Iran's ‘Moderates’ Planning A Political Comeback?

Lotfollah Siyahkali told Khabar Online that while agreements with China covering various aspects of the economy required parliamentary ratification, there would “probably” be agreement in “information and communication technology” (ICT).

An ad hoc parliamentary committee, called the Joint Siyanat Committee, is reviewing a draft bill on cyberspace regulation proposed to parliament in June, to further restrict access to various apps and websites.

Some of the bill’s supporters argue Iran should emulate China's in creating a national intranet. "The Chinese have unique and innovative experience in this field, which we can put to use," lawmaker Ali Yazdikhah said January 18.

"Passage of time proved that speculation over imitating the Chinese in Internet restriction are more true than other theories [such as using European models, which have generally aimed to extend non-digital rules into cyberspace]," the reformist Etemad newspaper wrote January 25.

China uses its ‘Great Firewall,’ a fortified digital border, to manage access to information entering and exiting the country through the Internet.

If passed, the legislation currently under review in Iran would require foreign and domestic social-media networks and messaging applications to register with a regulatory and supervisory body that would include representatives of intelligence organizations. The ministry of communications and information technology would be charged with blocking any social networks or messaging applications that failed to gain approval.

Lawmakers behind the bill, including the committee spokesman Siyahkali, want foreign social networks and messaging applications to designate a responsible Iranian company as their legal representative and to agree to abide by rules set by the regulator.

The Great Firewall

Iran has been heavily restricting access to the Internet for the past 20 years. Many foreign and Iranian websites, including media websites, are already blocked in Iran although controls are readily sidestepped by VPNs (virtual private networks) and anti-filtering software. While Instagram is the only major social-media platform not blocked in Iran, millions of Iranians use Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and WhatsApp.

Despite China’s national intranet, the Chinese use various means, including VPNs, to circumvent restrictions.Tech Rader, the technology news and reviews website, recently recommended for visitors and residents the top five VPNs for piercing China’s ‘Great Firewall.’

Tehran in March signed a 25-year cooperation agreement with Beijing. It was launched during Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian's recent visit to China. With around 18 percent of the world’s population, China is home to 20 percent of Internet users globally.

This followed the US denying visas to six members of the Iranian party, including Dabir, two wrestlers, a coach, the team manager, and a referee. The federation president conveyed the decision in a letter to the president of USA Wrestling, Bruce Baumgartner.

Earlier, a controversy had erupted when Dabir publicly repeated the slogan "Death to America" often used by supporters of the clerical regime in Iran.

Dabir, a Sydney Olympics gold medalist in freestyle wrestling, was the first to be denied a US visa, which came after remarks he made in a television program in early January.

"We always chant ‘Death to America’ but it's important to show it in action,” Dabir said during an interview on the anniversary of the 2020 killing of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani by a US drone strike in Baghdad. "Some talk a lot but don’t do much. We need to prove [our beliefs] in action.”

Sardar Pashaei, an Iranian wrestler who moved to the US in 2009, called in a tweet January 5 for Dabir to be denied a visa as he was “anti-American.” Pashaei alleged that Dabir held a US ‘green card,’ which would entitle him to live and work in the US, although Dabir later explained he had surrendered the card seven years ago because he did not "like the US".

In his letter to USA Wrestling, Dabir criticized the late decision over the Iranians’ visit. “Your country’s officials refused to issue visas despite all preliminary arrangements made by members of the Iranian team, presenting all necessary documents and repeated follow-up inquiries,” he wrote, adding that US consular officials in Dubai had carried out a "five-hour-long interview-interrogation" of the team's coach.

US Team Invited To Iran

Dabir invited the US wrestling team to visit Iran to hold the competition there. "I am personally sure that you and the good American wrestlers had and have no role in these political, anti-athletic matters," he wrote, saying wrestling fans would receive them "with open arms."

In 1998, in what was widely dubbed ‘sports diplomacy,’ a wrestling team became the first US sports team to visit Iran since the 1979 Revolution that toppled the US-backed Shah. Six American wrestlers with the American flag emblazoned on their tracksuits competed at the Takhti Cup in Tehran and were cheered by Iranian wrestling fans.

Since then, the US wrestling team has visited Iran 15 times for tournaments, while Iranian wrestlers have made 16 visits to the US. In January 2017, Iran was among seven majority-Muslim nations whose citizens were banned from visiting the US by President Donald Trump.

The Iranian government bars its athletes to compete against Israelis and many Iranian sports people have gone into exile for this and other restrictions.

Pashaei, one of these athletes, welcomed the decision to bar the Iranians. "This is a clear message to those who say ‘Death to America’ and at the same time want to come to America," he tweeted Thursday.

Parliament (Majles) Research Center has attested that 90 percent of the government's budget for all media will go to the state television IRIB (the Islamic Republic Broadcasting Organization) next year.

In a rare development the parliamentary institution has called for reducing IRIB's budget and urged the national broadcaster to return to the treasury some of its hefty advertising revenues, as its audience is declining. The Parliament is dominated by conservatives and supporters of Supreme Leader Khamenei, but it is making demands from an institution controlled by him.

According to the research center, IRIB has annual advertising revenues of nearly 140 trillion rials ($560 million). This is apart from its share of the government budget, which is equal to the annual payroll taxes of all government employees.

