Iran's Industries Suffer From Government Internet Disruption

“If it is proven to us that Iranian drones are being used in the Ukraine war against people, we should not remain indifferent,” Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said, as reported by Reuters.

The Iranian foreign ministry website and official news agencies last Friday reported Amir-Abdollahian denying claims at a European summit last week that Iran had supplied Russia with military drones deployed in the Ukraine war. The European Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States all last week introduced sanctions against three Iranian military commanders and a defense company over the reported supply.

Abdollahian was last Friday reported as saying Tehran was “strongly opposed to war and to the arming of any warring side.” The minister said Iran had “told the Ukrainian officials to show any evidence they have that would prove the use of Iranian drones in the Ukraine war.”

Foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani reiterated early on Monday that Tehran had not supplied Moscow with munitions for the war in Ukraine despite “defense cooperation.”

Volte-face?

Amir-Abdollahian’s latest remarks suggested a shift if not a volte-face. But it was unclear if he was implying “Iranian drones” might have reached Russia without any official sanction, or without the specific knowledge of the foreign ministry. Alternatively, some analysts have long argued Iran often employs a tactic of ‘plausible deniability.’

US officials began claiming back in July, without offering conclusive evidence, that Iran had agreed to supply drones to Russia. Security analysis have said they could offer Moscow a cheaper, if far less effective, alternative to missiles.

Iranian officials have denied these claims, but they have talked up the Iranian-made weapons. Major-General Yahya Rahim Safavi, a military adviser to Iran’s leader Ali Khamenei, claimed October 18 that 22 countries had expressed an interest in buying Iranian military drones.

‘Giving them to X and Y’

Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei himself in a tweet October 19 compared past western dismissal of Iranian drone-manufacturing with their current fears: “A few years ago they questioned the authenticity of photos of Iranian-made advanced drones & missiles and claimed they’re photoshopped. Now they’re saying Iranian drones are dangerous, why are you selling & giving them to X & Y.”

The issue of drones was also taken up last week at the United Nations Security Council, where France, the United Kingdom, and the United States presented a letter arguing that it would contravene a provision in UNSC Resolution 2231, which in 2015 endorsed the Iran nuclear agreement, the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action). The controversy at the UNSC adds a further challenge in the frozen talks aimed at reviving the JCPOA.

In a further political twist, Ukraine is highlighting Iran-Russia links as a way of justifying its arguments that the US and EU should supply it more advanced weapons.

The Islamic Republic’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman claimed Monday that relations between Iran and Russia are not against any party and do not violate the international legal framework.

Naser Kanani told a news conference that “those who accuse Iran of supporting one side of the war are sending weapons to a warring side themselves,” implicitly referring to large Western military assistance to Ukraine.

Ukraine, the United States and Western countries say Iran has supplied military drones to Russia that are being used to attack civilian and infrastructure targets, and have begun imposing sanctions on Tehran.

Kanaani also rejected accusations that Iran has sent forces to Russian-occupied Crimea saying that “this is a media war to distract minds from the destructive role of Westerners in the Ukraine war.”

The US had earlier said that Iranian experts were in Crimea helping the Russians use Iranian supplied drones.

His comments come as Iran’s Supreme Leader in a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin back in July clearly expressed support for the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

While describing war as “brutal and hard,” Iran’s leader suggested that had Russia not “taken the initiative, the other side, with its own initiative would have created a war anyway.”

In that meeting Khamenei said “NATO is a dangerous creature [that] didn’t recognize any limits or borders. If you cannot stand up to them in Ukraine, then a little while later, with the excuse of Crimea, they would have started this war anyway.”

100%

Elsewhere in his remarks, Kanani accused US officials of “telling lies and being hypocritical” regarding the talks over reviving the 2015 nuclear deal.

“If the Americans say the negotiations have stopped, why do they send messages through intermediaries?” reiterated Kanani, adding that “it is clear Washington wants to return to the agreement but not pay its costs.”

His allegations come as US State Department spokesperson, Ned Price, on October 19 said reviving the 2015 nuclear deal is “not our focus right now.”

“Nothing we’ve heard in recent weeks suggests they have changed their position. And so right now our focus is on the remarkable bravery and courage that the Iranian people are exhibiting through their peaceful demonstrations,” he stated.

During his Monday statements, the Iranian spokesperson also claimed that the West is supporting anti-regime protests in Iran saying, “If Americans have bet on the domestic developments of Iran these days, they have made a mistake.”

Tehran routinely blames the West and Israel for negative events in Iran, not willing to admit that many of its citizens oppose clerical rule.

He also criticized recent sanctions by the European Union and the United Kingdom imposed for the brutal crackdown on protesters in Iran, stating that “supporting disorder, insecurity and instability is an illegal behavior. It is an irresponsible act to support rioters and those who have a history of terrorist activities.”

This comes as the Islamic Republic is designated by the US as a state sponsor of terrorism since 1984 for supporting and organizing militant groups around the region.

In another part of his comments, Kanani claimed that relations between Tehran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) are on the right track and the sides are having “constructive ties.”

