The Spread of Temporary Marriage Brokerage: Temporary Marriage in Tehran Costs 40,000 Tomans per Hour

The newspaper Etemad reported on its front page that Majid Takht-Ravanchi, Deputy Foreign Minister of Iran, announced the 'end of the SWIFT lock' during a meeting with members of the Iran Chamber of Commerce. According to the newspaper, Takht-Ravanchi stated, 'Be prepared for the opening of LCs, as there is no legal prohibition in this regard, and if we cannot implement the JCPOA well, we should blame ourselves.' The newspaper also dedicated its front page photo to Hassan Rouhani's presence and remarks at the inauguration of phases 15 and 16 of South Pars, quoting the former president as saying, 'We manage the country with $30 oil, not $147 oil.' The newspaper Javan described the inauguration of phases 15 and 16 of South Pars as 'the IRGC's counterattack against sanctions' and the newspaper Resalat quoted Rouhani stating, 'The inauguration of phases 15 and 16 of South Pars is a symbol of cooperation between the government and the IRGC.' Simultaneously, the newspapers Kayhan and Javan criticized the government for the widespread approval of candidates for the parliamentary elections. Kayhan's front page, titled 'The U.S. Election Tactic Masks the Faces of the Troublemakers,' stated, 'The West, led by the U.S., along with its domestic puppets, seeks to create a false dichotomy of 'moderate-radical' in the elections, clouding the country's atmosphere and causing tension.' The newspaper Javan, close to the IRGC, criticized Rouhani's government and the executive bodies under the Ministry of Interior for the 'widespread approval' of candidates for the 10th parliamentary elections, describing it as 'bulk approval of qualifications with bizarre titles.' The newspaper Shargh published new statements from the former police chief regarding the events of 2009, titled 'New Untold Stories from Ahmadinejad's Era.' According to Ismail Ahmadi-Moqaddam, 'We and the security-military organizations predicted the events with existing evidence and held meetings in the National Security Council,' and 'With this information, we suspected a challenging election was ahead; if they won the election, they would have a victory celebration and afterward would quickly implement the unfulfilled tasks of the second Khordad.' Ahmadi-Moqaddam also mentioned that 'We had regular meetings in the National Security Council both before and after the election. After the election, we held daily meetings in the secretariat, which had effectively become a crisis committee, with all ministers, officials, military commanders, security personnel, and the head of state television present.' He added, 'We provided misleading information that demonstrations would take place in specific locations, but we saw that no one went. It became clear that they had a reliable network that was not solely guided by mobile phones and SMS, and gatherings were held exactly where indicated. They also provided misleading information when Karroubi or Mousavi wanted to attend gatherings; however, we could tell where their security teams were checking, allowing us to determine their gathering locations.' The newspaper Vaghaye Etefaghieh reported on the 'spread of temporary marriage brokerage' in Tehran, stating, 'Temporary marriage costs 40,000 tomans per hour, with a brokerage fee of 10,000 tomans.' The newspaper Sepid, in a report titled 'Does the Bermuda Triangle of the State Drug Mafia Exist?' named 'Bank Melli, Social Security Organization, and the Executive Headquarters of Imam's Command' as institutions that hold a large monopoly over drug imports and production in Iran, referring to them as part of the 'drug mafia.' The newspaper Jahan San'at assessed the government's debt volume as equivalent to '20 years of the country's development budget,' quoting Ali Tayebnia, the Minister of Economy, stating, 'The total government debt is estimated at around 380 trillion tomans, of which 196 trillion tomans is the government's own debt and over 180 trillion tomans pertains to state-owned companies.' Kayhan: Moderation Continues the Mischief. The newspapers Kayhan and Javan criticized the government for the widespread approval of candidates for the parliamentary elections. Kayhan's front page, titled 'The U.S. Election Tactic Masks the Faces of the Troublemakers,' stated, 'The West, led by the U.S., along with its domestic puppets, seeks to create a false dichotomy of 'moderate-radical' in the elections, clouding the country's atmosphere and causing tension.' This newspaper emphasized that 'A look at the clear and hidden positions of the Americans shows that their tactic for the upcoming elections is to support the failed reformist faction, albeit this time the troublemakers have entered the scene under the guise of moderation.' During the election period, the enemy seeks to maintain pressure from sanctions under various pretexts while fostering Western-oriented forces in the country to promote false divisions and polarization. Kayhan identified the rejection of candidates by the Guardian Council as the solution and emphasized that 'The public expects the esteemed members of the Guardian Council to confront the troublemakers without any leniency and prevent any opportunity for these groups to exploit.' Meanwhile, the newspaper Javan, close to the IRGC, also criticized Rouhani's government and the executive bodies under the Ministry of Interior for the widespread approval of candidates for the 10th parliamentary elections, describing it as 'bulk approval of qualifications with bizarre titles.' This newspaper stated that out of 12,123 candidates for the parliamentary elections, 90% were approved by the executive bodies, and only 'six percent' were disqualified, making Rouhani's government the record holder for approving candidates compared to previous parliamentary elections since 1979. The newspaper Javan then quoted an unnamed 'informed source' calling these approvals 'bulk qualifications' and stated, 'Among some of the approved candidates are individuals with negative backgrounds, including Israeli citizenship of a spouse, dual citizenship, illegal abortion, bribery, membership in certain anti-revolutionary groups, involvement in murder, actions against national security, adultery, incest, street fighting, and public disorder.' This newspaper did not provide further details on the serious accusations against the approved candidates but simultaneously quoted Siamak Rahpeyk, spokesperson for the Central Supervisory Board and Guardian Council official, stating, 'The entry of unqualified individuals into the electoral arena is one of the examples of violating people's rights,' and 'The meaning of oversight is that those who want to enter this path outside the framework of the law should not be allowed.' The spread of temporary marriage brokerage: Temporary marriage costs 40,000 tomans per hour, with a brokerage fee of 10,000 tomans. The newspaper Vaghaye Etefaghieh reported on the 'spread of temporary marriage brokerage' in Tehran, stating, 'Temporary marriage costs 40,000 tomans per hour, with a brokerage fee of 10,000 tomans.' The reporter began the report with the sentence: 'It's quite funny; you will definitely like it, but it has a bit of a catch,' and wrote: 'Don't get me wrong; this is not my mother's talk introducing a girl for marriage,' but rather part of Mr. 