Two Deadly Incidents in the Oil Industry

The newspaper Jahan Sanat reported the occurrence of a second deadly incident in the oil industry within less than 48 hours, stating: "While the Iranian oil industry was still in shock from the loss of seven of its best employees during the explosion at Tehran refinery on Friday, on Sunday afternoon, due to a gas leak, the National Iranian Drilling Company’s Rig No. 95, stationed on well 147 of the Rag Sefid oil field, caught fire within a few minutes, and at least four deaths have been confirmed so far." According to the newspaper, "In the fire incident of Rig No. 95 located in the Rag Sefid field, the rig was drilling at a depth of 2,600 meters in the Asmari reservoir, where due to technical reasons, the drilling pipe stopped at a depth of 80 meters, and employees and specialists were trying to resolve the issue when suddenly fluids erupted upwards, causing a large explosion. The volume of fire and speed of the explosion were such that none of the employees could react in time." Jahan Sanat reported that "the driller and the chief driller were among those who lost their lives at the very first moment," and "according to unconfirmed reports, apparently four people lost their lives in this incident, but the number of casualties seems to be higher." Rig No. 95, which the newspaper noted was "one of the most advanced land rigs in Iran, capable of drilling exploratory and developmental wells to depths of over six thousand meters with a power of two thousand horsepower," was initially overturned and then completely destroyed due to the fire and subsequent explosion. Jahan Sanat reminded that on Friday, "a hydrocarbon leak led to a tragic incident at the Isomax unit of Tehran oil refinery, where seven employees of the Iranian oil industry have lost their lives, and one of the injured from this incident is hospitalized with 98% burns." The newspaper described the safety situation of the Iranian oil and gas industry as "accident after accident," stating: "More than a year after a series of incidents in Iran's petrochemical industries, which caused heavy financial losses but no human casualties to a chain of companies and petrochemical complexes one after another, it is now the turn of other sectors of the Iranian oil industry to feel the bitter and painful taste of accidents." The report noted that "the Iranian oil industry has faced occasional incidents of explosions, fires, and oil and gas eruptions in various wells from oil fields in central regions to southern Zagros and now the oil-rich southern areas" over the past decade, recalling incidents such as "gas eruptions from wells 23 and 29 of the Kangan field (July 2006), gas eruptions and oil leaks from the Abu Zar field as the largest oil field in the Persian Gulf (February 2008), gas eruptions from the Roshdat oil field (November 2009), gas eruptions and oil leaks from well 104 of the Marun field (January 2010), eruptions from oil and gas wells No. 24 of the Oil City field in Qasr-e Shirin, well No. 76 of Bibi Hakimeh (November 6, 2011), and well 104 of Marun on January 22, 2010)." Now, the incident has occurred at well No. 147 of the Rag Sefid oil field; an incident that seems to be technically and incidentally very similar to the oil eruption in the Oil City field. The newspaper Shargh reported on its front page titled "Political Crime Now with Jury" that "the first members of the jury for political crimes in Iran took their oath on Sunday. They are new members of the press jury but since this jury's term is the first after the approval of the political crime law in the country, according to Gholamhossein Esmaeili, the head of the Tehran judiciary, the new members of the press jury are also considered members of the political crime jury." The names of 21 members of the jury for press and political crimes in Shargh have been published, most of whom are well-known figures close to the principlist faction. The number of members of this jury in other cities will be 14, who will be invited by the head of the judiciary to join this jury. The selection of jury members, which takes place every two years, is the responsibility of a committee formed at the invitation and with the presence of the head of the judiciary or his representative, along with the Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance, the head of the Islamic City Council, the head of the Islamic Propagation Organization, and a representative of the Policy Council of Friday Prayer Imams in Tehran and provincial centers. The newspaper Shargh pointed out that "Article 168 of the Constitution addresses political crimes and states: the trial of political and press crimes is public and takes place with the presence of a jury in the courts of justice," writing: "With the establishment