Iran Finds Itself Under US Pressure In Persian Gulf

The issuance of such sentences, part of the Islamic penal code, has quadrupled compared to the previous year, with at least 117 activists, including 13 women and 104 men, being sentenced to a total of 7,404 lashes, alongside 99 years and three months in prison and a fine of 1.16 billion rials (approximately $2300).

The charges leading to these sentences primarily involve "disturbing public order and publishing falsehoods with the intention of disturbing the public opinion," as per the Islamic Penal Code.

Comparing the current statistics to the period from September 2021 to October 2022, the judicial system had sentenced 29 political and civil activists, comprising 18 women and 11 men, to a total of 1,970 lashes, 32 years and 10 months in prison, and 510 million rials in fines.

The Atlas of Iranian Prisons strongly criticized the authorities for employing whipping, despite being aware of its physical and psychological harm, to suppress citizens and political opponents and maintain ideological control.

The increase in flogging sentences coincides with ongoing concerns about the treatment of protesters following the revolutionary uprising of Women, Life, Freedom. Many arrested protesters currently face the risk of execution, and the judicial system has already carried out death sentences against seven of them.

Disturbingly, numerous reports have emerged detailing incidents of rape, assault, and sexual harassment against some arrested protesters during the uprising. Moreover, several other detainees have suspiciously died shortly after their release from prison.

According to the ADNOC on Friday, the agreement would see Azerbaijan's state oil company SOCAR and TotalEnergies, which had each previously held a 50-percent stake, both retaining a 35-percent share in the maritime field off the coast of Baku, Azerbaijan. 

TotalEnergies announced the first gas delivery from Absheron in July. The French energy group confirmed on Friday it and SOCAR had each sold a 15-percent interest in the field to ADNOC, without specifying the price.

The venture opens up opportunities for ADNOC to expand significantly in the Caspian region with rich energy resources and substantial growth potential, providing access to promising international gas markets in Europe and Central Asia. 

Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the ADNOC has sharpened its focus on the gas market as competition for LNG has ramped up with Europe needing large amounts to help replace Russian gas. ADNOC listed its gas business in March after raising $2.5 billion from an initial public offering (IPO), which was the world's biggest in the first quarter of 2023.

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While the Islamic Republic is using the Caspian Sea as a route to move drones, ammunition, and mortar shells to Russia for use in Ukraine, other countries are vying for the huge European energy market. 

Iran is also cooperating with Russia in the Chalous gas field in the Caspian Sea, with the potentially lucrative field being at the center of discussions over an Iran-Russia 20-year strategic deal. In June 2021, Iran’s Khazar Exploration and Production Company (Kepco), then touted as the field’s main developer, suggested the field held 30 percent of the developable natural gas reserves of all Caspian Sea littoral counties and could potentially meet 20 percent of all European demand for gas. According to Simon Watkins of Oilprice.com in November 2021, further studies have revealed that the field has far more reserves than previously thought, with a total 7.1 trillion cubic meters, about half the reserves of South Pars, Iran’s huge field in the Persian Gulf.

The Caspian Sea was a Russo-Iranian shared water until 1991. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, and Turkmenistan claimed a minimum 20-percent share of the sea. Tehran – along with Moscow – were the main losers of territory in the new demarcation of boundaries and prefer he Soviet-Iranian settlement to be valid in the post-Soviet era.

For almost three decades, the five littoral countries have argued over how to divide the world’s biggest enclosed body of water. The Convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea -- a treaty signed in Aktau, Kazakhstan, in 2018 by the Islamic Republic of Iran, Russia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, and Turkmenistan – significantly reduced Iran’s rights. Iran only controls 680 kilometers or, in other words, 10 percent of the 7,000-kilometer coastline of the Caspian Sea. Due to the presence of numerous oil fields on the seabed of the Caspian Sea the question of legal status is also very important, so the delimitation of the seabed is yet to be agreed on between littoral nations, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said after signing the agreement.

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Nicolas Terraz, the president of exploration and production at TotalEnergies, welcomed ADNOC as one of the strategic partners to the project, saying the Absheron gas field “offers a significant further development potential to meet the growing gas demand.”

ADNOC's investment in Azerbaijan is in line with the UAE’s aspirations to grow its international gas business portfolio, a strategic plan that saw the oil giant offering with BP to jointly acquire 50% of Israeli offshore natural gas producer NewMed Energy. The $2-billion offer marked Abu Dhabi’s state oil company entering Israel's growing energy sector.

Saeed Zahedian, the chief sports editor of the Iranian government's Iran Newspaper, and Naeem Ahmadi, the newspaper's photojournalist, plan to apply for asylum in Australia, they told Iran International.

Iran Sports daily is among the most popular newspapers in Iran and Naeem Ahmadi is one of the best sport photographers of Iran.

Last week, two Iranian female journalists, who were arrested during anti-regime protests, were sentenced to three years and seven months in prison. In addition, the journalists opposed compulsory hijab during court proceedings, which led to further controversy, as reported by the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA).

The regime has intensified pressure against journalists. Earlier this month, Behrooz Behzadi, who is in his late 70s as is the editor in charge of Etemad newspaper, ‘accused of publishing false content’ following a complaint by Revolutionary Guard Corps and banned from any kind of press activity for one year.

