90 Toman Drop in Dollar and 20,000 Toman Drop in Gold Coin in One Day

The newspaper Shahrvand reported in its Sunday edition a 90 Toman drop in the price of the dollar in the Tehran market, stating: "While the Central Bank increased the exchange rate on Saturday compared to the previous day to 2,799 Toman, the market followed its own path and added to the price drop of the previous day with good news from negotiations." The newspaper Iran reported that the spokesman for the Guardian Council announced the conditions for the approval of candidates for the upcoming parliamentary elections, stating: "Timely demarcation with the enemy is a criterion for evaluating qualifications." The newspaper Javan dedicated its front page to a photo of former commander Ismail Ahmadi Moghaddam and new commander Hossein Ashtari during their farewell and introduction meeting, quoting Ashtari as saying: "I will continue the path of Ahmadi Moghaddam." According to this newspaper, Ashtari mentioned his priorities for the police command, saying: "Increasing the powerful presence of the police in public spaces, clearing them of addicts, drug dealers, and other disruptors of the environment, along with safeguarding values, can increase the costs of committing crimes and lead to decisive action against lawbreakers and the continued improvement of the public face of cities from manifestations of lawlessness, behavioral anomalies, and insecurity." The newspaper Qanoon reported on a gathering of a number of Tehran citizens protesting the cutting down of trees in the Kon gardens, citing the illegal issuance of a permit for the "Housing Cooperative of the Municipality of District 7 of Tehran" for the "destruction" and "night excavation" of these gardens as one of the reasons for the protest. The newspaper Arman described the year 1393 (2014) as the "Year of Mobile Phones," stating: In 1393, the tendency of "people, especially the youth, towards mobile phones and mobile applications increased to such an extent that most social movements took shape in them, and news was transmitted more through mobile networks than through newspapers, websites, and news agencies." The newspaper Farhikhtegan reported that its journalists, who traveled to Ardabil to follow up on public dissatisfaction with the "illegal" construction of an 18-story tower referred to as "Aladdin of Ardabil," were detained for hours by the mayor of District 1 of Ardabil and were only released on the condition of "returning the audio file" and confiscating the "recorder." The drop of 90 Tomans in the dollar and 20,000 Tomans in the gold coin in one day was reported by the newspaper Shahrvand, which stated: "While the Central Bank increased the exchange rate on Saturday compared to the previous day to 2,799 Tomans, the market followed its own path and added to the price drop of the previous day with good news from negotiations." According to this newspaper, by 5 PM on Saturday, the dollar had dropped by about 90 Tomans more, reaching a price of 3,239 Tomans, and the euro also experienced a drop of about 95 Tomans, reaching a price of 3,480 Tomans on exchange shop boards. Additionally, the price of the full gold coin dropped by 20,000 Tomans, marking a decline in prices after about 110 days. The newspaper Shahrvand noted that "the wave of dollar price drops occurs precisely when, according to past years' trends, the dollar price experiences an upward trend due to increased demand for travel currency in Esfand (the last month of the Iranian calendar year)." It stated that the current drop in various currencies, including the dollar, "has caused the current dollar rate at the end of the year to be about 7 percent higher compared to last year and, in practice, has grown to half of the current inflation (15 percent)," and even "the Central Bank's increasing pricing for the exchange rate has not been able to prevent the market drop." This newspaper emphasized that "in practice, the gap between the free and exchange rates has reached 500 Tomans," stating that the reduction of the price gap between government and free currencies creates hope that soon a real single rate currency will be established, as the exchange rate was only 50 Tomans apart from the budgeted 2,850 Tomans. The newspaper Shahrvand identified "the influx of stored currencies into the market" as one of the main reasons for the drop in currency prices in the Tehran market, quoting Behnam Esfandiari, a currency trader, as saying: "The psychological wave created in the market and the public's hope for a successful outcome in nuclear negotiations have led to an increase in the supply of household dollars in recent days, which has further fueled the price drop." Another currency market activist, Hooshang Kolahi, also told this newspaper: "The increase in supply is not limited to household dollars, as the volume of household dollars is not sufficient to reduce the dollar price by 90 Tomans in one day." According to this currency market activist, "Currently, in addition to household dollars, most market activists and brokers