The US State Department has criticized Iran over its plans to tighten Internet access and urged the government “to allow its citizens to exercise their right to freedom of expression and to freely access information.”
The department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, which says it “champions American values, including the rule of law and individual rights,” “Iran’s proposed User Protection Bill aims to further limit Internet access, increasing censorship and restricting free speech online.”
In February 18 members of an ad hoc parliamentary committee in Iran said they had ratified the outlines of a bill entitled 'Legislation to Protect Cyberspace Users' to regulate internet and social media access, only for the parliament's Regulations and Bylaws Division to issue a statement that the committee had broken the law in ratifying a different version of the bill referred to it for examination and approval.
Iran has blocked websites and social media apps over the past two decades, but these are readily sidestepped with wide use of VPNs (virtual private networks) and other tools. Some social media users have alleged that problems with internet coverage in recent months are a trial run for a plan to curb internet access and social media. In February Speedtest global index ranked Iran 80of 138 countries worldwide for mobile internet connection, and 145 out of 180 for fixed broadband speed.
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According to Hojjat ul-Eslam Mehdi Parnian, the length of a cleric's beard and the size of his turban have nothing to do with his title or rank. However, observation at seminaries indicate that the higher the rank of a cleric, the longer is his beard and the bigger his turban. Nonetheless, long beard and big turban are not necessarily a sign of a great scholar, as is the case with Tehran Friday Prayer Imam, Ahmad Khatami, who likes to be called an ayatollah.
He has the right beard, turban and official position for the title, but his aggressive, and often offensive style of speaking and his perpetual angry tone and gestures betray the long beard and big turban.
High-ranking clerics generally have a calm demeanour. They wear leather slippers, usually yellow ones, and thin robes woven of camel wool. Most of them hold a walking stick in their hand even if there is nothing wrong with their feet or legs. They speak calmly and softly. But there are sometimes exceptions. Firebrand former Judiciary Chief Sheikh Mohammad Yazdi, always spoke angrily and raised his voice in an increasing pitch sentence after sentence. Toward the end of his speeches and sermons everyone thought he was having an argument with someone.
President Ebrahim Raisi, around twenty years younger than Yazdi, has more or less the same style or habit. The difference between his and Yazdi's style is that Raisi occasionally uses foreign words but invariably mispronounces them. For instance, he used the word "locomotir" instead of "locomotive," and Megawamata instead of Mega Watt.
The color of robes
Parnian has also observed that although Iranian clerics traditionally wear black or brown robes, in recent years, beige robes have become fashionable among clerics after former President Mohammad Khatami wore them during his presidency (1997-2005). The two jackets qaba and labbadeh that are worn under the robe (aba), can be black or blue. The latter was former President Hassan Rouhani's favorite.
Rouhani was one of the few Iranian clerics who was always well-dressed and applied gel to his hair, a practice frowned at by traditional clerics who also happen not to like the beige robe for which Khatami was often criticized. Rouhani also slightly dyed his white beard.
Speaking of clerical fashion, Parnian has also observed that black and brown slippers are nowadays more fashionable than the yellow ones said to be the holy prophet's favorite. On official occasions some clerics prefer to wear shoes rather than slippers which make them walk in a sloppy way.
The turban department
In the turban department, one should also make note of a less fashionable turban which is called crown-style turban. The front side of this turban is a bit elevated, so that it could show a short cleric taller. Some simply wear it only to look more elegant. Hardliner lawmaker Mahmoud Nabavian always wears this type of turban. President Raisi tried it a few times immediately after his election, but he was probably cautioned by those around him that it did look nice on him or that other clerics did not like it.
Parnian observed that some senior clerics were so famous that people knew them by their title rather than their names. For instance, when clerics talk respectfully about "the Akhund," they do not mean any cleric. There are thousands of akhunds in Qom only. But in this case, they are talking about Akhund Khorassani, who was a prominent Shiite scholar. He was otherwise known as Molla Mohammad Kazem Khorassani (1839-1911).
Likewise, when they talk about Allameh in an old book, they are talking about renowned scholar Allameh Helli, who lived in 13th and 14th centuries and whose full name was Abou Mansour Jamaleddin Hassan ibn Yousuf ibn Motahhar Helli.
