Iran MP warns of four-fold gasoline price rise amid fuel reform debate

In his post on X, Araghchi said "the exhibition in the British Parliament of a drone falsely and maliciously attributed to Iran is a pathetic scene staged by the Israeli lobby and its sponsors.”

Responding in Polish, Poland’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski said it was “nice that Iran’s foreign minister writes in Polish,” but added it “would have been better not to sell drones and licenses for their production to Russia while it was already waging aggression against Ukraine.”

He said Iran should instead “rebuild the Persian civilization that once amazed the world.”

British MP Tom Tugendhat accused Tehran of aiding Russia and Yemen’s Houthis “in murdering others abroad,” saying Iran’s rulers should “focus on the country they’re destroying at home” instead of interfering overseas.

Former US governor Jeb Bush, who chairs the US advocacy group United Against Nuclear Iran, also called Araghchi’s post “pathetic” and accused Iran of sponsoring “terror militias” while failing to provide its people with electricity and water.

Mark Wallace, the CEO of UANI which organized the drone display, said the exhibit “revealed the regime for what it is: the leading state sponsor of terrorism.”

Wallace accused Araghchi and Iran’s leadership of sending “murderous suicide drones around the world killing and maiming the citizens of over 80 countries.”

The display was held on Tuesday at the British parliament in London and attended by Western and Ukrainian officials.

Following the display, Iran summoned Poland’s chargé d’affaires in Tehran to protest Sikorski’s participation in the event.

Iran denies supplying drones for use in the war, saying it sold a limited number to Russia before the invasion began.

Western governments and Ukraine say Shahed-type drones, designed in Iran and now produced in Russia under the name Geran, have become central to Moscow’s air assaults.

“It started probably with Soleimani. He was a mastermind who did a lot of bad things,” Trump said in a Fox News interview, referring to the late Quds Force commander.

“He’s the father of the roadside bomb that would blow up and maim so many of our great soldiers,” he added.

Soleimani was killed in a US drone strike near Baghdad International Airport in January 2020 on Trump’s orders.

The US president said the turning point that paved the way for the Gaza peace earlier this month came in June when US B-2 bombers carried out what he called a “beautiful military operation” against Iran’s nuclear facilities.

“They flew for 37 hours, went into Iran’s airspace, and bombed the hell out of it,” he said. “When we destroyed their nuclear capability, they no longer became the bully of the Middle East.”

He said the US operation, along with Israeli strikes on Iran, made possible what he described as peace beyond Gaza.

“We wouldn’t have been able to make the deal we just made, which is basically peace in the Middle East beyond Gaza,” Trump said.

The ceasefire mediated in early October by the United States, Egypt, Turkey and Qatar put an end to over two years of Israeli attacks on Gaza, which started in response to Hamas's October 7 attack.

The video leaked on X on October 17 shows Shamkhani, a member of Iran's Expediency Council, escorting his daughter, Fatemeh, into a grand wedding hall.

The footage, reminiscent of Western-style weddings where the father walks the bride down the aisle, drew immediate attention for the bride’s revealing gown and her mother’s low neckline — both unusual in a country where mandatory hijab and modesty laws have been enforced for decades.

The event, reportedly held in April 2024 at Tehran’s luxury Espinas Palace Hotel, had already drawn scrutiny at the time when Iranian media estimated its cost at around 14 billion rials (over $21,000). The family has never publicly commented on those reports.

Such gatherings are typically held in secrecy. “Without hypocrisy, why would there be such secrecy?" a user named Esmail Esbati wrote on X.

A pattern of elite excess

Some social media users have downplayed the wedding video, describing it as comparable to countless other ceremonies in Iran in terms of scale and expense.

However, for many Iranians, the Shamkhani wedding fits a familiar pattern — senior officials publicly preaching austerity and revolutionary simplicity while privately enjoying privilege.

In 2022, Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf faced a similar scandal dubbed “Layette-Gate”, where his wife, daughter, and son-in-law were spotted returning from Turkey with luxury baby items. The episode, seen as a symbol of elite hypocrisy, resurfaced during his 2024 presidential bid.

Iran’s long economic crisis has magnified public resentment. After years of sanctions, mismanagement, and inflation exceeding 40 percent, the middle class has largely collapsed.

Hundreds of thousands suffer from malnutrition, and many young Iranians postpone or abandon marriage altogether as costs soar.

From wedding in mosques to wedding in luxury hotels

Social media reaction was swift and cutting. Users accused Iran’s ruling elite of flaunting their privilege while ordinary Iranians struggle with soaring costs of living and widespread poverty.

Posting on X, one user criticized leaders of the Islamic Republic for preaching modest living and anti-capitalism slogans, calling them “lies and deceptions.”

“When millions of Iranian youths cannot even afford the cost of holding a simple wedding, and wedding halls are going bankrupt due to the economic situation that these very gentlemen have created for the people, holding any kind of ceremony by the regime's officials is unlawful and haram,” the user added.

