Iran’s Reformist Clerics Say Revolution ‘Deviated’ From Goals

Nezam Mousavi, a member of the presidium, said on Monday that 47 MPs and about 30 employees of the legislative body have tested positive for the coronavirus.

Mousavi did not say how many are in hospital but another member of the presidium, Alireza Salimi, had said on Sunday that 10 lawmakers have been hospitalized with complications.

According to senior lawmaker Mojtaba Yousefi, the public sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday were cancelled, except the two-hour sessions for the budget review committee.

He added that the parliament will hold its sessions in three different groups as of the next week.

Jalas Rashidi Kouchi, another lawmaker, on Sunday criticized parliament members who attended the Saturday session although they had tested positive for the virus.

“No justification is acceptable for endangering the health of others,” he said in a tweet.

Another outbreak among the MPs suspended the parliament for two weeks in April.

Since the start of the pandemic in Iran, several lawmakers and former MPS have died from the coronavirus.

Iran's Health Minister Bahram Einollahi announced the start of the sixth wave of the coronavirus pandemic on Thursday as hospitals report increasing number of referrals related to the highly infectious Omicron variant.

A member of parliament’s budget review committee, Ali Yazdikhah, told Fars news agency on Monday that the scheme was removed it from the budget bill due to the opposition by the General Staff of the Armed Forces.

He added that another plan that would exempt the conscription absentees who are over 30 years old have two children will be probably removed from the next year’s budget bill if it is disapproved by the authorities of the armed forces.

The new fees announced for the buy-out scheme that ranged between about $10,000 and $20,000had shocked people in Iran whose average salaries are less than $200 a month.

Many social media users had slammed the decision that would only be possible for the rich to afford, describing the commercialization of the military service as "discriminatory".

The option to buy out of the draft was removed from regulations about three years ago because even then only wealthy families could afford it for their sons through paying absence fines, which were about 11 to 24 times less than the new fees.

According to Iran’s constitution, all men over 18 years old must serve in the military for about two years otherwise they cannot apply for a passport to leave the country.

On Monday, teachers held demonstrations in many Iranian cities to follow up on their demands for higher pay and release of their colleagues arrested in previous rounds of protests.

The spokesman of teachers’ trade associations, which organizes the demonstrations, said at least seven people have been arrested since Saturday, including three in Shiraz and two in Tehran.

According to Mohammad Habibi, teachers in 300 cities, town, and villages took part in the sit-ins in the last two days.

Teachers' protest in Esfahan on Monday.

Also on Monday, the Karaj Revolutionary Court sentenced a member of the council, Jafar Ebrahimi, to four years and six months in prison.

As in the past, the teachers gathered in front of the parliament building in Tehran and the provincial offices of the education ministry.

Habibi said teachers will not be intimidated by the attempts to suppress the protests and will continue protests and strikes until their demands are met.

People from different walks of life, including teachers, nurses, firefighters, and even staff members of the judiciary department and prison guards, have held regular protest rallies or strikes to demand higher salaries.

Food prices have risen by more than 60 percent in recent months, on top of high inflation in the previous three years, while the government is unable to sufficiently boost wages as United States’ sanctions impede full capacity oil exports and international trade.

The head of Iran’s Mahab Qods Consulting Company, which operates in dam and hydropower industry under the Energy Ministry, has been paid €500 per day during his work trips to other countries.

The quasi-governmental engineering company -- one of Iran’s biggest -- was founded to build embankment and gravity dams in Iran but has changed its focus to small projects overseas for more profit.

According to Mehr news agency, the CEO of the firm, Nasser Tarkeshdouz, has been on domestic business trips for three days in the last five years, but spent 576 days in foreign countries during 117 trips, for which he received €233,200 euros.

The astronomical payment by Iranian standards is apart from his own salary that is most probably much higher than salaries ordinary Iranians receive.

According to data published in December, there is a vast difference between minimum and maximum salaries in Iran.

While the minimum wage across the government is fixed at about $120 a month, the highest earning personnel can get up to $10,000.

The high paid employees are usually well-connected individuals who have access to extra legitimate or illicit incomes if they are part of the financial corruption network in the country.

MP Abolfazl Aboutorabi said on Sunday that about 30 lawmakers have been diagnosed with Covid-19 in the past few days.

He said the parliament’s presidium has asked all the lawmakers to get tested for Covid-19 to help curb the spread of the virus.

Alireza Salimi, a member of the presidium, said 10 lawmakers have been hospitalized with complications, while another MP has said that paqrliament members attended the Saturday session although they were tested positive for the virus.

Iran's Health Minister Bahram Einollahi announced the start of the sixth wave of the coronavirus pandemic in the country on Thursday as hospitals report increasing number of referrals related to the highly infectious Omicron variant.

“Unfortunately, we should declare that we have practically stepped into the sixth wave with the rise in hospitalization and outpatient cases,” Einollahi said, urging people to get booster shots.

Epidemiologists say the number of patients will increase fivefold each week, with the number of daily fatalities also rising.

Alireza Zali, the head of Tehran's Covid-19 taskforce, has said the Omicron variant is 64 percent more contagious than the Delta mutation, noting that tests are often unable to detect Omicron because of its similarity to common cold.