Secret Israel-Syria Deal Could Have Cut Iran Out, New Book Says

Confirming the plans, Mohammad Aghamiri told Didehban-e Iran website on Saturday that there are "men who are not family members and young [unmarried] men" in parks so it is to women's own benefit to keep men out from where they play with their children. He also claimed that creation of a separate area for women and their children was based on "popular demand".

Those who advocate allocation of a different section of parks and other public areas such as playgrounds to women claim that this will help guard women's privacy and separation from men according to Islamic values.

Limitations for women have always existed since the 1979 Islamic Revolution under the pretext of protecting them, Niki Mahjoub, journalist, told Iran International TV, adding that segregation laws have steadily increased, particularly in the past few years.

Some fear that religious hardliners might be aiming at more segregation in parks and other public places.

Addressing a Tehran City Council meeting on Sunday, Aghamiri claimed that Didehban-e Iran had misrepresented his remarks and that he had not meant complete segregation of parks but meant only allocation of a special place for women and their children to play together.

He insisted that the plan ensures "women's safety" and giving them peace of mind that their children would not be "abducted". He went on to claim that women are far less likely to abduct children than men.

"There are special parks for children in all countries but now that this is being done in Tehran those who are hostile [to Islamic values] are painting a dark picture and saying parks are going to be segregated," he said.

Aghamiri added that mother and child parks will help make families happier and healthier. "Men are at work during the day. Mothers who have more free time can go to these parks and spend time with their children," he said.

Tehran has over 2,500 large and small parks and neighborhood playgrounds including nine parks that are for women only. Aghamiri said on Sunday that the number of all-female parks is going to increase to forty soon.

The first of all-female parks opened in Tehran was inaugurated by the city's conservative mayor, Mohammad Ghalibaf, in 2008. Some women at the time welcomed the idea because in this park they did not have to wear the compulsory hijab and could dress or exercise as they wished, as even gardeners were female. Others, however, said they feared this was a prelude to greater gender segregation in the city.

Since 2008 all-female parks have also been established in other cities and towns.

On Saturday a video was posted on social media showing tall concrete walls built around a park by the municipality in Bojnord in northern Iran. The mayor of Bojonord has said that the walls have been built not to segregate men and women, but to provide "a safe space" for women.

The Islamic Republic enforces complete segregation of men and women in many public spaces including schools, public transportation, gyms, swimming pools, and beaches. Women are allowed at some athletic events such as volleyball games, in a separate part of the stadium, but unofficially banned from others such as football stadiums, men's wrestling competitions and boxing matches.

In a proclamation sent to the heads of Iran’s three branches of power and the Expediency Council on Sunday, Khamenei on Sunday issued the policies aimed at improving social welfare, removing poverty, and supporting the vulnerable strata of the society in compliance with the first clause of Article 110 of the Iranian Constitution.

He ordered the presidential administration to cooperate with the parliament and the judiciary and mobilize all the relevant entities to provide a comprehensive plan for the implementation of these policies, including legislation, devising regulations and necessary executive measures, within six months.

Khamenei’s directive is a brief and general guideline issuing a series of orders that is meant to expand services to underprivileged people living in urban and rural areas.

In his decree, Khamenei called for establishing a comprehensive, integrated, transparent, efficient and multi-layered social security system, as more reports emerge of deepening poverty amid a 40-percent inflation rate.

The policies include reforming subsidy schemes, promoting job creation, providing all members of the community with access to social services and public resources, and paradoxically offering fertility services to increase the population growth rate.

The directive makes no mention of needed financial resources to expand the social security net. The Islamic Republic has for years provided general energy and food subsidies, but its centrally controlled and closed economy has stifled growth and made it vulnerable to oil export sanctions.

In an article published on Sunday, Mashregh News confirmed a report that Mohammad Hashim Raees, the former governor of Afghanistan’s Jowzjan province, was arrested on March 19 during a trip to Iran following a meeting with some Afghan refugees.

Mashregh News said Raees was a close friend of Abdul Rashid Dostum, a former Marshal in the Afghan National Army who was an enemy of Taliban and was recruiting Afghans in Iran without giving any details about the recruitment.

