Organization of Mourning Speakers to Compensate for the Disappointment of the JCPOA

The newspaper Etemad described President Hassan Rouhani's remarks on Thursday in a meeting with governors and provincial officials as a "defense of electoral boundaries." The newspaper wrote: "The President narrated his interpretation of the law; a protest narrative. A statement without any concealment," and even stated, "If one faction is to participate in the elections and another is not, then why are we holding elections at all?" Etemad reported that "amid intense electoral consultations, these remarks have set the stage for a new wave of attacks on the President," and now the political advisor of the disqualified candidates "is also under the sword of criticism." Etemad also noted that all these statements are, on one hand, for the disqualified candidates and their supporters, indicating that the government will work to change the competitive landscape, but how successful these government actions will be remains uncertain, at least "so far, his critics have positioned themselves against his remarks on Thursday to the extent that it is clear that this is not just Hassan Rouhani's opinion." "The parliament is the house of the nation, not the house of a faction" was the front-page headline of the newspaper Jumhuri Islami based on the President's Thursday remarks. The newspaper Jahan San'at quoted Hassan Rouhani stating: "It would be better not to hold elections," while the newspaper Shargh published these remarks with the headline "The law must be the criterion, not personal preference." The newspaper Javan, close to the Revolutionary Guards, titled Rouhani's Thursday remarks as "Unprecedented accusations by the President against the Guardian Council" and assessed the consequences as "locking down electoral consultations." This newspaper referred to Ahmad Jannati, the Secretary of the Guardian Council, and the "jurisprudents of the Guardian Council" as "first-class scholars" and wrote: "The President's unprecedented attack on the Guardian Council is unique in its own right. The accusation of arbitrary action and the elimination of one faction against the overseer and interpreter of the Constitution is not a trivial accusation. Therefore, the reason for weakening the position of the institutions that safeguard the political health of the country should be understood beyond transient preferences and grievances," adding that "these statements from the President indicate the futility of behind-the-scenes consultations." This newspaper, close to the Revolutionary Guards, emphasized that "the President is certainly unaware of the depth of the catastrophe he is creating" and wrote: "Such positions are possible from a radical intellectual distant from power, not merely from a senior member of the ruling establishment whose security identity overshadows all other identities." Kayhan also reacted to Hassan Rouhani's remarks on its front page, stating: "The people are waiting for the fulfillment of promises, while the government is dreaming of the Majlis." This newspaper emphasized that "the respected President is questioning the importance of matters for which he is responsible, asking: 'Which institution is responsible for managing industry, the environment, job creation, and overcoming recession? The Guardian Council or the government?'" and currently, more than half of the country's production workshops are closed; is this due to the disqualification of individuals with bad records by the Guardian Council or the poor performance of the eleventh government managers?" Rasul Montajebnia, Deputy of the National Trust Party, welcomed Hassan Rouhani's remarks, writing in a note in the Hamdeli newspaper titled "The Parliament Must Remain the House of the Nation": "In Chapter Six of the Constitution and Article 62, it is stated that the Islamic Consultative Assembly is formed from the representatives of the nation directly and by secret ballot; therefore, the Islamic Consultative Assembly is a combination of representatives of the entire nation. These representatives, whether Muslim or non-Muslim and whether supporters of faction A or faction B, must all be present in the parliament." The newspaper Hemayat, affiliated with the prison organization of the judiciary, quoted individuals introduced as "political and religious figures" stating: "The attack against the Guardian Council is sedition." Sadegh Zibakalam stated in an interview with the Arman newspaper: "More important than the presence of reformists in the next parliament is the absence of hardliners, and the damage that hardliners inflict on national interests is greater than the damage caused by the absence of reformists; therefore, the current strategy of reformists should be to prevent the entry of hardliners." The newspaper Vaghaye Ettefaghieh quoted Mohammad Reza Aref stating: "We have had good negotiations with the Guardian Council and other dignitaries so far, and I am very hopeful for a reconsideration of disqualifications." The newspaper Shargh reported on the "decoding by the Deputy Minister of Interior's Security of the mystery of the attack on the Saudi embassy," quoting Hossein Zolfaqari regarding the attackers of the Saudi embassy on January 9 of this year, stating: "The individuals who did this were organized and have been active for over 10 years in Karaj and Tehran, whose main activities are charitable and religious activities, which knowingly or unknowingly have also been supported by officials under the guise of religious and ceremonial matters." The "organization of mourning speakers" is news published by the newspaper Jumhuri Islami in its "For Your Information" column on its Saturday issue, stating: "An ill-tempered mourning speaker known in Tehran for interfering in political affairs and determining the fate of officials said at a ceremony commemorating Hazrat Fatemeh Masoumeh in Qom: 'We have organized three thousand mourning speakers in Tehran to compensate for the disappointment of the JCPOA in the elections.'" The newspaper Vaghaye Ettefaghieh published a report on the "terrifying and fearful narrative of a smuggled traveler" recounting the story of a "returning passenger" who, after his unauthorized journey for asylum was left unfinished, has now returned to Iran, "going through photos one by one. The mountains, the wounded wall of the smuggler's house, people who have faded into the blurry photo, and fear in their eyes. In the end, it was a thousand hardships and crossing the sea, fake identity, and loneliness, living in a small room with a meager allowance." The newspaper Vaghaye Ettefaghieh wrote that among the fellow travelers of this returning passenger, "three who abandoned him and left are now spending their days in camps in Germany. Of his companions, three are stationed in camps in the Netherlands, indifferent to indefinite rights and the uncertainty of life, until their requests are approved, spending time in refugee camps; their current situation is known, and their future is uncertain." The newspaper Shahrvand reported on a "reform of the law restricting the issuance of US visas," stating that "the US has lifted travel restrictions for merchants to Iran." The newspaper Sepid published a report on the statistical discrepancies between the number of medical graduates and practicing doctors in Iran, stating: "12,000 doctors are missing." Hojjatollah Moghimy, Deputy for Supervision and Planning of the Medical System Organization, told this newspaper about the statistics of doctors: "In general, regardless of the specialty, we have about 120,000 doctors, of which nearly 40,000 are specialists and subspecialists, and 80,000 are general practitioners. However, since we do not have a system for registering the number of migrants, and we also do not know how many of those mentioned have died, we must subtract the number of migrants and deceased from this figure." Research on student marriages The newspaper Shargh reported that the results of a study in medical universities indicate the "impact of interaction between male and female students on stable marriages." This research shows that in those medical fields where "interaction and teamwork between male and female students are more prevalent, more marriages occur," and "at least 39% of these interactions lead to marriage, and almost 90% of these marriages are stable." The results of this research were provided to the newspaper Shargh by the Secretary of the Health, Environment, and Women's Affairs Working Group of the Presidential Office, reminding that "these results have emerged at a time when efforts to impose gender segregation in universities, which prevent interaction between students, have increased."