We, the Unemployed Border Dwellers, Have Suffered

The newspaper Shahrvand has a report about the deaths of several porters during an avalanche this week, stating that "the families of the porters killed in the avalanche in Sardasht speak of the living conditions of their loved ones: we, the unemployed border dwellers, have suffered." Elnaz Mohammadi, the reporter for Shahrvand, wrote that the avalanche in Bahman (the month) killed them and tied their names to the border; with the snowy mountains of Kurdistan and poverty, she wrote: "Now four days have passed since the 10th of Bahman; since the night when Shirzad, Akam, Ali, and Hiwa went to the mountains to bring goods from the Iraq border like most familiar men and relatives and of course, the mountain did not return them and death was their fate; a cold and frozen death with a ruthless avalanche on the 10th of Bahman." The newspaper mentions the deceased porters, stating that "Ali Mohammadi, 18 years old, was in his last year of high school and worked as a porter to pay 800,000 tomans for his school tuition" and "Akam Hamzeh Zadeh was 21 years old, a plaster worker who, like other plaster workers, becomes unemployed in winter" and "his rent was due and he had no household expenses," and even "he was initially supposed to go to Iraq for plastering. But then he became a porter, having only worked as a porter for two months before this incident occurred. In these two months, he might have brought goods ten times. He brought a television, vacuum cleaner, etc., at 5,000 tomans per kilo. If he brought a 60-kilo load, it would be 300,000 tomans. He lost his life for 250,000 or 300,000 tomans." "Basrin Ahmadi," the wife of "Shirzad Abdollahi," one of the four porters who got caught in the avalanche in the Sardasht mountains, told Shahrvand: "Baran, their two-year-old daughter who is sick, and Shirzad Abdollahi went to the mountains for the third time to find money for her physiotherapy, and he was killed on Baran's birthday." Akam Hamzeh Zadeh's father told the newspaper: "When there is war, it belongs to us, misery belongs to us, unemployment belongs to us; in an area of this size, for a hundred kilometers, not a single factory can be found. What should be done for these young people? The unfortunate young man either has to go and bring goods and be killed under an avalanche and by the border guards or remain unemployed. There are people living in this area who are below the poverty line." The newspaper Sharq reported on "a double-urgent plan by the parliament to organize porters" and wrote: "The double-urgent plan of the Baharestani representatives is supposed to be a balm for the pains of porters in the border regions of Iran." So far, 30 representatives have signed it. Abdolkarim Hossein Zadeh, the initiator of this plan, told the newspaper: "In this double-urgent plan, which has been drafted to support porters, we seek to bring the borders out of this situation and turn them into stable and commercial borders; that is, the goal of the plan is to create jobs and an economic perspective to solve the porter problem; an issue that has always been ignored by officials over the past few decades." Ameneh Sharafkan, a reporter for the newspaper Sharq, emphasized that "the proposers of this plan are seeking to involve the ministries of interior, labor, industry, and foreign affairs so that they can take action to attract investment and job creation in these areas with the cooperation of these government agencies," adding that "the plan to organize the villages of war-torn provinces can also provide more opportunities for attention to border provinces; a plan that includes five border provinces including Kermanshah, Kurdistan, and West Azerbaijan, where many people living in the border cities are engaged in portering. The newspaper Etemad in its front page titled "Report Without Apology" wrote: "On Thursday morning, at the same time that the representatives of the parliament headed to Baharestan and probably the Minister of Interior and Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, the mayor of Tehran, finalized their report on Plasco, news of finding several body parts reached the families of the missing in this incident, and they began their day worried about the results of the DNA tests. It was supposed that at 10:30 am, the mayor of Tehran and the Minister of Interior would be present in the parliament to perhaps finally answer many unanswered questions about this disaster through the reports of the Minister of Interior, the mayor of Tehran, and the representatives. Questions that not only were not answered but also created new knots and dissatisfied many representatives." Zeinab Safari, a parliamentary reporter for the newspaper Etemad, described the atmosphere in the parliament: "Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf went to the podium and asked the presiding board to play a film he had prepared in