As FIFA Says ‘Avoid Politics’, Iranian Players Ask For Boycott

In a report published on Friday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) received 76,000 cybercrime reports last financial year, up 13 percent from the previous corresponding period. 

Describing the attacks as a "huge wake-up call," he said they have made cyberspace a “battleground.” "It's a huge wakeup call, and companies need to get their act together...we need to do much better," he said, adding that "The government has stepped up, the private sector needs to step up in the interest of their customers but also their own interest."

Business losses attributable to cybercrime rose on average 14 percent over the period, with the average crime costing a small business A$39,000 ($24,540).

“It’s not just about the frauds or the texts that you or I might receive, but real issues around the security of our country going forward,” Cybersecurity Minister Clare O’Neil said in reference to the report. “It is a national security focus of the government.”

As part of efforts to intensify reactions to cyber threats by the Islamic Republic, the FBI warned late in October that the Iranian cyber group Emennet Pasargad is conducting hack-and-leak operations involving a combination of hacking and theft of data. In November 2021, the Treasury Department sanctioned six Iranian officials as well as the company for their involvement in the planned cyberattack.

Keith Wolahan, a member of Australia’s House of Representatives said in an exclusive interview with Iran International that he will do whatever he can to make the voice of the Iranian community heard.

“The least I can do is to stand there with them and use my voice as their representative to help in any way I can,” noted the Australian official.

The Australian politician read a statement in the house of representative on the fortieth day after the killing of Mahsa Amini to declare solidarity with the people of Iran.

“It's not acceptable and it's not good enough that the regime has a seat on the UN Commission for the Status of Women. It's also not good enough that the officials of the regime can travel freely around the world without consequence when they're trampling on freedoms at home,” Wolahan noted about the goal behind his statement.

“Many of the protesters are not only being killed but are now going to be subject to what can only be described as show trials…There will be consequences for how those people are treated,” he warned.

Wolahan represents the division of Menzies where the largest population of Iranian people are living in Australia.

“I want to make sure that that voice is heard by the prime minister and the foreign minister. Even though I'm not in their party, I plead with them to please listen to the concerns of the community and to act in the way that Canada, the United States and Germany did,” underlined the Australian MP.

Speaking on the Student Day, Khamenei said that school children taking part in the uprising are led by their emotions. "These are our children and I do not have anything to say to them," adding his usual conspiracy theories that state media and security forces should deal with those who pull the strings behind the scenes.

Conspirators in his view include the United States, Israel, Europeans, regional countries and any Iranian who is not loyal to him.

Iranian analyst Mehdi Mahdavi Azad told Iran International TV that "This is the first time during the past four decades that Ali Khamenei and his government have not been able to control protests after 45 days, because they are not simply facing a protest. “What we are seeing is a social revolution the government can hardly accept."

"It is hard for the government to admit that a majority of Iranians do not want compulsory hijab, clerical rule, economic crisis and the government's intervention in the Middle east and its support of international terrorism," he said.

Mahdavi Azad added: "What Khamenei said today was not disappointing because no one expected him to say anything else. However, Khamenei and what he said showed that the structure of the Islamic Republic is more rigid and vulnerable than what we imagine."

He went on to say that while Khamenei praised the Iranian intelligence community, everyone knows that the joint statement issued last week by the Iranian these agencies offered one of the most banal and conspiracy theory-based analysis of the ongoing developments."

He added: "This analysis showed that the Islamic Republic is no longer able to conduct even a tactical retreat. In fact, Khamenei was saying: I am not changing my position, destroy me or accept me as I am."

Meanwhile, Khamenei warned state officials not to send out message that would be taken advantage of by foreigners. Mahdavi Azad said: "Ali Khamenei is so lonely. His former presidents such as moderate conservative Hassan Rouhani and populist Mahmoud Ahmadinejad have not said a word to support him. The reformists also do not support him. At the same time, Iranians appear to hate him and you can find this out by listening to slogans in various parts of the country. All the rude slogans target him."

The analyst went on to say: "He is also isolated in the world and international public opinion. Inside the country, he is trying hard to rally at least traditional conservative politicians behind him, but even they are clever enough not to align themselves with a notorious character such as Khamenei."

Meanwhile, another Iranian analyst, Alan Tofighi told Iran International: "As you see in the videos of police brutality against the protesters, Khamenei is directly facing the people in what looks like a war. How can anyone beat his fellow country man before shooting him in the head? Those who see those scenes will put Khamenei next to the world's biggest criminals such as Hitler."

