News Digest: Week of July 24

July 24 

Domestic: Authorities closed a Tehran office of Digikala, Iran’s largest e-commerce site, after the company published pictures of female employees without hijab at a company gathering. Iran’s judiciary announced that legal proceeds would begin soon. 

Security: Iran’s Intelligence Ministry announced that it had disrupted an Israeli spy network that was plotting acts of sabotage. The ministry alleged that the spy ring intended to target public spaces, festivals for Islamic New Year, and Qassem Soleimani’s tomb, among others. 

Nuclear: The head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Mohammad Eslami, revealed that Iran’s uranium reserves were larger than previous estimates. He announced plans to open six new uranium mines by March 2024. Eslami added that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was in full support of the expansion and that Western threats would not dissuade Tehran.  

July 25 

Diplomatic: The director of China’s Central Commission for Foreign Affairs, Wang Yi, met with Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council Ali Akbar Ahmadian on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Johannesburg. The two discussed military cooperation, economic development, and advances in Iran’s share of China’s Belt and Road Initiative. China promised to continue supporting Iran’s “national sovereignty and dignity, pursuing a development path suited to its national conditions and safeguarding its national security,” according to Wang. 

International: A Washington D.C. district judge sentenced Behrouz Mokhtari, an Iranian-born American citizen, to 41 months in federal prison for conspiring to violate sanctions against Iran. Mokhtari pleaded guilty in attempting to purchase oil tankers and conduct petrochemicals transitions with entities in Iran on behalf of a company based in the United Arab Emirates between 2013 and 2017.    

Domestic: Authorities in Gilan province arrested several members of the Baha’i faith on accusations of spying for Israel, according to Fars News. The group was also accused of promoting Baha’i teachings to Muslims. The Baha’i are the largest non-Muslim religious group in Iran and are labeled heretics by the Islamic Republic.  

Military: Defense Minister Brig. Gen. Mohammad Reza Ashtiani announced that Iran had mass-produced its first long-range naval ballistic missile at a televised ceremony in Tehran. Ashtiani claimed that the missile could be launched from “entirely secret” locations and had a cruise range of 1,000 kilometers or 620 miles.

July 26 

Nuclear: Bolivian Defense Minister Edmundo Novillo confirmed his country’s interest in obtaining Iranian military drone technology for combating smuggling and drug trafficking. Bolivia acknowledged its arrangement with Iran after neighboring Argentina filed a complaint demanding clarity on a secretive security agreement signed on July 20. Novillo told reporters that he had signed an “act” identifying common areas of interest but denied that agreement amounted to a full security memorandum of understanding. 

International: The U.S. Senate approved amendments to the annual defense policy bill that would prohibit Iran, as well as China, North Korean, and Russia, from purchasing American farmland. The change would empower the Committee on Foreign Investment to review all potential land transactions with Iran-based firms, and would require the president to approve any such transaction.    

International: Nuclear chief Mohammad Eslami said that Iran had provided new details to U.N. inspectors about two nuclear sites alleged to contain traces of manmade uranium. “If those answers are not accepted and there are any ambiguities or doubts, as we have always said, we will clarify and revise the documents,” Eslami told reporters after a cabinet meeting. The International Atomic Energy Agency did not immediately comment.  

International: The head of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla, met with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in Tel Aviv. Kurilla and Gallant discussed regional security challenges, “focusing on Iranian terrorist activity throughout the Middle East, including funding, training and the transfer of weapons to terrorist organizations in Syria and Lebanon,” according to a statement released by Israel’s Defense Ministry. 

Domestic: Iran’s supreme court overturned a death sentence for a man convicted of killing a policeman during the September 2022 protests. Mohammad Ghobadlou was charged with “corruption on earth,” a vague charge often leveled at critics of the government, in October and sentenced to death. The court revoked the sentence and referred his case to a new jurisdiction on account of his mental health, according to local media. 

July 27

International: Chess Player Sara Khadem received Spanish nationality months after competing in a tournament in Kazakhstan without wearing a hijab in December 2022. Iran had issued an arrest warrant for Khadem in response to photographs of her not wearing a hijab. Khadem has lived in Spain since the arrest warrant was issued. 

