Controversy in Tehran Stock Exchange; Day of Shareholder Protests

The newspaper Etemad in its front page on Thursday wrote "Zarif Under the Knife": "The walk last week of the foreign ministers of Iran and the United States has faced different reactions" and the most significant criticism has come from Mohammad Reza Naqdi, the commander of the Basij, directed at the Foreign Minister. According to Etemad, the Basij commander said about Mohammad Javad Zarif: "Walking with the U.S. foreign minister is trampling on the blood of martyrs" and "a much uglier and unforgivable act is traveling to Paris on the same day that the French prime minister is holding an insulting caricature of the Prophet of Islam in front of cameras and displaying it" and Mohammad Javad Zarif "must officially apologize." The newspaper Javan, close to the Revolutionary Guards, described Mohammad Javad Zarif's behavior as "undiplomatic" and wrote: "Zarif should reconsider." This newspaper wrote that many optimistic individuals in the diplomatic arena view Mohammad Javad Zarif's walk with John Kerry as "a kind of breaking of taboos in diplomacy and employing modern methods in this path" but "many others condemn this action of Mohammad Javad Zarif, believing that walking with the representative of the historical enemy of the Islamic Republic weakens the 'charisma of the revolution.'" The newspaper Hemayat, affiliated with the prison organization, dedicated its front page photo and title to Sadegh Larijani, reporting that the head of the judiciary on Wednesday in a meeting of senior judicial officials "called for a reconsideration by the Foreign Ministry in its interaction with Western governments and supporters of the recent insults to Islam and Muslims" and stated: "Interaction with the supporters of insults to Islam must be reconsidered." The newspaper Iran also published the government's spokesperson's response to criticisms of the foreign minister, quoting Mohammad Baqer Nobakht as saying: "Attacking diplomacy under the pretext of the minister's walk is a petty act." This newspaper dedicated its front page photo to Hassan Rouhani and described the words of the Islamic Republic's president on Wednesday in the government meeting as "a warning to liars and troublemakers." The newspaper wrote: "The continuous troublemaking of opponents and their repeated efforts to undermine the achievements of the government, which has been accompanied by some circles and news organizations, ultimately led to the president's reaction." According to this newspaper, it accused its conservative critics of using "lies" to undermine the government and stated: "Despite these lies and public confusion and actions contrary to national interests, the government, relying on the support of the people in managing the country's economy and accelerating growth and development, has achieved considerable successes." The newspaper Arman reported on the "end of the case of Ahmadinejad's first vice president" with a sentence of "5 years and 91 days in prison" and wrote: Mohammad Reza Rahimi was sentenced to "five years and 90 days in prison and the payment of 2 billion and 850 million tomans in restitution and 1 billion tomans in fines" for his involvement in the "Iran Insurance embezzlement" case. The newspaper Shargh also dedicated its front page to Mohammad Reza Rahimi, reporting on the "definitive conviction of Ahmadinejad's first vice president to 5 years in prison." The newspaper Jahan San'at reported in its front page titled "Day of Shareholder Protests" about the protests of a number of real shareholders in the Tehran Stock Exchange, writing that on Wednesday "after the continued decline of indices and prices in the glass hall did not stop again, shareholders did not leave the hall calmly as usual." According to this newspaper, "It reached a point where Hassan Qalibaf Asl, the CEO of the Stock Exchange, had to come down from the upper floors of the stock exchange to the first floor of the glass hall to calm the protesting shareholders, and although the stock exchange officials eventually calmed the shareholders, "this protest can be called a fire under the ashes of the stock exchange these days." Jahan San'at also referred to "the meeting of Hassan Qalibaf Asl and managers to review the demands of shareholders" and wrote that in this meeting "most shareholders demanded an explanation of the reason for the stock market decline and the sharp price drop from the officials. They believed that the sharp price drop could not be logically justified and that the price of oil could not be the reason for the downward trend in the stock market since oil has only faced a decline for a month, while the capital market has been facing severe reductions since last December. Therefore, the stock market decline was ordered, and some factors do not want the stock market to take a rising trend." This newspaper reported that in the meeting "many shareholders who were very concerned about their lost investments demanded the closure of the stock exchange and requested that the Tehran Stock Exchange be closed until conditions improve to prevent losses to shareholders through this means." Jahan San'at emphasized that "many shareholders were protesting the performance of the 'legal market players' and asked officials to block the selling codes of the legal entities so that the capital market could follow its course based on supply and demand," while some other real shareholders "were protesting the index-making and the unreal nature of the stock index, believing that the current stock index does not reflect the realities of the capital market and that officials have encouraged people towards the stock market with index-making, and now that the stock market has declined, they are not accountable to shareholders." This newspaper reported that among the protesting shareholders and stock exchange officials, some shareholders "believed that the problems of the stock market have intensified to the point that higher-ranking officials, especially the Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance and the Speaker of the Parliament, should address the stock market situation and answer the shareholders' questions. They called on the president to support the capital market." The newspaper Tehadol also dedicated its front page to "the controversy in the stock market" and wrote: "The main demand of shareholders was that since the president and the minister of economy announced to the people to invest in the stock exchange, they also took action to invest, but now with the decline of the market index and the existing