However, the Persian website of the Independent had quoted an unnamed source that Raees was arrested in Tehran because he wanted to recruit fighters among Afghans residing in Iran and send them to Ukraine as a unit to fight against the Russians.

The report claimed that Iranian security forces also confiscated more than $300,000 from Raees, noting that it was not clear whether this money was his personal funds or was intended to be used for other purposes.

According to the Independent, Raees promised the Afghan expatriates that they would receive Ukrainian citizenship at the end of the war, along with a handsome amount of money.

Amhmadreza Djalali (Jalali) traveled to Iran in 2016 on the invitation of Tehran University and was arrested by security forces on accusations of espionage for Israel and later sentenced to death. He is one of several dual nationals held on trumped-up charges who are used as bargaining chips against Western countries.

Two British dual nationals were released in March in exchange for the payment of more than $500 million owed to Iran by the United Kingdom. Others in the past were released for money or in exchange with Iranian agents jailed abroad.

Iran Human Rights Organization based abroad, said information received from political inmates in Tehran’s Evin prison, indicated that Djalali realized infirmary personnel had “stolen” his medications and went to enquire. The prison officials assaulted him on April 4 and he received wounds in the incident.

Djalali, who is not allowed to communicate with his family or friends, suffers from several illnesses and his physical condition has deteriorated after years of mistreatment in jail.

There were reports last year that the Islamic Republic was interested to exchange Djalali with Hamid Nouri, a former Iranian prosecutor who is on trial in Sweden for taking part in mass killings of prisoners in 1988.

Four state-owned banks including Bank-e Melli, Iran's largest bank, published the list of their major debtors on Saturday, six months after the ministry of economy ordered them to publish quarterly lists of major debtors.

The ministry of economy defines a 'major debtor' as persons or entities that hold loans worth at least 10% of the bank's total resources but have not paid instalments for loans estimated to total around $10 billion in today’s exchange rate, but much more in US dollars when the loans were received.

"At first glance this can be interpreted as an important and positive step in battling corruption and recovering the money owed to state banks," Eghtesad Online (Economy Online) wrote Sunday, but it added that the lists are extremely vague and do not offer any details.

The lists show no information other than names of individuals and companies. It is very hard to trace the background of these individuals or the ownership of the companies, that appear to be subsidiaries or front companies set up by unknown firms, some connected with state enterprises with well-connected managers.

"None of the lists include information on the time the loans were granted to persons and entities that have a long record of getting loans and not paying back. It's also not clear if the banks decided on their own to grant the loans or were ordered [by other entities]. The information also does not reveal what the collateral for the loans were," Eghtesad Online wrote.

The publication also said it is equally important to know who endorsed the loans and bring them to account. It also said the purpose of publishing the lists is meant to enable the government to convince people that President Ebrahim Raisi is delivering on his election promises of fighting corruption and establishing transparency.

Officials say the move is proof that Raisi is delivering on his election promise of fighting corruption in the banking system. "One more of the President's promises was implemented. Melli Bank, the largest bank in the country, published the names of its major creditors," Government Spokesman Ali Bahadori-Jahromi said in a tweet Saturday.

Others such as Malek Shariati, a Tehran lawmaker in the parliament, say the publication of names of major creditors is proof that the administration and parliament are steadfast in establishing transparency and battling corruption.

Based on the budget bill, the government was mandated with publishing all information on major creditors on the central bank’s.

In 2017, outspoken reformist lawmaker Mahmoud Sadeghi published a list of major debtors of Sarmayeh Bank who has defaulted. In some cases, he said, the collaterals for the loans had been evaluated at a much higher price than their real worth.

Sadeghi called the phenomenon widespread in Iran 'crony capitalism', meaning those who have connections with centers of power could easily get loans that others find extremely difficult to secure. Many of the debtors had received low-interest, subsidized loans from banks.

Major debtors to banks with bad credit have allegedly used the money to speculate in the housing, foreign currency and gold markets rather than invest in production and have thus contributed to higher inflation.