Reports of campus YouTube access renew fears of Iran ‘digital apartheid’

Residents say water has been shut off from midnight until around 5 a.m. in recent nights.

“Despite repeated denials by officials, it appears the process of rationing has started” and citizens in parts of the capital “are deprived of water during the night,” Mizan News Agency, affiliated with the judiciary, wrote.

The daily Haft-e Sobh likewise reported sudden five-to-six-hour overnight cuts in drinking water across several districts, all without prior notice.

Reduced pressure across the city, the paper said, and declining surface and groundwater reserves had led to “serious instability” in Tehran’s water network.

The outages have lasted long enough to affect even households with backup storage tanks, according to the report.

Rising frustration

Haft-e Sobh quoted residents as saying the sudden shutdowns disrupted daily life. “When the water is cut off at night, we don’t know when it will return, so we can’t plan our use. Even tanks empty quickly,” one resident said.

President Masoud Pezeshkian warned on November 6 that if rain does not arrive by December, water will have to be rationed across Tehran, adding that prolonged drought could even force evacuation of the city.

The head of Tehran’s provincial water company recently described the capital’s situation as “red and concerning.”

Health and cost concerns

Unannounced rationing, Haft-e Sobh warned, could hinder hygiene and household routines dependent on steady water access. Unreliable supply may increase health risks in residential buildings and impose higher costs on families forced to rely on water tanks or delivery services, it added.

Meteorological data show 20 provinces have gone more than six weeks without measurable rainfall.

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No precipitation has fallen in Tehran since the start of autumn, Mohammadreza Kavianpour, head of Iran’s Water Research Institute, said on Thursday warning that forecasts show the drought is likely to persist through the season.

“The risk of water scarcity in the capital must be taken very seriously,” Kavianpour said.

Tehran’s supply depends heavily on the Karaj Dam, whose remaining reserves are sufficient for only two weeks of drinking water.

Environmental experts say years of over-extraction, unscientific dam-building and poor management have pushed the country toward what some describe as “water bankruptcy.”

The proposal, reported Thursday by the IRGC-linked daily Javan, would put Mayor Alireza Zakani in charge of supplying essential goods to households in the capital.

Zakani claims the plan, approved by President Masoud Pezeshkian, could reduce prices by up to 40 percent. Residents quoted by Javan said municipal-run markets already sell cheaper goods than elsewhere in the city.

But even at face value, the initiative seems to be yet another reactive measure in a system afflicted by deep structural problems. The question is less whether this plan can work and more why such plans keep reappearing.

Moderate outlet Fararu this week laid out the structural flaws driving Iran’s crisis: contradictory decision-making by overlapping institutions, a budget tied to unstable oil revenues, and an absence of dependable data that leaves officials governing by instinct rather than information.

Economic policy, the outlet said, is shaped by ministries, the Central Bank, the Planning and Budget Organization, and an array of parallel bodies that often work at cross-purposes.

“Most economic decisions in Iran are made overnight,” it wrote, warning that real change requires slow, coordinated reform across government—something the Islamic Republic has resisted for decades.

‘Bipolar economy’

The centrist daily Sazandegi pointed to another symptom of this dysfunction: chaotic decision-making that thrives in the grey zones created by sanctions.

The paper highlighted the clash between hardline MP Amir Hossein Sabeti and Babak Zanjani—the ‘sanctions-fixer’ once sentenced to death but pardoned and now tapped again to recover Iran’s oil revenues.

“Iran’s economy exists in a bipolar state,” Sazandegi wrote, “caught between a revolutionary pursuit of social justice that resists globalization and a rentier capitalism that thrives on sanctions.”

The public spat between two privileged insiders, Sazandegi argued, is evidence of an economy pulled between ideological theatrics and rent-seeking networks—a system that’s neither competitive nor transparent.

Bleak outlook

Despite their scathing critiques, both outlets chose to not mention the elephant in the room—as is almost always the case in Iran: a foreign policy that has produced decades of isolation and tightening sanctions.

With the return of UN sanctions in late September—and Tehran’s continued combative stance—the situation is likely to deteriorate further before any improvement is possible.

Seen through that lens, Zakani’s food-distribution proposal is less a solution than another reflex: an attempt to patch symptoms without addressing the machinery underneath.

Iranian security forces on Tuesday raided Tajzadeh's daughter's home and arrested him without providing any explanation, former fellow inmate Mehdi Mahmoudian said on X.

"The re-arrest of Tajzadeh reflects the Islamic Republic’s blatant disregard for human dignity and justice," the State Department said in a statement on its Persian-language X account.

"It also shows that, for the Islamic Republic, suppressing dissent takes priority over addressing Iran’s deeper crises."

Tajzadeh is a reformist politician who served as deputy interior minister during the presidency of Mohammad Khatami from 1997 to 2005.