have also offered their large currency reserves to the market, as besides the news about the establishment of a single currency rate, the pricing method of the exchange rate by the Central Bank also indicates the government's efforts to bring the rates of government and free currencies closer together, resulting in price reductions in the free market." Hooshang Kolahi also told the newspaper Shahrvand: "In the current situation, where the public and the market are hopeful for the nuclear negotiations to yield results, the dollar price will experience further drops, but I believe the dollar rate will not fall below 3,000 Tomans, as the government has budgeted with a dollar rate of 2,850 Tomans and, on the other hand, it is predicted that oil prices will not increase, therefore the dollar in the free market will not drop below 3,000 Tomans." Economist Mehdi Taghavi also expressed hope in an interview with the newspaper Shahrvand that the "downward trend" in currency prices would "continue so that the economy and production of the country could regain vitality," but emphasized that "this optimism is conditional on achieving results from nuclear negotiations and a renewed increase in oil prices." This economic expert reminded that "the value of each dollar in 57 was about 7 Tomans, but this figure reached 100 Tomans in the hardest years of the war. After the war, prices fell, and the value of the dollar reached 50 Tomans, but the most significant price jump occurred during the ninth and tenth administrations, and Ahmadinejad's masterpiece was raising the dollar value from 900 Tomans to 4,000 Tomans during years when oil was sold for more than 100 dollars, and the highest oil revenues were deposited into Iran's accounts." According to Mehdi Taghavi, "the policies of the ninth and tenth governments severely reduced the value of the national currency," and in other words, "during Ahmadinejad's administration, the cost curve of production moved upward, and the supply curve was also pulled to the left and upward, resulting in an increase in inflation and unemployment rates." However, "what is even more interesting is that the Phillips curve, which shows the relationship between inflation and unemployment, which should always be negative, was violated and became positive by the then government, meaning that both inflation increased and unemployment did as well," and in addition, "the Gini coefficient during this period not only did not decrease but the gap between the rich and the poor increased significantly, all of which was the result of the haphazard implementation of the subsidy targeting law by Ahmadinejad's government." The new condition of the Guardian Council for approving qualifications; "Timely demarcation with the enemy" The newspaper Iran reported that the spokesman for the Guardian Council announced the conditions for the approval of candidates for the upcoming parliamentary elections, stating: "Timely demarcation with the enemy is a criterion for evaluating qualifications." According to this newspaper, Najatollah Ebrahimi, the spokesman for the Guardian Council, in the last press conference of the year 1393, advised the candidates for the elections of 1394 to "consider the conditions of the candidates as stated in the election law, and each candidate should initially be their own judge. They must align their past and records with the legal conditions of the elections. If they conclude that they do not possess the necessary qualifications, it is reasonable not to register." The spokesman for the Guardian Council also addressed potential candidates for the upcoming Islamic Consultative Assembly elections, saying that "they should make a rational calculation of whether their registration for participation in the elections is worth the costs imposed on them or not," and emphasized that "those who have political tendencies and records within the framework of the system and have timely and correctly delineated their boundaries with enemies will have the opportunity to participate in the elections of 1394." Najatollah Ebrahimi stated: "If someone has engaged in activities or actions that are criminal in nature or has behaved in a way that clearly indicates a lack of commitment to the Constitution, they should not expect us to allow them to enter the electoral process," but "the path for the participation of forces loyal to the system in the elections of 1394 is open." The spokesman for the Guardian Council also responded to the Minister of Interior regarding the "entry of dirty money into elections," stating to reporters: "Regarding the quantity and quality of this claim and its documentation, you should refer to the speaker of the matter, but I would like to tell the respected minister that some of what has been mentioned has criminal titles, and dealing with them is not within the jurisdiction of the Guardian Council. We will usually utilize all reliable information received during the qualification review period," and therefore "according to the laws, there are other institutions that deal with