the parliament. A film in which the narrations were read by Qalibaf himself and more than wanting to provide new data about the ambiguous dimensions of the Plasco disaster for the representatives and the media, it praised Qalibaf's personal management. The film included cut pieces of statements from several citizens and rescue and firefighter figures expressing: 'Thank God the building was evacuated on time,' 'Initially, the fire was extinguished, but shortly after, there was an explosion sound,' 'What they did was a miracle,' and then Qalibaf's narration saying: 'The building was metallic... saving everyone was on the agenda. Equipment arrived on time. There is no device in the world that can quickly remove debris. We even brought a 360-ton crane to the scene at that time.' And then the statement of one of the firefighters with a dusty and gloomy face saying, 'The best action was the presence of the head of the crisis headquarters at the scene.' The newspaper Etemad pointed out that the 'head of the crisis headquarters' referred to in this film is Qalibaf himself, noting that the mayor of Tehran 'did not leave anything out of praising his own performance' but when 'the film reached the broadcast of an emotional song along with scenes of firefighters' activities, Ali Larijani asked Qalibaf to stop the film and start his report.' According to this newspaper, 'Qalibaf's report, however, was more about the Plasco incident itself than a review of critical events in Iran and the world and compared it to Plasco. From the earthquakes of Manjil and Rudbar and Bam to the emergency landing of a plane in Isfahan, the deadly train accident in Nishapur, and the bus accident on the Qom highway, and even the September 11 incident were included in Qalibaf's review, showing that as the head of the crisis headquarters, he managed the Plasco disaster well in nine days. An approach that was repeatedly met with protests from representatives such as Jafarzadeh Eymen Abadi, the representative of Rasht, interrupting Qalibaf's speech for several minutes." Ahmad Bigdeli, a representative from Khodabandeh, told the newspaper Etemad: "Our objection was that it is not supposed to address issues from the podium of the parliament and that 290 representatives do not have the opportunity to comment on this matter. Mr. Qalibaf made his remarks, but the representatives were not allowed to express their views on his statements. He came and created new ambiguities with his report. Among other things, he claimed that firefighters arrived at the scene in two and a half minutes, while no sane person would accept this. In two and a half minutes, you can't even start the car. Let alone that these cars would have reached the incident in the traffic of Tehran." The newspaper Aftab Yazd described Qalibaf's statements in the parliament as "Gas Comparison" and wrote: "In the parliament, Qalibaf not only did not apologize to the people but also made strange statements about the similarities between the September 11 terrorist incident and the Plasco disaster." Maryam Alizadeh Mansouri, in a report for Aftab Yazd, wrote: "The reference to the September 11, 2001, event and the collapse of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center was part of the speech of the colonel before the representatives in the parliament, while it was supposed that the sound of Qalibaf's apology would resonate in the house of the people, but everything seen and heard from the mayor of the capital was an attempt to absolve himself of any blame and negligence regarding the Plasco incident. Instead of using the opportunity to express himself, he took advantage of it as an electoral meeting, using the podium of the parliament to explain his performance during his management of the capital." This newspaper noted that the mayor of Tehran said in the parliament: "The operation in the Plasco incident took 10 days, which was completed in less than 9 days, while the September 11 incident took eight months, and in the first part, the operation took 90 days," writing: "This strange and irrelevant comparison by Qalibaf to absolve himself can only be explained in two ways: either he is unaware of the details of the September 11 incident and what happened in the heart of New York in 2001, or he considers his audience to be lacking in knowledge and wisdom to utter such words. Of course, there is a third possibility that Qalibaf was so engrossed in praising himself that he spoke without thinking, as no matter how one looks at the Plasco incident and the September 11 event, their fundamental and obvious differences become clear, and Qalibaf's words appear strange and humorous." The newspaper Javan, close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, also described the reports of Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli and Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf in the parliament as "a report without untold