Iran Pundits, Ex-Diplomats Welcome An Interim Agreement With US
In a move might have been encouraged by the Iranian government, several commentators and former diplomats have called for the resumption of nuclear talks.
In a move might have been encouraged by the Iranian government, several commentators and former diplomats have called for the resumption of nuclear talks.
The pundits, who felt they could express their views in the local media, also supported an interim agreement with the United States which they said could be a positive achievement for Iran.
Former diplomat Ali Majedi advised the government in a commentary in Etemad daily, "not to be afraid of negotiations as Iran's foreign policy needs a serious development." He added that an interim agreement could be a prelude to returning to the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
The idea of an interim agreement is a suggestion made by the United States which says it is currently not planning to return to the JCPOA, wrote Etemad.
Majedi said that a change in foreign policy has started with an agreement with Saudi Arabia to resume diplomatic ties after seven years of tensions. Majedi added that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's remark about Iran not holding a grudge against Europe in his Iranian New Year address could be a green light to Iranian diplomats to start settle the differences over the JCPOA.
However, Khamenei later said in an early April speech that Iran should look for partners other than the United States and Europe.
Majedi, however, was not sure about the nature of an interim agreement and "what it means? Whether it is for six months or longer? Whether it can be extended?" Iran has previously dismissed an interim agreement emphasizing that it accepts nothing other than the 2015 agreement.
Majedi reiterated that if Iran can return to the agreement with the West and have the sanctions lifted, it would help its ailing economy. He added that "For its own interests, Iran's leaders should trust their negotiators no matter if the talks can or cannot be fruitful."
Meanwhile, another former diplomat , Abdolreza Faraji Rad suggested that "Iran and the United States had better start confidential negotiations," adding that "they might be able to reach an agreement if they talk face-to-face." The latest rounds of negotiations between Iran and the United States were indirect talks with European mediation, but the talks were suspended after Russia invaded Ukraine and Khamenei explicitly supported Russia and later Iran sent drones to be used against Ukraine.
Faraji Rad added that the idea of an interim agreement and a new round of talks with the United States was put forward months before US media broke the news.
Taking the lead in the opposition to an interim government was IRGC-linked newspaper Javan which has always opposed any negotiations with America.
He said the United States and Europe are still not interested in renewed talks with Iran, but they have been mulling the idea of new negotiations in a bid to dissuade Iran from supporting Russia in the war against Ukraine. They believe winning Iran's heart with a Plan B including lifting some of the sanctions and allowing more oil exports could entice Iran to stop uranium enrichment at 60-percent level.
In another development, media commentator Hassan Beheshtipour said, "an interim agreement can be a temporary solution as a long-term agreement is impossible without holding negotiations with the United States."
Beheshtipour, however, maintained that "an interim agreement cannot solve Iran's economic problem." He added that the most Iran can win in such an interim government is releasing its $7 billion frozen assets in South Korea.
He said, "Iran should nonetheless welcome the agreement if it helps solve its economic crisis. Otherwise, if Iran thinks it won’t face a major economic issue in the next four or five years, it can always wait for a more comprehensive agreement and a better solution."
At a meeting with state officials Tuesday, Khamenei claimed that foreign intelligence services were encouraging Iranian women to disobey mandatory hijab. He also claimed that “the enemy” is working according to “a plan and plot” and urged authorities to have their own plan for dealing with the issue of hijablessness.
“Discarding hijab is haram based on Sharia and also politically,” he declared. His declaration was a clear signal to authorities that they need to do anything it takes to re-establish control over women which had somehow waned following anti-regime protests.
“The order given by his excellency is clear,” Parliament Speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf said Wednesday while promising to give precedence to any hijab-related motion or bill.
Following Khamenei’s cue, the ministry of interior in its second statement on hijab within a week, alleged that the opposition to compulsory hijab was an enemy plot advanced by foreign intelligence services and the opposition outside Iran, who through social media are trying to use it to “create deep social divides and a divide between the people and the government.”
Airport staff refusing to offer services to ‘hijabless’ women in Shiraz
Claiming that the ministry is responsible for ascertaining and defending “rights of the majority of the people,” the statement said it will fully support the activities of vigilantes who have been harassing women to follow the Islamic dress code.
The ministry also said the judiciary and other organizations involved in the enforcement of compulsory hijab will take action “against the few who act against the society’s norms” to defend the “dignity and identity of the Muslim Iranian women.”
