Unemployment Among University Graduates

The newspaper Shargh reports on its front page about the "nuclear counterattack of the presiding board against the hardliners" during the review of the "obligation of the government to preserve nuclear achievements" plan, stating: "Hardliners were ready to obstruct; a plan was formulated for this purpose, and efforts were made to place a significant obstacle in front of the nuclear team. The presiding board took action and, by making some changes to the proposed plan, redirected the course elsewhere." However, newspapers critical of the nuclear negotiations have a different assessment of the changes and the approval of the generalities of the "obligation of the government to preserve nuclear achievements" in their Tuesday issue. The newspaper Kayhan emphasized in its front page that the "nuclear rights protection plan has been diluted." Meanwhile, the newspaper Vatan-e-Emruz described the parliamentary resolution passed on Sunday as the "approval of the requirements for a good agreement." The newspaper Etemad, in its Tuesday front page titled "Education Unemployment in Universities," reported that "more than six million university graduates in Iran are unemployed." The newspaper Arman also warned of a "tsunami of unemployment among university graduates" and quoted the Deputy Minister of Cooperatives, Labor, and Social Welfare as stating that the youth unemployment rate is 18 percent, and the unemployment rate for university graduates is "between 21.5 to 22 percent." The newspaper Aftab Yazd published a front-page report about "gender segregation in the state media" and mentioned the issuance of a directive from the Deputy of Voice to the managers of the radio networks affiliated with this organization, stating: "The gender segregation plan was implemented at the behest of Narges Abrouani in the Voice of the Islamic Republic of Iran after efforts by the Ministry of Health, Sciences, and the Tehran Municipality." Aftab Yazd emphasized that the gender segregation plan "has not yielded any clear results in terms of what officials refer to as improving employee efficiency and psychological security, as shown by three decades of experience." The newspaper Shahrevand reported on the "increased mortality due to hospital infections," stating: "Hospital infections are now killing patients more than before." "The scar that has a 25-year mark" is the title of a report by Elnaz Mohammadi in the newspaper Shahrevand on the occasion of the "25th anniversary of the Rudbar and Manjil earthquake." The newspaper Shahrevand wrote: "Now, 25 years have passed since the Rudbar and Manjil earthquake, and the people of these cities are still haunted by the nightmare of the earthquake of 69. Since that night, that bloody and dark June of 69, Rudbar has become a different city; many of the residents of Rudbar and Manjil have migrated from these cities. Most of the migrants are those who were injured and disabled in this earthquake; those who, as Attaollah Hakimi, the representative of Rudbar in the parliament, says, have moved to other cities in Gilan province because their city does not even have a rehabilitation and care center for the disabled." Arya Toofani, the former head of the Rudbar Welfare Organization, who has worked in this organization for years, also told the newspaper Shahrevand: "Rudbar still does not have a care center for the disabled, and all are aware of the fact that this city has 120 spinal cord injury survivors, most of whom suffered this problem in the Rudbar earthquake." The newspaper Iran dedicated its front page to a joint meeting of the government and parliament, describing the outcome as "the harmony of Baharestan and Pasteur." According to this newspaper, the president, in the sixth joint meeting of the government and parliament, pointed out that nuclear negotiations have reached a critical stage, stating: "Negotiations are a matter for the entire country, and we hope that with the help of parliament and the support of the people, we can achieve a satisfactory and pleasing result while upholding the rights of the nation and securing the interests of the country." The nuclear counterattack of the presiding board against hardliners; "Dilution" of the nuclear plan. The newspaper Shargh reports on its front page about the "nuclear counterattack of the presiding board against the hardliners" during the review of the "obligation of the government to preserve nuclear achievements" plan, stating: "Hardliners were ready to obstruct; a plan was formulated for this purpose, and efforts were made to place a significant obstacle in front of the nuclear team. The presiding board took action and, by making some changes to the proposed plan, redirected the course elsewhere." Ameneh Shirafkan, a parliamentary reporter for the newspaper Shargh, pointed out the approval of the generalities of the obligation of the government to preserve nuclear achievements in the parliament session on Sunday, referring to Ali Larijani's role in the substantive changes of this plan, stating: "The plan underwent one or two fundamental changes, and