Mostapha Hassan Abdelwahab

The picture in Iran after 100 days seems a little bit clearer. Everything is moving—but backwards.

On June 20, 2021, Ebrahim Raisi was declared Iran’s president after controversial presidential race marked by voter antipathy and vetting of most powerful contenders. He captured 62% of the votes—but the turnout was 48.8%, the lowest since 1979. Raisi’s victory was a foregone conclusion given the circumstances leading up to the election. Only seven candidates contested the election after a controversial vetting process carried out by the Guardian Council. All the powerful candidates—including Mahmoud Ahmadinejad—have been disqualified, clearing the way for Raisi to become president.

During the presidential campaign, Raisi announced an ambitious platform—with pillars of fighting corruption and improving the economic situation worsening day after day by the US sanctions and the regime’s failure to address the people’s grievances. Now, 100 days have passed since Raisi took office. It seems the conservative president—whose human rights record is so horrendous that he is already sanctioned by the US—is failing to deliver on his promises. The economy is worse. The people are deeply dissatisfied. He even faces allegations of nepotism by lawmakers—and is on the quiet militarizing the government.

The Iranians have expressed their opinions about Raisi’s tenure in office so far. In the survey, the Iranians said they see no change in the country since Raisi came to power.  “We haven’t seen anything. I mean that things we feel in our life didn’t change for the better. On the contrary, things have become worse. We see nothing but inflation. We didn’t see anything that changed or the better or change that has been made.”

This bleak outlook of the present—and maybe the future—is caused by the regime’s intransigence and insistence on continuing its expansionist projects overseas. When former US President Donald Trump pulled Washington out of the deal in May 2018, one of his arguments was that the nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), has allowed the release of billions of dollars for the Iranian regime—which he used in fomenting terrorism and cementing networks of militias. 

Another Iranian citizen said, “When I reflect on the current situation, I don’t see any significant difference between the current government and its preceding one. They are even worse. They themselves claim that they have presented a stellar performance, succeeded in some sectors or vaccinated all the citizens. But in fact they are worse than the previous governments”.

The economic landscape in Iran is actually grim. The country’s economy is battered by crippling sanctions imposed by the US administration following its withdrawal from JCPOA. The currency (toman) is on a slippery slope—with each dollar equaling 31,040 tomans. At the start of Raisi’s presidential term, a dollar posted nearly 25,000 tomans—an increase of 6% in 100 days. Oil exports are still under the US embargo, slashing from over 2.5 million barrels per day before sanctions to 404,000 barrels in 2020. 

“Nothing has happened over the past 100 days, except for the dollar becoming more expensive as well as some unrest in Isfahan and Tehran—where teachers have gone on a strike—and nothing positive has happened, another Iranian citizen said in the survey. 

Some may argue that the worsening economy isn’t Raisi’s fault. The previous governments—and the supreme leader who has the final say over all matters—share the blame. But one of the issues for which Raisi was vehemently campaigning is the fight against corruption. Raisi introduced himself as the firefighter who will extinguish the blazes of corruption. But the reality suggests otherwise. Raisi—the anti-corruption warrior—is enmired in corruption and nepotism. 

In mid-November 2021, the Raisi government came under fire for what social media users and watchers have called ‘bourgeoning nepotism’ that involved the appointment of relatives of some of his cabinet ministers. People on social media considered the acts to be ‘in stark contrast’ with his electoral slogans of fighting corruption and appointing efficient cadres. The uproar has gone beyond social media platforms. Lawmakers, newspapers and media outlets have spoken out against the matter. 

Yet, the Islamic Consultative Assembly (Iran’s parliament) has dealt a blow to Raisi when it rejected his candidate for the ministry of education Masoud Fayazi because of the kinship between him and the head of Tehran municipality, who is one with close ties with the president. Nearly 35 Iranian lawmakers have warned against the appointment of relatives to government positions. They urged the government to prevent such appointment and focus instead on the efficient cadres. Ali Sufi, a reformist political activist, has criticized in remarks to ILNA the appointment of relatives to government positions. He said such appointments would obstruct the work of the government which didn’t abide by the slogan of ‘giving precedence to efficient cadres’ it raised. 

Failure to address corruption—his flagship slogan—and even becoming mired in it by nepotism weren’t Raisi’s only blunders. He is orchestrating a more dangerous scheme that serves the regime. More IRGC commanders are being appointed to government posts, making militarization one of the hallmarks of his term. 

