The Rise of 'Installment Sales of New Year Nuts'

The newspaper Arman has reported on the rise of 'installment sales of New Year nuts' in some stores, stating: 'These days, the price of nuts has increased so much that some observations indicate the installment sale of this product in some stores across the country.' The newspaper wrote, 'The recent disorder in the dried fruit market is such that some types of nuts with similar quality sometimes have a price difference of up to 20,000 tomans, so that the price of pistachios of similar quality fluctuates from 45,000 to 65,000 tomans from one point to another in Tehran, and it seems that this disorder is due to a lack of oversight over retail units.' Furthermore, 'This year, the condition of dried fruit production in the country has been very good, and there is no shortage in this area for price gougers to fabricate excuses for their price increases.' Arman emphasized that 'despite the very favorable condition of dried fruit production and the abundance of products this year, the nut market is one of the most disordered markets before the New Year, and sellers offer their products at any price they wish.' The nut and dried fruit market on the eve of Nowruz is one of the most chaotic markets, such that every kilogram of these products has a different rate in every part of the city, and sellers sell their goods at higher prices as much as they can, extracting more money from consumers. The front page of some newspapers on Saturday features images of accusations between government critics and supporters, including a verbal dispute over the Islamic Consultative Assembly's resolution to set a ceiling of 24 million tomans as the maximum salary for some managers and the semi-electoral nature of hiring 4,200 individuals in the Tehran metro. Kayhan has written on its front page: 'Members of the Islamic Consultative Assembly have set the ceiling for managers' salaries at 24 million tomans, and with this resolution, they have legalized astronomical salaries, confirming the 30-fold income of managers compared to workers.' The newspaper wrote: 'Members of the Assembly in the public session last Wednesday, during the review of the Guardian Council's objections to the sixth development plan, amended subsection 1 of Article 38 of this bill as follows: The Salary and Wage Council can, upon the proposal of the heads of the branches, ministers, or vice presidents who head executive agencies and the highest officials of executive agencies, make exceptions for specialized, managerial jobs, operational units, and border and deprived areas up to 60% of the payments subject to this article in addition to the ceiling set in this article.' The newspaper Javan, close to the Revolutionary Guards, also wrote on its front page about the Assembly's resolution: 'Government astronomical salary recipients have received permission from the Assembly.' The newspaper Iran, close to the government, on its front page accused media outlets close to the principlist faction of spreading 'astronomical lies' against the government and the Islamic Consultative Assembly, stating: 'Critics exaggerate the exceptions of the Assembly's resolution regarding managers' salaries.' The newspaper wrote: Previously, 'Article 38 of the sixth development plan stipulated that the ceiling for total monthly payments to officials and managers should be twice the maximum salary and benefits of employees, but the Guardian Council objected to this resolution.' However, it was the Guardian Council that 'considered setting a ceiling and limiting managers' payments as a cause for the exit of elites from the government.' Now, 'the Assembly approved, to satisfy the Guardian Council's opinion, that the Salary and Wage Council can, upon the proposal of the heads of the branches and ministers or vice presidents, make exceptions for managerial jobs, specialized jobs, operational units, and border and deprived areas and add up to 60% to the salaries of the mentioned groups, provided that 'the ceiling for managers' income does not exceed 24 million tomans.' The overall salary ceiling for managers remains at 14 million tomans, meaning a maximum of twice the maximum salary and benefits of employees, and only in exceptional cases will the income of a few managers reach 24 million tomans.' The newspaper Shahrvand reported with the headline 'The Electoral Trench of Mr. Mayor' that 'the violations that surfaced last year in the audit report of Tehran's municipality are now being confirmed one by one in a 93-page report by the National Inspection Organization. The recruitment outside of regulations of 4,200 personnel from the Tehran metro operating company in 2012 and 2013 is one of the items in this report that has caused an uproar since last week, and Rahmatollah Hafezi, a member of the Tehran City Council who is at the forefront of disclosing this information, wrote on his Twitter account: '4,200 individuals were recruited without any employment tests or scientific interviews, of which 1,319 were added to the CEO's area.' This newspaper noted that 'last Sunday, Hafezi's remarks about the reasons for the increase in metro ticket prices for 2017 sparked a heated debate in the council.' According to this City Council member, 'The 93-page report by the National Inspection Organization regarding the Tehran metro operating company has declared the recruitment of 4,200 surplus personnel during 2012 and 2013 as a violation, with their number increasing by 82%, and their salaries and overtime rising from about 4 billion tomans in 2010 to about 15 billion tomans in 2012, which is an increase of 275%, such that the average salary of personnel in this company is between 9 to 11 million tomans.' The newspaper Shahrvand emphasized that 'now even the defenders of the Tehran mayor believe that regarding the pursuit of this violation, the right to question