Syria’s largest oil refinery halts as Iranian crude shipments stop - FT

The significance of the moment is hard to overstate: a young woman raising her voice in song in an open space just as greying men in closed rooms pass laws demanding women and girls like her live as they dictate or face punishment.

Politicians and philosophers in eras past clearly warned of the affront to society such brute measures represent.

Under Iran’s new hijab law, women and even teenage girls face heavy fines, travel bans, and ultimately imprisonment if they do not follow a strict, arbitrary dress code. A government that enacts such a law seeks to exert total control over its citizens. This is not a law about clothing; it is a tool for suppression of human dignity.

The scope of this law is unprecedented. Minors as young as nine years old can face fines or detention in juvenile facilities for noncompliance. Social media influencers, businesses and even parents of offenders are held accountable, creating a web of fear and enforcement.

Surveillance measures extend to digital spaces, requiring platforms to remove noncompliant content or face punitive actions. The aim is to crush dissent and—perhaps more disturbingly— to correct any ideological deviation.

The law evokes George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984, where surveillance extends not only to actions but also to thoughts and identities. The legislation seeks to enforce not just outward compliance but inward conformity, leaving no room for personal freedom or dissent.

Control is imposed by surveillance and punishment, targeting families, businesses, and entire communities. Women who choose to wear attire deemed inappropriate by the state risk being charged with “corruption on earth,” a charge that can carry the death penalty.

Businesses, from local shops to online platforms, are fined or shut down if they fail to report or enforce compliance among employees and customers.

This flies in the face of societal changes in Iran. Young Iranians appear to be convinced more than ever that individuals are the best judges of their own lives. Having grown up under the Islamic Republic, they seem to know by instinct what the English philosopher John Stuart Mill said in On Liberty: that their freedom to make personal decisions must be protected unless it directly harms others.

The Hijab law, however, does the opposite—it strips away personal choice under the guise of moral guardianship, violating a core tenet of human dignity.

Laws are meant to protect freedoms, safeguard dignity and promote societal justice. A law that fails to uphold justice, as Henry David Thoreau would say, is not a law at all, but a tool of oppression. The Hijab law is that exactly, violating the dignity and autonomy of individuals.

The social consequences of this law are equally alarming. Hannah Arendt, in The Origins of Totalitarianism, warned of the dangers of laws designed to pit citizens against one another.

By mandating surveillance and encouraging individuals to report alleged violations within their communities, the Hijab law fosters mistrust and undermines social cohesion. This dynamic creates a society where neighbors become informants, and fear replaces solidarity.

Despite these oppressive measures, citizens are not powerless. Thoreau believed that resistance to unjust laws is a moral imperative.

Silence in the face of injustice, he argued, equates to complicity. The Hijab law, which flagrantly violates fundamental freedoms, calls for collective opposition. Defending the right to freedom of dress and personal choice is not merely an act of defiance but a stand for justice and human dignity.

In a society where women are jailed or executed for the simplest acts of autonomy, Parastoo’s voice resonated as a symbol of resistance, courage, and the irrepressible human spirit. Accompanied by male bandmates who stood in solidarity rather than domination, they showcased the power of collective defiance against tyranny.

This act of rebellion was a vivid reminder that even within the confines of authoritarianism, the spirit of freedom can shine, emboldening others to challenge unjust laws and envision a future where justice and dignity prevail.

The question for us Iranians and the global community is clear: will we stand idly by, or will we follow Parastoo—and many before her— to confront this affront to freedom and justice?

“Measures must be taken to direct this... There are solutions for this, and I am ready to present them,” said Gholamreza Mesbahi Moghaddam, a member of Iran’s Expediency Discernment Council.

The Iranian rial’s dramatic fall continues to exacerbate the country’s economic crisis. On Wednesday, the rial was trading at over 780,000 to the US dollar.

This sharp decline, coupled with soaring inflation, has eroded the purchasing power of ordinary Iranians, leaving many struggling to afford basic goods and services.

Iran’s economic woes are further compounded by a severe energy crisis.

As Iran faces its most severe economic downturn in decades, the Iranian population’s resilience is being tested as never before, with increasing uncertainty about the government’s ability to manage the nation’s worsening crises.

But propping up a friendly government in battered Syria where Tehran failed will be a serious challenge for Ankara, which must also navigate the competing agendas of other heavyweights in the region.

"Turkey is many ways is a real winner here, but time will tell, and if Erdogan overplays his hand, he could mess things up because Israel and the United States won't let it happen," said Henri J. Barkey, a scholar of the Middle East at the US Council on Foreign Relations.

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a Sunni Islamist, had long supported the armed rebellion against ousted the Iran-backed Syrian dictator Assad, even as the United States and Israel had largely acquiesced to his presence.

Hardline Sunni Islamist rebels capitalized on Shi'ite Islamic Republic's vulnerability in the region after 14 months of withering combat with Israel to wrest Damascus from Assad, whose losing fight against them Iran and its armed allies supported.

"There are complicated days ahead ... for the Syrians in their relationship with Turkey," said Patrick Clawson, a researcher at The Washington Institute.

"The Turks don't have the money to pay for what Syria needs. The Iranians weren't paying a whole lot, just barely keeping outside the line. That's one of the reasons why its forces fell apart".

The reaction of Washington, de facto leader of the NATO alliance in which Turkey has often been a rogue member for its independent stances, will be crucial.

