Iran rebuffs Arab League warning against interference in Syria

Reports on social media of shops selling mostly Chinese-imported Christmas accessories, eateries displaying Christmas decorations and offering themed menus and people gathering outside churches or throwing Christmas parties at home were abundant this year.

Many recent posts on social media show people buying trees, taking photos in front of shop windows or with men dressed as Santa Claus on the street.

This year, there was also a video of singing and dancing on Christmas night near the Armenian church on Tehran's Mirza-ye Shirazi Street. Unlike last year, the videos showed many unveiled women on the street, too.

People dancing on the street in Tehran on December 25

There have been numerous reports in Iranian media in recent years that quote owners of businesses in the area saying most of the shoppers who buy the trees, accessories, and gifts are Muslims.

Unsurprisingly, the phenomenon has been met with consternation by clerics.

“Celebrations and activities related to Christmas are not admissible unless necessary because they promote the non-Islamic culture," conservative Grand Ayatollah Naser Makarem-Shirazi ruled in 2014.

"Necessity here means harm to familial relations and friendships [with Christians] if these activities are not performed,” the senior cleric said in response to a question on whether Muslims could congratulate each other for Christmas and celebrate the event.

Only a tiny proportion of the Iranian society are Christians. According to the 2016 census, Christians of recognized denominations – mainly Armenians and Assyro-Chaldeans – comprised around 0.15 percent of the population.

Christmas decorations in Jolfa Armenian neighborhood and Vank Cathedral in Isfahan

Christianity, Zoroastrianism, and Judaism are recognized as legitimate religions in the Islamic Republic and their followers enjoy some degree of freedom of worship. They also have their own representatives in the parliament.

Although converting from Islam can carry the death penalty, conversion to Christianity has been on the rise in Iran.

"Iranians have become the most open people to the gospel," David Yeghnazar of Elam Ministries said in 2018. The Christian Broadcast Network found in the same year that "Christianity is growing faster in the Islamic Republic of Iran than in any other country."

However, there are no reliable figures on the number of converts who mostly worship at underground establishments often called house churches.

Most Armenians who make up the biggest Christian community in Iran live in Tehran, Isfahan, and the northwestern provinces.

Mirza-ye Shirazi Street, a formerly Armenian neighborhood with a large church, and Majidieh neighborhood in the east of the capital where many Armenian families live have become the most popular destinations for Christmas enthusiasts in Tehran who want to immerse themselves in a Christmassy mood and environment.

Assyro-Chaldeans celebrate on December 25 but unbeknownst to most ordinary Iranians, Armenians celebrate Christmas on January 6 following the tradition of Eastern Orthodox Christians.

The Christmas spirit prevails on Mirza-ye Shirazi Street and elsewhere in Tehran from mid-December when many shops and shopping centers start displaying Christmas trees and lighting.

Christmas spirit on Tehran's Mirza-ye Shirazi Street

Vank Cathedral, a four-hundred-year-old church and major sightseeing destination in Jolfa, Isfahan’s old Armenian quarter, is another very popular destination for Christmas enthusiasts.

Some travel to the city in December and early January only to visit the cathedral and the beautiful lighting and decorations on display.

Last year, local media reported hundreds of people rushing to the cathedral on December 25.

The cathedral’s doors were closed earlier than usual that evening but some among the boisterous crowd of singing and dancing youth outside the church tried to force the gates open. The crowd was eventually violently dispersed by the police.

Hundreds gathered outside the same cathedral this year, too, but police intervention was not reported.

Young people outside Isfahan's Vank Cathedral jokingly chanting an Islamic slogan on December 25

The videos posted on social media, however, showed the crowd of largely young Muslim men chanting “Peace be upon the Prophet Muhammed and his household”, a common practice in Islamic gatherings and after prayers, after a few among the crowd jokingly prompted the chanting.

This was taken as disrespect to Christians by some including Mehdi Mazruei, a former member of the City Council of Isfahan, who said the crowd’s behavior was offensive.

Authorities should “guard the spiritual capital of hundreds of years of respectful coexistence among [followers] of various religions [in the city],” Mazruei wrote on X on Wednesday.

This year, there were also citizen reports of a more pronounced Christmas spirit in shopping centers and cafes of Tabriz, the capital of the East Azarbaijan Province, which has a smaller Armenian and Assyro-Chaldean population than Tehran and Isfahan. Tabriz has several churches including the Saint Mary Armenian Apostolic church dating to the Safavid period.