He has been imprisoned for 10 of the last 16 years, currently on charges including acting against the state, spreading falsehoods and propaganda.

Before being re-arrested, Tajzadeh attended the funeral of his brother and met several activists including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi in a move the State Department hailed as “a symbol of the resistance and courage of the Islamic Republic’s political dissidents.”

Mohammadi said on Tuesday that there was no prospect for reforming the country's Islamic theocracy and its downfall was assured.

“Reform has been dead for years. The time for reforms has long passed. The real main struggle is between the realistic survivalists and those seeking the end of religious despotic regime,” Mohammadi posted on X.

In July, Tajzadeh warned Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to pivot or resign.

"In this critical situation, Mr. Khamenei has no option but to apologize to the Iranian people and accept fundamental reforms in line with national demands, including by forming a constituent assembly based on completely free and fair elections," he said, "or to resign and step down."

In recent years, the pursuit of reform has shifted toward regime change, as seen in the 2017-18 and 2022 Woman, Life, Freedom uprisings, with many people viewing the system as irreformable.

Signs from within Ghalibaf’s own camp — the self-described “neocons” — indicate he is also positioning himself for a major elevation.

The clearest indication came on October 22, when Tourism Minister Reza Salhi Amiri asserted that Ghalibaf was tasked by Khamenei to lead the war effort after Israel killed several top commanders on day one of the 12-day war in June.

The account has not been rejected by Khamenei’s office and was echoed by outlets linked to the Intelligence Ministry, including Mashregh News and Tabnak, run by former Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander Mohsen Rezaei.

Ghalibaf later confirmed in a YouTube interview that he coordinated military operations during the conflict, keeping a low profile to avoid Israeli targeting while meeting key figures in person.

That would suggest he was one of the few individuals with direct access to Khamenei throughout the war.

Supporters network

Since then, Iranian media have increasingly referred to Khorassan newspaper—funded and run under Khamenei’s office—as Ghalibaf’s outlet, with the paper heavily promoting his role in state affairs despite its earlier acknowledgment of parliament’s declining relevance.

Meanwhile, a coordinated social-media network calling itself “The Official Network of Ghalibaf’s Supporters” has swung into action.

The accounts promote his every appearance and cast him as a national leader rather than a parliamentary figure, crediting him for reviving the long-stalled Coupon Project for distributing essential goods or for pushing the idea of converting an old Tehran prison into a museum.

Supporter accounts have simultaneously attacked former President Hassan Rouhani for allegedly trying to tarnish Ghalibaf’s image, reviving debate-stage accusations that his campaigns took money from drug traffickers.

Other posts highlight Ghalibaf’s foreign travels, including his trip to Pakistan and meeting with prime minister Shahbaz Sharif on Friday November 7th.

Critics often ridicule Ghalibaf’s missteps, but they rarely note his credentials: he holds a legitimate university degree in political geography, is licensed to fly passenger aircraft, and has served as Tehran’s Police Chief and Commander of the IRGC Air Force.

In recent months, he has aligned himself rhetorically with hardline conservatives on issues such as censorship and hijab enforcement, while distancing himself from such initiatives once they become unpopular—a maneuver typical of politicians seeking higher office.

Videos show the ceremony in Tehran’s Revolution (Enghelab) square, where the statue group was unveiled as part of campaign dubbed by officials “Kneel before Iran."

"The Valerian statue reflects a historical truth that Iran has been a land of resistance throughout history," said Mehdi Mazhabi, head of Tehran's Municipal Beautification Organization. "By implementing this plan in Enghelab Square, we aim to forge a bond between this land's glorious past and its hopeful present."

Following a ceasefire which ended a punishing 12-day war with Israel in June, Iranian officials moved to invoke nationalism and glorifying ancient history of Iran to promote unity. Symbols of the pre-Islamic past had previously been shunned by the theocracy.

Days after the conflict, a mural set up in Vanak square in Tehran depicting Arash the archer firing arrows alongside modern ballistic missiles shot at Israel.

The new statue immortalizes the 260 AD Battle of Edessa, where the second king of the Sassanid Empire Shapur I, 240–270 AD, decisively defeated Roman forces and captured Valerian. The defeat was an unprecedented catastrophe for Rome.

Shapur, son of Ardashir I, expanded Persian territory and clashing repeatedly with the empire that spanned Europe, North Africa and parts of the Middle East. Ancient reliefs at Naqsh-e Rostam show him on horseback, Valerian humbled beneath.

Valerian, 253–260 AD, co-emperor with his son Gallienus, sought to stabilize Rome's eastern frontier.

From murals of Cyrus the Great to patriotic songs at Shi'ite mourning ceremonies, Tehran is now leaning into pre-Islamic imagery it once viewed as anathema.