Ebrahim Raisi has brought in his government all the officials endorsed by the supreme leader. He handpicked ministers from among former and current commanders of the Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). They have entered the arena of politics under the slogan ‘O Khamenei, we have come in display of obedience’. 

In her article published on Radio Farda, she wrote: “Those military commanders have taken off their military uniforms and began to first conquer the first trench—the legislative authority. Today, they are occupying senior government and ministerial positions within the Raisi government.”

The columnist pointed to the senior IRGC commanders within Raisi government. They include Ahmed Vahidi, the minister of interior. He was the first commander of Qods Force who faces international sanctions on terrorism charges. Raisi government, the columnist adds, includes Hossein Rezaei, Raisi’s deputy for economic affairs and the former IRGC commander. 

The militarization of the Iranian regime isn’t a spur of the moment. It had begun decades ago. Watchers of the Iranian political arena attribute the Iranian regime’s shift from a theocracy—infused with religious indoctrination established on Velayat-e Faqih—to a military dictatorship isn’t without a reason. On top of those reasons comes Khamenei’s lack of charisma and religious appeal projected by his predecessor, the first supreme leader of Iran Ruhollah Khomeini. 

“The clout and influence of IRGC commanders within the government of Raisi have become so extensive that they take on positions in ministries unrelated to their military career. Those positions—in the ministry of tourism, health and sports—need efficient civilian cadres,” the Iranian columnist said. 

Yet she spoke of the IRGC commanders’ taking over as governors and heads of municipal council, let alone chairing the economic institutions such as the Budget and Planning Organization. “The IRGC commanders have succeeded in forming a military government—headed by a civilian figure—for the IRGC to achieve its end,” she noted. Ehsan Mahrabi, an Iranian analyst, said that the government of Ebrahim Raisi includes the biggest number of military officials in the history of the Islamic republic—who assume positions as governors, ministers and government officials. 

The picture in Iran after 100 days seems a little bit clearer. Everything is moving—but backwards. The economy is in free fall. Corruption is increasing. And—adding insult to injury—the military commanders of the IRGC are seeping into the apparatuses of the state, making up a new more repressive ruling class. The Iranian regime has propagated the notion that Raisi is the fittest. He is the powerful guy who would solve Iran’s chronic problems. But that was the trick. Raisi is the best man–but for the regime, not the people. He would do what benefit the regime rather than extricate the people from the current economic, social and political woes. 

Mostapha Hassan Abdelwahab is an Egyptian journalist and political analyst. He focuses on the Iranian and Iraqi affairs as well as political Islam groups. He has works published in Vocal Europe, the Greater Middle East and elsewhere. 

David Amess had spoken in support of the Iranian opposition in other sessions of the British Parliament.

On Friday, October 15, a conservative member of the British Parliament, David Amess, was brutally stabbed to death in a church in Essex by a man identified by police as being of Somali origin. Police have not yet released details of the crime.

However, the British police announced that they are considering the attack as a terrorist act motivated by Islamist fundamentalism, and the investigation is led by the anti-terrorism police.

The question that is begging for an answer in everybody’s mind is why? What was the motive of the assailant to kill David Amess, and what group or government could be hiding behind this terrorist operation?

David Amess was one of the oldest members of the British Parliament and served as a Member of the British Parliament for 38 years. During this time, he was a staunch supporter of democracy and freedom and opposed the religious dictatorial regimes.

On October 14, just one day before his assassination, the Town Hall website published an article from Sir David Amess titled “Reverse a Pattern of Appeasement by Arresting Iran’s Genocidal President”.

In this article, Sir David Amess called for the trial of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi as being one of the influential members of the Death Commission, responsible for the death and execution of more than 30,000 political prisoners in the summer of 1988, mostly members and supporters of the main opposition to the mullahs, the Mojahedin Khalq Organization of Iran.

In his Town Hall article, he also called for an investigation of Raisi as head of the judiciary during the widespread uprisings of November 2019 in Iran. Regime’s thugs, plainclothes security personnel, and armed members of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) opened fire at the peaceful demonstrators and killed more than 1500, arresting more than 12,000 and wounding and injuring many. The uprising was initiated for an overnight triple price hike of gas.