The increasing repression against journalists has drawn condemnation from various quarters, including the Tehran Journalists’ Association, which denounced the issuance of "heavy and unconventional judicial sentences against journalists" and urged the judicial system to halt such practices.

The Islamic Republic's track record as a major repressor of the media has drawn international attention. However, the current wave of repressions has escalated since the nationwide uprising against the regime.

Saeed Karimi, the Director General of Kordestan Governorate Crisis Management, revealed that the fires are spreading across the forests of three border villages in Marivan.

Karimi expressed concerns over the fire's magnitude, stating, "The scope of these fires is very high." He also noted that the area faces additional risks due to the presence of ammunition remnants from the Iran-Iraq war, with recent explosions adding to the challenges faced by firefighters.

The affected villages include Gomareh Lang, Darreh Varan, and Asanabad, with firefighting efforts intensified to contain the devastating blaze. Despite round-the-clock efforts by volunteers, the blaze has already extended to a nearby village.

The cause of the fire has not yet been officially confirmed, but authorities have not ruled out potential involvement from security institutions or profiteers.

There are suspicions that the IRGC may be responsible, allegedly setting fire to the forests to hinder the concealment of individuals and groups classified as "terrorists" by the Islamic Republic.

This is not the first time such fires have affected the Kordestan province. Three years ago, parts of the Zagros forests in the Kosalan mountain area of Sarvabad city suffered an intentional fire, reportedly ignited by an individual on a motorcycle, causing destruction to over 15 hectares of forests.

The Governor of the Central Bank of Iran, Mohammad Reza Farzin, said Thursday that from this year onwards, instead of euros and dollars, pilgrims will be paid in Iraqi dinars for their pilgrimage. 

The regime offers several perks to encourage people to take the pilgrimage such as a ration of cheap foreign currency – which used to be dollars or euros until this year – as well as loans, free internet on the road and inside Iraq and free health checks and rest stops along the way. 

Arbaeen (literally meaning fortieth) is a Shiite religious observance that occurs forty days after the Day of Ashura, when according to religious legend Husayn (Hussain) ibn Ali , the grandson of Prophet Muhammad was killed on the 10th day of the month of Muharram in 680 AD. 

Millions of Shiite Muslims travel to the Iraqi city of Karbala, the site of the Shiite Imam’s shrine and resting place, for Arbaeen. A large number of the pilgrims start their journey from other religious cities – such as Najaf and Kadhimiya -- and walk on foot for days – hundreds of kilometers -- to reach Karbala. There are no reliable methods for tallying the number of visitors to Iraqi holy Shia sites during Arbaeen. In 2019, before the pandemic, an estimated 15 million people from various countries attended the ceremonies.

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Majid Mirahmadi, a deputy interior minister and the head of Iran's taskforce for Arbaeen pilgrimage, has predicted that this year more than four million Iranian pilgrims will travel to Iraq to participate in the Arbaeen ceremony, which falls on September 5.

The figure is a speculation based on the number of pilgrims in the previous years but this year the annual Shiite mourning ceremonies took an unprecedented anti-regime tone as people chanted religious verses that were critical of the regime and its repressive actions. This may signal a lower turnout for the Arbaeen this year. 

If Mirahmadi’s number is right, it means that Iranian banks will pay at least 800 billion Iraqi dinars to the pilgrims, which is equivalent to more than $600 million. Although the regime will sell the dinars to the pilgrims cheaper than the rate in the market, it can still pocket a large sum of its national currency and thus make a cash profit from its released funds. 

Earlier this week, the Biden Administration announced that some of Iran’s frozen funds in Iraq will go to Oman, acting as a conduit to release the money for purchasing non-sanctionable goods under US supervision. Iraq owes Iran around $11 billion for imports of gas and electricity, but US banking sanctions prohibit dollar transactions with Iran. 

In June, the US agreed to make $2.7 billion available for Iran’s humanitarian needs. In July, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Sudani said Baghdad will begin trading crude oil for Iranian gas to end payment delays to Tehran due to the need for US approval. 

Critics of the Biden administration slam the White House for inconsistent enforcement of sanctions against Iran’s oil trade, leading to the highest Iranian oil export levels since the United States withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in 2018 and imposed sanctions.

“It’s troubling to see the administration helping to fill Iran’s coffers while the Islamic Republic continues to increase its malign activities on all fronts: terrorism and terror finance, nuclear mendacity, hostage-taking, and assassination attempts, in addition to human rights abuses against its own people," said Toby Dershowitz, a Senior Vice President at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. 

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Iran's Roads Ministry said in June that 2,000 buses have been imported for this year's Arbaeen pilgrimage to Iraq, despite the country’s serious shortage of buses for the national fleet and city transportation. Last year, Iran had designated 2,200 buses for pilgrims inside Iraq, but the Iraqi authorities did not allow the buses to enter the country.

The Iranian government spends hundreds of millions of dollars and huge resources each year to sponsor the Arbaeen pilgrimage to Karbala, among the largest annual gatherings in the world, to show that its Shiite ideology is influential both domestically and in the region.

Government organizations and the state affiliated charities as well as municipalities and city councils often allocate considerable budgets to organize the Arbaeen Walk. Some officials and clerics say the Arbaeen gathering is one of the manifestations of the Shia “soft power’.