85% of Tehran Residents Hopeful About Iran's Future After Vienna Agreement

The Iran newspaper published the results of a poll indicating that "85% of the capital's residents are hopeful about Iran's future" following the Vienna agreement. The newspaper reported that Mohammad Javad Zarif has embarked on a trip to the capitals of Arab countries with a "coalition against extremism" plan, and that "discussions about regional and international cooperation to effectively combat terrorism and extremist groups are among the goals of this trip." According to the Iran newspaper, "Immediately after the marathon negotiations in Vienna, Mohammad Javad Zarif began a new round of regional diplomacy by visiting Kuwait, Qatar, and Iraq. This trip coincides with the U.S. Secretary of State's upcoming visit to Qatar to brief members of the Gulf Cooperation Council on the Vienna nuclear agreement, which may suggest that Zarif's recent trip is a preemptive move. The main topics of discussion with officials from Kuwait, Qatar, and Iraq will include the latest results of the Vienna negotiations, bilateral relations, and regional developments." The Etemad newspaper reported on the potential reduction in the frequency of cash subsidy payments to address the government's budget deficit. A report titled "Suicide of a Talented Sharif University Student in Police Park" recounts the story of a Sharif University aerospace student named "Shayan" based on his father's account. The Shargh newspaper reported on a request from four members of parliament for "the release of all imprisoned teachers." It also mentioned the acceptance of students for the "Kurdish Language and Literature" program starting this fall. The Shargh newspaper noted that "the dream of teaching Kurdish language in Iranian universities has been realized in the government of hope and prudence," stating that "the guidebook for the national university entrance exam for 1394 shows that the University of Kurdistan will enroll over 40 students in the Kurdish language and literature program this year." According to the Shargh newspaper, "This program is registered for both men and women with the code 10,525 in the national entrance exam booklet, reflecting the culmination of efforts by Kurdish language activists to revive and sustain this language and literature in recent years," while "investigations show that this program was approved by the Ministry of Science at the beginning of the 1380s, but in recent years, for various reasons, the implementation permit had not been approved by the Ministry of Science." The Jahan San'at newspaper reported on the "decline of Iran's foreign trade" in its front page, stating that "in the first four months of this year, $14 billion and 15 million worth of various goods were exported from Iran to other countries, while $13 billion and 822 million worth of goods were imported into the country," but "exports decreased by 0.15% and imports by 0.20%." However, the newspaper reminded that "an analytical review of Iran's foreign trade during this period shows that the trade balance of the Islamic Republic of Iran remains positive, with export volumes exceeding imports," but noted that "the 0.39% decrease in the export of gas condensates had the most significant impact on the reduction of Iran's export volume." The Resalat newspaper quoted Sadegh Larijani, the head of the judiciary, stating, "We have accepted heavy restrictions; we should not be overly excited about the agreement." The Arman newspaper dedicated its front page to Ali Akbar Nategh Nouri and Abdullah Nouri in a report titled "Two Nouri; Two Rivals; Two Friends," suggesting that the upcoming parliamentary elections may bring Abdullah Nouri, a reformist, and Ali Akbar Nategh Nouri, a principlist, closer together. The Qanoon newspaper reported on Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's complaint against Es'haq Jahangiri, the first vice president, stating that after Jahangiri, "Bijan Zanganeh, Akbar Turkan, and Mohammad Ashrafi Isfahani are on the former president's threat list." The newspaper wrote, "Ahmadinejad, after a long period of political sidelining, has entered the political arena to reclaim his share from the past two years. He thought that with the failure of the nuclear agreement, Rouhani's popularity would automatically decrease, allowing him to easily plan for the next presidential election. Now that he sees the situation has changed, he is looking for another excuse to take revenge on Rouhani and his allies, starting with a blow to the first vice president's cabinet." The Qanoon newspaper also dedicated a section to Hassan Rouhani's speech in Sanandaj, quoting him as saying, "Kurdistan is the watchtower of Iran." 85% of Tehran residents are hopeful about Iran's future after the Vienna agreement. The Iran newspaper reported in its Tuesday issue the results of a poll indicating that "85% of the capital's residents are hopeful about the future of Iran" following the Vienna agreement. According to the newspaper, based on the latest poll conducted by the IRNA news agency, "85.7% of Tehran residents believe that upon learning of the results of the Vienna negotiations, they are hopeful about the country's future, and 81.4% of Tehran citizens said they were very happy after hearing the news of the agreement." The Iran newspaper reported that 35.9% of Tehran citizens stated that after this agreement, Iran's situation will become brighter, 49.8% said Iran's situation will improve, while 13% believe there will be no change in Iran's situation, and 1.4% believe Iran's situation will worsen after the agreement. The IRNA news agency conducted this poll after the conclusion of negotiations between Iran and the 1+5 countries in Vienna and simultaneously with the reading of the final statement, surveying the opinions of Tehran residents in 22 areas of Tehran through random sampling and via telephone. In this poll, "68.5% of Tehran citizens believe this agreement can lead to national dignity. 88.1% of respondents were sensitive to the nuclear negotiations and followed the news closely," while "72.2% of Tehran citizens believe that resolving Iran's nuclear issue will help shorten the wall of distrust between the Iranian people and Western countries, with 27.8% opposing this view." According to the Iran newspaper, in this poll regarding the "evaluation of the negotiating team's performance and their honesty with the people, 61.2% of Tehran citizens said the negotiating team has been significantly honest with the people," but this was rated as "somewhat" by 30% of citizens and "very little and little" by 8.7% of Tehran residents. Participants in this poll also expressed their views on the consequences of the agreement on improving Iran's economic, political, and scientific situation, with 65.4% of Tehran citizens saying the Vienna agreement will have a "very high and high" impact on improving the economic situation, and "70.2%" considering it influential in "improving the political situation," while "69% believe it can help improve the country's scientific status." Tehran citizens expressed various opinions regarding the "durability of the agreement between Iran and the 1+5 countries." 