In the past two decades, Valentine's Day and Halloween have also become very popular among Muslim Iranians.

Religious fundamentalists and the hardline political establishment who even frown upon the celebration of pre-Islamic festivals such as Nowrouz (the Persian New Year), Yalda (the Winter Solstice Festival), and Charshanbeh Souri (an ancient fire festival) as pagan traditions are very concerned about these celebrations which they often describe as a Western cultural onslaught on Shi'ite Iran.

For several years, pundits have suggested that the rising popularity of Christmas in an Islamic country like Iran is a collective response to the government's attempts to promote Shi'ite mourning ceremonies such as Ashura and Arbaeen over the celebration of happy occasions in the society.

“What is important to people is life and happiness. (Celebration of Christmas and other western holidays) is … a reaction to the traditional (Shi'ite) culture,” philosopher and university professor Bijan Abdolkarimi told local media in 2020.

"I haven't been to Christmas celebrations, but why do (some) people mock it so much? Is it wrong for people to have an excuse to be happy?" an anonymous user on X said.

"Is it wrong for us to have an excuse to be joyous when the rest of the world is being joyous? They keep mocking and saying we are not Christians," the user weighed in.

"Forget about religion and just be happy."

“What is concerning is the reckless and short-sighted policy of the European JCPOA [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action] participants and the United States, which is steadily leading to another round of escalation,” Ulyanov said in an interview with Russian state-media RIA on Friday.

Ulyanov said that there has been some progress in talks between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), but added that it remains limited and faces obstacles.

“To say that there has been no progress at all in the dialogue between Iran and the IAEA would be inaccurate, although the progress is limited and continually meets certain obstacles,” he said.

“An important development recently was the visit of the IAEA director general to Iran in mid-November, during which Rafael Grossi met with the Iranian leadership and visited a number of nuclear facilities, including some beyond the scope of the agreement between Iran and the IAEA on the application of safeguards.”

According to Ulyanov, Grossi’s visit helped establish contact with Iran’s new government and led to agreements aimed at halting the increase of Iran’s 60%-enriched uranium stockpile—an issue of particular concern to Western countries. However, the Russian envoy warned that the E3 and US approach could undermine these efforts and risk further escalation.

Cecilia Sala, 29, reports for Italian daily Il Foglio and podcast publisher Chora Media, which said she was arrested on December 19 while working in Iran with a valid journalist visa.

The Islamic Republic has since its inception sought to trade foreign detainees with host governments in exchange for prisoners or economic and political concessions.

Iran denies it engages in hostage diplomacy and has yet to comment on Sala's case.

Italy's Defense Minister called her detention "unacceptable", but said only political talks and not popular outrage could win her freedom.

"Negotiations with Iran cannot be resolved, unfortunately, with the involvement of Western public opinion and with the strength of popular indignation but only with high-level political and diplomatic action," Guido Crosseto wrote on X.

Italy's foreign ministry said it had been "following the case with the utmost attention since its inception." The ministry, it added, "has worked with the Iranian authorities to clarify Sala's legal situation and verify the conditions of her detention."

Italy's ambassador in Iran had visited her in detention and relayed information about her conditions back to her family, the ministry added without elaborating.

Chora Media said Sala is being held in solitary confinement at Tehran’s Evin prison with no explanation for her detention.

“Her free voice has been silenced, and neither Italy nor Europe can tolerate this arbitrary arrest. Cecilia Sala must be freed immediately,” the company said, launching a #FreeCecilia campaign on social media.

The newspaper Il Foglio criticized her detention.

"Cecilia was in Iran, with a regular visa, to report on a country she knows and loves, a country in which information is suffocated by repression," it said in a statement.

"Journalism is not a crime," it added.

Iran has not commented on her arrest, the reasons for which remain unclear.

Jordan drone attack

Iran last week summoned a senior Italian diplomat and the Swiss ambassador in Tehran, who represents US interests in the country, over their countries' arrest of two Iranian nationals, Iranian media reported.

Tehran has been trying to secure the release of Iranian citizen Mohammad Abedini, who was arrested at Milan airport over his involvement in a drone strike in Jordan earlier this year that killed US troops, IRGC-affiliated Tasnim News Agency reported last week.

Earlier this month, the US Justice Department charged Abedini and another Iranian, Mahdi Mohammad Sadeghi - who was arrested in the United States - with conspiring to export sensitive US technology to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.

