Former Speaker Emerges From Silence Before Iran Elections
A veteran regime politician in Iran, who could potentially challenge the hardliners’ control over the Iranian parliament has grown increasingly vocal in recent days.
A veteran regime politician in Iran, who could potentially challenge the hardliners’ control over the Iranian parliament has grown increasingly vocal in recent days.
Former Parliamentary Speaker Ali Larijani has been making controversial comments about state affairs, primarily through a couple of interviews with online media sources or in meetings with entrepreneurs in Iran during the past few days.
Hardline daily Khorasan explained Larijani’s behavior as a signal to indicate that he is willing to play a part in the upcoming parliamentary elections although it is clear that he is not a candidate for the March 2024 polls.
Khorasan wrote that Larijani ignored the Interior Ministry’s call for pre-registration, a process that is not part of the formal procedure for announcing one’s candidacy. However, he told likeminded politicians to register their candidacy and run for the parliament.
The daily, which is affiliated to the administration of the holy shrine of Imam Reza in Mashhad and is funded by Khamenei’s office, opined that Larijani will support the candidacy of several moderate conservative politicians and former lawmakers such as his brother-in-law Ali Motahari, as well as others including Mansoor Haqiqatpoor and Ezattollah Yousefian Molla.
As per Rouydad24, Larijani has recently criticized Iran’s foreign policy by saying that these gentlemen [presumably Iran’s top diplomats, or Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei who determines the country’s foreign policy] think it is important to have influence in some foreign capitals. However, he emphasized that our paramount objective should be to ensure our citizens lead stable lives and can chart their future with confidence.
Meanwhile, he cautioned the government against embracing the Marxist notion that nations are merely workers requiring governance by the authorities.
Highlighting that liberalism surpasses Marxism as a governing approach, offering citizens an abundance of choices in various scenarios, Larijani noted the presence of a third path – the Islamic approach. In this path, the government facilitates the populace's productive endeavors, an approach he described as empowering the people. According to him, this strategy holds the potential to propel the nation's progress.
Clearly criticizing Khamenei without naming him, Larijani said: "It is not enough to say where we want to be in 20 years. We need to have a reasonable development plan."
Meanwhile, in a meeting with a group of entrepreneurs over the weekend , Larijani said: "Some politicians define social justice as giving cash handouts to the people. But the main responsibility of the government is bringing about sustainable development." He was clearly referring to populist politicians such as President Ebrahim Raisi and his predecessor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who in the absence of satisfactory economic growth offer small monthly cash payments to all or part of the citizens.
Larijani added that sustainable development also ensures better outcomes for economic, social, political and security issues of the country.
Larijani who started his political career in early 1990s as a hardliner coming from the ranks of the revolutionary guards (IRGC), gradually changed into a moderate conservative politician during the past decade, and aligned his political affiliation with politicians such as former President Hassan Rouhani.
In another development, Aftab News quoted Larijani as saying that "Some people have mistaken political power with the use of force."
According to Aftab News, criticizing the government's harsh treatment of artists with a lifestyle different from what hardliners propagate, Larijani said: "What do artists want? They want a [normal] life and the freedom for artistic creation. The government needs to reach a common understanding with Iranian artists."
The latest statistics from the 'Arbaeen Headquarters' indicate that only 1,335,000 individuals have applied for special passports for the religious ceremony, approximately one-third of the number of participants in the previous year.
Arbaeen (literally meaning fortieth) is a Shiite religious observance that occurs forty days after the Day of Ashura, when according to religious legend Husayn (Hussain) ibn Ali, the grandson of Prophet Muhammad was killed on the 10th day of the month of Muharram in 680 AD.
The number of pilgrims will increase as there are about two weeks until the Arbaeen ceremony, which falls on September 6 this year, but even if the country keeps issuing passports with its maximum capacity, the number will end up significantly lower than previous years.
Brig. Gen. Mohammad Sharafi, a police commander in charge of the Arbaeen Headquarters, said Tuesday, “We received approximately 1,335,000 applications for passports, and so far, 640,000 passports have been delivered. We are currently printing 100,000 passports daily after tripling our capacity.”
The Islamic Republic regime views the event as a show of influence in the region, encouraging high participation via numerous perks, including providing free medical services and rest stops along the way, free internet on the road and inside Iraq, offering interest-free loans and granting 200,000 Iraqi dinars ($153) to pilgrim as well as special passports with less bureaucratic requirements. The ration of cheap foreign currency – which used to be dollars or euros until this year – will be paid from Iran's frozen funds in Iraq, about to be released as part of a prisoner swap deal with the United States.
Millions of Shiite Muslims travel to the Iraqi city of Karbala, the site of the Shiite Imam’s shrine for Arbaeen. A large number of the pilgrims start their journey from other religious cities – such as Najaf and Kadhimiya in Iraq -- and walk on foot for days – sometimes hundreds of kilometers -- to reach Karbala. There are no reliable methods for tallying the number of visitors to Iraqi holy Shia sites during Arbaeen. In 2019, before the pandemic, an estimated 15 million people from various countries attended the ceremonies.
The route from Najaf to Karbala is the most popular one and the Islamic Republic has set up dozens of stations providing free food and refreshments as well as rest areas on the way.
Aref Norouzi, a senior official at the Execution of Imam Khomeini's Order’ (Setad), claims that the "largest and most well-equipped mobile hospital in the Middle East" will be established by the organization along the route from Najaf to Karbala.
Despite reports of shortages of medicines and medical staff in a lot of regions across the country, the regime has dispatched 22,000 medical personnel and emergency responders for the event. At least seven field hospitals have been set up and two helicopter ambulances and more than 100 regular ambulances have been stationed just at the Khosravi border crossing, one of several main crossings between Iran and Iraq.