However, Wall Street Journal correspondent Laurence Norman says there has been zero significant contact between Iran and the IAEA recently calling the claims “a heap of falsehoods”.

“Neither I nor the US government can claim to speak for protesters,” Malley told Iran International. “Only they can do that, and I’d never intend to imply otherwise.”

Malley in a tweet earlier Sunday had said that Iranians were protesting to have the Islamic Republic “respect their human rights and dignity.”

Iranian activists objected to this sentence, saying Iranians have proven in the past five weeks that they reject the clerical regime and want a new, democratic government and not respect from an oppressive regime.

Some Iranian activists, including NY-based Masih Alinejad demanded Malley resign. “By continually misrepresenting Iranian’s rejection of Islamic Republic, he is hurting the US administration standing among the people of Iran.,” Alinejad said.

Malley also told Iran International that “What we can do and have done since the protests began is take strong steps to support fundamental rights of Iranians, make sure they have the means to communicate with themselves & outside world, and sanction the regime… for their brutal crackdown.”

Most Iranian opposition activists view Malley as someone who is soft on the Islamic Republic and was ready to make too many concession during the Vienna nuclear talks, which after 18 months have failed to revive the 2015 nuclear accord with Tehran.

The head of bakeries union, Mohammad Soleimani, told ILNA Saturday that the costs of labor, raw materials including oil, and other additives increased significantly, but the price of basic bread did not go up accordingly.

He said that more and more people are replacing many other foodstuff with bread given food price inflation, adding that the increasing prices for pasta and grains have led to the rise in bread consumption. 

In response to a question about long queues at bakeries, he said the prices of traditional breads have not increased contrary to other types, so the consumption of traditional bread has increased by 30 percent. 

The administration of Ebrahim Raisi increased the price of flour 10-fold this year, but claimed that the price of items made from flour will not increase. The price hike was a result of a government decision to scrap the subsidy for imported wheat, flour and other essential items.

Annual food inflation has reached 100 percent in parts of Iran, according to the latest figures published by the Statistical Center of Iran. The overall nationwide point-to-point annual food inflation rate in June 2022 compared with the same period in 2021 was 87 percent, SCI reported in August, but in four provinces the rate reached almost 100 percent.

Konstantin Simonov, head of the National Energy Security Center in Moscow, said this week that more sanctions by the West on Tehran will give Russia a very good opportunity to invest largely in Iran’s oil and gas sector.

During a TV program he said Russia’s relations with Iran have been very complicated both during the Soviet and post-Soviet eras.

“We see that Iran has made a serious political choice and as a result it is sanctioned. The European Union is going to impose new sanctions, but I must honestly say that it is good news for us,” said Simonov.

He attested that the sanctions have given a good chance to Russia to invest in oil and gas sector of Iran which is worth over 40 billion dollars.

Ahmad Zeidabadi, a reformist regime insider, criticized the Islamic Reublic’s pro-Russian approach saying that “no one is allowed to criticize Moscow and it seems the country has forgotten its independence in international relations.”

In a TV debate on Friday, Zeidabadi declared it is not in Iran’s national interest to have a strategic relationship with Russia and China, but not with the United States.

Regarding the reported use of Iranian drones in Ukraine by Russia, he asserted that if Iran has not provided the drones, then why its dossier is being sent to the UN Security Council.

100%

“As far as I know, Iranians want a balanced relationship with world powers. If you consider someone as an enemy, others will abuse you, like China and Russia. You have involved yourself only with one of the centers of power,” stressed Zeidabadi.

Ex-lawmaker Ali Mottahari had also censured Tehran’s decision to get involved in the Ukraine war stating that, “It is not clear who has decided to involve Iran in the war between Moscow and Kiev. Such a decision must be taken by the parliament.”

Slamming the comments by Foreign Minister Hussein Amir-Abdullahian regarding Iran’s impartiality in Russia-Ukraine conflict, he tweeted on Wednesday saying that “if it is true, why Ukraine claims several have been killed in the attacks launched by the Iranian drones.”

It was on Thursday that Foreign Minister Hussein Amir-Abdullahian rejected claims of Iran supplying Russia with drones to use in Ukraine.

In a telephone conversation with the European Union Foreign Policy Chief Josef Borrell, he claimed Iran is opposed to war and although it has defense cooperation with Russia, it does not send arms. But Tehran’s denials have never been explicit about drones for Russia. It says it opposes the war and does not take sides. Lately, it has said reports about Iranian drones being used in Ukraine are false, but it has never clearly denied supplying them to Russia.

However, the European Union and Britain slapped sanctions on Iranian individuals and a weapons company that they say have supplied Iranian kamikaze drones to Russia to kill Ukrainian civilians and destroy its infrastructure.

On Friday, top British, French and German diplomats urged the UN Secretary General to investigate the Islamic Republic’s transfer of drones to Russia, saying that the move violates a UN Security Council resolution.

The drone issue has compounded problems faced by the Islamic Republic amid negative publicity generated by its brutal reaction to peaceful protests at home.