Hot Debate on Impeachment at the End of the Cold Season

The newspaper Rozan headlines "Hot Debate on Impeachment at the End of the Cold Season" stating: "The eventful year of 96 is coming to an end, filled with numerous political, social, and economic events. From fervent elections to astonishing protests, and from earthquakes to plane crashes and ship sinkings, these are just some of the incidents that have influenced the public atmosphere in the country this year. However, it seems that this year is still pregnant with new political events, and we must observe the final chapter of political disputes in Iran in the last days of the year." According to this newspaper, "This final chapter will likely unfold in the Majlis (Parliament), where the impeachment of two ministers of roads and urban development and labor, cooperatives, and social welfare has been finalized and is on the agenda of the Parliament." Behrouz Namati, a member of the Parliament's board, stated, "According to the regulations, the impeached ministers have ten days to appear in a public session of the Parliament to respond to the questions of the impeachers." The newspaper Javan, close to the Revolutionary Guards, repeated the accusation of "espionage" against Kavous Seyed-Emami, an environmental activist who died in custody, while it itself reported that "Kavous Seyed-Emami, who was arrested on February 4, had no significant confessions until the night of his suicide on February 19." This newspaper, close to the Revolutionary Guards, stated that this environmental activist and Imam Sadiq University professor "had no significant confessions during his two weeks of detention until his death" and "was revealing information in a completely professional and drip-feed manner." Isa Kalantari, head of the Environmental Protection Organization, announced that cameras installed to track the cheetah by the "Persian Wildlife Institute" had a maximum visibility of 50 meters, but the Javan newspaper claimed that "the cameras that this institute installed in various parts of the country under the pretext of monitoring rare animals and the plant ecosystem were actually for monitoring military and missile activities alongside the process of water distribution and transfer in Iran." This newspaper also claimed that "three initial and effective members in establishing the Persian Heritage Wildlife Institute" are "Jewish" and promised that the "confessions of Morad Tahbaz" will soon be broadcast. The broadcast of forced confessions on television has a history as old as the Islamic Republic itself. The Javan newspaper simultaneously reported the summons of 150 environmental guards and bizarrely claimed that "another 25-member team arrested under the guise of environmental activities was transferring sensitive missile center information to foreigners and their networks, and after the Kermanshah earthquake, they killed several armed forces with anti-security actions and attacks on this province and Kurdistan." Meanwhile, the Iran newspaper, close to the government, dedicated its front page to tree planting by Ali Khamenei and Hassan Rouhani. Since the death of Kavous Seyed-Emami and the arrest of several environmental activists, neither Ali Khamenei as the leader of the Islamic Republic nor Hassan Rouhani as the president and head of the Supreme National Security Council has provided any explanation or reference to the reasons for these arrests and the circumstances surrounding Kavous Seyed-Emami's death in custody. The Iran newspaper emphasized that "the fate of Abbas Akhoundi and Ali Rabiei depends on inter-factional negotiations," stating, "So far, only one day has passed since the impeachment of the two ministers was announced, and the three parliamentary factions have not yet expressed their opinions. The announcement of this opinion is currently contingent on holding coordination meetings between members and the ministers whose impeachment is on the Parliament's agenda." This newspaper reported that the number of signatures for the impeachment proposal of these two ministers is 24, stating: "24 is not a number that can indicate the power of the impeachment proposal in the history of Iranian parliaments. In other words, currently, about 8% of the entire Parliament has signed these proposals," while "previously, Abbas Akhoundi has experienced attending impeachment sessions twice and coincidentally left the Majlis both times with a full hand. The total of this number, plus two votes of confidence from the ninth and tenth parliaments, has made him a record holder for receiving approval from the Parliament among Hassan Rouhani's cabinet members," although this is the first time Ali Rabiei is being impeached. The Shargh newspaper, however, has a different view, stating in its headline "Two Ministers Under Threat" that "Mohammad Reza Aref called on the Hope faction yesterday morning to be present in the Parliament by 6:30 AM to determine the fate of the impeachment of two ministers of Hassan Rouhani's cabinet; Ali Rabiei and Abbas Akhoundi, both under serious threat of impeachment with yellow cards from the Parliament in their pockets." This newspaper emphasized that the Hope faction's meeting on Tuesday morning began with "criticism of Rouhani's government and ignoring the level of recent protests," and "the majority present were somewhat in favor of impeachment." It noted, "The families of the victims of the Sanchi ship and the