Putin Returns To World Stage With Rare Trips To UAE, Saudi Arabia

The Houthis are one of several Iran-backed militant groups in the Middle East. They have been effectively in a state of war with Saudi Arabia since 2015 and have claimed support for Palestinians since the Hamas terror attack on Israel on October 7.

The British government has attributed the drone and missile attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea to Iran, but Nasser Kanaani, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Tuesday "As we have clearly stated before, resistance groups are not taking orders from Tehran to confront the war crimes and genocide committed by Israel."

The United States, on the other hand, has also placed blame on Iran for a series of attacks in Middle Eastern waters by Houthis. Jake Sullivan, the US national security adviser, asserted in a Monday briefing with reporters that there is "every reason to believe that the attacks, while launched by the Houthis in Yemen, are fully enabled by Iran."

Recently, the Houthis confirmed launching drone and missile attacks on what they claimed were two Israeli vessels, Unity Explorer and Number 9. The attacks, according to the Houthis, were carried out "in response to the Yemeni people's demand and Muslim states' calls to stand with the Palestinian people."

Despite his claims of a four percent economic growth, observers note a lack of visible signs of development, coupled with high inflation and the depreciation of the national currency.

Defending the budget proposal, President Raisi said efforts were made to "realistically depict both revenues and expenditures." Addressing the parliament, he asserted that his government had experienced a four percent economic growth since taking office, following a decade of economic stagnation. However, his assertions are currently not subject to independent verification due to constraints on government agencies and a lack of transparent quarterly statistics.

Raisi acknowledged a budget deficit of approximately ten billion dollars but claimed that it had been compensated through income generation. Despite facing economic challenges, he expressed the government's commitment to avoiding a budget deficit in the current year.

There are no visible signs of economic development in Iran with international sanctions for the country's nuclear program, its brutal suppression of protests and its support of Russia's war on Ukraine significantly restricting trade, foreign investment, and access to financial markets.

High inflation rates further compound the economic woes, eroding the purchasing power of the local currency. This economic scenario poses challenges for businesses and individuals, impacting living standards and contributing to economic stagnation.

The proposed budget, presented to the parliament, revealed some key details, including tax revenues expected to be twice the government's oil revenues.

Last month, the Entekhab news website in Tehran reported that according to the budget bill, even the monthly incomes of 100 to 140 million rials ($200 to $280) will be subject to a 10 percent tax. Jahan-e-Sanat daily also warned that the Iranian government has counted on “inflation tax” to fill the next year’s budget. The Iranian calendar and fiscal year begins on March 21, 2024.

In a joint declaration released on Monday, the French Democratic Confederation of Labor (CFDT), General Confederation of Labor (CGT), Unitary Trade Union Federation (FSU), Solidarity trade union, and National Union of Autonomous Trade Unions (UNSA) accused the Iranian government of exploiting global attention on the ongoing conflict in Gaza to intensify its oppressive measures.

The declaration highlighted Iran's response to growing social and popular anger, particularly related to the economic crisis, by escalating repression. This comes amidst authorities increasing arrests of worker activists under false pretexts and targeting individuals who have organized peaceful demonstrations against the high cost of living and salary arrears.

The syndicates emphasized that repression extends beyond worker activists, impacting those expressing opinions contrary to the regime's beliefs, including lawyers, women's rights advocates, and human rights defenders.

Underlining the disproportionate impact on women who have come under increasing pressures to abide by mandatory dress codes and have witnessed state-sanctioned sexual violence in detentions as documented by Iran's Me Too movement, they stated, "Women are the first victims of the authoritarian and patriarchal regime."

The government's heightened execution rates, particularly public ones, were slammed as an attempt to instill fear in the population, putting to death at least 419 people in the first seven months of the year, a rise of 30% since the same period last year, according to the UN.

In a call for international solidarity, they urged all organizations and individuals defending human and workers' rights to protest against the Iranian authorities. Their demands include the abolition of the death penalty, annulment of unjust convictions contrary to fundamental freedoms, and the immediate and unconditional release of activists imprisoned for their opinions or union and association activities, as well as foreign citizens.

