Child Marriage at the Warning Threshold

The newspaper Arman has reported under the headline "Child Marriage at the Warning Threshold": "According to reports published on the Civil Registration Organization's website, the number of marriages registered before the legal age in the first 9 months of 1394 (2015) in the age group of 15-19 years was 13,338, and the number of marriages registered for those under 15 years was 4,547." The newspaper writes that "in the first 9 months of 1394, the highest combination of registered marriages was related to the age group of 20-24 years and women aged 15-19, totaling 78,674 cases." Arman also reported that Soraya Azizpanah, head of the Children's Rights Support Association, reacted to the 17% statistic of marriages for girls under 18 in Iran, emphasizing that such a statistic "is not at all a happy statistic," stating: "Marriage is reaching childhood ages, and 17% of marriages occur at this age; we must expect the harms resulting from it." The newspaper Kayhan, on its front page, quoted the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic saying: "If the Americans tear up the JCPOA, we will burn it." According to this newspaper, Ali Khamenei, in a meeting with "the heads of the three branches, officials, and system operators, senior managers of various agencies," emphasized that "both supporters and opponents of the JCPOA exaggerate," stating: "It is a misconception that we can get along with America; this is not true, we cannot rely on illusions." The newspaper Javan, close to the Revolutionary Guards, also published this statement of the Supreme Leader on its front page and simultaneously, in an editorial titled "How Do They Burn the JCPOA?!" emphasized that "burning the JCPOA, as the connotation of the words suggests, is a completely aggressive position." This newspaper described Ali Khamenei's remarks as a "thought-provoking response" to "American threats" and quoted him saying: "We do not violate the JCPOA, but if the other side violates it—currently, presidential candidates in the US are threatening to tear up the JCPOA—if they tear it up, we will burn it." The newspaper Javan then outlined practical strategies for "burning the JCPOA," stating: "Returning the nuclear cycle to before the JCPOA and beyond, and burning the nominal contracts of the Americans with their allies in the southern Persian Gulf for having bases and easy movement in this region" are among the Islamic Republic's strategies for burning the JCPOA, and alongside that, "Iran's complete control over the Strait of Hormuz, with the presence and connection of America and the Arabs, has been endangered and damaged, and can only be the beginning of burning the JCPOA." This newspaper, close to the Revolutionary Guards, also threatened Israel in its editorial, writing: "If the US continues all its sanctions and threats by tearing up the JCPOA, why should Iran sit and watch this Western spectacle that is aimed at the destruction of Iran, and why should Israel be able to see good days after tearing up the JCPOA? Certainly, part of our commotion in burning the JCPOA will catch the Zionists, and it is unclear how far this fire will continue." The newspaper Javan emphasized that "Iran's action against America is not a mirror image that reflects exactly what they do," writing: "It is possible that the Islamic Republic, relying on the support of the awakened thoughts and the resistant spirit of its people, who have gone through great tests in history, and trusting in divine promises for the victory of believers, will act like a mountain against any opposing voice it hears from the West regarding the JCPOA, which may take a little time to respond, but the grandeur and majesty of the response will not resemble the initial voice." This newspaper even declared the JCPOA's work as finished, writing: "Government officials, except for a few, have acknowledged the paper nature of the JCPOA and America's breach of promise," and "now it must be made clear to the Americans that tearing up the JCPOA and not adhering to it places them in the midst of a terrible fire that has been ignited by the flames of the JCPOA contract." The newspaper Iran, close to the government, highlighted another part of the Supreme Leader's remarks on its front page, quoting him as saying: "The enemy's design is to eliminate the capabilities of the Islamic Republic." The newspaper Iran simultaneously dedicated its front page photo to a view of the meeting of "system operators" with Ali Khamenei; in the photo, two of the three figures sitting next to the Supreme Leader, namely Hassan Rouhani and Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, have their eyes closed, while Ali Larijani is staring at Ali Khamenei. The newspaper Ettelaat also quoted the Supreme Leader as saying: "Criticism of the JCPOA is absolutely not criticism of our dear brothers, it is an evaluation of the performance of the opposite side." The newspaper Hamdeli published the statements of Mohammad Baqer Nobakht regarding the think tank of the government's opponents under the headline "Destructive Saturdays," writing: "The government spokesman on Tuesday in a press conference with domestic media was forced to deny various rumors circulating about the government in the political and media space of the country. From the closure of Saturday instead of Thursday to the arrest of the President's brother, from the closure of some factories to whispers of changes in the cabinet." This newspaper emphasized that Mohammad Baqer Nobakht "attributes all this rumor-mongering to a destructive think tank that meets on the first Saturdays of each week and begins to spread rumors for news and media fodder for the week." The newspaper Etemad also quoted Mohammad Baqer Nobakht as saying: "Every week, think tanks with political motivations are formed against the government and specify what topics to focus on for the government's destruction." According to this newspaper, the spokesman for the eleventh government also stated: "We do not wish to witness worrying and harmful events that we have seen in the past years. Although we do not tolerate even these unconventional payments, attention to these issues does not divert public minds from the lost towers and the issues that have arisen for Babak Zanjani. The community is alert; these cannot be subjects for destruction. The community is very clever, and we, without paying attention to them, will use all our efforts to improve the economic situation and the livelihood of the people, for we do not consider any other duty for ourselves." Etemad reminded: "The event that Nobakht speaks of is neither new nor a new subject in Iran and the Rouhani