Tehran-Yasouj plane crash have not yet taken off their dark clothes, and this mourning has now become the Achilles' heel for both ministers," and "coincidentally, the main shareholder of the National Oil Tanker Company and the Aseman Airlines under the management of the Ministry of Cooperatives, Labor, and Social Welfare." Bahram Parsai, the deputy head of the Hope faction and a signatory of the impeachment of the two ministers, told the Shargh newspaper: "The support of the Hope faction for the government is not absolute. We are with the government, but we must be accountable to the people's demands and needs. The people are not very satisfied with the government's performance, especially following recent incidents. Aligning with the government does not mean we will be the government's lawyer." The Etemad newspaper published a photo of the North Korean leader on its front page with the headline "Red Retreat?!" stating: "Kim Jong-un, the young leader of North Korea, wants to make history. In recent years, since coming to power in Pyongyang, he has been continuously expanding North Korea's missile and nuclear capabilities. These days, news is coming from a 10-member South Korean delegation that visited Pyongyang, indicating that North Korea is willing to abandon its nuclear weapons in negotiations with the United States and to halt all missile tests during potential negotiations." The Shahrvand newspaper reported that "the workers' food basket has shrunk again. As Faramarz Tofighi, a representative of workers, announced, the share of food items in household livelihoods has decreased from 27% in 95 to 24.5%." This newspaper pointed out that "the use of low-quality food items to reduce the cost of food items in the livelihood basket" has led to a situation where "today, workers trade their health for reduced livelihood costs to compensate for other expenses in the livelihood basket, including housing, healthcare, transportation, children's education, water, electricity, gas, and other costs," and now, while "worker representatives are negotiating for a 15% increase in the minimum wage in the Supreme Labor Council, according to Hamid Haj Asmaeili, a labor activist, 70% of workers receive the minimum wage of 930,000 tomans per month. Meanwhile, a sufficient salary for continuing life in Iran has been reported to be three times this amount, around 3 million tomans." The Shahrvand newspaper emphasized that this "issue has now become a threat to Iran, as the middle class is shrinking and the poor class is growing larger every day, with studies showing that about 20 million poor people exist in the country, most of whom belong to the working class." The Bahar newspaper highlighted the government spokesperson's remarks about "bus purchases of currency." According to this newspaper, Mohammad Baqer Nobakht stated regarding claims that the government is evasive in answering questions about the currency market: "The government is humble and is trying to eliminate the currency bubble while we know that they bring people in buses to buy currency." The Ebtekar newspaper, in its editorial, wrote: "These days, many people stand in line for hours in front of exchange offices with their national ID cards to perhaps buy currency up to the proposed limit of a thousand dollars at the government distribution price - around 4,400 tomans - and sell it a little more expensively across the street for profit." This newspaper stated that "travelers and those who genuinely need currency either have to endure long queues or settle for buying more expensive currency on the street," but "a profit of 300 to 400 thousand tomans a day is not something anyone can ignore." The Hamdeli newspaper reported on the results of Jean-Yves Le Drian's visit to Tehran, stating: "Le Drian's visit to Iran is very important from the perspective of the agenda of the negotiations. The continuation of the JCPOA, Iran's Middle Eastern policies, and Iran's missile capabilities were three important topics raised during this visit." According to this newspaper, although "Iranian officials did not show a favorable attitude towards France's positions regarding missile capabilities, it seems that some understandings regarding Iran's Middle Eastern policies may be on the way." Mehdi Motaharnia, an international affairs expert, told the Hamdeli newspaper: "What has been seen in recent years is the entry of the international community into a phase of applying more and even paralyzing pressure on Iran to moderate its regional policies and missile capabilities. In this context, France has taken on this role on behalf of the great powers." The Hamdeli newspaper quoted Mehdi Motaharnia as saying: "Currently, there is a kind of underground movement in the international system to shape the 1+3 model regarding international issues," meaning that "the United States, as the superpower left over from the Cold War, along with three major global powers, namely France, Germany, and the UK, have always displayed a meaningful convergence centered around the United States regarding international issues," and although "Iran is trying to attract Moscow and Beijing through its Look to the East policy, and this policy was pursued in relation to the nuclear file, in that file, it was ultimately Beijing and Moscow that joined the 1+3 and formed the 5+1. Now it remains to be seen whether this trend will be experienced in relation to Iran's missile file or not."