Raisi Set For His First State Visit To China Amid Domestic Challenges

Magomed-Husejn Dovtaev (Mohammad-Hussein Dovtaev), 30, an Austrian national, was charged with collecting information likely to be useful for committing or preparing an act of terrorism, sources told Iran International.

The suspect's name in Russian spelling signals that he is originally from one of the former Soviet republics, more likely from a Muslim-majority country.

He was arrested at Chiswick Park by officers from the Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Command.

Iran International was warned by authorities in November that its journalists were under threat from Iranian agents and the Metropolitan Police took measures to strengthen security around the network’s office in the area.

Dovtaev has been charged with violating Section 58 of the Terrorism Act of 2000. He is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Monday, February 13.

Amid repeated threats by the Islamic Republic against Iran International’s reporters, the UK government vowed in December to step up protection of London-based journalists.

British Foreign Minister James Cleverly said during a session at the parliament on December 13 that the Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO), in partnership with the Home Office, had ensured that the Iranian journalists were protected by the British police.

“The UK remains absolutely determined to ensure that Iran does not intimidate people within this country. We will always stand up to the aggression from foreign nations,” he noted, adding, “We will absolutely not tolerate threats, particularly towards journalists who are highlighting what is going on in Iran, or indeed any other individual living in the UK.”

The report saysIran delivered at least 18 of the drones to the Russian navy after officers and technicians made a special visit to Tehran in November.

“On that occasion, the 10-man Russian delegation selected six Mohajer-6 drones, which have a range of around 200km and carry two missiles under each wing, along with 12 Shahed 191 and 129 drones, which also have an air-to-ground strike capability,” added the Guardian.

Unlike Shahed 131 and 136 drones, which have been broadly used by Moscow in kamikaze attacks against Ukrainian infrastructure, the higher-flying drones are able to deliver bombs and return to base.

The disclosures show that the two countries sharing hostility towards Washington are getting closer.

Iran’s Islamic government has supplied hundreds of drones to Russia since mid-2022 that have been used during missile attacks to swarm Ukrainian air defenses.

Increasingly short of missiles to sustain its brutal bombing campaign of Ukraine’s towns and cities, Russia has turned to Iran and also North Korea to replenish its stocks.

The United States and Europe have imposed new sanctions on Tehran for its expanded military ties with Moscow and its deadly crackdown on protests since last September.

The rial, which was trading at about 300,000 to the US dollar in late August fell to 460,000 on Sunday; a more than 50-perccent decline.

Us sanctions economic sanctions imposed since 2018 have gradually eroded Iran’s hard currency revenues, depleted its foreign currency reserves and have led to economic uncertainty.

Lack of a new nuclear deal with the United States has also led to more pessimism since September, when the latest attempt by the European Union to broker a deal fell apart.

In addition to these negative factors, popular protests in the past five months have led to political uncertainty and more capital flight from the country.

The rial’s fall leads to more inflation for essential commodities such as foodstuff and animal feed, impoverishing a population hit hard by 40-50 percent annual inflation in the past three years.

Food prices have been rising much faster, with official figures indicating between 70-100 percent annual inflation for basic food items such as meet and dairy. Consumption of some items have decreased by more than 50 percent in the past two years.

At the same time rents and home prices have climbed as much as the value of the US dollar has risen, reaching a level that an ordinary worker must hold two or even three jobs just to afford basic housing. Workers make between $100-150 a month, calculated by the current rate of the dollar.

Some observers say that rising prices can lead to more widespread and sustained protests against the regime. The current government, mostly staffed by hardliners, is seen as inefficient and unable to govern in an environment of multiple challenges. Even many conservatives and loyalists have begun to criticize President Ebrahim Raisi and his ministers.

Meanwhile, new figures published Sunday by the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) showed that borrowing by government-owned companies increased by 77.5 percent in the first eight months of the Iranian calendar year, from March 21- November 20.

These largely unprofitable and money-losing enterprises borrow from government banks, which in turn borrow from the central bank. These banks in turn had to borrow 59 percent more from the CBI during November 2021-November 2022,

The central bank in turn resorts to printing money, without sufficient economic growth or foreign currency revenues. This means that the money supply increases fast, leading to more currency devaluation and inflation.

One major reason why government companies have increased borrowing is that the government takes money from these essentially bankrupt enterprises to finance its own 50-percent budget deficit.

The Raisi government has been claiming that it has stopped borrowing from the CBI, but in fact it has shifted to cashing money from its economic enterprises, which have assumed the role of borrowers. In short, the cycle of government borrowing, and money printing has become more complicated by the intermediary role public companies play as some sort of facilitators.

The money supply reached 58,000 trillion rials by November, or $200 billion based on the average rate of exchange during the first eight months of the Iranian calendar year.

The situation is heading toward a serious crisis. A centrist politician said this week that “Iran is on fire.”

Judiciary Spokesman Masoud Setayeshi claimed Sunday that so far, 26 people have been arrested in the case who are accused of acquiring stolen property and money laundering.

In June 2022, thieves broke into at least 200 safety deposit boxes in a central Tehran branch of Iran’s largest bank. Apparently, the robbers gained access from an adjacent building during the holiday.

The case made national headlines, but the indicted individuals have been freed on bail while four protesters were tried and hanged in December after sham trials in a matter of a few weeks after their arrest. Thousands of other protesters have been beaten and tortured in prisons and more than a dozen have received the death penalty.

State media revealed that the bank’s alarm was not connected to the police and had only sent a text message to the branch manager, who ignored it as the system had been prone to false alerts.

Four days later police displayed recovered money and gold after they announced the arrest of 13 people allegedly involved in the large bank heist in Tehran.

The surprisingly quick reaction and arrests by the police raised eyebrows with many seeing it as an ‘inside job’.

Referring to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s amnesty for some prisoners arrested during antigovernment protests in recent months, Mohammad Jafar Montazeri claimed it was a “clemency” by the Supreme Leader.

When the crime of every person is proven, he will be indicted and must be punished, he said during a three-day visit to Esfahan province.

“The right of amnesty has been given to the Leader in the Constitution, which is carried out at the request of Chief Justice. If the leader thinks it is necessary, he might pardon the condemned people,” added Montazeri.

Government media reported February 5 that Khamenei “agreed” with a proposal by the country’s Judiciary to take what appears to be a political move to show clemency after hundreds were killed and around 19,000 arrested.

It is not clear from the announcement how many or which prisoners will be pardoned and whose sentences will be reduced. While thousands of young and teenage protesters were arrested in street demonstrations, hundreds of political activists, journalists and writers and artists have also been detained.

Khamenei's move came at the 44th anniversary of the Islamic Republic, as a move to rescue the image of the regime amid a grim economic crisis and mass public rejection of the political system he presides over.