Iran’s Raisi Sacks Head Of Only Statistical Reporting Center

Iranian media said the latest mutual, regional and international developments would be top on the agenda during Sayyid Badr Albusaidi’s meeting with Iranian officials.

As part of his weekly press conference on Monday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani described Oman as a friendly country and a partner in regional affairs.

“Oman has always played a constructive role in international issues of common concern,” he added.

Oman has traditionally been an interlocutor between the West and the Islamic Republic, and has mediated the release of several foreign citizens and dual nationals held hostage by Iran.

Last month, Oman's foreign minister told Al-Monitor that Washington and Tehran are ironing out the details on a deal to release the prisoners.

There is a battle raging over the fate of Americans Siamak Namazi, Emad Shargi and Morad Tahbaz, who are imprisoned in Tehran's notorious Evin Prison on trumped-up espionage charges that the United States says are unfounded.

In his interview, Albusaidi noted that both sides appear serious about reaching an agreement on the nuclear issue.

Under a reported mechanism, Iran would be allowed to access funds frozen in South Korean banks because of US sanctions for humanitarian procurements only.

However last week, prominent economist Mehdi Pazouki told Didban Iran website that government officials have humiliated the nation in the name of their revolutionary approach. Pazouki said, in an unprecedented and daring statement, "One of Khomeini's mistakes was allowing clerics to intervene in the country's social and executive affairs." 

He was referring to the founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini who after the 1979 revolution gradually expelled independent-minded people from the government and increasingly relied on clerics that he knew had no experience in running a country.

Pazouki added that Iranian clerics can do their biggest service to Islam by migrating back to the seminaries. He further criticized officials for their lack of discipline in foreign relations and administrative affairs and said that as a result of government policies, banking in Iran lags behind other countries by at least 40 years. 

Ahmad Alirezabeigi, a member of the Iranian parliament who is known for disclosing a major bribery case involving at least 75 other lawmakers and a former Industry Minister, accused officials of evading their responsibility and adding insult to injury by making statements that blame the people for the government's shortcomings. 

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He further accused state officials of mismanaging resources and failing to provide the conditions for the minimum means of livelihood. Alirezabeigi added that government policies stifle investments and make the economy more dependent on state enterprises.

While the country is suffering from energy and water shortage, the government creates obstacles for investment in these areas. It wants to do everything by itself but is incapable of completing any project. 

This approach will inevitably lead to capital flight from the country, and add to public discontent. 

Criticizing the government's economic policies, economist Pazouki highlighted the fact that Iran’s currency has lost its value 12-fold in five years, bringing inflation and misery to the people. He argued that government foreign and domestic policies have stifled an export-oriented economy.

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As a result, the government is spending more than its income leading to a huge budget deficit. "The main problem is in our governance. Our economy is hostage to our pending political decisions," he said, adding that although there are so many capable individuals in Iran, most current officials are much less qualified than former statesmen."

As an example, he said: "Just compare the current foreign minister to his predecessor, and you will find out that we have gone back by at least 40 years. 

Expounding on the causes of Iran's rising inflation, Pazouki said: "Last year, Iraq sold $120 billion of oil while Iran's oil export was less than a quarter of that, and we still have not repatriated the money for the oil we have sold." He added: "We are likely to have even more problems if we refuse to come to terms with the world and follow a reasonable foreign policy," referring to the nuclear dispute with the West and crippling US sanctions.

In another developing, offering a way out of the problem, political commentator Abbas Abdi suggested that the government should find out about the true public mood and what ordinary people say.

“Send your agents to mingle with the people on the buses, subways, in the bazaar and shopping centers to talk with citizens and record what they say about their problems and needs.” 

Abdi likened the perception of officials about the problems of ordinary folks to the elephant in the darkroom analogy in which everyone has a different perception of the elephant. Abdi suggested: "Turn the lights on and see the elephant!"

Nima Nakisa, a former goalkeeper of the Iranian national football team, was introduced as the new CEO of Zob-e Ahan football club in Esfahan.

He was one of the few athletes who called the protesters against the murder of Mahsa Amini as "separatists" in November last year and demanded the security forces to repress demonstrators.

Following his comments, countless Iranians on social media slammed his statements, but regime supporters defended Nakisa, citing his doctorate level education as a reason for his authority.

Nakisa did not hold any position as a coach or manager until the nationwide protests began. Some critics say he has been rewarded for standing by the government.

