Wildfires Ravage Iran’s Hyrcanian Forests For Fifth Consecutive Day

Citing the alliance between Iran, Syria, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Hamas, Stoltenberg expressed deep concern regarding recent drone attacks targeting ships, US forces, and assaults on commercial vessels in the region. He stressed the critical importance of Iran preventing the conflict from escalating into a full-scale regional war.

It comes on the back of the war in Gaza which began on October 7 when Hamas invaded Israel, murdering 1,200 mostly civilians and taking 240 or more hostage in the most deadly single day since the Holocaust.

In a press conference on Monday, Stoltenberg supported extending the four-day truce between Israel and Hamas, emphasizing the necessity of getting aid into the besieged strip and supporting the release of additional hostages. On Monday night, two more days were agreed by both sides.

Proxies in Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Iraq have all been activated since the war broke out. Beyond missile and drone attacks, recent weeks have also witnessed Houthi rebels in Yemen attempting attacks on Israeli ships.

Over 60 attacks on US facilities in Syria and Iraq have also taken place since the war as Iran's shadow war steps up its pace.

On Sunday, Houthi rebels, supported by the Islamic Republic, made a seizure attempt on the Liberian-flagged oil tanker Central Park, managed by Zodiac Maritime, in the Gulf of Aden. The Yemeni government, recognized by the United Nations, accused the Houthis of orchestrating the hijacking.

The US military's Central Command released a statement on Monday, confirming that its forces, including the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Mason, responded promptly to the tanker seizure. The statement highlighted that missiles launched by the Houthis landed approximately 10 nautical miles from the ships, resulting in no reported damage or injuries during the incident.

Former Revolutionary Guard commander Mohsen Rezaie issued a warning on Monday, stating, "If Israel initiates war, there will be no obstacle or excuse left for the free people of the world to seek harsh revenge."

However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu emphasized over the weekend that when the truce ends, Israel will “return with full force to achieve our goals: the elimination of Hamas," the only reason there is a pause in fighting to secure the release of the hostages.

The current round of fighting in Gaza is the worst since Hamas took control of the strip in 2007, and began on October 7 when Iran-backed Hamas militia invaded Israel, murdering at least 1,200 mainly civilians and taking at least 240 more hostage.

Iranian officials have consistently supported Hamas since the October 7 terror attack and its proxies have stepped up activities from Iraq, Yemen, Lebanon and Syria.

Mediator Qatar said on Monday a truce between Israeli and Hamas forces in Gaza had been extended by two days, continuing a pause in seven weeks of warfare.

The total number of hostages released by the militant group since Friday is 58, including foreigners. In return, Israel freed 39 teenage Palestinian prisoners on Sunday, bringing the total number of Palestinians released under the truce to 117.Under the terms of the current deal, Hamas is due to release in total 50 Israeli women and children held hostage in Gaza. There is no limit in the deal on the number of foreigners it can release.

An Israeli government spokesperson said the total number of hostages still held in Gaza on Monday was 184, including 14 foreigners and 80 Israelis with dual nationality.

The Commander of the Border Guards in Khorasan Razavi province, Majid Shojai, stated on Monday that “within the past 10 days, the individuals, present in the country illegally, were identified and handed over to the Afghan government's representative at the zero point of the Dogharoun region.”

Khorasan Razavi province, sharing a 531-kilometer border with Turkmenistan to the north and northeast and a 302-kilometer border with Afghanistan to the east, has been a focal point for border control.

Simultaneously, a member of parliament, Abolfazl Aboutorabi, proposed measures to penalize those renting houses or providing employment to “unauthorized foreign nationals”. According to Aboutorabi, both Iranian landlords and employers who engage unauthorized foreign nationals will face legal consequences.

Critics claim that amidst the country's economic crisis, focus should be on supporting Iranian citizens before refugees and immigrants. 

Hassan Ramazani, another parliamentarian, recently claimed, based on statements from Iran's Minister of Labor, that approximately five million jobs are currently held by foreign nationals, particularly Afghan residents in Iran. The assertion comes at a time when official statistics from the Statistical Center of Iran indicate the loss of nearly 900,000 jobs in the country since 2018.