International: Kuwaiti Oil Minister Saad al Barrak announced that his country would begin drilling in the Durra oil field despite ongoing disputes with Iran. Disputes over the oil field date back to the 1960s. In 2022, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia announced a joint project to drill in the area. In June 2023 Iran announced its intention to do the same.   

International: Yalda Moaiery, an Iranian photojournalist jailed for her coverage of Iran’s 2022 protests, was awarded the 2023 Wallis Annenberg Justice for Women Journalists Award. The award celebrates female journalists who have continued their work under extreme threat. Moaiery was released on bail in December and continued reporting as she awaited a summons to serve her six-year prison sentence.

July 28 

Diplomatic: Mint News reported that Iran and India were expected to sign and announce a long-term contract to develop Iran’s Chabahar Port before India’s Global Maritime Summit in October 2023. The multi-billion dollar deal followed years of negotiations and would finalize development plans between India Ports Global and Arya Banader of Iran that began in 2016.

July 29 

Domestic: Iranian rapper Saman Seidi, who was jailed during the 2022 protests, alleged that he had been unwillingly injected with drugs during his detention at Aminabad Psychiatric Center. Seidi told the Hengaw Human Rights Organization that he was assaulted, restrained, and injected with an unknown substance before being unconscious for more than 24 hours. Seidi was initially given a death sentence by the Tehran Revolutionary Court. The case was set to be retried in the Iranian Supreme Court.  

Domestic: Eulogists and mourners expressed dissent against the Iranian regime in public demonstrations for the religious holiday of Muharram in cities across Iran. Muharram commemorates the martyrdom of Hazrat Imam Hussain and mourns earthly injustices. Mourners broke with tradition by showcasing eulogies and poems protesting the government's human rights abuses, economic mismanagement, and compulsory hijab laws. Ayatollah Hashem Hosseini Bushehri, head of the Society of Seminary Teachers in Qom, said that such practices were “celebrating the enemy,” and condemned the unorthodox demonstrations. 

International: State media reported that President Raisi began arbitration proceedings against South Korea over some $7 billion in unpaid petrochemical sales. South Korea refused to repatriate the funds owed to Iran after the United States reimposed sanctions in 2018. In a letter published by the media and dated July 22, President Raisi approved a bill demanding that Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf begin the formal proceedings. 

Domestic: An Iranian court banned the editor-in-chief of reformist newspaper Etemad from “any press activity for a year” over his paper’s coverage of the 2022 protests. The editor, Behrooz Behzadi, was accused of “publishing false content” related to the kidnapping of a scientist and bans against artists during the protest movement. Behzadi said he was initially given a prison sentence, but he received the suspension instead. 

International: Iran’s Navy chief, Rear Admiral Shahram Irani, visited St. Petersburg for Russia’s Navy Day parade. Irani also held meetings with several of his foreign counterparts on the sidelines of the event. The following day, Iran’s Caspian Sea Force sent two warships to participate in Russian naval parades.  

July 30 

International: Israel’s Shin Bet security agency announced that it had exposed an Iranian phishing campaign targeting Israeli civil servants via LinkedIn. The scheme used fake professional accounts encouraging targets to download a file that contained malicious software. The security service credited the bust to “the awareness and vigilance of the citizens they turned to, along with additional actions by the Shin Bet and the Israeli security system.”

International: Oil Minister Javad Owji threatened that Iran would “pursue its rights” should negotiations fail with Kuwait and Saudi Arabia over the disputed Durra oilfield. Owji said that Iran would seek “the path of negotiation and understanding with our neighbors” but would “not tolerate any violation of its rights” in a statement to state media.  

International: The U.S. Navy Fifth Fleet and the Israeli Navy began a two-week maritime drill in Haifa, Israel to enhance “cooperation and operational readiness.” The annual exercise included more than 50 U.S. troops and focused on “explosive ordnance disposal, mine countermeasures, maritime and global health management, underwater construction, maritime surveillance and vessel boarding procedures.”

Domestic: Former President Mohammad Khatami argued that the government’s hijab enforcement regime “has not been successful” in an introduction to a research paper published on the topic. The reformist added that attempts to enforce Islamic dress have only “led to protests, movements and behaviors aimed at symbolic opposition on a large scale.”