On another event, on September 6, David Amess also addressed a Parliamentary Information Security Council conference in Budapest, Hungary. In this speech, he remarked: “One of the most honorable things I have done in my political life is to support the National Council of Resistance of Iran, which wants to replace the Iranian regime with a safer and more democratic government”.

He added that, “I myself attended a conference of the National Council of Resistance in Paris in 2018, in which an Iranian diplomat had planned a terrorist attack, which was fortunately foiled by French police before the bombing took place”.

In his speech, he stressed that the world must now be more aware than ever of the international threat posed by the Iranian regime.

It is noteworthy that the above diplomat, named Assadollah Asadi, the third secretary of the Iranian embassy in Vienna was sentenced to 20 years in prison after a trial in Belgium in February 2021.

Earlier, David Amess had spoken in support of the Iranian opposition in other sessions of the British Parliament and had repeatedly expressed his support for the Iranian people’s quest and desire for a regime change in Iran and the establishment of a democratic government based on the separation of religion and state-led by Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the president-elect of the National Council of Iran.

The investigation into the murder of David Amess is still ongoing, and we will have to wait for a while until the facts become clear that who really was behind this brutal murder.

Cyrus Yaqubi is a Research Analyst and Iranian Foreign Affairs Commentator investigating the social issues and economy of the Middle East countries in general and Iran in particular.

Ebrahim Raisi decided not to attend the summit, not because Iran was not a party to the treaty, but precisely because of the legal consequences.

Since mid-June, Iranian media have been eagerly announcing that Ebrahim Raisi has been officially invited to attend the 26th UN Climate change Summit (COP26), which is scheduled to take place from October 31 to November 12 in Glasgow, Scotland. However, none of these reports indicated that Raisi would not attend the summit.

After Ebrahim Raisi’s COP26 participation announcement, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) , the main organized opposition to Mullahs, launched a major campaign to prevent Raisi from attending the summit. They called on the arrest and trial of Ebrahim Raisi for his role as Tehran’s deputy prosecutor and member of the death committee in the 1988 massacre and as head of the judiciary responsible for the killing of 1,500 people during the November 2019 peaceful protest.

The NCRI’s campaign that included widespread demonstrations and protest actions in North America and Europe coincided with the trial of another defendant in the 1988 massacre, Hamid Nouri, in Sweden. Hamid Nouri, who worked as Raisi’s assistant at Gohardasht Prison in the city of Karaj at the time of the 1988 massacre, was directly involved in killing political prisoners. Nouri was under the impression that no one would pursue the matter after 32 years of the 1988 massacre, and no one would recognize him. So he decided to travel to Sweden in November 2019.

However, a few massacre survivors who had learned of his visit were able to present a complaint against him to the Swedish judiciary. The Swedish prosecutor’s office, under the universal jurisdiction in a foreign country that allows the judiciary of any country to prosecute the perpetrator, regardless of the nationality of the accused and the victims, as well as the location where the crime took place, was first able to detain him for one month. After an initial investigation and confirmation of his role in the massacre, his detention was extended on charges of premeditated murder, crimes against humanity, torture, and genocide. The news quickly made headlines in all Swedish media. After Nouri’s arrest, Agnes Kalamard, the previous UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, and present Secretary-General of Amnesty International said: “This is an important first step towards justice for the 1988 executions.

The Iranian regime was well aware that Nouri’s trial would be considered a trial in absentia of several of the regime’s leaders because Nouri was taking orders from his superiors, making them responsible for all the killings.

To free Nouri, the Iranian regime did whatever could do and in the process even sentenced a Swedish citizen, Ahmad Reza Jalali, a doctor and researcher of dual Iranian-Swedish nationality, who had been arrested on charges of espionage in Iran, to death, in hope of exchanging him with Hamid Nouri.

However, the Swedish judiciary did not succumb to the Iranian regime’s blackmail, and the trial of Hamid Nouri started on August 10, 2021, in the Stockholm District Court and is now continuing.

Recently, the International Criminal Court in The Hague announced that they had opened a case against Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte to investigate allegations against him in relation to the war on drug trafficking, as he is accused of Arbitrary execution of many drug traffickers.

These arrest warrants prompted Ebrahim Raisi to be very cautious about his foreign travels and not to travel to countries where there is a risk of his arrest. He traveled to Tajikistan to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in September but refused to take the risk to attend the annual session of the UN General Assembly, avoiding travel to New York under the pretext of the Coronavirus pandemic and work overload in Iran!