of the political crime jury, it is expected that trials of defendants of political crimes will be held with the presence of this jury; a court that the political crime law was approved in May 2016 and was communicated for implementation to the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Justice on June 6 of the same year by the President." Bahman Keshavarz, a lawyer and legal expert, in a note in the newspaper Iran, evaluated the formation of the "political jury" as a "positive transformation" but wrote: "However, regarding the jury, it must be said that the purpose of the jury's involvement in lawsuits is to clarify the opinion and will of society regarding the lawsuit in question through representatives of the community, which are the jury members. Therefore, the measures taken in the selection of the jury must be such that it brings us closer to the aforementioned goal." The legal expert wrote that "in many countries where juries are present in their criminal courts, the selection method is such that a list of literate citizens without criminal records and of legal age residing in that city is prepared, and then for each trial, a number of them are randomly selected and invited, and since they are temporarily out of work, they are paid for the days they attend court," and "the prosecutor and the defendant's lawyer have the right to question the jury members to ensure that they do not have any particular bias or prejudice against the defendant and the subject of the accusation. Even the prosecutor and the defendant's lawyer may dismiss some jury members without questioning. For this reason, in important and large trials, the selection of the jury sometimes takes several days." The writer of the note in the newspaper Iran emphasized that "in our judicial system, the selection method is such that it is very far from what we mentioned," writing that in Iran "first, jury members are fixed and unchangeable for years; second, they cannot be considered representatives of the general public; third, the prosecutor and the defendant's lawyer do not have the right to question them and possibly dismiss them; fourth, due to their prolonged tenure in this position, they suffer from a phenomenon known as 'professional deformation,' which means that some important issues become less significant in the eyes of those who deal with them frequently." The newspaper Shargh reported with the title "The Controversies of a Day Named Cyrus" that while "believers in Cyrus Day strive every year to honor it by gathering around the tomb of the Achaemenid king," various news reports "about the imposition of some prohibitions and restrictions on participants in this day have been published in media and social networks." The newspaper wrote that "initially it was said that the road leading to Pasargad would be closed on Cyrus Day. In another report, a military drill was mentioned near this area, and images of informational billboards in this regard were published. Also, according to some reports, the holding of any tourism tours to Pasargad in the days leading up to November 7 was announced as prohibited by all agencies," and alongside these reports, videos were also published on Sunday showing a significant crowd around the tomb of Cyrus despite all the restrictions. However, the Fars governorate's website quoted the political-security deputy of this governorate as saying that "the videos circulating from the tomb of Cyrus on social networks are archival." The newspaper noted that Ismail Tabadar, the governor of Fars, and several officials from this province visited the UNESCO World Heritage site of Pasargad on Sunday, November 7, and the political-security deputy of the Fars governorate emphasized that "in the past 24 hours, there have been no specific security incidents around the tomb of Cyrus, and since a large number of people did not visit, we did not witness traffic congestion on the connecting routes to this area," adding that "the people of Pasargad village and the region have cooperated well in ensuring the security of the area, and we appreciate them for that." The newspaper reminded that in 2016, after some incidents on Cyrus Day, including "chanting slogans by some attendees at the ceremony leading to the imposition of some prohibitions and confrontations with participants in this ceremony," sentences were issued for "more than 70 of these individuals" after their arrest, with some of them sentenced to imprisonment ranging from one to seven years. The newspaper Javan, close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, in a note titled "The Polarization of Islam with Iran in the Garb of Honoring Cyrus" wrote: "The commemoration of World Cyrus Day is a code name for the system of domination for overthrowing in Iran." This newspaper