recession, they have suffered losses." According to this newspaper, "Some shareholders also stated why legal entities do not actively engage in buying and selling in the market during the decline of the market index. Some shareholders also criticized the prolonged closure of the trading symbols of some companies; however, a small number of shareholders voiced protests loudly, which were met with calls for calm from other shareholders and stock exchange security officials." The newspaper Tehadol reported that "the protesters have given the stock exchange officials only two working days to resolve the investment problems in the stock market, and if the issues raised by the protesters are not resolved, they will continue their protests." "Whose stone broke the glass hall of Hafez?" The newspaper Qanoon also dedicated its front page to the protests on Wednesday in the Tehran Stock Exchange and attempted to answer the question "Whose stone broke the glass hall of Hafez?" Massoud Borbor in the editorial of the newspaper Qanoon pointed out that "the continuous decline of the stock index in recent weeks ultimately turned off the stock exchange board yesterday," writing: "Experts have always considered the index drop since the beginning of the year as a correction and a return to a natural state. It was no secret that in an economy with over 40% inflation and negative economic growth, an unnatural growth of 140% had no backing, and it had been repeatedly stated that this flimsy structure would eventually collapse." The editorial writer of the newspaper Qanoon discussed the reasons for "the market's departure from its natural trend and the incident of Wednesday" in the Tehran Stock Exchange, writing: "The stock market is a market for selling shares, and in this market, the law of supply and demand prevails. The position of the capital market has always been contrary to the language of price control. The nature of the capital market is real supply and demand. What has happened in recent years is the state-sponsored stock market in previous governments, and what has now led to the collapse of the Tehran glass hall is once again the thinking of state economics and government interventions in the form of short-term price controls on petrochemical feedstocks, economic enterprises, iron ore, and other products, and once again attempting to set interest rates by decree or the entry of banks into the capital market." According to this newspaper, "Governments in Iran have always sought to raise the stock index to record it as an economic achievement and success of their performance, while on the other hand, they interfere in fuel prices, which play a significant role in the cost structure of companies. The government's artificial and dictated prices hinder the optimal allocation of resources in the national economy, and the market regulation rule based on supply and demand and non-interference of the government in these conditions is completely violated." The editorial writer of the newspaper Qanoon emphasized that "government intervention in this market means imposing a series of monopolistic conditions on one hand and creating an unsupported expectation among the people on the other. Worse, unfortunately, this interference is not limited to the government, and the involvement of other monopolistic economic institutions, such as quasi-governmental entities, is also present. In other words, more than 90% of our stock market is state-owned, and what has been done so far in the framework of implementing the policies of Article 44 and privatization law has also been the share of quasi-governmental entities." According to the newspaper Qanoon, "All of this has led to the fact that, firstly, the private sector does not have the capacity to compete and have a real presence in the capital market, and secondly, the potential of the private sector remains unknown. These factors have also led to the fact that our stock market suffers an unbearable decline with a rumor and has a bubble-like growth with another rumor, and thus neither the index of such a stock market is a reliable indicator for the country's economy nor is this market a reliable space for investors." The editorial writer of the newspaper Qanoon emphasized that "the best type of support from the government is to refrain from interfering in the stock market and, in an optimistic outlook, to withdraw the government and monopolies from the economy." The two-urgent plan of "media alarmists" for "banning journalists" The newspaper Shargh in its Thursday issue reported, quoting Hamid Rasai, a representative close to the Stability Front, about "the preparation of an urgent plan to ban journalists." This newspaper wrote: "The newspaper 'Mardom-e Emruz' has not only been suspended but has had its license revoked, but many do not find the legal punishment imposed on this newspaper convincing and have been seeking to complicate the continuation of the editor's activities since the very next day after the newspaper's suspension," and now "the story of a strange urgent plan is being heard, a plan whose main idea has once again emerged from the Stability Front in the Parliament, and Hamid Rasai has informed about it." According to the newspaper Shargh, the story of this plan "started from emphasizing the number of suspended newspapers and under the management of Mohammad Ghouchani, and it reached quotes from this and that that Ghouchani should pay more for his actions, and some even called for stopping his journalism work," and now Hamid Rasai, one of the plan's designers, has announced that he is preparing a plan titled "banning the activities of individuals who insult sacred values in the media." Shargh reported that "according to this plan, the Ministry of Culture will be obliged to prevent the activities of individuals who have repeatedly insulted sacred values in their media under their control," and Hamid Rasai, one of its designers, emphasized that "in the cultural sphere of the country, the attention to detail that is seen in other areas such as health, food, and medicine is not present, and this sensitivity is not seen among cultural officials." Kamabiz Nourouzi, a lawyer and member of the Journalists' Guild Association, however, emphasized in an interview with the newspaper Shargh that "from the perspective of constitutional rights and Articles 3, 9, and 24 of the Constitution, no one can be deprived of this right." This lawyer also stated that the designers of the "journalist ban plan" and those who express such statements "should keep in mind that in journalism, there is always a possibility...