ultimately, Ali Larijani read a text that was very different from what the parliament's hardliners wanted," and the Speaker of the Parliament emphasized to some of them: "The nuclear issue is not like selling potatoes." This newspaper emphasized that "the examples of changes made in the generalities of the plan are noteworthy," especially mentioning the "change in the first clause of the urgent plan obliging the government to preserve the achievements and rights of the Iranian nation in the nuclear field." The hardliners' front demanded the complete and unified cancellation of all sanctions stipulated in the Security Council resolutions, the decisions of the European Union, the Congress, and the U.S. government on the day of the agreement, but ultimately, clause one of this plan changed to: "The complete and comprehensive lifting of sanctions must be included in the text of the agreement and be implemented on the day Iran's commitments begin." Shargh also emphasized that another key change was the addition of the clause "necessary coordination with the Supreme National Security Council" and the removal of "the oversight of the seven-member committee of representatives over the proper implementation of the agreement." Abbasali Mansouri Arani told the newspaper Shargh that the final plan, which was approved by 199 representatives on Sunday, "gives the nuclear team more room to maneuver and emphasizes the red lines more, allowing the nuclear team to operate freely in diplomatic tactics." This newspaper also quoted Ali Larijani as saying: "In this plan, the necessary amendments have been made so that negotiators' hands are open within the framework desired by the Leader and the Supreme National Security Council." The Speaker of the Ninth Parliament also emphasized that "we should not bind the Leader's hands in this matter; rather, whatever decision he makes in this matter, we must obey in the parliament, and the Supreme National Security Council is not related to the government. The nuclear issue is not a matter of selling potatoes in the country, and in such matters, we must coordinate with the Supreme National Security Council." The newspaper Shargh also referred to complaints from some representatives close to the hardliners, including Hamid Rasai, about the content of the approved plan in the parliament, stating: "Hamid Rasai's complaint about the changes made in the proposed plan is that these are not the opinions of the Supreme National Security Council, and the opinions of Zarif and Shamkhani in drafting the final plan have been influential." This newspaper, while referring to the addition of decisions and the role of the Supreme National Security Council in this plan, reminded that in clause two of the single article of the "obligation of the government to preserve nuclear achievements" plan, it states: "The International Atomic Energy Agency is authorized to conduct routine inspections of nuclear sites within the framework of the safeguards agreement, and access to military, security, and sensitive non-nuclear sites, documents, and scientists is prohibited and must comply with the resolutions of the Supreme National Security Council," and in clause three, it emphasizes that "there are no restrictions on acquiring peaceful nuclear knowledge and technology and research and development, and the resolutions of the Supreme National Security Council must be complied with." According to the newspaper Shargh, clause one of this single article also states: "The complete and comprehensive lifting of sanctions must be included in the text of the agreement and be implemented on the day Iran's commitments begin." However, newspapers critical of the nuclear negotiations have a different assessment of the changes and the approval of the generalities of the "obligation of the government to preserve nuclear achievements" in their Tuesday issue. The newspaper Kayhan emphasized in its front page that the "nuclear rights protection plan has been diluted." This newspaper stressed that "the representatives of the parliament approved the generalities of the obligation of the government to preserve the rights and achievements of the nuclear program with many changes, changes that can be considered a type of dilution of the mentioned plan," writing: "Significant changes have been made to this plan, and its dilution is such that the main and major objectives of this plan have been neutralized." Kayhan also wrote: "The explicit and clear requirements of the initial plan have created loopholes for granting unjustified concessions by adding or subtracting some items." According to this newspaper, "in clause one of the new single article," which was approved by 199 representatives on Sunday, it states: "The lifting of sanctions must be included in the text of the agreement and be implemented on the day Iran's commitments begin," while "the phrase 'complete and unified cancellation of all sanctions stipulated in the Security Council resolutions, decisions of the European Union, Congress, and the U.S. government' was removed from the previous clause one, and the phrase 'on the day of