the mayor is reserved for critical members, and critics of Qalibaf are citing familial ties and membership in the electoral headquarters as the basis for the municipality's recruitments.' The newspaper Sobhe No, close to Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, on its front page emphasized 'the occurrence of suspicious incidents from south to north' in Iran, warning against 'industrial sabotage.' According to this newspaper, 'While Ahvaz has not yet recovered from the shock of repeated power outages and continuous darkness, an explosion and fire at a power plant in the north of the country has troubled the people of Aliabad Katul, and on Friday, the gas supply line to the Aliabad Katul power plant exploded and caught fire after maintenance work on the line.' However, Mr. Ahmad Tajri, the governor of this city, stated that the cause of the fire is unclear, and according to Reza Hajilari, the head of the Red Crescent Society of Aliabad Katul, seven people were burned in the incident.' This newspaper recalled that 'the recurrence of such an incident,' especially 'in a situation where a similar incident occurred less than two weeks ago in the south of the country, had returned Khuzestan to a wartime state and forced the Minister of Energy to rush to Ahvaz.' Initially, it evokes a series of fires that occurred this summer in the petrochemical facilities in the south and west of the country, a chain of events that ultimately confirmed by Gholamreza Jalali, the head of the Passive Defense Organization, contained traces of industrial sabotage.' The newspaper Etemad reported on the reaction of the head of the Cultural Heritage Organization to the burial of martyrs in historical buildings, stating: 'In November of this year, officials in the Pasargad County decided to bury the bodies of two unknown martyrs in the ancient site of Pasargad, but this event could not take place, and after that, another location close to the tomb of Cyrus was considered, right in the first-degree area and the buffer zone of the global heritage site of Pasargad.' This decision faced opposition from the officials of the Pasargad World Heritage Site and was subsequently canceled. However, finally, on Friday, the bodies of these two martyrs were buried in the Pasargad area.' According to this newspaper, on Friday, two unknown martyrs and a recently identified martyr named 'Almas Arshadi' were buried in Pasargad County, and 'two unknown martyrs were buried in the Pasargad area, two kilometers away from the historical site of Pasargad, and one of the recently identified martyrs was buried in the martyrs' cemetery of Aliabad Saadatshahr.' The newspaper Etemad highlighted the Twitter reaction of the head of the Cultural Heritage Organization, reporting that Zahra Ahmadipour, in response to users in several consecutive tweets, wrote: 'This issue is being pursued in a special manner, and extensive correspondence has been conducted in this regard. Martyrs hold a place in the heart of the Iranian nation, and their burial place will be a point of reference for a large number of people.' However, 'the choice of the Pasargad buffer zone for the burial of martyrs is primarily disrespectful to the martyrs themselves. Is it intended for martyrs to become a point of pilgrimage for people through the Pasargad site?' According to this newspaper, the head of the Cultural Heritage Organization emphasized that 'necessary measures to prevent this mistake and disrespect to the martyrs have been taken and are being pursued, and efforts are being made to ensure that martyrs are buried in a suitable location, not in the buffer zone and area of historical buildings.' Mohammad Hassan Talebian, the deputy head of cultural heritage, also told this newspaper: 'Initially, it was intended for the martyrs' burial to take place in the first-degree area and buffer zone of Pasargad, but through negotiations between cultural heritage officials and the city officials of Pasargad, the burial site was changed to an area in the second-degree buffer zone of the global Pasargad site.' The deputy head of cultural heritage stated regarding whether this burial and subsequent construction would pose a problem for the global registration of this site: 'UNESCO's regulations for the second-degree buffer zone are different; and based on these regulations, there is no prohibition for the burial of martyrs in the second-degree buffer zone. However, height regulations must be observed.' Etemad recalled that 'in 2014, a similar incident sparked considerable reactions. The burial of martyrs in the Amir Chakhmaq Square of Yazd, despite the explicit opposition of cultural heritage officials and the then Yazd governor, was an event that had many controversies. The burial of these martyrs in the vicinity of historical sites that are registered nationally or globally, besides being disrespectful, also violates cultural heritage laws in this regard. Perhaps it is still necessary to emphasize the lack of laws in the field of cultural heritage and also the absence of enforcement guarantees for these laws.' The newspaper Aftab Yazd wrote: 'In the buffer zones of historical buildings, construction activities have specific prohibitions and limitations, and after this, the space for the tombs of the unknown martyrs of the homeland should also be according to specific regulations.' This newspaper noted a similar incident: 'The historical mound of Maqsudi in the Sarakhlateh region of Golestan Province was also the site of a similar incident. After announcing the intention of some to bury the bodies of martyrs in this historical mound, some cultural and heritage activists raised criticisms regarding this incident and the lack of respect for the martyrs.' The changing battlefield of 'proxy forces'; the war against the people in the streets of Iran. 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