Now, after much publicity about Ebrahim Raisi’s invitation to attend COP26 in Scotland, Saeed Khatib Zadeh, spokesman of Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, at a weekly press conference on October 11 said: “President will not participate in COP26 in Scotland.” On the reason for Raisi’s absence, he said: “Iran is not a full member of this treaty, and the ratification process is underway in the country, but a delegation from Iran is participating in it”!

But the fact that Ebrahim Raisi decided not to attend the summit, not because Iran was not a party to the treaty, but precisely because of the legal consequences and a potential international scandal. Both Raisi and his mentor Khamenei were very willing to make a presence in such a large international conference to meet with leaders of other countries, but the risk was too high for the regime, so Raisi was ordered to stay home.

Cyrus Yaqubi is a Research Analyst and Iranian Foreign Affairs Commentator investigating the social issues and economy of the Middle East countries in general and Iran in particular.

A number of the proposed ministers are also former commanders of the Revolutionary Guards whose only specialty was suppressing the people.

On Wednesday, August 11, Ebrahim Raisi, the new president of Iran, introduced the names of his cabinet ministers to Iran’s parliament. 

A brief look at the proposed ministers clearly shows that, as expected, with these ministers and their boss, Raisi, no serious changes will occur in the management or, better say, in the country’s mismanagement.

Most of Raisi’s proposed ministers held ministerial positions in Ahmadinejad’s cabinet, and there is almost no new face among them. Looking at the titles of each of these proposed ministers, it can be seen that a significant number of them carry the title “doctor…”, Doctor this and that! The reality is that none of these guys hold a real and legitimate doctoral degree. Several of them claim that they are in their last year of university and are in the process of writing their dissertation.

Ali Akbar Mehrabian – proposed Minister of Energy, or Seyed Ezatullah Zarghami – proposed Minister of Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism, claims to be a Ph.D. student in communications. Seyed Reza Fatemi Amin – proposed Minister of Industry, Mines, and Trade, he claims to be in the process of obtaining an encyclopedia Ph.D. in Strategic Knowledge Management.

Several others consider themselves “Doctoral Students,” a newly formed term that no one knows what it may mean and what educational process they have. In the best scenario, it may mean that these ministers do not possess any doctoral degrees but have studied at the doctoral level. All and all, these are just playing with words and gimmicky tricks to add credentials to their worthless portfolio and deceive ordinary people.

This group is not small in numbers. It includes Ehsan Khandouzi – proposed Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance, Hojjatullah Abdul Maleki – proposed Minister of Cooperatives, Labor and Social Welfare, Amin Hossein Rahimi – proposed Minister of Justice, Mohammad Mehdi Ismaili, proposed Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance, Ahmad Vahidi – proposed Minister Country, and Javad Oji – proposed Minister of Oil.

Well, one could obviously guess the ministerial expertise of the rest of Raisi’s cabinet. Of course, this is not surprising at all because Ebrahim Raisi himself only went to school at the elementary level and then continued his education in the seminary in religious studies. Of course, at the age of 18-19, he dropped out of school when the anti-monarchical revolution took place in 1979. He started working as a prosecutor in the judiciary and started issuing death sentences for Khomeini’s opponents right off the bat.

A number of the proposed ministers are also former commanders of the Revolutionary Guards whose only specialty was suppressing the people. These ministers include Rostam Ghasemi, Ahmad Vahidi and Ezatullah Zarghami.

It should be noted that Ezatullah Zarghami was one of the hostage-takers of the US Embassy in Tehran in 1979. He was the IRGC brigadier general and one of the IRGC’s first missile officials. Zarghami was also in charge of Iran’s radio and television censorship apparatus for a decade.

In a democratic country, these indicators are clear evidence that none of the proposed ministers have the necessary ministerial qualifications, expertise, or management skills to be proposed to such positions. However, in Iran, because the criteria in the religious dictatorship are not expertise and education, but obedience to Khamenei and support for reactionary policies and fundamentalism, these individuals have plenty of credentials. They have proved to be the right fit.