IRIB will receive 50 trillion rials ($200 million) from the government budget, which is 42 percent higher than last year. But this is not all that IRIB gets. Khamenei whose office directly supervises IRIB's operations and appoints its chairman, gives hard currency from the country's foreign currency reserves to the IRIB. The media conglomerate also benefits from advertising revenues and refuses to send the money back to the treasury according to law, according to media reports including one written by Homa Hosseini for Rouydad24 website.

100%

The report by parliament’s research arm is an odd event in which one hardliner organization calls for the reduction of the budget of another hardliner organization. But ever-growing funds allocated to the IRIB and religious organizations including seminaries during the past two years have been so controversial that even the country's hardliners and staunch supporters of the regime could not ignore them.

It has been revealed during the past two years that parts of the seminary such as the Al-Mustafa School which trains young clerics from foreign countries receives the lion's share of Iran's cultural budget. Other religious organizations receiving big budgets from the government include the headquarters for prayers, which coordinates what prayer Imams should say every week to promote the "values" advocated by Khamenei. The Islamic Propagation organization, which promotes the party line using the medium of art, and the high council of seminaries are other beneficiaries. Increasing these organizations' budget led to protests on social media.

According to an Iran International TV report, funds allocated to some of these organizations have had a growth over 126% in the next year's budget. This includes over two trillion rials allocated to the Islamic Propagation office in Qom which mainly publishes anti-US posters and pamphlets to promote the slogans of the Supreme Leader and other clerics in the system.

On the other hand, the IRIB is so unpopular among viewers that when the state TV was hacked twice during the past week, no one would have noticed it if the hackers did not talk to the media after the event, some Iranian social media users joked.

Next year, the IRIB will get over 25 trillion rials ($100 million) for creating animated cartoons such as those it produced to demonize the United States after IRGC Qods Force Commander Qasem Soleimani was killed in early 2020.

The Majles research center noted that the nature of IRIB’s advertising, which is mainly about food, causes dissent in the society when most viewers' purchasing power has sharply declined because of the current economic crisis and food price hikes topping 60 percent.

Both Iranian and Chinese flags were beamed onto the well-known landmark for several hours during a ceremony Sunday attended by the Chinese ambassador. Tehran municipality officials said the ‘video-mapping’ had been proposed by the Iran-China Friendship Association.

Foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian posted a photo of the event on Twitter Sunday evening, offering good wishes to the Chinese government and people for New Year and over hosting the Beijing Winter Olympics. "We will implement the comprehensive cooperation plan between the two countries with vigorous energy, so that the second 50-year-old Iran-China relationship will be even more powerful!" Amir-Abdollahian wrote in his tweet.

But the display of the Chinese flag was too much for some social media activists who detected a sign of "concessions" to Beijing and "Iran's colonialization by China."

"God on the same level as the Communist stars?” one Twitteratus opined. “Do you know what you are doing Mr. Abdollahian? Haven't you seen the Iranian people's reaction? Or maybe it's more important to keep the Chinese happy rather than us people…?”

Twitterati left angry comments under Amir-Abdollahian's post, with one using the hashtag No-to-Chinese-Globalism and evoking the 1979 slogan "Neither West, Nor East.”

"You have dressed the symbol of Iranian's freedom and independence in the flag of a foreign power and felicitate them on colonizing you. Happy anniversary of the Revolution!" another angry comment read.

While some Iranians take umbrage at Iran’s efforts to expand relations with China, and especially at the 25-year cooperation pact agreed in March, China’s regional role is growing fast.

The New York Times noted Tuesday that “in January alone, five senior officials from oil-rich Arab monarchies visited China,” and suggested that for a range of Middle Eastern countries “China promises to be a long-term buyer of oil and gas and a potential source of investment, without the political complications involved in doing business with the United States.”

Some Twitterati defended the display of the Chinese flag, noting that video-mapping national monuments with other countries' flags or symbols on suitable occasions was done widely around the world. One posted a photo of video-mapping of the Eiffel Tower in Paris in tribute to 16 Iranian firefighters who lost their lives in incident in Tehran in 2018.

The Islamic Republic's expanding relations and long-term partnership with China has stirred much controversy among Iranians, particularly since March 2021 when Iran and China signed a 25-year cooperation pact.

Built in 1971, the Azadi monument was originally named Shahyad (the Shah’s Monument) but renamed after the ruler was toppled by the 1979 Revolution.

Health Minister Bahram Eynollahi said on Wednesday that some of the proposals about nationwide lockdowns by the ministry are not approved by the country’s Covid-19 taskforce despite the increasing rate of infections and hospitalizations.

Eynollahi said when the contagion reaches a peak, patchy quarantine or isolation of cases will be ineffective, calling for a total lockdown.

The authorities’ hesitation to announce nationwide shutdowns may be attributed to the government plans to hold celebrations, including nationwide rallies to mark the anniversary of the 1979 revolution.

This would not the first time the Islamic Republic prioritizing official events over the health and safety of people. There were media allegations that authorities played down the threat from Covid back in early 2020 so as not to deter voting in the parliament election.

Last Thursday, the health minister announced the start of the sixth wave of the coronavirus pandemic as hospitals reported an increasing number of referrals related to the highly infectious Omicron variant.

According to latest reports, over 40 cities are designated as “red zones”, which means hotspots with the highest number of cases, while the daily verified cases on Wednesday were over 38,000.