government. Once, the reformist government unveiled a crisis committee that had been set up to create a crisis for the Khatami government, and that is why Mohammad Khatami called his government the government of every nine days a crisis. Now three years have passed since Hassan Rouhani became president, and just a few days after his three-year anniversary, the government spokesman has opened up and for the first time unveiled the existence of think tanks against the government." This newspaper also published a list of "accusations raised against the government in the last four months," stating that since the last week of Esfand (March) until now, at least 11 "accusations" have been leveled against the government, which the opponents have used to pressure the government. Morteza Moballegh, the political deputy of the Ministry of Interior in the reformist government, wrote in the editorial of the newspaper Shargh titled "Neutralizing the Operations of the Destructive Current": "For two decades, a current has been created in the country and has gained extensive resources of wealth and status, and although they claim to be revolutionary, their only criterion for dealing with various issues is 'band interests'." The editorial writer of Shargh reminded that this current "was generally silent during the past eight years," but "the Iranian people, with the deep awareness they have gained, rejected them in the 92 elections and demanded the establishment of a government with a new approach and constructive change, and since then this current, instead of feeling ashamed of the people and the inefficiency of the past eight years, has engaged in severe psychological and sometimes operational operations against the people's elected representative to somehow punish or discourage the voters of Dr. Rouhani." According to the newspaper Shargh, this current opposes the eleventh government "with extensive media and financial tools, through blackening and false atmosphere, seeks to immobilize the government to both discourage the people from active participation and to deprive the government team of the opportunity to solve the problems they themselves have caused," while they "have repeatedly declared that they will do everything in their power to ensure that the government becomes 'one-term' only." The editorial writer of this newspaper, pointing to the weakness of Hassan Rouhani's government in establishing two-way communication with the people, wrote: The government must first "establish a systematic and two-way communication with all segments of society, parties, civil institutions, and universities" and with "timely information" without entering the game of the opposing current, honestly present to the people, and more importantly, "listening to the voices of the people, employees, workers, and various classes and responding to them." This newspaper emphasized that to fulfill the government's promises, including in the economic, domestic policy, and cultural sectors, "it is necessary for all members of the government to come to the scene and, setting aside expediencies, assist the President and the people," because now "the conditions have progressed in such a way that the people and social groups feel that the President is alone in facing the destructors and only he is willing to pay the costs." The newspaper Shargh also emphasized that "all executive managers, especially provincial and regional managers who have contact with the people across the country, must come to the scene with all their might to fulfill the government's promises and organize greater efforts," because "there is no opportunity for negligence and underperformance." The newspaper Gavan reported on Thursday about "the revelations of a former member of the Article 90 Commission against the former president" and quoted Fazl Hosseini as saying that "the documents of the Ministry of Intelligence guarantee Ahmadinejad's freedom." This newspaper, while reviewing reports from 2013 about Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's access to some documents of the Ministry of Intelligence, reported that now, after several years, Fazl Hosseini, a representative of the eighth parliament and a member of the Article 90 Commission at that time, regarding the reason for Ahmadinejad's non-compliance with judicial summons, said: "In the period when Ahmadinejad dismissed his Minister of Intelligence and took over the responsibility of this ministry himself, he was able to access the first-class information of the Ministry of Intelligence." This parliament member also stated that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, by accessing the documents of the Ministry of Intelligence, has "subjects on many individuals who had weaknesses. That is why no one dares to tell Ahmadinejad that there is an eyebrow above your eye." The newspaper Gavan also quoted Fazl Hosseini as saying: "Even after the session questioning the President due to his behavior in that session, we, along with 79 representatives, filed a complaint focused on Ahmadinejad's insult to the parliament, stating false points, not considering the parliament as the head of affairs, and refusing to execute laws, and eventually some parts of it were confirmed by the commission and sent to the judiciary, but this complaint also yielded no results, and we see that Ahmadinejad still speaks freely on any subject." The newspaper Javan has a report about the potential effects of Telegram on the 2017 presidential elections, stating: "The depth of the importance of the virtual space can be understood from the percentage of its impact on its audiences. When in the 2009 elections, social networks Twitter and Facebook designed and executed a coup that, with the vigilance of the people and leadership, failed, but with the emergence of mobile social networks and the penetration rate of 40 million smartphones in the hands of our people, the design of infiltration through virtual space is raised more seriously than before." This newspaper, noting that "some officials in the country believe that these social networks and interactive media like Telegram have succeeded in creating an opposition media in the shadows, meaning that this media can operate outside the supervisory and governmental system and change the results of some political currents like elections," wrote: "In response to the Supreme Council of Cyberspace's resolution for transferring Telegram servers to Iran, this network has officially announced its opposition," and now it must be seen whether "the setup of Telegram will be dismantled from social networks in Iran or whether this Supreme Council of Cyberspace will succumb to their demands."