Interestingly, Raisi, the new president and several of his cabinet members, including his deputy, Mohammad Mokhber, Qaraei, Ezatullah Zarghami, Rostam Ghasemi, and Ahmad Vahidi, are on the US and EU sanctions list. Proposed Interior Minister Ahmed Vahidi is also wanted by The International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) for his role in the 1994 terrorist bombing of a Jewish cultural center in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people.

In international relations, since the regime’s policy from the beginning was based on the export of the so-called Islamic Revolution of the kind established in Iran to other Muslim countries, instead of interaction and cooperation and non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries, the Iranian regime has been supporting armed militant groups in different countries of the region and has continuously carried out terrorist operations.

The proposed foreign minister, Hussein Amir Abdullahian, who is said to be specialized in Arab and African countries, has been the director-general of the Persian Gulf and the Middle East at Iran’s foreign ministry for some time. According to himself, in making decisions, he always consulted with the demised commander of the Quds Force, Qassem Soleimani and he followed the lines of the terrorist forces of the Quds Force in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

There is no doubt that he will follow the same policy as Iran’s new foreign minister. 

With all these pieces of Raisi’s government in place, the United States, and the European Union should not expect any changes in the destructive behavior of the Iranian regime and count on changing its behavior through negotiation or giving more chances to test the new government. As in the past, Khamenei will use any given opportunity to advance his evil plans in the region.

The fact is that after the revolution, in order to achieve his goals and establish a religious dictatorship in Iran, first, Khomeini forced Prime Minister Mehdi Bazargan, a national figure, to resign by attacking the US embassy and taking hostages. Furthermore, he banned any presidential candidate opposing the regime from participating in Iran’s first presidential election, particularly Masoud Rajavi, the leader of the Mujahedin, who had a good chance of being elected, but was not allowed to run in the presidential election.

One year after the first presidential election, Khomeini planned a coup to topple the newly formed government, ensuring that the next government would be very close to his own ideal. 

Since then, the selection index for cabinet ministers has been the same. As a result, we see that over the past 40 years, Iran has regressed in all areas, social and economic. The Iranian people, who had hoped for a better lifestyle after the revolution, not only lost their individual liberties but are now living in the worst living situations.

High unemployment, skyrocketing inflation, water shortage, power outages, colossal government corruption… have caused more than 80% of the population to live below the poverty line.

The middle class is almost completely wiped out, and , more than 35% of people in Iran’s metropolitan areas have been driven to shantytowns in outskirts of cities due to inability to pay high rents and live-in squalid housings that lack the minimum necessities of a family.

The ignorance and mismanagement of the Iranian officials have now caused more than 2,000 people to die every day due to the lack of Covid-19 vaccinations and lack of medicine and medical equipment. According to reliable sources, the number of victims of the disease has now reached more than 360,000. The situation is so catastrophic that some cemeteries no longer have room for new dead bodies.

Now with these new ministers and their close to zero contents in their portfolios, no one should hope for any real changes taking place. On the other hand, since Raisi and his proposed ministers have ample expertise in corruption, embezzlement, deceiving the social and economic forecast of the Iranian society is going to take a turn for the worst.  

Cracking down the uprisings, protests, strikes, social unrests, expanding its secret nuclear technology to acquire a nuclear bomb and export of terrorism in the region are expected to be the new government’s top priorities. 

However, given the public discontent in Iran, which is seen daily in mass protests and demonstrations in various cities where slogans such as “Death to the dictator” and “Death to Khamenei” has become commonplace, according to informed observers, it is unlikely that Raisi and his cabinet will reach the end of its 4-year term and will most likely be overthrown by the people before that.

Cyrus Yaqubi is a Research Analyst and Iranian Foreign Affairs Commentator investigating the social issues and economy of the Middle East countries in general and Iran in particular.

The city of Zahedan has transformed into a ghost town.

Iran has faced a new wave of the COVID-19 epidemic with the mutated virus known as the Delta, killing at an alarming rate, especially in Sistan Baluchestan province.

Most countries worldwide have managed to control the spread of the virus with widespread vaccination and have decreased the number of deaths to a minimum. The news worldwide also suggests the easing of the restrictions and gradual return to everyday life.

According to reliable sources, the death toll from the COVID-19 in Iran has reached 323,000 so far, but the government, covering the actual death toll, has announced that less than a quarter of this number, i.e. about 85,000 people.