The technology was used in the navigation systems for the drone strike on the US counter-terrorism outpost in the Eastern Jordanian desert, in the deadliest attack on American personnel in 14 months of Mideast turmoil.

Iran last week summoned the Swiss ambassador in Tehran, who represents US interests in the country, and a senior Italian diplomat over their arrest by the United States and Italy, Reuters reported citing Iranian media.

'These are their actions'

Additionally, after the outbreak of nationwide protests over the death in custody of Mahsa Amini in mid-September 2022, Iran had detained dozens of foreign nationals including from France, Germany, Italy, Poland and the Netherlands.

Italian Instagram travel influencer Alessia Piperno was among those arrested during the protests.

At the time, Iranian authorities accused external forces—particularly the United States and its allies—of fueling the nationwide protests.

Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Hannah Neumann denounced Sala's detention as “another assault on media freedom, on women, on international law.”

She wrote on X:“For all those still saying: ‘We need to judge them by their actions’ – these are their actions."

The Arab League bloc of nations has called on Iran to refrain from actions that could sow discord in Syria following the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad, a long-time ally of Tehran.

In a statement issued on Thursday, the Arab League warned against igniting strife in Syria and denounced statements by Iranian officials that risk destabilizing the country. The statement did not name any specific officials.

“The Arab League rejects the recent Iranian statements aimed at inciting strife among the Syrian people,” the bloc’s secretariat said, adding that “it is following with concern the events taking place in several Syrian cities and areas with the aim of igniting the sparks of conflict."

Deadly clashes between Syria's new rulers and forces loyal to Assad in recent days have fueled fears of rekindling the civil war in the country.

Syria’s new authorities said Tuesday that pro-Assad forces ambushed interior ministry troops near Tartous, killing 14 and wounding 10 in a direct challenge to de facto leader Ahmad al-Sharaa. On Thursday, the new leaders launched an operation in the area, historically a stronghold of Assad's minority Alawite Muslim sect.

“The General Secretariat stressed the need for all parties to respect Syria's sovereignty, territorial integrity and stability, to restrict weapons to the hands of the state, dissolve all armed formations and reject all destabilizing foreign interventions," said the Arab League, which last year welcomed back Assad after a decade of isolation.

The bloc also expressed confidence in the ability of the Syrian people, with all their components and leaders, through wisdom, to preserve civil peace and national unity at this critical stage.

Earlier this week, Syria’s new foreign minister warned Iran not to destabilize the country's fragile calm after a call by Iran’s Supreme Leader for Syrian youth to rise up against the new Sunni Islamist rulers.

"Iran must respect the will of the Syrian people and the sovereignty and safety of its country. We warn them against spreading chaos in Syria and hold them responsible for the consequences of their recent statements," Asaad Hassan al-Shaibani said on X.

In at least two public speeches this month, Ali Khamenei predicted "the emergence of a strong,” noting that the country's young men had nothing to lose.”

Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said on Thursday that media reports about Iran interfering in Syria's internal affairs are baseless. “Tehran is committed to supporting the territorial integrity and national unity of Syria and the formation of an inclusive political system," he said in a statement.

Most recently, Mohsen Rezaei, former commander of the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) and a member of the Expediency Discernment Council, wrote on X,"The resistant youth and nation of Syria will not remain silent against foreign occupation and aggression and the internal totalitarianism of one group. In less than a year, they will revive the resistance in Syria in another form."

In an interview with an Egyptian media outlet last week, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that Tehran had advised Assad to engage in talks with Turkey and opposition forces before his fall, adding that Assad rejected the idea.

“Assad believed that he would not engage in talks with Turkey until their forces withdrew from Syrian territory, questioning how it would be possible to negotiate with a country that had occupied his land,” he said.

“Over the past years, we have had close consultations with China on all regional and international issues,” he said.

On December 6, the UN nuclear watchdog reported that Iran had significantly accelerated its production rate of 60% enriched uranium, which is now approximately five times higher than a month ago. Iran is now believed to possess enough 60% enriched uranium to produce four to five atomic bombs, should it choose to pursue nuclear weapons.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Rafael Grossi's said earlier this month that the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), is no longer sufficient to curb Tehran’s uranium enrichment which has exceeded international limits.

"Iran is enriching uranium close to military levels and is rapidly moving towards becoming a nuclear state," Grossi said in an interview with Italy's ANSA news agency."The philosophy of the original accord with Iran can be used, but that agreement is no longer useful," he added.