Accusations of Afghan refugees contributing to unemployment in Iran coincide with reports of significant foreign investments by Afghan migrants and traders. The Iranian Foreign Investment Association's statistics reveal that in the first half of this year alone, the country attracted $2 billion in foreign investments, with Afghan migrants ranking first in terms of the number of investments.

Maryam Masoumi's account, boasting one million and 300 thousand followers, and Setareh Masoumi's account, with 578 thousand followers, were both affected by the suspension.

On Maryam Masoumi's page, a photo with a caption said, "This page has been suspended on the order of the judicial authorities by the Public Security Police."

Similarly, a photo on Setareh Masoumi's page conveyed that the page was blocked "according to the order of the judicial authorities, due to the publication of criminal content."

The blocking occurred while Mehdi Ghayedi and his spouse are currently residing in Dubai. The key issue revolves around how these accounts were blocked without gaining access to Instagram's internal system. While the exact details remain uncertain, the most plausible scenario is that the account owners were requested to provide their passwords, following which the accounts were blocked.

In response to the incident, Fars News Agency, affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards, reported on Monday that the reason for Maryam Masoumi's page suspension was attributed to "the young actress's use of images with inappropriate clothing."

The development is part of a broader trend where many Iranian women, including notable figures, consistently share photos without mandatory hijab on social networks.

The police, particularly after the Woman, Life, Freedom protests have taken measures to curtail the activities of individuals who defy mandatory hijab, leading to detentions in some cases.

The galloping inflation report published by the Statistical Center of Iran (SCI), a government outfit, comes after warnings last week that a $14 billion government outlay for importing food and medicine next year will be insufficient to address needs.

In Iran’s closed economic system importers have no direct access to foreign currencies and can only receive US dollars or euros from the government. Local media have pointed out that $14 billion proposed in next year’s budget for food and medicine would only be enough for importing essential food such as grains and protein sources but cannot also pay for medicine.

According to the SCI report, other food items also experienced serious inflation. Prices of fish increased by 72 percent compared with prices in October-November 2022. Overall, the point-to-point inflation rate for a basket of essential daily needs was almost 40 percent.

Other recent reports have put the inflation rate at more than 50 percent. Also, overall inflation for retail food prices was reported to be 37 percent.

Despite higher oil exports this year, the Iranian government seems unable to lower inflation and its restrictive foreign currency policies continue. The national currency rial, still hovers around its all-time low of 500,000 per US dollar, a 12-fold fall in value since early 2018 when the United States withdrew from the JCPOA nuclear deal and imposed economic sanctions on Iran.

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The exact amount of oil revenues is a state secret, but it is believed Iran is selling Cina around 1.1 million barrels of oil per day, with large discounts. Experts estimate that with the discount, and additional costs related to the illicit shipments of oil, Iran is probably receiving around $50 per barrel, which would mean $21 billion of income per year, hardly enough to finance the food imports and other needs. Other Iranian oil shipments to Venezuela or Syria hardly return any hard currency to Tehran’s coffers.

This is why next year’s draft budget bill presented to parliament has increased taxes to deal with persistent deficits.

The government has projected a 50-percent increase in taxes of various kind compared to the current budget. Total expected tax revenues will reach over 11,220 billion rials ($22.44 billion), Jahan-e-Sanat said. This would be equal or greater than the annual oil income.

The total government budget will reach 24,620 billion rials ($49.2 billion) next year, which shows an increase of 18.2 percent compared to this year’s budget, the report added. That is to say, the tax revenues will account for more than 45 percent of the Iranian government’s operating budget.

The inflation rate in Iran has stayed at or above 40 percent for at least three years, increasing political instability. After last year’s anti-government unrest, more economic protests are taking pace in recent weeks. Workers in different sectors and retires of state enterprises stage daily protests demanding higher pay, as millions of previously middle-class people are now considered poor. Next years budget, forecasts a 16-percent pay increase for workers, less than half of the current rate of inflation.