the announcement of crimes and address them; if this matter is also addressed, the results of the legal proceedings will certainly be taken into account by us." The spokesman for the Guardian Council also addressed how to evaluate the qualifications of candidates who received money from Mohammad Reza Rahimi, the former first vice president, in previous elections, stating to reporters: "So far, we have not received any information in this regard, and we have only had access to the same information that has been exchanged in the media, but if any legal decision comes to us, we will consider it during the qualification review of candidates. Of course, assuming such a claim is proven, this issue will affect the fate of the candidates." The spokesman for the Guardian Council also responded to a question from Khosrow Mobasher, a reporter for the newspaper Iran, regarding "the Guardian Council's opinion on the plan to provincialize the parliamentary elections," stating that "we have not yet received such a statement to comment on. I just want to point out that we have a history of commenting on a plan with this name, where it was determined that the way the provincialization of elections was proposed was contrary to the Constitution, but whether subsequent plans repeat the same plan or not, we must wait and see." "Human Chain in Defense of Kon Gardens" The newspaper Qanoon reported on a gathering of a number of Tehran citizens protesting the cutting down of trees in the Kon gardens, citing the illegal issuance of a permit for the "Housing Cooperative of the Municipality of District 7 of Tehran" for the "destruction" and "night excavation" of these gardens as one of the reasons for the protest. This newspaper referred to this gathering as "a human chain in defense of the Kon gardens" and reported that this gathering took place on "Moradi Street in the Kon area," with Mohammad Haqani, the head of the Environmental Committee of the Council, and Rahmatollah Hafezi, the head of the Health, Environment, and Urban Services Commission of the Tehran City Council, also present among the protesters. According to this newspaper, the majority of participants in the gathering on Saturday in defense of the Kon gardens were local residents of the area, and in their statements, they protested the continued issuance of permits by the municipality for construction and the destruction of the Kon gardens, with some stating: "What does it mean, we keep saying nothing and they keep building here?"; "In a few days, we will be buried under all these buildings."; "I don't even know why the municipality issues permits."; "Kon means garden, now if its gardens are asphalted, what will remain of it?" The main demand of the protesters on Saturday in defense of the Kon gardens was stated as "the cessation of construction in Kon," which the newspaper wrote has long been a scourge for the residents of this pleasant and green village. The newspaper reminded that "since the construction of the Hemmat and Abshenasan highways and the Tehran-North freeway, many parts of the Kon gardens" located in District 5 of the municipality have been destroyed, but early in Esfand, the head of the Health and Environment Commission of the City Council warned about the "excavation and destruction of the Kon gardens by the Housing Cooperative of District 7," stating that "the Housing Cooperative of District 7 has undertaken excavation and destruction of gardens for housing construction," and requested the municipality to issue a halt to these operations and provide alternative land to this cooperative. The newspaper Qanoon wrote that "the nighttime excavation continued until the people's patience ran out and they took to the streets. On Saturday morning, a group of local residents in Moradi Street, Javidi Alley protested against the nighttime excavation on a plot of land measuring 7,000 square meters in this area; according to a city council member, this land has a green space designation in the detailed plan of Tehran." This newspaper also noted that the excavation in this area has been taking place "at night after the remarks of the Supreme Leader about the environment." The newspaper Qanoon quoted the head of the Environment Commission of the Tehran City Council as saying: "The Kon gardens are divided into two parts, with the northern part, located above the Hemmat highway, having a G zone and 240 hectares of trees; however, the southern part, which has about 160 hectares of gardens, is at risk of destruction, to the extent that according to aerial maps, from 2004 to 2014, about 47.5 hectares of gardens have been destroyed and converted to non-green space use," while "according to the law, the municipality is obligated to support the owners of these gardens and is required to provide the necessary water for the gardens and must also provide assistance to the owners of the gardens in other areas; even in cases where the owner is unwilling to preserve the garden, the municipality is obliged to purchase it and convert it into green space for the public's use."