US Navy Interdicts Ship Carrying 'Explosive Precursor' From Iran To Houthis

In a Twitter post Friday, the taboo-breaking standup comedian alleged that her page was reported by hardliner cyber-activists paid by state organizations. "It upsets me that some people are now sending invoices, and are getting paid from taxpayers' money, for shutting down my account," she wrote.

Recently, the online admission of a jihadi man proved that hardline followers of Iran's regime get paid for their activities online.

Empress Kuzcooo's Instagram page had over half a million followers before being deleted but she was lucky she had a second Instagram page that she had kept running in the background in preparation for the rainy day.

The video-post that demolished Empress Kuzcooo's very popular Instagram palace was entitled "Expert Scrutiny of Prayer at the Kremlin". In the video she made fun of President Ebrahim Raisi's prayer during his meeting with the Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Wednesday. Iran's hardliners say Raisi's much advertised prayerwas a "spiritual victory" for the Islamic Republic.

In her standup, Empress Kuzcooo criticized Raisi in hilarious terms for using time that should be dedicated to diplomatic negotiations, and "doing something for his country", to pray at the Kremlin Palace in front of cameras and made fun of his not-too-good public speaking skills.

"He knows he is not capable of speaking [diplomatically] … so he communicated his heart's desire to his God instead … Oh, God, he said, make Mr. Putin love me to help our wishes come true," Empress Kuzcooo who speaks like an elderly illiterate woman in Qom accent squeals in the video from under the black veil that only leaves her nose to be seen.

The number of followers for Empress Kuzcooo's 'spare' account, to which she has emigrated since Friday, is growing by the hour as followers discover her new page. In a matter of three hours Saturday, over four thousands followed the new page (iam.kuzcooo) which now has 26.5k followers.

Empress Kuzcooo is the artistic name of Zeynab Mousavi, a 32-year-old computer software graduate. Mousavi is also active on Twitter and Telegram. She works from home in her hometown of Qom, the city of Iran's largest Shia seminaries, and makes her living from advertisements on her social media accounts.

Her artistic name, Empress Kuzcooo, draws from the protagonist in the 2000 Disney animation 'Emperor's New Groove', an arrogant and saucy personality.

Mousavi is known to millions of Iranian social media users for her biting humor, impetuous criticism of clerics and politicians, and for breaking taboos by sometimes explicit sexual references in her standups.

In 2017, Mousavi told The Guardian that she would not give in to censorship and intimidation. On her Tweeter account Mousavi has published dozens of screenshots of abusive messages and comments she receives from hardliners. "Look, we have no toleration for insults against three people: The Leader of the Revolution, President Raisi, and Ghasem Soleimani. Our blood will boil if you insult them and we won't be responsible for anything we do," one such comment read.

Instagram users can report posts, profiles, and comments if they think they are spam or inappropriate directly from their own feed. Instagram will suspend or completely shut down the account if the number of complaints reaches a certain threshold or if the content is too obviously abusive, explicit, etc. Recovering deleted pages is possible if the account owner can prove they were wrongfully reported but it may take some time.

January 20, the government’s statistical center reported on Saturday.

The annual inflation rate stood at 42.4 percent during December 21-Jaunuary 20. The annual rate is calculated based on a basket of prices for the year ending in each month compared to the previous 12 months.

The point-to-point inflation rate, which compares prices in a particular month to the same period in the previous year, stood at 36.9 percent, the Statistical Center of Iran said.

The report says prices for food and rents had the highest jump last month. Previous reports has indicted that food prices were growing with an annual rate of above 60 percent.

Iran’s currency has fallen eightfold since early 2018, due to US sanctions and inflation has skyrocketed. Millions of working Iranian are now categorized as poor, with the middle class shrinking. A member of parliament’s budget committee recently announced that 20 million people are suffering from absolute poverty.

Teachers, industrial and healthcare workers have been protesting regularly demanding higher wages to keep pace with inflation. A typical worker earns between $120-150 a month, which in large cities is barely enough for rent. The government, faced with a large budget deficit is phasing out food subsidies in coming months.

As criticism of President Ebrahim Raisi's recent visit to Russia continues, critics say that Iran has become a "Colony for China and Russia.” Hardliner daily Kayhan, affiliated with the office of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has accused the critics of "Affiliation with the United States."