US President-elect Donald Trump said on Monday that Turkey is the ultimate decider of what happens next in Syria, but spoke in harsh terms about its sudden rise there.

"Turkey did an unfriendly takeover without a lot of lives being lost," Trump told a press conference at his Florida residence in Mar-a-Lago.

"Right now, Syria has a lot of, you know, there's a lot of indefinites ... I think Turkey is going to hold the key to Syria,” he added.

“I think this must have come as a big surprise to the Turks because they were expecting that relations with the United States would improve with Trump winning the election, especially because Trump was known to have great admiration for Erdogan," Barkey of the Council on Foreign Relations said.

The Islamic Republic too appears to be casting a skeptical eye on Turkey's role.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused the United States, Israel, and another unnamed country of plotting to overthrow Assad in a speech to his followers last week.

Khamenei was clearly referring to Turkey but dared not criticize it by name because Iran is no position to respond, said Karman Matin, an associate Professor of International Relations at Sussex University in the UK.

“We see a sense of desperation and impotence. The Khamenei speech, I think, was very telling, especially if you put it next to the previous speeches and you see the sense of what he wanted to have but couldn’t,” Matin told Iran International.

After Iran lost its grip in the region after punishing blows by Israel eliminating the top leadership, fighters and weapons stores of Tehran's militant allies, the Islamic Republic must now focus on another grim development: the return of Trump.

Matin described the mood among Iranian hardliners as a growing sense of desperation and feeling of betrayal by its Muslim neighbour in Ankara.

Ahmad Khatami, a senior hardline Iranian cleric, blamed Turkey for Assad’s demise and warned Erdogan that he will face consequences.

“Erdogan will pay the price for this betrayal against Muslims—one day, they [Muslims] will come for him,” said Khatami, a member of Iran's Assembly of Experts and Tehran Friday prayers leader said Tuesday.

While these hardliners also want revenge against Israel for its continued campaign to destabilize the Islamic Republic and its proxies, the Jewish state is also on edge with what will come of Syria’s future governance.

The fall of Assad and the Iranian sphere of influence in Syria is good news for Israel, but Matin described it as bittersweet.

“Israel's concern is probably more about Turkish expansionism now through Sunni rulers of Syria,” said Matin, "Turkey is now an issue for Israel."

As the new leaders in Syria solidify their rule, Matin argues that they won't be in a position to challenge Israel yet.

The ousting of Assad has created an opening for Turkey to now assert itself as a primary external factor, replacing Russia and Iran.

Hakan Fidan, the Turkish foreign minister, told Saudi al-Hadath TV on Sunday that Iran must better understand its actions following Assad’s downfall

“We don’t want Iranian domination, Turkish domination or Arab domination. It’s time for us to come together and establish our own interests, our own order in the region, shoulder to shoulder,” said Fidan.

Turkish spy chief Ibrahim Kalin was reportedly in Damascus last week for a meeting with rebel leaders and prayed in the city’s Umayyad Mosque which dates back to the dawn of Islam, according to Turkish media.

During the height of the Syrian civil war a decade ago, Erdogan took aim at Assad’s attacks on civilians, vowing to one day pray in the courtyard of that mosque.

He may soon be able to honor that pledge.

"A large number of Iranians have been living in Syria for a long time, and Russia relocated most of them to Iran," said Mohammad Jafar Asadi, deputy commander of the Khatam-al Anbiya Central Headquarters.

"These were not Iran's advisory forces; we withdrew our advisory forces from Syria ourselves," he added. "We do not allow Russia to relocate our military forces."

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a transnational military organization that lies at the heart of Iran's ruling establishment, has been a key ally of Russia in Syria and Ukraine.

Moscow has launched hundreds of IRGC-provided drones at Kyiv's forces while Iranian and Russian troops together fought the Islamist rebels now running Syria after they seized Damascus from President Bashar al-Assad.

Putin had said Moscow evacuated 4,000 Iranian soldiers from Syria to Tehran by air after Assad's fall.

Putin said in remarks carried by state media that just as Iran had originally requested Russia transport its units to Syria to back Assad, Tehran again sought Moscow's aid to evacuate the soldiers.

"If earlier, for example, our Iranian friends asked us to help them transport their units to Syrian territory, now they asked us to withdraw them from there," Putin said.

"We took 4,000 Iranian fighters to Tehran from the Hmeimim base. Some of the so-called pro-Iranian units left without a fight for Lebanon, some for Iraq."

"After Hamas, Hezbollah and the Assad regime in Syria, the Houthis are almost the last arm of Iran's axis of evil. They are finding out, and will find out, the hard way that whoever harms Israel – will pay a very heavy price," he said.

He made the remarks following dozens of strikes across Yemen early Thursday, about an hour after a Houthi missile struck a school in Ramat Gan.

"This morning, the Air Force attacked strategic targets of the Houthis in the port of Hodeidah and deep into Yemen," Netanyahu said. "We did this in response to repeated Houthi attacks against civilian targets in Israel," he added.

Last year, the Houthis launched a maritime blockade of the Red Sea region. Originally aimed at Israeli-linked vessels, it has since targeted global shipping.

"They are not attacking just us – they are attacking the entire world," Netanyahu said. "They are attacking the international shipping and commercial lanes. Thus, when Israel takes action against the Houthis, it is acting on behalf of the entire international community. The Americans understand this very well, as do many others."

In February, US and British forces launched a series of strikes on Houthi targets. They were supported by an international coalition, including Australia, Bahrain, Denmark, Canada and the Netherlands.