Wave of Pilots' Migration from Iran

The newspaper Shargh described the letter from the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic to Hassan Rouhani regarding the implementation of the JCPOA as a 'conditional approval of the JCPOA.' The government-aligned newspaper Iran referred to this letter as a 'command from the Leader for the implementation of the JCPOA,' stating that 'the Supreme Leader confirmed the resolution of the Supreme National Security Council in the letter to the President.' The newspaper Ebtekar also described this letter as 'the Leader's seal of approval on the JCPOA.' The newspaper Javan, close to the Revolutionary Guards, characterized this letter as 'conditional approval of the JCPOA with 9 stipulations,' noting that 'one important point that must be seriously considered in light of the Leader's command regarding the JCPOA is the congressional sanctions.' The newspaper Kayhan, while publishing a photo of Ali Khamenei, wrote: 'The son of Ashura thwarted America's plan.' The newspaper Vatan-e-Emruz also dedicated its headline and photo to this letter, evaluating it as an 'antidote' and stating that with the issuance of the requirements and strategic considerations for implementing the JCPOA in the 'historic letter from the Leader of the Revolution to the President, the damaging loopholes and escape routes for lifting sanctions have been closed.' The newspapers Etemad, Shahrvand, Bahar, and Ebtekar in their Thursday editions focused on the disruption of Iranian users' access to the internet and some social networks and messaging apps, especially 'Telegram.' The newspaper Arman, while publishing a report about the migration of Iranian pilots, wrote: 'The low salaries of Iranian pilots are driving them away.' According to the newspaper Arman, Gholamreza Mohammad, a board member of the Iranian Pilots Association, pointed out that '100 Iranian pilots are working in foreign airlines' and stated: 'Every day there is a risk of pilots leaving the country.' The newspaper Bahar reported on a new wave of media attacks by critics of the government, citing 'the remarks of Hassan Rouhani's parliamentary deputy' regarding 'optional hijab instead of mandatory hijab,' although it reported that Majid Ansari denied such statements. The newspaper Shargh dedicated its front page to 'pro and con candidates for the JCPOA in America,' stating: 'The nuclear agreement with Iran is one of the most important issues discussed in the camps of both the Republican and Democratic parties for the 2016 presidential election campaign in America.' The newspaper Iran dedicated its front page to the meeting between Bashar al-Assad and Vladimir Putin, reporting under the headline 'Assad at the Russian ally's home,' stating: 'In the third week of the start of Russian military operations in Syria, Bashar al-Assad, the President of Syria, traveled to Moscow to thank the Kremlin.' The newspaper Shahrvand reported on 'widespread cholera outbreak in Iraq,' stating: 'Iraqi health officials announced on Wednesday that the number of cholera cases in the country has exceeded 1800.' Telegram in the whirlpool of disruption and filtering The newspaper Etemad, in a report titled 'Telegram in the whirlpool of disruption and filtering,' referred to the simultaneous emphasis of Hassan Rouhani on facilitating access to social networks and the warning from the 'Gerdab' website, affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards, about the increased use of Telegram and, of course, its disruption and filtering in recent days. According to this newspaper, two days after Hassan Rouhani's presence at the Supreme Cyber Space Council meeting and his statement that 'facilitating access and use of virtual space and social networks while simultaneously combating the misuse of information exchange and its harms should be prioritized,' internet users in Iran 'not only did not witness the facilitation of this matter in recent days but also faced many disruptions and slowdowns.' Etemad pointed out that the disruption in Iranian users' access to the internet expanded to the extent that the Communications Infrastructure Company, responsible for providing the country's bandwidth, announced: 'Following the disruption of communication routes in Turkey and Bab-el-Mandeb, part of the international communications of regional countries, including Iran, has slowed down.' According to this newspaper, in addition to disruptions in the internet network, the most widely used social network among Iranians, namely Telegram, has also made headlines in recent days, with rumors about its filtering gaining strength simultaneously with a tweet published by Telegram's CEO, Pavel Durov, who claimed that Iranian officials had requested him to provide private messages of Iranian users to them. The Telegram CEO emphasized his refusal to cooperate with government entities in Iran, stating: 'We cannot do this,' but 'over the past week, Iran has stopped half of Telegram's traffic