Debate Over Ukraine Invasion Intensifies In Iran

According to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), Hejab was taken to a critical care unit (CCU) at a Kermanshah hospital on Thursday after she passed out following days of struggle with a severe case of Covid-19 along with 13 other inmates in her ward.

Hejab was sentenced to 18 years in July 2020 for "propaganda against the regime", "forming a women's rights group" and "calling for a referendum to change the Constitution", by notorious judge Mohammad Moghiseh.

She was first arrested in Shiraz in January 2018, and after five months at Adel-Abad Prison in the same city, Hejab who hails from a Kurdish family from Kermanshah was pardoned and freed. She was violently arrested again in June 2019 by IRGC intelligence, taken to Evin prison, and later released on a large bail.

In May 2020 she was arrested again by Revolutionary Guards' Intelligence Organization and was taken to Qarchak Prison for women in the south of the capital. She was then transferred to Kermansah prison in early January.

Earlier in the year, Iranian poet Baktash Abtin died of Covid-19 complications following a medically induced coma after he was denied timely treatment by officials at Evin prison, Tehran.

According to ISNA, the incident took place in the Rahavaran Fonoun petrochemical company – owned by the Persian Gulf Petrochemical Industries Corporation, aka Persian Gulf Holding -- in the port city of Mahshahr in Khuzestan province early on Saturday.

The details of the attack are not released yet but according to reports armed men entered the premises of the company, broke the windows of the security compound, and set the cars in the parking area on fire.

The public relations manager of the firm, Hamid Danesh, told Fars news that “breaking the windows of the security compound, like in this incident, clashing with the security forces of the company and also theft have been among similar cases in recent months."

Head of Public Relations of Mahshahr Petrochemical Special Economic Zone Organization, Mohsen Adib, told ISNA that the incident was not “a terrorist attack” but it had a “security dimension” without providing further details.

Earlier in November, an oil and gas pipeline in Khuzestan province exploded and caught fire in what the official media said was the result of metal “fatigue”.

Kayhan newspaper, affiliated with Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s office, said Saturday that Baharvand had been dismissed from his post over a “norm-breaking” ceremony two weeks ago to mark the anniversary of 1979 Islamic Revolution

A video posted to the internet apparently from the ceremony showed women not wearing hijab. While hijab is compulsory in public in Iran, Iranian officials often attend events outside the country where it is not worn.

An unveiled woman was seen in the video playing the piano, alongside a male violinist. The video then pans across guests to photos on the wall of the 1979 Revolution leader Ruhollah Khomeini and his successor as Iran’s Leader Ali Khamenei.

Kayhan said the embassy had not observed diplomatic protocols, and Fars News, an affiliate of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, suggested the ceremony had not been in line with “the values of the [1979] Islamic Revolution.”

The INLA news agency cited Saeed Khatibzadeh, the foreign ministry spokesman, saying Baharvand was one of 38 envoys set to be replaced. Baharvand became ambassador in 2021, and was formerly for a year deputy foreign minister for international and Legal Affairs: he was appointed to both posts under the former administration of President Hassan Rouhani.

The reformist newspaper Shargh published a video February 15 – along with a feature article "One Day With Madam Secretary General" – in which Mansouri talked affectionately with a dog.

Mansouri, who was elected secretary-general of the reformist Etehad-e Mellat (National Unity) Party in December, said that her son and daughter-in-law had brought the pooch home but had hidden him from her. Mansouri said she had at first been upset, but after a week refused to let them take the dog away “because it showed a lot of affection.”

Dogs are generally considered 'impure' in Islam and banned in public places by some majority-Muslim countries including Saudi Arabia. Iranian parliamentarians in November proposed a bill making illegal selling and keeping of pets. They claimed the ban was meant to protect public health. While working dogs have always been common in Iran’s rural areas and on farms, keeping pets has only recently become fashionable in urban areas.

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The video was pounced on by hardliner rather than reformist media. Fars news agency noted that “reformists who claim it is people's right to know have chosen silence about Mansouri's remarks.” The Fars report suggested the reformists’ “unedited” images showed “disrespect for Islamic sanctities” and promoted “anomalous cultural behavior.”

A few days later, a second video appeared on social media showing an elderly lady at prayer with a dog playfully jumping at her, tugging her veil, and playing on her prayer rug. Some sharing the video said it showed Mansouri promoting "living with dogs".

Pets, not children

One widely shared tweet critical of Mansouri quoted the Prophet Mohammad saying, "there is no blessing in a house where there are no children." The tweet suggested that the "reformist Azar Mansouri and the rest of her gang" were promoting dogs as an alternative to children. Another tweet claimed that an obsession with pets had contributed to "destruction of the foundation of families" in the west, echoing views expressed by Pope Francis in January.

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Ali Najmedin, a political analyst, alleged that reformists were trying to “to normalize indecency” and "desensitize" Iranian society to other steps including flouting the hijab, adultery and homosexuality.

But Hossein Kermanpour, a prominent physician in Tehran with reformist leanings, rose in defense of the National Unity Party and her mutt. "Dear Azar Mansouri, those who have intentionally claimed you were the kind elderly mother a dog affectionately tries to play with while she is at prayer know that dogs do not destroy a human being’s connection with God,” he tweeted. “What distances humans from God is poverty, oppression, dishonor and injustice if they happen under Islamic rule.”

Washington will continue to engage with Moscow over efforts to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, even though Moscow's invasion of Ukraine had made it a "pariah on the world stage," State Department spokesperson Ned Price said on Friday.

Price said US officials would now only engage with Russia counterparts on issues of "fundamental to our national security interest."

Some have expressed reservations about continuing to involve Russia in high-stakes diplomatic and security issues, while Moscow has up-ended the international security structures by its attack on Ukraine with the declared aim of replacing its elected government and deciding its foreign policy course.

Many in Iran are criticizing their government for having given Russia control over the nuclear talks. Moscow has increasingly acted as a mediator between Tehran and Washington, while critics in Iran say its intentions cannot be trusted.

"The fact that Russia has now invaded Ukraine should not give Iran the green light to develop a nuclear weapon," Price added.

Iran’s chief negotiator left the negotiations just days before the invasion and returned to Tehran ostensibly for consultations.

Another US official was quoted by Reuters as saying that significant progress has been made in the talks but serious issues remain to be resolved.