Mahsa Amini’s death in ‘hijab police’ custody in September sparked the protests That engulfed the country nearly non-stop for four months. Many women burned their headscarves during the protests, vowing never to surrender to compulsory hijab again.
‘Hijabless’ women are now seen everywhere, even in some of the most conservative cities. For many, this is a form of civil disobedience. Some social media users have said that in some public venues such as restaurants, ‘hijabless’ women outnumber those who wear headscarves.
On Wednesday, an official of Tehran’s Metro Organization, Masoud Dorosti, said his organization has set up a “chastity and hijab taskforce” for enforcement on public transport. According to Dorosti, the first phase of the plan, giving verbal warnings to women who do not abide by the hijab requirement, has begun at metro stations. Tehran municipality has adopted similar plans.
The police and the judiciary have also resorted to pressuring businesses to enforce the hijab on their premises.
Authorities have shut down hundreds of shops, restaurants, cafes, and ecotourism facilities during the two-week New Year (Nowrouz) holidays across the country.
Earlier this week, the ministry of higher education said institutions under its coverage will no longer offer educational and other services to students who do not abide by hijab rules.
The Islamic Azad University, which is not administered by the ministry, has also announced strict measures against defiance of the compulsory hijab. The university which has over 1.1 million students across Iran has ordered its faculty to “seriously manage” abidance of the hijab rules by their students and threatened them with repercussions if students flout hijab in their classes.
“Conflict between professors and students? We are teachers not police or sheriffs. It is knowledge that will eventually be harmed by destroying teachers’ relationship [with students],” a professor of criminal law at Tehran university, who was recently sacked for criticizing the regime after the execution of four young protesters, said in a tweet Tuesday.
The news comes amid reports of the cultural icon’s sense of hopelessness in the face of the country’s dire political and economic situation having led to his death.
Pour-Ahmad had described the popular protests that started last September as “bloody and painful” and wrote: “With all the scorching we have on our souls, what festival, what festivity?”
Initially, reports had claimed Pour-Ahmad died of a heart failure, but the Iranian magazine, Today’s Film, reported that he ended his life because of “depression, despair, the feeling of uselessness and lack of hope in future. Simply so terrible, unbelievable, horrible and shocking,” citing sources close to the star.
The verdict of the 74-year-old’s suicide was ruled by Mehdi Fallahmiri, the prosecutor in northern Gilan Province, who initially dispatched a murder investigation team on hearing the news of Pour-Ahmad's death.
Though the suicided was confirmed, Fallahmiri said “further investigation” is needed. The body has been transferred to the coroner’s office.
Unconfirmed reports say that he left an eight-page letter explaining his decision. However, the content of the note has not been disclosed.
Mehdi Kouhian, an attorney who has been close to the legal cases of detained artists during recent protests recently warned of the toll the unrest and subsequent crackdowns on the cultural community were having in a chilling foreboding of the fate of Pour-Ahmad.
Just days ago, he publicly recommended that the community of artists should help those who were being persecuted by the government by providing secure therapy services.
In a tweet Thursday, he said: “As a result of close contacts I had with dissident artists in the past seven months, I warned less than a month ago about their psychological condition.”
The veteran filmmaker was not a revolutionary and once admitted that before the 1979 revolution he had a beard, but when he saw protesters burning a bookstore, he shaved it off.
Although he was not an outspoken critic of the regime, like some other famous artists who have been jailed, he had become critical of the clerical regime’s intrusion into artistic works.
He had spoken out against censorship and Iran’s annual Fajr Film Festival, where the government increasingly intervenes to ban films it deems “unsuitable”.
Some have already labeled Pour-Ahmad’s death as “government murder” with tributes pouring in from around the world.
Journalist Noushabeh Amiri, who is now in Europe, Tweeted: “Pour-Ahmad was killed by the filthy Islamic Republic, yes, killed.”
She went on to say, “Killing can take different forms. When you chock off the air from an artist, when you pressure him every day, when you take his unfinished film and give it to security agents to complete it, when…This is how they killed Kyumars.”
He will go down in history as one of Iran’s greats. His most famous production was a TV serial called Majid’s Stories, about a boy living with his grandmother, which captivated children, teenagers and adults alike.
Film critic Mehrsa Rahnema told Iran International TV that Pour-Ahmad was one of the few Iranian filmmakers whose films and serials captured the hearts of people of all ages, because he was so close to the real lives of ordinary people.