and today completely blocked us for two hours; it seems that after the news was published, they decided to lift our blockade.' According to Etemad, these tweets were met with reactions from Iranian officials, including the public relations office of the Ministry of Communications, which announced: 'This tweet may be photoshopped, but if it is proven that the Telegram CEO made such a statement, we will officially investigate it,' but now 'the discussion among Twitter users about how it is possible to use Photoshop in a personal account continues and may indicate that the public relations officer of such an organization does not have a precise understanding of today's popular media.' This newspaper also reminded that the volume of Iranian users' use of the Telegram messaging network 'has raised concerns that strengthen the likelihood of filtering this network, even in a smart form,' writing that the Center for Organized Crime Investigation, affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards, has issued a serious warning on its website 'Gerdab' regarding 'the content provided in Telegram channels and bots.' This center affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards announced that in Telegram 'the possibility of creating bots and channels has become a place for some opportunistic individuals; those who, individually or organized, seek to disseminate specific content on people's phones; content that seems to correspond with all the items on the list of criminal content.' The newspaper Etemad also referred to the reaction of the Minister of Communications to the Telegram CEO's tweet, quoting Mahmoud Vaezi as saying: 'In these two years, I have been an advocate for people's privacy. People should also know that the government protects their privacy, but we have always told them to publish information that does not create problems for them, as the servers of these applications are not in Iran. If, by a court order, there is a need for people's information, this does not relate to the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, and its ministry is separate. In the past two weeks, three of the channels that connect us to the world, including the channel in Turkish territory, Bab-el-Mandeb, and the Persian Gulf, have encountered problems, and all sites whose routes passed through these channels have experienced disruptions, and Telegram assumed that this disruption was related to its network.' According to this newspaper, Davood Zareian, the public relations director of the Telecommunications Company of Iran, also reacted to the news regarding the filtering of Telegram, stating: 'The policy of the eleventh government has been opposed to filtering from the beginning and remains so, and it will continue until the end of this government’s term; therefore, Telecommunications has no decision to filter Telegram.' The newspaper Etemad emphasized that 'officials are still thinking about smart filtering,' quoting Davood Zareian, the public relations director of the Telecommunications Company of Iran, as saying: 'No one can resist the correct logic of smart filtering. The government's policy has always been to support the free flow of correct, accurate, and healthy information. On the other hand, the government has never been in favor of the spread of immorality and is not, and naturally, logic and rational policy dictate that a proper stance be taken against content and issues that undermine ethics and promote vulgarity.' The wave of pilots' migration from Iran; low salaries of Iranian pilots are driving them away The newspaper Arman, while publishing a report about the migration of Iranian pilots, wrote: 'The low salaries of Iranian pilots are driving them away.' According to the newspaper Arman, Gholamreza Mohammad, a board member of the Iranian Pilots Association, pointed out that '100 Iranian pilots are working in foreign airlines' and stated: 'Every day there is a risk of pilots leaving the country.' Gholamreza Mohammadi noted that the motivation for Iranian pilots to leave the country has intensified, stating: 'Currently, about 1200 first pilots and co-pilots are active in the country, of which about 600 are captains who have flown more than 4,000 hours. The board member of the Iranian Pilots Association emphasized that 'low salaries and inadequate fleet in the country have caused Iranian pilots, especially the youth, to currently work in Turkey, India, the UAE, Qatar, and other neighboring and European countries,' stating that a 'co-pilot in a neighboring country earns about 10 to 12 thousand dollars per month, while some Iranian airlines pay pilots 3 million tomans.' The average salary of Iranian pilots is between 8 to 10 million tomans per month. According to the newspaper Arman, this board member of the Iranian Pilots Association stated: 'A large part of pilots' salaries in our country depends on the number of hours flown by the pilot in a month. In this situation, the number of an airline's fleet