'A's words, whom I don't know how to refer to, but he can be called a temporary marriage broker. The reporter wrote: 'I came to his office near Jamalzadeh Street through a website; he shows me a photo album and explains each one as I reach them. Each photo has its own price.' According to Vaghaye Etefaghieh, the price of temporary marriage in this office 'starts from 40,000 tomans to 300,000 tomans per hour. Interestingly, the introduction fee he charges' and emphasizes that 'I do not work on a percentage basis; each of these has a fee set by the office, ranging from 10,000 tomans to 100,000 tomans.' The reporter noted that in this office 'besides me, several others are sitting, but there are no respectable ladies present,' and wrote: 'As per the procedure, you select someone, and the broker takes the fee, then introduces you to another place to formalize the temporary marriage where you meet your temporary spouse.' The broker in this temporary marriage office told the Vaghaye Etefaghieh reporter that for longer durations, 'monthly' calculations are made, 'starting from one million tomans to five million tomans; the office fee varies from 500,000 tomans to one million tomans.' According to this newspaper, the temporary marriage broker in this office earns 10 million tomans monthly and has been engaged in this work for four years; however, the Vaghaye Etefaghieh reporter also interviewed two other 'temporary marriage brokers' through matchmaking websites, stating that the temporary marriage rates in one of their offices 'range from 20,000 tomans per hour to one million tomans' and 'takes a 15% commission,' while in another temporary marriage brokerage office 'no specific amount is paid to the temporary wife; only the husband must provide a suitable home with furnishings for the wife and cover the usual household expenses,' and only 'for each introduction and temporary marriage, at least one million tomans is required for a minimum of six months.' The newspaper Vaghaye Etefaghieh also mentioned the existence of a type of 'luxury temporary marriage,' noting that its price exceeds one million tomans per day. This newspaper wrote: 'The Ministry of Sports and Youth previously had plans to organize this issue, but none reached the implementation stage; however, it is better for the authorities to think of a solution for this phenomenon given the current situation,' and 'judicial action against these cases may only push these spaces towards informality; thus, the roots must be addressed.' The Bermuda Triangle of the Drug Mafia in Iran; 'Bank Melli, Social Security, and the Executive Headquarters of Imam' The newspaper Sepid, in a report titled 'Does the Bermuda Triangle of the State Drug Mafia Exist?' named 'Bank Melli, Social Security Organization, and the Executive Headquarters of Imam's Command' as institutions that hold a large monopoly over drug imports and production in Iran. This newspaper reported that Hassan Ghazizadeh Hashemi, the Minister of Health, 'explicitly spoke about the drug mafia being in the hands of certain institutions' and emphasized that 'a significant share of drugs is held by Bank Melli, Social Security, and the Executive Headquarters of Imam's Command. Don't think this mafia is only in the private sector; part of it is in the non-private sector.' The reporter from the newspaper Sepid noted that 'the issue of mafia in the field of drugs is not new, and if you search the news in this area, you will see that over the years, many have sporadically referred to the drug mafia, sometimes with information from sources who do not want their names disclosed; for example, somewhere the role of health insurance, merged with Iran Health Insurance, in the drug mafia has been exposed, and as a result, traces of it have been discovered in the Ministry of Health or the Ministry of Welfare, but all these cases are only raised briefly and forgotten over time.' Abed Fattahi, a member of the Health and Treatment Commission of the 9th Parliament, told the newspaper Sepid: 'We know that what is abundantly visible in our country are illegal activities in the field of drugs. We have both a mafia in drug imports and a mafia in drug production, but regarding details, there is little information, and we only know that these problems are not few.' This parliament member stated: 'Many illegal activities also occur in this area. Right now, there are statistics that if they want to confront, many will have to engage with it. Wherever you touch, there is treachery, but how to deal with it is neither defined nor specified. In any case, if the government needs help to confront this mafia, we in the Health Commission of the Parliament will not hesitate to cooperate.' Alireza Mahjoub, another member of the 9th Parliament, however, rejected the Minister of Health's statements regarding the drug mafia, saying: 'The Minister of Health says a lot of ridiculous things; the Social Security Organization is responsible for the health and treatment of 38 million people and only holds 29% of the country's drug production. Can this imply mafia?' Masoud Pezeshkian, a current parliament member and former Minister of Health, also told the newspaper Sepid: 'If this information, which seems not to be far-fetched, pertains to past years, we expect the Ministry of Health, in its supervisory capacity, to take steps to confront this mafia; the Ministry of Health should take such action, it does not need to announce and then sit idle,' and 'Now that the current Ministry of Health has clearly identified the path of the drug production mafia, it must intervene.' This member of the 9th Parliament emphasized that 'If these three organizations are the drug mafia in our country, the Ministry of Health has granted them licenses and based on that, it should supervise. If there is a problem, the Ministry of Health should prevent it and close the door on it.'