Everyone heads to Sharm el-Sheikh, but Tehran stays out

Mizan's report said the sale of such dolls has recently become common on social media platforms and in certain stores, adding that many sellers are unaware of their “anti-religious nature.”

The prosecutor’s office instructed judicial officers to identify those involved in the production, distribution, and marketing of the dolls as soon as possible and to hand over the suspects to the judiciary, the report added.

Mizan’s report comes a day after a petition was launched on Karzar.net, a government-monitored Iranian petition platform, calling on the judiciary to prosecute those behind the dolls and tighten oversight of online sales.

The campaign, which has gathered more than 3,300 signatures since Saturday, accuses the manufacturers of insulting Shiite sanctities.

The dolls, marketed under names such as Morteza and Marziyeh, are designed as stress-relief toys shaped like animals including gorillas, monkeys, or pigs.

The name Morteza is a title associated with Imam Ali, the cousin and son-in-law of Prophet Muhammad revered by Shiite Muslims as the first Imam. Marziyeh is also a title associated with Fatimah, the Prophet’s daughter and a central figure in Shiite Islam.

According to Iranian media reports, the dolls have been sold on Iran’s biggest online marketplace Digikala and other platforms, including Instagram.

The summons came after state-affiliated Oman Observer cited Royal Oman Police as saying the country banned the import of bottled water from Iran after two people died from drinking a contaminated batch.

Abdolrasoul Shabibi, director of the ministry’s second Persian Gulf department, formally protested what he described as “unfounded and negative media coverage” of Iranian products and urged Omani authorities to clarify the facts swiftly.

Shabibi added that the incident had nothing to do with the Iranian company’s drinking water and was in fact “a family-related criminal case driven by revenge.”

The Emirati website The National quoted Oman's police as saying an expatriate woman died on September 29, and an Omani man died in hospital on October 1, after being in critical condition for two days.

The source of the poisoning was traced to a contaminated batch of Uranus Star bottled water from Iran, the report said.

It said laboratory tests confirmed the contamination after samples were collected.

It added that Oman's authorities began withdrawing the product from local markets and warned the public not to drink Uranus Star water.

“Contrary to many analyses and comments, the Al-Aqsa Storm operation was a mistake,” the paper wrote in an editorial on Sunday.

The newspaper said the attack caused significant damage to what it described as “anti-Israel movements” across the region, from Iran to Lebanon.

It also cited the death of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and the collapse of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government as “major losses” for what it described as the regional anti-Israel front.

It added that the paper's editorial board had believed from “the very first moments” the attack was a miscalculation, adding that, two years later, “our belief in this mistake has only grown stronger.”

The paper said in aftermath of the Iran's 12-day war with Israel in June — including the joint Israeli and US bombings of Iran’s Natanz, Isfahan, and Fordow nuclear facilities — had severely damaged the country’s military and nuclear command structure, setting its nuclear program back “considerably.”

Jomhouri Eslami — like Kayhan and Ettela’at — is overseen by Khamenei’s representative but is known for its more moderate tone under managing editor Massih Mohajeri, a Shia cleric who has at times criticized parts of Iran’s establishment and defended reformist figures such as Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Mir-Hossein Mousavi.

Khamenei has previously praised Hamas’s October 7 attack, calling it a step toward “removing America from the region” and saying the operation “overturned the table of US policies.”

In a 90-minute video interview published Sunday on YouTube by filmmaker Javad Mogouei, Shamkhani, former secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, addressed sensitive military and intelligence matters, including the former President Ebrahim Raisi helicopter crash and Iran’s nuclear policy. The video was briefly removed from the channel before being restored.

Shamkhani said then-armed forces chief Mohammad Bagheri called him after the downing of the jet and said “the guys mistakenly shot down the Ukrainian plane.” Shamkhani said he immediately relayed the message to Rouhani.

Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752 was struck by two IRGC missiles on January 8, 2020, shortly after takeoff from Tehran, killing 176 people. In May 2025, Mahmoud Vaezi, Rouhani’s former chief of staff, said Rouhani only found out two days later during a national security meeting.

Shamkhani said there was pressure within the Supreme National Security Council to blame the crash on US electronic warfare. “There was no reason for secrecy,” he said. “It would have come out, and no one would benefit from hiding it.”

Helicopter crash “may exceed technical diagnosis”

The former security chief also addressed speculation around the May 2024 helicopter crash that killed president Ebrahim Raisi and foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.

Although military investigators concluded “nothing happened” during the flight, Shamkhani said suspicions of an assassination attempt increased after the 12-day war with Israel.

“Technically it was reviewed, and no foreign involvement was found,” he said. “But it’s possible the cause lies beyond our technical ability to detect.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Shamkhani said he regretted Iran had not pursued a nuclear bomb under president Mohammad Khatami. “If I went back to that period, I would definitely seek an atomic bomb,” he said.

On threats to close the Strait of Hormuz, he said such action would require extreme escalation. “We haven’t reached that point yet.”

Bahonar had previously caused a stir by saying there was no longer any basis for enforcing hijab laws.
“The era of running a country through mandatory hijab laws is over,” Bahoner said in a debate aired by Entekhab on October 4, adding that the Supreme National Security Council had cut the hijab legislation, rendering it unenforceable.

In a separate meeting with journalists, Bahoner said, “Some insist hijab must be compulsory. I’ve never believed in mandatory hijab—not from the beginning, and not now.”

Those remarks drew swift backlash from conservative figures and media, including Kayhan newspaper, which operates under the supervision of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s office. The spokesperson for the Expediency Council, Mohsen Dehnavi, distanced the body from Bahoner’s statements, writing on X on Saturday that his comments “do not reflect the official views or legal standing of the Council.”

On Friday, Tehran’s interim Friday prayer leader Mohammad Javad Haj Ali Akbari rebuked Bahoner without naming him. “Who are you to speak like that? Who gave you permission? Why do you speak on behalf of the system?” he asked from the pulpit.

Facing mounting pressure, Bahoner walked back his remarks during a televised interview on October 11, aligning himself with hardliners. “In our system, boundaries must be clear. Whoever breaks these norms will be treated the same as someone who violates security or economic rules,” he said.

He equated cultural dissent with national security threats, saying, “Publications and media that undermine cultural norms are just as damaging to society as security breaches.”

His reversal comes amid a wave of government actions against businesses across Iran, including the sealing of cafes and restaurants accused of failing to enforce hijab rules. Police issued a fresh directive on October 9, warning all public venues to adhere to hijab regulations or face closure.