49.7% of participants in this poll stated that the Iran-1+5 agreement will remain in place "until the end of the limitations set in the agreement," while 10.8% said the duration of this agreement is "until the end of Barack Obama's presidency," 6.5% indicated it would last "until the end of the eleventh government," and only "4.4% considered the durability of this agreement to be permanent," with "28.7% of respondents believing there is a possibility of violation by the other party before the deadline." The Iran newspaper reported that "the sample size of this poll included 990 Tehran citizens, of whom 53.7% were men and 46.3% were women, with the youngest respondent being 18 years old and the oldest 85 years old, and the average age of respondents being 41.5 years." The Etemad newspaper reported on the possibility of reducing the frequency of cash subsidy payments to address the government's budget deficit. According to this newspaper, "new speculation regarding cash payments suggests reducing the number of payment instances; a topic that is even being heard from the Baharestan building," as "the government is facing a deficit in cash subsidy payments" and "a simple calculation between resources and expenditures shows a shortage of 12 trillion tomans." Farzaneh Taherani, in a report for Etemad, noted that despite the 12 trillion tomans deficit, "the government is still hesitating to implement the removal of six million high-income individuals from the subsidy list," stating that "neither clear statistics are announced nor is there news of the government's plan to compensate for this deficit. Meanwhile, the government's repeated delays in subsidy payments have created a perception among parliament members that the government intends to reduce the number of payments from 12 to 10 times a year to save 7 trillion tomans." Jafar Qadri, a member of the Parliament's Planning and Budget Commission, told Etemad, "The government has not been clear about the statistics of those removed so far. He stated that the amount of resource shortage for subsidy payments is evident to everyone, and for the past four months, the government has not provided necessary transparency regarding the number of those removed and does not seem to be serious about it." According to Jafar Qadri, "If the government eliminates at least two instances from the 12 payments of the year 1394, it will save 3.5 trillion tomans in resources each month." This parliament member emphasized that "it is unclear what considerations the government has for delaying the removal of high-income individuals," stating, "It is expected that the government will be more transparent and end the rumors that have arisen. Qadri lamented that unfortunately, the government provides one set of information when submitting the budget and a contradictory report when presenting performance reports. With this lack of transparency, it is not possible to expect proper action." The Etemad newspaper noted that "the task was clear from the beginning of the year. The government was supposed to identify six million high-income individuals and remove them from the subsidy recipients list," stating that "in the second month of the year, news finally emerged about the government's actions for adjustment, but these reports lacked precise information and varied in numbers. Some reports mentioned the removal of 200,000 individuals, while Gholamreza Katib, spokesperson for the Parliament's Planning and Budget Commission, reported in Khordad that 400,000 individuals were removed, but due to high protests, some of those removed were returned to the list of recipients." Ali Yazdani, head of the Targeted Subsidy Organization, left the Etemad newspaper's inquiry about the government's cash subsidy program "unanswered" and postponed "any discussion on this matter to a later time," while Gholamreza Katib, spokesperson for the Planning and Budget Commission, also "complained about the lack of accurate information provided to Parliament," telling the newspaper, "A month ago, officials in the commission spoke about the removal of 400,000 individuals, but no new statistics have reached Parliament since then." Etemad also pointed out the "uncertainty of the government's program for the food basket this year," stating that "another criticism of the government is that in the current year's budget law, there was no mention of its program for providing food baskets, including the relevant budget ceiling, the eligible population, and the number of times the basket would be provided throughout the year, and it seems that this plan will not be implemented this year," while despite all the limitations in the resources for targeted subsidies this year, "the government has made no mention of its priorities for providing assistance related to the production sector." The Shargh newspaper reported on the request from four members of the Islamic Consultative Assembly for "the release of all imprisoned teachers." The newspaper noted that "on Thursday, July 31, a group of teachers from across the country headed to Baharestan Square to discuss some of their professional demands, but the teachers' gathering ultimately led to the arrest of some of them," stating that "most teachers were released by that evening, but now some parliament members have criticized the handling of teachers on that day during the professional gathering and have called for the authorities in the Ministry of Interior to address this issue." Javad Heravi, a member of the Education Commission, emphasized that "standing in front of the Parliament is not only a legal violation but has happened hundreds of times by various organizations and individuals without any response from the authorities." He told the Shargh newspaper, "We should not create a situation where the caring teacher has to choose another place for protest and gathering. The House of the Nation is the home of all Iranians, including caring teachers, and gathering in front of it has no legal or constitutional issue." While one of the main demands of the teachers during the gathering on Thursday was the release of imprisoned teachers, especially Ismail Abdi, the secretary-general of the Iranian Teachers' Trade Association, Javad Heravi implicitly supported this demand, stating, "If a teacher has been arrested for professional work, this should be reconsidered." Hossein Dehdashti, another parliament member, also called on "the relevant authorities in this area, especially the Ministry of Interior, to follow up on the recent actions taken against teachers." This parliament member emphasized that "the issue of teachers' arrests, even temporary and a few hours, is not befitting the teaching profession," telling the Shargh newspaper, "Authorities should have used other methods to address the situation, as respecting teachers' rights is not only about their economic rights but also about maintaining their dignity and character, which is very important and deserves attention." Hossein Dehdashti described teachers' professional activities as part of the "social capital" and stated, "The fact that thousands of teachers can utilize high levels of cohesion and come from distant cities to advocate for professional demands is a significant achievement."