Titles or simplicity
Nonetheless, renowned clerics did not believe in titles. Even in modern times, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini who was called the Imam by his followers, never called anyone an ayatollah or a grand ayatollah. As far as he was concerned, all clerics were Hojjat ul-Eslam.
For the man in the street also, anyone with a turban on his head is an akhund. They generally do not know and do not care about them. Parnian's observation indicates that at the end of the day they find any cleric with a longer beard and a bigger turban more prominent.
According to Mehdi Sharifi, a seminary graduate in plainclothes, and a sociologist, "It is hardly believable today, but once those who had studied divinity and knew the rules of the religion were highly respected."
Sharifi says that the first Shi'ite seminaries were set up probably in the 10th century after the 12th Imam disappeared into the occult and the followers of the Imams (the children and grandchildren and great grandchildren of the holy prophet) made it their own responsibility to promote their teachings even at the expense of being imprisoned by the enemies of the sect.
Sharifi says: "Clerics such as Sehiek Sadouq, Sheikh Mofid and Sheikh Tousi, who founded the first seminaries were the Steve Jobs, Elon Musks, and Mark Zuckerbergs of their times in Baghdad, Qom and An-Najaf. They were the pioneers of their times."
Things were different during those early days at the height of the clerical power during the Safavid dynasty in Iran (1501-1736) when the clergy advised the king.
The 1979 Islamic revolution brought them back to the forefront, but this time elevated them to the peacock throne for the first time and made them the rulers of Iran.
"Our strategic reserves are finishing, and we won't be able to replenish them," Jalal Mahmoudzadeh, a member of the parliament's Agriculture Committee, told Shafaq News Agency on Friday.
According to Mahmoudzadeh, the war in Ukraine, the government's decision to scrap cheap dollars for importing essential commodities, and mismanagement are the three factors that will affect the availability and prices of essential goods.
Mahmoudzadeh predicted that prices of commodities such as sugar, oil, and rice in the Iranian market will rise considerably in the coming months due to the elimination of subsidies.
Iran decided to end a costly subsidy for importing food and animal feed recently, raising fears of rising prices in the new year that started on March 21. According to a report by ISNA on March 19, out of about $19 billion worth of basic goods imported in the past 12 months nearly $15 billion was subsidized with cheap dollars provided to importers.
Animal feed, much of the grains imported from Russia and Ukraine with cheap dollars until now would also become scarce and prices of red and white meat will therefore rise considerably, he said. Importers might be jittery about making commitments given the unpredictable foreign currency rates in Iran and government price fixing.
Last week it was announced that Iran’s agriculture minister, Javad Sadatinejad, had signed an agreement during a recent visit to Russia to import 20 million tons of basic goods, including vegetable oil, wheat, barley and corn. The report said the deal is to address concerns about shortages of basic goods and livestock feed in the coming months but did not mention the monetary value of the deal.
Iran is under US sanctions, but the government of President Ebrahim Raisi insists that it has succeeded in blocking their effect on the economy and neutralized the sanctions to a great extent. "The biggest achievement of the government in Vienna [nuclear] talks has been greatly reducing the strategic value of sanctions for the other side through the strategy of neutralizing sanctions," the official news agency (IRNA) wrote Friday.
Recent news about higher oil exports coincides with the most critical phase of indirect nuclear talks that the Biden Administration started with Iran almost a year ago. If talks fail, sanctions will continue.
Reuters reported on February 10 that daily illicit shipments of crude oil had surpassed one million barrels a day in the previous two months. This was the highest since May 2019 when the Trump administration imposed full sanctions on Iran’s oil exports.
Between May 2019 and late 2020, Iran’s clandestine oil exports hovered around 200,000 bpd, or 10 percent of its sales before Donald Trump withdrew from the Iran nuclear agreement, JCPOA, and imposed sanctions. The exports increased in 2021, but it is not clear how much cash revenues Iran receives, given the illicit nature of the shipments primarily going to China.
Oil exports may have increased but the government coffers appear to be still empty. The value of rial remains near its all-time lows at 260,000 to the US dollar, while liquidity keeps rising as the government prints more money.
Just before the Iranian New Year earlier this week, for the first time in over four decades, the Islamic Republic's government failed to make the monthly payments of millions of pensioners. Payments had regularly been made even during eight years of war with Iraq (1980-1988) under difficult conditions.