introduced "Cyrus Day" as a "great lie" and the result of "lies produced by Western intelligence agencies," referring to Wikipedia as a "spy service" and wrote: "This lie was first produced on the basis of exploiting the pride of Iranians regarding the historical background of ancient Iran by intelligence services in Wikipedia and gradually, through repeated and targeted reiteration in other news and media environments in the virtual world, it became an important topic for gatherings of overthrowing elements and self-alienated and Western-loving individuals against the religion of Islam through the honoring and glorification of the fictitious Cyrus." The newspaper Javan wrote: "Everything that extreme neoliberalism attributes to Cyrus at the United Nations is entirely false and based on the feelings of patriotism and the people's interest in the ancient history of Iran, and despite the fact that the United Nations was formed based on the consolidation of the interests of the system of domination and is completely under their control, there is no trace of the lies attributed to the United Nations about Cyrus in any of its documents." The newspaper wrote: "The question is why those who have participated in the so-called 'World Cyrus Day' ceremonies in previous years have instead of honoring Cyrus, danced to the tune of the West and specifically the Zionist regime? Why has not a single slogan been raised against America, England, and the Zionist regime? Why have slogans been chanted against the Islamic Republic of Iran and Islam in the name of honoring Cyrus? The strange similarity between ISIS and Cyrus-worshippers and ancientists is certainly not coincidental." Abdullah Motuliyan in a note in the newspaper Javan wrote: "Just as ISIS, claiming to be the Islamic state, has targeted the heart of the Islamic world and Shiism instead of attacking the system of domination and the evil triangle of 'Hebrew, Western, and Wahhabi,' the Iranian Cyrus-worshippers have unfortunately targeted the heart of the Islamic Republic of Iran instead of using the capacity of national pride against the system of domination." This newspaper close to the IRGC introduced "Cyrus Day" as one of the "anti-security events" similar to the ceremonies held at Babak Castle, writing: "The summary of this case is also based on these facts: the commemoration of World Cyrus Day! is a code name for the system of domination for overthrowing in Iran," but "despite appreciating the awakening of responsible bodies in security, intelligence, etc., it must be acknowledged that the occurrence of such widespread conspiracies is a result of neglecting the enemy's plans," and "dealing with this issue requires careful planning, and any hasty and unplanned action may have destructive and divergent effects in the long term." Kayhan also quoted Hossein Shariatmadari, the representative of the Supreme Leader in this newspaper, regarding what he called "the gathering of some Western-oriented compatriots," stating: "These people, if they were in the era of Cyrus, would have served the Greek Empire, which was the enemy of Iran, to oppose him," and "the supporters of Cyrus at that time were precisely the forces of Hezbollah today, and his internal enemies were exactly those who today beat the drum for America and the West." The editor-in-chief of Kayhan, however, introduced Cyrus as a "prophet" but said: "Those who want to gather in honor of Cyrus on November 7, if they are truly supporters of Cyrus and honest in their claims, should chant 'Death to America' and 'Death to Israel,' and otherwise, they are enemies of Cyrus and the vision and character of that divine prophet." Interestingly, the representative of Ali Khamenei in Kayhan stated: "Those who want to explore about Cyrus and his character as a divine prophet, namely Dhul-Qarnayn, can refer to the first volume of the book 'Ancient and Contemporary History of Iran' by Ali Akbar Velayati." The newspaper Iran, close to the government, in a report titled "The Cabinet is Complete" wrote: "Finally, the composition of the twelfth government was completed two months after its formation." This newspaper noted that on Sunday, November 7, Mansour Gholami, the proposed Minister of Science, and Reza Ardakanian, the proposed Minister of Energy, managed to receive the necessary votes of confidence from the parliament to enter the cabinet. It wrote: "Mansour Gholami received 180 votes in favor in Baharestan, and Ardakanian received 225 votes in favor. In contrast, the number of opposing and abstaining votes for Gholami was 82 and 14, respectively, and for Ardakanian, it was 38 and 13," and thus "Ardakanian, in terms of receiving votes in favor in the parliament in the composition of the twelfth government, ranked twelfth along with Masoud Soltani Far.