the agreement' was changed to 'on the day of the implementation of Iran's commitments.'" Kayhan also cited the replacement of the "Supreme National Security Council" instead of the "seven-member committee of parliament" for overseeing the potential nuclear agreement, as well as the addition of the necessity of "observing the resolutions of the Supreme National Security Council" regarding the IAEA's oversight of nuclear and military activities as some of the "dilution" of this plan. However, the newspaper Vatan-e-Emruz described the parliamentary resolution passed on Sunday as the "approval of the requirements for a good agreement," stating: "The Islamic Consultative Assembly, in this resolution, while emphasizing the complete and unified lifting of sanctions, prohibits any access to individuals' documents and military equipment and also prohibits restrictions on research and development programs." This newspaper, whose owner is Mehrdad Bazrpash, one of the representatives close to the hardliners in the Ninth Parliament, noted the controversies surrounding the approval of the generalities of the "obligation of the government to preserve nuclear achievements" plan, stating: "Overall, it can be said that this law provides the necessary requirements to prevent a bad agreement." The newspaper Vatan-e-Emruz, however, wrote that "some experts say that the parliament should clarify during the discussion of details on Wednesday that there should be no changes in the technical structure of Iran's nuclear program between the signing and implementation." Education "Unemployment" in Universities; Computer, Environment, and Agriculture Majors Lead Unemployment. The newspaper Etemad, in its Tuesday front page titled "Education Unemployment in Universities," reported that "more than six million university graduates in Iran are unemployed." According to this newspaper, "an examination of the status of graduates shows that out of the 11 million graduates, only four million and 400 thousand are considered employed, and part of this population has also failed to find jobs," and this statistic indicates that "more than half of this population is considered inactive." Etemad pointed out that "a significant portion of the inactive population belongs to educated women," writing: "An examination of the status of the inactive educated population shows that out of more than five million and 700 thousand inactive graduates in Iran, two million and 328 thousand and 256 are men, while the number of inactive educated women reaches three million and 406 thousand and 762." This newspaper wrote: "Estimates indicate that a significant portion of the unemployed educated population has obtained a bachelor's degree, although the unemployment rate among those with higher degrees has also increased in recent years." The newspaper Etemad also introduced "the leading majors in unemployment," stating: "Many of the majors that are now recognized as necessary and advanced are at the top of the list of majors with the highest number of unemployed graduates, with the highest unemployment rates among graduates in computer science, environmental protection, agriculture, fisheries, and forestry, with unemployment rates exceeding 27 percent in each of these three majors." This newspaper, while noting that computer science, environmental protection, and agriculture, fisheries, and forestry are "not the only majors facing double-digit unemployment rates," cited estimates from the Statistical Center of Iran, stating: "The unemployment rate among graduates in the arts is also reported to be over 23 percent. Graduates in behavioral and social sciences face an unemployment rate of 22 percent, while graduates in physical sciences face an unemployment rate of 21.8 percent." Furthermore, "graduates in architecture and construction engineering and engineering professions face unemployment rates of 25.3 percent and 25.1 percent, respectively." According to the newspaper Etemad, "the most popular majors in Iranian universities include fields such as business and administrative affairs and humanities, with these two majors having 1 million 769 thousand and 638 graduates or students and 1 million 275 thousand and 218 graduates or students, respectively," but "the interesting point is that the unemployment rate in these two majors is also lower than in other majors, with unemployment rates of 15.1 percent in humanities and 19.1 percent in business and administrative affairs." This newspaper also cited a report from the Research Center of the Parliament about "the annual migration of 180 thousand graduates from Iran," stating: "Studies show that most migrants leave Iran after completing their bachelor's degree, and statistics indicate Iran's high ranking in producing graduates." The youth unemployment rate has quadrupled. The newspaper Arman also warned of a "tsunami of unemployment among university graduates" and quoted the Deputy Minister of Cooperatives, Labor, and Social Welfare as stating that the youth unemployment rate is 18 percent, and the unemployment rate for university graduates is "between 21.5 to 22 percent."