stories from Plasco," stating: "On Thursday, the Minister of Interior and the Mayor of Tehran presented a report to the parliament on the management of the Plasco incident. In this report, the Minister of Interior, in the final months of the government, again promised to organize crisis incidents to reduce human and financial losses. The Mayor of Tehran also stated in his report that according to a government resolution from 2014 and based on the legal provisions of the parliament's resolution, the names, guild system, and the Ministry of Labor are responsible in this regard, with the Ministry of Labor designated as the inspector and the judiciary as the judicial authority. Overall, it can be said that these reports did not provide any new insights into the Plasco incident and repeated the same things that had been heard from officials in recent days." The newspaper Arman reported on its front page about "the US missile challenge against Iran," stating: "In the early days of Donald Trump's presidency, the White House claimed a ballistic missile test near Semnan, which they believe violates UN Security Council Resolution 2231 and, in fact, the JCPOA." Among other things, Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the UN, said on Tuesday: "The US believes this test violates the nuclear agreement, the JCPOA." According to this newspaper, the US ambassador to the UN also stated: "I tell the people of the world that they should be concerned about this test. The United States is not naive. We will not stand by and will take action in due time." The newspaper reminded that "what the US cites as a violation of the JCPOA refers to the third paragraph of Annex 'B' of UN Security Council Resolution 2231, which calls on Iran to refrain from activities related to ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads for eight years." The newspaper Vatan-e Emruz dedicated its front page photo and title to this missile test, and quoting Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan, wrote: "We will continue." This newspaper, close to the Front of Steadfastness, wrote: "While some supporters of Rouhani's government in the Islamic Consultative Assembly have described Iran's missile tests as 'missile firing,' the Minister of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics confirmed the recent missile test by Iran, stating that these tests, which are part of the country's defense program, will continue," and "220 members of the Islamic Consultative Assembly also issued a statement on Wednesday supporting the recent missile test and emphasized strengthening the country's defense capabilities." According to Vatan-e Emruz, Majid Takht-Ravanchi, Deputy Foreign Minister, who "went to the parliament on Wednesday, also stated that Iran's missile program and the recent test do not contradict the JCPOA and Resolution 2231. Meanwhile, some news agencies reported that the spokesperson for Federica Mogherini, the EU's foreign policy chief, also stated that this missile test does not contradict the JCPOA and Resolution 2231." This newspaper, however, emphasized that "the wave of opposition to Iran's missile program intensified right after the JCPOA," and wrote, "The Americans have also made extensive plans in the White House and Congress to pressure Iran under the pretext of the recent missile test." The newspaper Jahan San'at, in its front page titled "The Livelihood Basket in Uncertainty," wrote: "The meeting of the Wage Committee for 2017 will be held next week after a one-week hiatus so that social partners can determine the minimum cost of the livelihood basket for workers. The end of the year is approaching, and the Supreme Labor Council does not have much time to finalize the workers' wages," but apparently the Wage Committee "is seeking to determine the minimum cost of a working family's livelihood basket so that this rate can be considered in the minimum wage with the aim of increasing labor productivity." This newspaper noted that "the annual minimum wage must be determined based on two factors: the inflation rate and the livelihood basket of households," adding: "The issue of workers' nutrition and its cost in the workers' basket is the task of the Wage Committee, which has taken a long time this time of year." The newspaper Arman reported that "15,000 newborns die annually" and wrote: "The infant mortality rate in Iran is five times that of developed countries, and this news was recently announced by the Deputy Minister of Health." Ali Akbar Siari stated: "In Iran, 15,000 newborns die annually, meaning that for every 1,000 live births, 10 Iranian newborns lose their lives. Although this rate is lower than the global average of 19 newborns per 1,000 live births, in developed countries, only three children die for every 1,000 live births. Reducing the infant mortality rate is one of the important indicators of health and social welfare, and improving it is essential.