definitely affects the pilot's salary because if the number of an airline's fleet is low, its number of flights is also low, and this leads to a decrease in the salary of the relevant airline's pilot.' Gholamreza Mohammadi stated: 'Based on collected statistics, pilots have left the country at 3 or 4 intervals since the revolution and have been working in foreign airlines, with the main reason for their decision being low salaries.' The board member of the Iranian Pilots Association also mentioned that 'training a co-pilot to be promoted to a first pilot costs one billion tomans, so it is an investment,' but 'on the other hand, a young Iranian pilot, despite his attachment to his country, goes to the UAE to work in the airlines of that country for higher pay.' The newspaper Arman reminded that previously, Hooshang Shahbazi, one of the prominent Iranian pilots, also criticized the situation of pilots, stating: 'Currently, two thousand young pilots in the country are either unemployed or working in agencies.' According to Hooshang Shahbazi, these young pilots are 20 to 25 years old and 'each of these pilots has spent 100 million tomans to obtain a pilot's license over five years,' stating that 'passenger plane pilots must be co-pilots for 15 years after five years of training and become pilots after 20 years,' but 'currently, young Iranian pilots, who are the future assets of this country, are either unemployed due to the lack of a steward or are working in agencies.' 'The game of the alarmists' in the field of mandatory or optional hijab The newspaper Bahar reported on a new wave of media attacks by government critics, citing 'the remarks of Hassan Rouhani's parliamentary deputy' regarding 'hijab,' noting that the statements attributed to Majid Ansari have been denied. According to this newspaper, 'Fereshteh Rouhafza, the deputy of the women's organization of the Student Basij, claimed that Majid Ansari, the parliamentary deputy of the eleventh government, requested that hijab in the country be modeled after Turkey and Lebanon,' but 'this claim was refuted by Majid Ansari within 24 hours, clarifying that the subject of discussion in the commission was neither modeling after Turkey and Lebanon nor abandoning hijab, but rather emphasizing previous regulations of chastity and hijab and also the plan to support the enforcers of good and forbidders of evil.' The newspaper Bahar emphasized that 'the claim of Fereshteh Rouhafza,' who is responsible for women's affairs in the electoral headquarters of Saeed Jalili during the 2013 elections, 'was denied by the parliamentary deputy of the president,' but 'despite this, Fereshteh Rouhafza insisted on her statements and reiterated that to clarify the truth of the matter, the audio file of the meeting should be published.' This newspaper, alluding to the date of the meeting of the cultural commission of the parliament with the presence of Majid Ansari two months ago, wrote: 'If the parliamentary deputy of the president mentioned the optional hijab, how come the parliament representatives have shown no objection in the past two months?' The newspaper Bahar, however, quoted Majid Ansari as saying: 'What has been attributed to me is pure falsehood, and it is surprising that after two months of raising a topic in the cultural commission, why these statements are being made now, when the government has achieved successes and the atmosphere of the country has become calmer.' The parliamentary deputy of Hassan Rouhani stated: 'Political and media immorality has not even stopped during the mourning days by some individuals, and this lie has been deliberately spread to provide fodder for some individuals in religious sessions to provoke the religious sentiments of the people.' According to this newspaper, while noting that the denial of 'the claims' of the women's affairs official of the student Basij by the parliamentary deputy of Hassan Rouhani 'was not the end of the matter,' it reported that Fereshteh Rouhafza reiterated in an interview with the Jahan News website that 'in the cultural commission meeting, Mr. Majid Ansari said that we can use models from Turkey and Lebanon for hijab. Regarding these statements, one of the attendees addressed him, asking, 'Aren't you a cleric and don't you have faith?' and after these discussions, Ansari did not wait to listen to the remaining objections and left the meeting.' Now, 'Majid Ansari denies this claim while I explicitly ask the Islamic Consultative Assembly to publish the audio of that meeting uncensored and without any cuts to reveal who the liar is.' The newspaper Bahar simultaneously quoted Jamshid Jafarpoor, a member of the cultural commission of the parliament, stating: 'I do not exactly remember the words spoken in this meeting, but I do not recall Mr. Ansari making such a statement, and it is possible that an objection was raised or a proposal was made by either side in the meeting, but I do not remember Mr. Ansari saying such a thing.'