On Saturday, January 22, Ayatollah Seyyed Hossein Mousavi Tabrizi, Iran's first ever Judiciary Chief, said an interview with reformist daily Arman that "Russia is not trustworthy. The Islamic Republic has been forced to signing long-term agreements with China and Russia because of international isolation."

Mousavi Tabrizi reiterated that because of its enmity with other countries Tehran has been forced to enter into deals with the two countries, adding that if it gives up its hostile approach, then it will not need such contracts. Meanwhile, he called on the government to publish the text of these agreements.

In another development, responding to questions about why Iranians have been kept in the dark, a clerical member of the presidium of the Iranian parliament (Majles), Alireza Salimi and another prominent lawmaker Mojtaba Zolnouri said that the Iranian government is not interested in disclosing the details of these deals.

In the meantime, Former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in an interview with a Turkish TV network that secret agreements do not serve the nation's interest, adding that these deals will not be valid if they are not put to vote in the Iranian parliament.

In yet another example of opposition to secret deals, Mohammad Zare-Foumani, a young cleric who is the managing editor of proreform newspaper Sedaye Eslahat (Voice of Reforms), said at a gathering of Iranian political parties on Thursday: "Iran has become a colony of China and Russia, the two countries that have destroyed Iran's economy." Founmani also called for the publication of the full text of the long-term contracts with China and Russia.

The document with China was signed last March by the foreign ministers of Iran and China but its contents remain confidential. Ali Rabiei, the spokesman for the Rouhani administration had said in late March 2021 that the Iranian government has no problem with disclosing the details of its contracts, "but the Chines have a different view about this."

On Friday, Yaqub Rezazadeh, a member of the Iranian parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Committee said that the reason for keeping the deals secret is that Iran does not want Western countries to find out about the details and use them to obstruct Iran's progress.

The Kayhan newspaper has said that the critics are individuals who dream about a secular pro-Western government in Iran, adding that the United States is counting on these individuals.

Last week, during a visit to China, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said that the implementation of the 25-year contract with China has started. China acknowledged this one day later.

IRGC-linked news agency IRGC-affiliated Tasnim harshly criticized Amir-Abdollahian's statement about Iran's decision to have balanced ties with East and West and ruled out anything other than reliance on China and Russia. On Friday, some prayer Imams, particularly in Isfahan and Rasht, praised Russia and China in such an exaggerated way that according to Asr Iran website, "even China and Russia have never claimed to be that good!"

Mohammad Fazeli, a professor of sociology at Beheshti University, and Arash Abazari, a philosophy professor at Sharif University, were dismissed in the last few days.

Abazari is well-known for his book Hegel's Ontology of Power: The Structure of Social Domination in Capitalism, which was published by Cambridge University Press. Fazeli’s works focus on sociology of politics and science, especially in the energy sector.

The Islamic Republic has conducted several ‘cleansing’ operations in universities, firing professors that it has deemed not committed to the regime.

The most widespread firings took place right after the 1979 revolution and was peaked again during the presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who forced many professors into retirement.

Kaave Lajevardi, a fellow philosopher and translator, called it a disgrace for Iran’s education system, saying that Abazari is not tolerated while many are busy Islamizing the universities.

Abdonnaser Hemmati, the former head of Iran’s central bank who run for president last June, has protested to Fazeli’s firing and called on President Ebrahim Raisi to intervene.

Renowned reformist Abbas Abdi described such dismissals as part of a larger process to destroy the institution of science in Iran.

In an interview with ILNA on Saturday, Brigadier General Mehdi Hajian said several measures have been taken to improve the living conditions of law enforcement personnel.

“One of the main concerns of the general command is the livelihood of its staff and personnel”, he said, noting that negotiations are underway to provide further funding for the forces.

The news about several raises for security personnel comes as teachers, nurses, industrial workers and others have been protesting for higher salaries amid high inflation, but the government says it cannot afford to pay substantially higher salaries.

Food prices have risen by more than 60 percent in recent months, on top of high inflation in the previous three years. Government figures show that prices for 83 percent of basic food staples have reached a critical level. People living on salaries have cut back on nutritious food, such as meat, fruits and dairy products.

Earlier in the week, hundreds of firefighters held a demonstrationin Tehran to protest their poor living conditions, and last week hundreds of staff members from Iran’s judiciary department took to the streets in several cities while teachers and pensioners have held several rounds of nationwide protests.