This comes as Iran's security agencies earlier ordered the officials of Persepolis football club in Tehran to remove Karim Bagheri, the team's assistant coach, for his support of protests. Other players have suffered pay cuts, travel bans and social media blackouts for supporting the protests.

Bagheri also threw his weight behind his peer Ali Karimi, who is now one of the prominent opposition leaders, saying “Ali Karimi is neither a traitor nor a defector, but an honorable patriot… What have you done for these people except talking nonsense and insulting their heroes?”

In a statement on Sunday, the IRGC, or Revolutionary Guards Corps, identified him as a member of the Razavioun neighborhood patrol, named Amir Hosseinpour, claiming he was attacked by an assailant during a patrol mission and died four days later.

The statement does not mention any further details about the incident, the arrest of the attacker and his possible motives.

The Razavioun neighborhood patrol is a joint initiative involving the Law Enforcement Force and the Basij militia. The regime claims it has been launched to provide security, but many believe that its main goal is to suppress and arrest protesters.

In this initiative, the religious city of Qom served as a testing ground in 2018. At that time Colonel Mohammad-Reza Movahed, deputy commander of the Qom Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, claimed the Razavioun patrol fights "theft, narcotics and hooliganism."

However, critics believe that the purpose of creating such parallel activities is the widespread presence of regime forces in the neighborhoods.

Several military and paramilitary forces have been killed in Iranian cities amidst the uprising in recent months.

After the protests following the death in custody of Mahsa Amini and the deadly and violent suppression of protesters, attacks on military and law enforcement forces, as well as clerics have increased significantly.

At the same time many acknowledge that elections are meaningless in Iran as long as the hardliner Guardian Council determines who should run for office.

The media say less than eight months before the elections, the conservatives have already started campaigning while there is no sign of election-related activities among the reformists. 

Several reformist figures have pointed out that considering the precedence set during the latest elections in Iran in 2020 and 2021, no well-known reformist figures will be allowed to run. Some including pundit Saeed Hajjarian have even called for boycotting the elections. 

Moderate political analyst Gholamali Rajaee has told conservative website Nameh News that "No decision has been made yet to boycott the elections, but perhaps non-participation will be a choice for voters." He explained that "If reformist voters cannot find the right likeminded candidates, they may decide not to take part in the election all together."

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But the issue goes much farther than reformist voters. Both in 2020 and 2021 when mostly hardliners were approved to run, vast segments of the population stayed home, delivering two of the lowest voter turnouts in Islamic Republic’s history.

According to Nameh News, some Iranian conservatives believe that the reformist camp has been radicalized after the election of Azar Mansoori in June as the leader of the Reform Front, an umbrella organization that exercises influence among reformist groups and parties.

Rajaee said that the reformists might come to the conclusion that their candidates will not be allowed by the Guardian Council to run for the election. "When they do not have anyone to elect, naturally, they conclude that their participation will be useless," he said, adding that some of the conservative leaders expect reformists to take part in the election and accept to acknowledge that they have lost the election to conservatives. That is not logical, he said. 

"If the reformists do not accept such a deal, then the conservatives brand them as boycotters and the advocates of regime change. They have said that before, and the may say it again," Rajaee argued.

Meanwhile, conservative activist Gholamali Jafarzadeh Imenabadi said that "If the reformists actively take part in the election, the conservatives will have no choice other than forging coalitions to stand against them." 

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Stressing that the conservatives have already began campaigning, Imanabadi said that some of their leaders have started visits to provinces to organize likeminded political groups ahead of the elections. However, he pointed out that the conservatives might find it hard to create some kind of accord among various groups. Imenabadi added that there are already several conservative and hardliner coalitions with their own separate agendas and some of them do not realize the need to come to some sort of agreement with others. 

"They can still further their agenda if reformists and moderate groups do not enter the elections in an organized way. But if they do, then the conservatives will have no choice other than forming strong coalitions. 

Along the same lines, in an interview with Nameh News, Hamid Reza Taraqqi, an Islamic Coalition Party member spoke about former Majles Speaker Ali Larijani's probable candidacy and said: "If he is serious about nominating himself he should update his views about revolutionary behavior and values and get ready for a new judgment of his merits by conservative voters and politicians. 

Many conservatives have said earlier that Larijani does not have a voters’ base and first of all he needs to decide who he wants to represent, the reformists, the moderates or the conservatives. Larijani was a conservative politician throughout his career, but he got close to moderates during the presidency of Hassan Rouhani (2013 – 2021), and his candidacy was rejected by the Guardian Council for the 2021 presidential election.