Zarif and Zanjani Under Sentence, Billions of Dollars in Limbo

The newspaper Shargh has dedicated a photo to "Reza Zarif" and in a report titled "Zarif and Zanjani Under Sentence, Billions of Dollars in Limbo" it is written: "Zarif, a collaborator of Babak Zanjani, is currently facing a major crisis" as this "Iranian gold broker residing in Turkey" is set to be transferred "from Miami to New York" after his arrest in the U.S., where he will face penalties imposed by the U.S. police for circumventing sanctions against Iran. The newspaper Tejarat has reported on the "countdown to eliminate 24 million subsidy recipients" and quoted Mohammad Reza Pourabrahimi, spokesperson for the Joint Commission of the Ninth Parliament, stating: "According to the resolution of the Joint Budget Commission of 2016, the government is obliged to eliminate subsidies for the top three income deciles, and the resources must be used for job creation in the country." According to Mohammad Reza Pourabrahimi, the "priorities for eliminating subsidies for 24 million high-income individuals" have been approved by the Joint Commission of the Islamic Consultative Assembly in six groups, with the "first group including all traders and self-employed individuals with an annual income of at least 35 million tomans, and the second group including members of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, judges, university faculty members, and employees of educational and research institutions, both public and private, as well as doctors and dentists." Groups two to four also include "employees of the government and the three branches, municipalities, public and non-governmental institutions, and military personnel" and "all recipients of salaries and pensions from the public and non-public sectors" whose annual income exceeds 35 million tomans. The newspaper Tejarat has emphasized that in the fifth group of subsidy elimination priorities, "all Iranians residing abroad are prohibited from receiving subsidies," and the sixth group includes all those in the top three income deciles not mentioned in the previous five priorities. The newspaper Ta'adol has also reported with the headline "Additions and Subtractions in the Budget Bill" emphasizing the Joint Commission's resolution to "eliminate 30 percent of subsidy recipients," stating: "The Joint Commission of the 2016 budget bill, besides increasing the budget ceiling, increasing the share of the National Development Fund, eliminating 4 clauses, and eliminating 30 percent of subsidy recipients, has accepted the government's proposals in the budget bill and has not made significant changes." The newspaper Shargh has reported on the "second wave of reformists" for the parliamentary elections, stating that on Sunday evening, "members of the Coalition Headquarters of the Comprehensive Reformists will gather to decide on the Hope List in areas where the elections have gone to the second round." According to this newspaper, while "the fate of 56 constituencies and 69 remaining seats out of 290 in Parliament is to be clarified in the second round," the Reformist Coalition Headquarters intends to "introduce candidates for more than 60 seats. Of these, over 60 candidates will be included in the Hope List, and it is said that support will also be announced for five individuals" so that the Coalition Headquarters can declare its position on all 69 seats. Shargh has reminded that "the Hope List was able to secure 124 seats in the first round of elections. Of these, 99 were confirmed reformists and 25 were supporters of the government who were included in the Hope List. Additionally, five individuals from religious minorities who were elected have reformist tendencies, and 20 independents also have government-supporting tendencies," while "in the first round, independents and principlists secured 97 seats." Morteza Hajji, a reformist figure, in an interview with the newspaper Etemad has stated that "70 percent of the next Parliament will support the government" and that the tenth Parliament will place more emphasis on the economy, livelihood, and employment than the ninth and eighth Parliaments. According to this newspaper, Morteza Hajji has pointed out that "many figures who today lean towards reformists were once staunch opponents of this ideological current," stating that "reformists have shown flexibility in elections but have also preserved their identity." Morteza Hajji has also said: "Being confined to a reformist Parliament can be set as a goal, not a Parliament of reformists. If there is a Parliament that can bring the goals and views close to reformists into the scene in the form of approved laws and regulations, it is much better than our efforts to form a Parliament of reformists." Meanwhile, the newspaper Kayhan has accused Baqer Namazi of "advancing a change project including networking aimed at overthrowing and toppling the revolution" and has written that these same accusations "should be sufficient for his decisive conviction in the judicial system." Baqer Namazi is an 80-year-old Iranian-American citizen who traveled to Tehran following the arrest of his son Siamak Namazi and was subsequently arrested. Kayhan has written about the details of Baqer Namazi's accusations: "At a time when government officials during the sixth and seventh presidential terms did not yet know what the term NGO meant, Namazi, along with his skilled foreign team, completed the stages of surveying and identifying NGOs, traditional and charitable organizations, and interest-free loan funds, alongside examining the performance of the Endowment Organization and how endowments were managed and the performance of the Reconstruction Jihad and Basij, and submitted the report to hostile American and British foundations" and "this is the most evident concept of espionage." This newspaper has also mentioned Baqer Namazi's presence as a "UN attaché" during the 1970s in Iran and his subsequent execution of the "engineering of local communities in Bam" as part of Baqer Namazi's accusations. The newspaper Jomhouri Eslami has written in an editorial titled "Cleansing Economic Wolves" that in the film The Wolf of Wall Street, "after Belfort's release from prison and the end of his sentence, restrictions were placed on the type and scope of his economic activities," but in Iran, "the opposite is true; criminals are promoted as economic elites and colorful reports of their affluent and enviable living conditions are published." This newspaper emphasizes that "it is not unlikely that these individuals, in hopes of reopening the space for a return to high-level economic and political relations, will become political tools for the government's rivals and call economic officials to debates and... every day," stating: "We should not create this incorrect perception in public opinion, especially among the youth, that the consequences of economic violations and corruption are limited to a few years of imprisonment. In this case, we should expect the emergence of smarter corrupt individuals and bolder wolves." The newspaper Iran has reported on the fall of a mother and child at the amusement park in Borazjan, stating that Tayebe Mohammadi Pour, a 35-year-old woman, who on the 13th of Farvardin "was riding the Ferris wheel at Azadi Park in Borazjan with her 4-year-old child, was killed in a horrific fall, and her son fell into a coma." Majid Mohammadi Pour, Tayebe's brother, who witnessed the scene of his sister and nephew's fall, told this newspaper: "It was a terrifying scene. My sister and nephew were inside the Ferris wheel and were going up. The cabin was shaking from below, and I felt that there was a risk of falling at any moment. My sister and nephew had reached the highest point of the Ferris wheel, and the cabins were turning when suddenly the shaking intensified, and the Ferris wheel locked, and my sister and nephew fell down." At the same time, Abdolhamid Karim Azad, Deputy for Planning and Urban Development of the Dashtestan Governorate, told the newspaper Iran that the amusement park in Borazjan "was leased to the private sector by the municipality under a three-year contract, and given the defects it had, it was supposed to be inspected after the defects were rectified, which took time, and the park officials acted illegally to operate." The newspaper Iran has reported that "a clip of child abuse and torture with a hose has been released on social media, which is very painful." This newspaper has written: "This video likely belongs to countries bordering Iran. The clip shows a defenseless boy, whose hands and feet are bound, being subjected to brutal torture by a man who appears to be his father." The newspaper Vaghaye Ettefaghieh has dedicated a photo to Abbas Kiarostami in a report titled "Overcoming the Crisis," reporting an increase in hope for the recovery of the creator of "Taste of Cherry." The newspaper Javan has reported that in 2015, "the presence of foreign tourists in Isfahan increased by 100 percent and in Kerman by 57 percent compared to 2014, but emphasized that "security has attracted foreign tourists to Iran."