anti-Iranian move, a claim denied by Azerbaijan.

Tehran accuses Baku of harboring Israeli intelligence and military elements that plan to use its territory in a possible attack against Iran’s nuclear installations.

Around a quarter of Iran’s population is Azari, with analysts and activists disagreeing over the closeness of their cultural and linguistic links to their neighbors to the north.

During his Friday prayer sermon, MowlaviAbdolhamid spoke of the growing number executions of the oppressed community, based on allegations of drug charges.The outspoken cleric blamed the regime for sham trials, claiming the charges are simply a pretext to avenge widespread protests in the Sistan-Baluchestan province, home to the majority of the Baluch population. 

While Abdolhamid acknowledged the negative impacts of drugs, he said those affected are often forced into using or selling drugs due to the dire economic situation in the poverty-stricken province, Iran's poorest.

"In Sistan and Baluchistan, there is no water for agriculture, the weather is hot and there are no jobs," he said. Slamming the government's lack of support for the province, which has a population of around 4 million, including 700,000 Afghan nationals, he said: "Has the government created factories and workshops for the people? Have you used the capacities of mines and beaches? In which sector did you create a job that you are now executing people?... If you created jobs for people, many people would not go for it,” he said. 

Abdolhamid pointed out that a large number of those executed on drug-related charges are for sales amounting to as little as $15 to $20.

Given the region's high rate of unemployment and lack of proper infrastructure, smuggling fuel, goods and in some cases, drugs are their only lifeline. 

Ebrahim Fazel had gone missing on Tuesday as he had traveled from the religious city of Qom – where he was studying at the seminary – to his hometown in the northern province. His body was found from the coastal waters near the city of Jouybar

Hailing from a well-known family, he was the son of the founder of Mazandaran province’s Islamic seminary Mohammad Fazel and the grandson of one the late prominent Shia clerics in Iran,Ayatollah Mohammad Kouhestani. He was also the brother-in-law of hardliner lawmaker Mahmoud Nabavian.

Circumstances around the death remain unclear, evidence unable to determine if his body was thrown into water or he drowned.

An official of the province’s governor’s office claimed he was last seen while shopping for a swimming suit. However, he may be covering up the fact that members of clergy have increasingly become targets of attacks by Iranians who see them as symbolizing the nation’s problems.

Late in April, media close to the Revolutionary Guard reported that two clerics were targeted by a driver in the religious city of Qom after another similar attack a few days earlier. It was the third attack on clerics within a few days. Tehran police announced on April 27 that a manhunt was underway to find another driver in the attempted murder of a cleric in the capital.

Since the 1979 revolution, the clergy have gained increasing power, but discontent has risen in recent years, particularly amid waves of protests over economic, political, and civil rights issues.

Sullivan, speaking at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said he would be traveling to Saudi Arabia on Saturday for talks with Saudi leaders. A source told Reuters Sullivan is expected to meet with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Sullivan repeated the administration’s position that the United States will "take the necessary action to ensure that Iran does not acquire a nuclear weapon," but still seeks a diplomatic outcome to the challenge posed by Tehran.

“But we have made clear to Iran that it can never be permitted to obtain a nuclear weapon. As President Biden has repeatedly reaffirmed, he will take the actions that are necessary to stand by this statement, including by recognizing Israel’s freedom of action,” Sullivan told the gathering of Middle East experts at the institute.

Sullivan mentioned that a new nuclear deal with Iran should see all the enriched uranium “whether it’s five bombs or whatever it may be of 60 percent—that that also goes by the board.”

However, the question of how to deter Iran from destabilizing the region remained largely unclear, except fostering integration between allies and pursuing reduction of tensions, alluding to the agreement between Tehran and Riyadh to restore diplomatic relations. 

However, after the Chinese-brokered deal in March, Iran openly called for attacks against Israel by its Palestinian and other groups largely dependent on Tehran’s support. A series of terror attacks inside of Israel led to a military flare-up and days of rocket attacks by Palestinians from Gaza and Lebanon.

Iran, calling these attacks a great achievement, has been urging more strikes by its proxy forces.

In recent days the Revolutionary Guard has also seized two oil tankers in the Persian Gulf waters, while the US maintains a strong naval presence in the area.

Speaking about the administration’s policy in the region, Sullivan highlighted the strategy of an “interconnected Middle East” empowering US allies and partners, which would reduce “the resource demands on the United States”.

“So we’re actively building an integrated air and maritime defense architecture in the region. This is something that’s been talked about for a long time, but it’s now happening through innovative partnerships and through technology,” he said.

Robert Satloff, the executive director of the Washington Institute asked Sullivan about how the United States can deter Iran from further expanding its nuclear program, as administration officials have admitted that Iran can be a few weeks from having enough enriched uranium to build a bomb.

Sullivan responded by highlighting military cooperation with “our partners—including working very closely with Israel,” and holding joint military drills, and recognizing Israel’s right to act. 

He added that “we are going to continue to take action to, yes, deter Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, and then to seek a diplomatic solution that puts this on a long-term pathway of stability.”