However, in an interview with Arman Melli newspaper on June 28, Mohammad Reza Mahboubfar, one of the regime’s health experts, admitted that more than 300,000 people have died of the virus so far.

Moinuddin Saeedi, a member of Iran’s parliament from the city of Chahar Bahar in Sistan Baluchestan province (one of the poorest and under-developed provinces in Iran), told ILNA (State–run media) that a catastrophe would be felt in every sense of the word if measures were not taken to curb the virus in the province.

He said there was only one 196-bed hospital in the region for a population of more than 800,000. The hospital lacks the requirements to fight the disease.

Malek Fazeli, a representative of the city of Saravan in the parliament, also said that Saravan, with a population of 480,000, has only one hospital and no ward for COVID-19 patients.

He added, “The city has only one infectious disease specialist, who is also the head of the hospital”.

According to the Sunni Friday Imam of Saravan, “the city’s hospital does not have an infectious disease doctor. The Nurses are visiting the Coronavirus patients. The hospital is not ventilated, and 8 out of 10 Corona tests are positive”.

10 cities of this province do not have hospitals at all. Due to the far distances between cities, it is very difficult to transfer patients to even the nearest hospital.

Although there are many suspected cases of Coronavirus in this province, the government does not reveal the real numbers and the numbers announced are unrealistic, because many patients in rural areas die from this disease without being included in the statistics.

The Delgan city hospital does not have a CT scan machine. If someone wants to have a lung CT, they have to travel about 150 kilometres to the city of Iranshahr, which is very difficult considering the conditions of this province and the cost involved.

The people of this province are advised not to leave their homes, and the banks and offices have been closed. However, the people of many areas, such as Chabahar and even the capital of Zahedan province, have to buy water and other essential food items from the market and have to leave their homes.

About 25% of the people of Zahedan do not have access to clean water. More than 400 villages in Chabahar do not have drinking water. In the whole province, more than 2500 villages do not have a water supply network at all.

The city of Zahedan has transformed into a ghost town.

Murad Ghasemi, an employee of a medical center in Zahedan, lost his wife some time ago due to the pandemic. “There are no vacant hospital beds in the city of Takht. Everyone is confused and frustrated. There is a severe shortage of equipment, from latex gloves to injectable serums. For example, in Imam Ali (AS) Hospital in Zahedan, there are no latex gloves and 5 cc sampling and injection syringes. Surgical gloves are sold for 15,000 Tomans (Iran’s currency) in pharmacies. Remedicor medicine could not be found at all, and hospitals have no access to any medicine. My wife’s symptoms started with fever and diarrhea.

“At first, we thought she had heat exhaustion, but her symptoms got worse. By the day when she arrived at the hospital, a CT scan revealed that more than 80 percent of her lungs were infected. Now I am left with a 40-day-old baby”.

Brahui, another resident of Zahedan, says that provincial officials have not paid the slightest attention to the working class. Whether they go to work or not, the government officials are paid a fixed salary per month. Still, they never think about what I and others like me should do, waiting for a full day in the heat and returning home empty-handed and embarrassed from the family at the end of the day.

“The main custodian and responsible for controlling COVID-19 in Iran is the government”, said Naji, a member of the COVID-19 scientific committee.

During these 16 months, the Khamenei government and the Ministry of Health failed in their duties and did not succeed in controlling the disease. In my opinion, with the continuation of such behaviors, it seems this has been intentional. So far, no proper quarantine has been applied in the country.

Lack of follow-up and control of the epidemic in the country has taken a deliberate form. The people cannot wait for the mass production of domestic vaccines, and the government must provide a reliable and trustworthy vaccine as soon as possible. “Otherwise, we will lose many people”.

It should be noted that while most of the Gulf States have vaccinated more than 60% of their population and Turkey, which has a population equivalent to Iran, has vaccinated more than 55% of its population.

Due to the widespread corruption of the ruling regime, which only cares about its own survival and does not care about the lives of the people, Khamenei banned import of Moderna and Pfizer vaccines into Iran, and now only about 5% of the population has been vaccinated (most of them have received only the first dose). Meanwhile, the Iranian regime claims that two types of Iranian vaccines have passed the testing phase and entered mass production, and will soon be exported to other countries.

Cyrus Yaqubi is a Research Analyst and Iranian Foreign Affairs Commentator investigating the social issues and economy of the middle east countries in general and Iran in particular.