Released on Monday, the statement sheds light on the government's systematic efforts to strip Baha'is of their "sense of peace and security in their daily lives."

The disturbing methods employed by authorities include violent home raids, a surge in Baha'is in prison and awaiting summons, punitive property confiscations, denial of burial rights, obstruction of higher education, and a surge in official hate speech against the community.

Simin Fahandej, BIC Representative to the United Nations in Geneva, expressed deep concern, stating, "The growing volume of attacks on Iran’s Baha’is, which we have observed for over a year, is exceeded only by the brutality of the new tactics that the Iranian government is bringing to bear against the innocent Baha’i community."

The statement outlines a strategy by the Iranian government to terrorize vulnerable Baha'is, who already face extreme pressures for their faith, aiming to demoralize not only the Baha'i community but all of Iranian society. The international community is urged to insist on an immediate halt to the oppressive policies.

Since October, 40 Baha'is have been arrested, and the homes of nearly 100 families have been invaded and searched across cities. Approximately 70 Baha'is are in detention or serving prison terms, subjected to psychological and physical abuse during interrogations, while 1,200 others are entangled in ongoing trials or awaiting prison summonses.

Unofficial sources estimate over 300,000 Baha'i citizens reside in Iran, yet the Constitution officially recognizes only Islam, Christianity, Judaism, and Zoroastrianism, making Baha'is the largest non-Muslim religious minority, systematically targeted since the 1979 revolution.

The editor of moderate Rouydad24 website in Tehran, Farhad Farzad, attributed the popularity of the video to its "color, rhythm and sex appeal," which is non-existent in Iran's entertainment industry particularly on the state TV.

The LA-based singer, Sassy Mannequin, releases only one music video annually, all of which have become major hits in Iran. Schoolchildren sing and dance to them nationwide, and young Iranians frequently play them in their cars.

One of Iran's homegrown social media platforms, Soroush, which is sponsored by the government to counter the "cultural onslaught" from foreign platforms also offered a link to Sassy's latest music video, Leyla's Brothers. This led to an immediate reaction by censors and clerical judges who issued an order to arrest its managing director Farhad Moradi on December 3. He was released on Monday on bail.

Some comments published under the news about the arrest said the government should shut down the Soroush platform and give its budget to a charity. Another comment under the Rouydad24 report suggested that people should stage a rally and call on Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to have the singer arrested. The comment even went as far as to suggest that the Iranian intelligence agencies should send their officers abroad to kill Sassy.

Sassy's latest music video, Leila's Brothers, named after a banned Iranian film, mocks a children's program on Iran's state television and harshly criticizes Iranian officials and their main propaganda machine, the state TV, for their hypocrisy.

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Days before it was first aired on Radio Javan, a US-based, MTV-style channel that broadcasts Persian music round the clock, its teasers appeared on the Iranian social media. Some 11 million viewers watched the teaser online in less than 24 hours and more people tuned to their satellite television to watch the actual video clip.

Unlike some foreign-based Iranian singers whose concerts and videos are full of obscenity and rude words, Sassy's video comes with a disclaimer that limits the viewership to people over 18 years of age and that is because of mentions about sex, drugs and women in his music videos who appear in modern outfit and sometimes in swimsuits when the scene takes place at the seaside or around a swimming pool.

One of his older videos, Gentleman, enraged Iranian officials who fired several teachers in Iran when they found out that Iranian students dance to the tune and sing the song together in school gatherings.

Sassy's simple songs often become controversial in Iran only because what viewers see and hear in them are in sharp contrast to the extremely conservative and traditional modes of behavior approved by the fundamentalist Islamic Republic.

Even some of the words that annoy Iran's elderly clerics are in fact commonplace in the Iranian society as millions of teens use them in their everyday conversation. The Iranian Generation Z subculture is so prevalent and at the same time so strange to traditional minds that more than one dictionary of modern Persian slangs have been published in Iran in recent years.

This is the generation that was behind the 2022 Woman, Life, Freedom protests. A generation that has refused to accept the Islamic Republic's propaganda and insists that nothing is sacred.