Inside Iran, reformist activist Mohammad Ali Namazi has said that "The government has refused to take even one step to restore people's trust." He added that at the starting point of the protests, the government could have disbanded the morality police and amended the compulsory hijab law to calm down the situation, but it refused to offer an olive branch.

Others, including former lawmaker Abouzar Nadimi told reporters that "We need reforms to meet the society's expectations." He pointed out that those who have been thinking about such reforms have reached conclusions about changing the distribution of political power in Iran, but there is no room for such changes in the Iranian constitution.

Mohsen Zanganeh, a member of parliament’s budget committee, who is an engineer and an economist, told Tasnim news website that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has agreed to more oil income to be spent for the budget instead of being deposited in the country’s National Development Fund (NDF).

Both President Ebrahim Raisi and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf are loyal followers of Iran's ruler Ali Khamenei, who has hand picked both officials.

By law Iran must save 40 percent of its oil revenues in the NDF, “for future generation,” but since 2018, successive governments have withdrawn money from the fund to bridge their budgets, with Khamenei’s permission. Now, Zanganeh says that the Supreme Leader has allowed the government to reduce the 40-percent rate of savings to 30 percent and use the 10 percent help with its large budget deficit.

Zanganeh who spoke with Tasnim on Thursday did not mention any numbers, as Iran keeps exact oil revenue figures and the size of the NDF secret. But by most accounts, Iran is exporting anywhere between 750,000 to one million barrels of crude oil daily, mostly to China. But how much discount it offers and how much foreign currency it receives remain secret.

One thing which is clear is that Iran’s $40 billion budget had a deficit of around 70 percent earlier this year. While 79 percent of tax revenues were collected from March 21 to May 20 this year, just 15 percent of official oil revenues in the budget were realized.

There could be two explanations for the huge difference between amount of oil shipped amid high prices earlier this year and what was collected by the government.

One possibility is that Iran is not receiving cash for the oil exports. Many have mentioned barter trade, whereby Iran receives good in lieu of the oil sent to China. The other possibility is that Beijing is keeping the money for now, given United States’ banking sanctions on Iran.

However, oil minister Javad Owji claimed on July 4 that Iran is receiving 80 of oil proceeds in cash and only 20 percent in barter. If this is true, then one can wonder where the money is and how it happened that the government got only 15 percent of what it expected.

This brings us to the second possibility. Cash collected from oil exports does not end up in government coffers and instead it is distributed to secret military projects and among ‘revolutionary’ entities in Iran and abroad whose existence and operations are deemed essential for the regime, controlled by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and his hardliner followers.

It has always been known that the official government budget pertains to routine operations, such as civilian ministries and the large public-sector industrial companies, banks, etc.

In the meantime, sporadic protests have gripped the oil and petrochemical sectors since September and the non-stop protests have reduced business activities, especially in the retail sector.

The government must be also printing money, because the inflation rate hovers around 50 percent and the national currency this week hit an all-time low of 340,000 rials to the US dollar.

Ebtekhab website in Tehran reported on Thursday [November 3] that cooking oil prices increased by 377 percent and rise by 207 percent since last year. It was reported in July that food price annual inflation is around 100 percent.

The top diplomats of the world’s major industrialized democracies — Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States -- are scheduled to hold meetings in the town hall of the western German city of Munster on Thursday and Friday. 

In addition to the Islamic Republic’s brutal crackdown on the ongoing protests, ignited by the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, they will be talking about Tehran’s supplying Russia with armed drones and other weapons for use in Ukraine.

In a press briefing Tuesday, United States State Department spokesman Ned Price faced questions as to what the US planned to do over alleged Iranian arms supplies to Russia. He said the US was pursuing “every relevant and appropriate tool in our tool kit” to curb Iran’s reported supply of military drones, including sanctioning Iranian commanders and defense companies.

The G7 foreign ministers from the Group of Seven nations will also grapple with the implications of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and China’s growing economic clout. 

In mid-October, gender equality ministers G7 expressed "solidarity with the people rallying in Iran against the violations and abuses of their human rights and fundamental freedoms."

Meanwhile, the number of signatures in an online campaign aimed at the leaders of the seven industrialized countries of the world, G7, has surpassed 720 thousand. The petition calls on these countries to recall their ambassadors from Iran and expel diplomats and officials of the Islamic Republic.