Another user mocked the ruling class’s rhetoric: “Hold the most luxurious parties you want for your children— we’re not jealous. But don’t say sanctions are a blessing or that people have chosen to live like this. When the majority of citizens live in poverty, marry your child in a mosque [not in Espinas Palace].”

The scandal’s timing has amplified its impact. In recent weeks, Iran’s morality police have returned to the streets after months of relative absence. Reports of plans to renew hijab enforcement have emerged recently.

Against this backdrop, images of unveiled women and opulent décor at the Shamkhani wedding have sparked outrage.

One user, posting under the handle “Son of Nietzsche,” wrote: “This video is the Islamic Republic in miniature. Rulers forcing hijab on the people while keeping them poor, and throwing hijab-free luxury weddings for their own children.”

Hardliners join the backlash

The scandal also drew reactions from within Iran’s conservative ranks. Ultra-hardline politician Ali Akbar Raefipour posted on X: “Can we ask how we can tell people to be patient with economic sanctions when the former Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council holds his daughter's wedding in one of the country’s most luxurious hotels?”

Raefipour also asked mockingly if hijab enforcement vans would be parked outside such venues.

Referring to Shamkhani’s upscale apartment, damaged in an Israeli strike earlier this year, and to alleged corruption cases involving his sons, ultra-conservative user Seyed Ali Mousavi wrote:

“From the mansion revealed in the Israeli attack to his children’s oil ventures and now this costly wedding, Mr. Shamkhani’s lifestyle shows a deep divide with the people in dire economic circumstances. Such extravagance and the claims that he makes destroy public trust.”

Ezzatollah Zarghami, the former head of Iran’s state broadcaster, on Sunday defended Shamkhani amid the controversy, saying the bride’s father kept his head down as he walked his daughter toward the groom during the “female-only” ceremony.

“Some women were veiled, and the rest were mahram (close relatives),” he added.

He also accused Israel of leaking the video, saying “hacking into people’s privacy is Israel’s new method of assassination.”

Mullah Kamal Salahi-zehi, a well-known community leader in the town of Sarbaz, was killed when unidentified gunmen opened fire on his vehicle in Iranshahr, according to Iranian state media. His son was wounded and taken to hospital.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards condemned what it called a “cowardly terrorist act,” saying in a statement that “mercenary groups linked to the evil Zionist regime” were behind the attack.

It added in the statement that those killed in recent weeks included “the honorable martyrs Mullah Kamal, Reza Azarkish, Parviz Kadkhodaei, and Shams Askani,” and vowed that “the perpetrators and masterminds of these crimes will soon face punishment.”

The statement said such attacks aimed to “undermine the unity of Shia and Sunni communities” in the region but would “never shake the firm resolve of the Iranian nation.”

Tasnim News Agency, affiliated with the IRGC, described Mullah Kamal as one of the “defenders of the Islamic Republic” and wrote: “He always took firm and explicit positions against hostile movements and agents linked to Israel and global arrogance.”

However, the Baluch Activists Campaign offered a different account of Mullah Kamal’s positions, implicitly suggesting that the Islamic Republic was responsible for his killing.

The local outlet portrayed Mullah Kamal as a respected community leader, peace-seeking social activist, and a prominent figure “opposed to the Islamic Republic” in the 1980s and 1990s, who had repeatedly clashed with military forces. However, he stopped his struggle against the Islamic Republic after mediation by local elders.

According to the report, the Islamic Republic had made several attempts to assassinate Mullah Kamal both before and after granting him a guarantee of safety.

The killing follows several similar incidents in recent months.

In September, Reza Azarkish, a local Basij militia member, was shot dead in Iranshahr. Earlier in the month, Iraj Shams Askani, a member of the Revolutionary Guards, was gunned down in the border town of Rask, in an attack claimed by the Sunni militant group Jaish al-Adl.

Earlier this month, Parviz Kadkhodaei, a local Basij commander in Nikshahr, was killed in a separate assault.

The province, bordering Pakistan and Afghanistan, has long been the scene of attacks by Sunni insurgent groups that Tehran says are backed by foreign intelligence services.

Ahmad Esmailzadeh, head of the ministry’s Nutrition Improvement Office, said on Sunday that high prices have driven dairy consumption to record lows, while malnutrition, obesity, and vitamin deficiencies are worsening.

He added that the government plans to resume the long-suspended school milk distribution program within two weeks to support children’s nutrition.

Over 120,000 deaths each year in Iran are linked to diet-related illnesses such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and obesity, according to ministry data.

Nearly one in five children is overweight, and up to 70% of Iranians suffer from vitamin D deficiency, Esmailzadeh said.

• 

  Iran’s Dairy and Meat Consumption Plummets Amid Escalating Poverty

According to UN Food and Agriculture Organization data, Iran’s per capita dairy consumption fell from 101 kg in 2010 to 70 kg in 2023, less than half the global average.

The decline reflects a broader collapse in household food spending as inflation and sanctions-driven poverty deepen. Meat consumption has dropped 17% over the past decade, and calorie intake has fallen 22% since 2010.

Industry officials say milk exports have surged more than 500% in recent years as domestic demand collapses, following the government’s suspension of free milk distribution in schools during the mid-2010s.