More than 4,000 physicians, along with approximately 400 tons of medication and equipment, are prepared for Arbaeen pilgrims, Iran’s Red Crescent Society said.
According to Iran’s Customs Administration, more than 30,500 tons of foodstuffs and 800,000 liters of gasoline are to be transferred to Iraq for Arbaeen. This comes as Iran is struggling to supply its daily needs of fuel that has led to long lines of cars at gas stations and a gasoline black market. Providing food is also among the grievances of Iranian households as the prices jumped in the past year.
In addition to medical and healthcare personnel, municipal, road maintenance, and transportation workers have also been deployed, including only 4,000 Tehran municipality employees.
Majid Mirahmadi, a deputy interior minister and the head of Iran's taskforce for Arbaeen pilgrimage, had predicted that this year more than four million Iranian pilgrims will travel to Iraq. The figure is a speculation based on the number of pilgrims in the previous years but this year the annual Shiite mourning ceremonies took an unprecedented anti-regime tone as people chanted religious verses that were critical of the regime and its repressive actions.
Despite government efforts to mitigate economic and other challenges faced by pilgrims it appears that people are becoming more distant from the pilgrimage due to its association with the Islamic Republic and its policies.
The ex-Qatari prime minister Hamad Bin Jassim, known by his initials HBJ, is currently the subject of a proposed investigation by a Beverly Hills councilmember. HBJ faces accusations of enabling terrorism and stoking antisemitism, according to MEMRI and a US congressional hearing.
HBJ plans to relocate to Los Angeles, where his luxury hotel The Maybourne Beverly Hills is located.
John Mirisch, the former mayor of Beverly Hills who now serves as a city councilmember, told Iran International, “Mr. bin Jassim’s statement is vile and yet another manifestation of the virus of Jew-hatred, something we in Beverly Hills, one of the few Jewish-majority cities outside Israel, have always condemned in the strongest of terms. I intend to ask the City Council to look into the MEMRI report, as well as Mr. bin Jassim’s remarks and to pass a resolution condemning any and all expressions of Jew-hatred, as well as any violations of human rights.”
The MEMRI report Mirisch referenced is titled “ A Terror Enabler In Beverly Hills And Bel Air – Part I, “ by the president of MEMRI, Yigal Carmon.
Mirisch also condemned HBJ’s reported antisemitic comment that was disclosed in a second MEMR report released on August 17 titled “Former Qatari Prime Minister Hamad Bin Jassim – 'The Thief Of Doha' – Recounts Personal Memories In Video Interviews.”
HBJ told the Kuwaiti news outlet Al-Qabas in January 2022, “Imagine oil [was sold] by some Jews…what would be the price of a barrel of oil? It would be the most expensive thing in the world. It would be more precious than anything, like medicine.”
With respect to Qatar-Iran relations, HBJ told Al-Qabas, "I am against turning Iran into our enemy. Iran did not attack the GCC countries” and that Iran “did not attack the GCC. It did not attack Qatar. This is a simple example. It did not attack or threaten us. So why would I be hostile to Iran? I have disagreements with Iran on many issues, that’s true, but this does not mean that Iran is an enemy of mine."
MEMRI countered HBJ’s false assertion, stating, “Iran has staged multiple attacks on GCC countries by means of the Ansar Allah (Houthi) militia in Yemen—a militia that is backed and armed by Iran and acts upon its instructions. The Houthis attacked the Aramco facilities in Saudi Arabia in 2019. They also targeted Saudi and Emirati oil, water, and electric facilities in March 2022, and attacked smaller targets in 2017 and 2018. “
MEMRI added “In August 2018, Gen. Naser Sha'bani, a top official of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), admitted that the Iranian regime had ordered the Houthi militia to attack two Saudi tankers, and that it had carried out those orders. “
Fox News reported in 2019 that Qatar had advance knowledge about Iran’s attacks on Saudi, Norwegian and UAE vessels but kept the information to itself.
Qatar harbored terrorists with links to the Islamic Republic of Iran during HBJ’s tenure as foreign minister and prime minister (1992-2013), according to a 2017 congressional hearing.
One telling example was when the US Treasury sanctioned 'Abd al-Malik 'Abd al-Salam (aka Umar al-Qatari), a Jordanian with Qatari residence in 2011 and 2012, for working “with associates in Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Qatar, and Iran to raise and move funds, weapons, and facilitate travel for fighters.”
The 63-year-old former Qatari top official has an estimated fortune worth $1.2 billion, according to a 2023 Forbes article.
When asked about the antisemitism and terrorism promotion allegations against HBJ, Blake Fox, Director of Communications for the Maybourne Beverly Hills hotel, told Iran International “Kindly note that your email has been well received. We do not have any comment to provide.”
Qatar and Iran’s regime both prescribe the death sentence for gays. HBJ upheld the lethal homophobic system in Qatar during his premiership in the tiny oil-rich country.
Karmel Melamed, an LA-based Iranian-American and award-winning journalist, told Iran International, “It's indeed sad and shameful that the current Biden administration which has long claimed to champion LGBT rights, has failed to revoke the US visa of bin Jassim … [who] has long advocated for the LGBT to be executed.”
Melamed added, “As a Los Angeles resident I'm honestly surprised that the local city government and members of the entertainment industry living here who are very supportive of LGBT rights, have not demanded bin Jassim's deportation or protested outside his hotel in Beverly Hills.”
The US State Department told Iran International “Visa records are confidential under U.S. law; therefore, we cannot discuss the details of individual visa cases.”
When asked about the MEMRI report alleging HBJ enabled terrorism, the US spokesperson said, “We have no comment on the report at this time.”
Iran International sent numerous press requests to Qatar’s embassies in Washington DC and London. Requests for comment were also sent to Qatar’s foreign ministry, to HBJ and his charity in Doha.