The US State Department said Monday that they will be engaging with the office of House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman regarding his letter about US Iran envoy being under investigation.
It appears that last year's protests in Iran have even shaken Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's authority and some public figures inside Iran are less reluctant to hold him responsible for the country's problems.
Last week, a conservative member of parliament referred to Iran's leading clerics as "2-rial mullahs," using the smallest denomination of Iran's currency as a metaphor. Although some hardliners objected to the remark, the MP faced no consequences due to his affiliation with the country's intelligence community.
Meanwhile, two prominent Western-based Iranian political analysts, Mehdi Khalaji and Mehdi Mahdavi Azad said at a talk show on Iran International TV on Saturday that clerics including Khamenei have been losing their authority during the past months and the military and intelligence organizations are likely to replace Khamenei or to determine a weak successor to him once he is dead.
Rasoul Montajebnia, the Secretary General of reformist Jomhouriat Party said in an interview with Rouydad24 on Sunday, "The group of politicians who are in power in Iran will continue to defend the current situation even if it turns ten times worse than what we witness now." Motajebnia reiterated that the all-conservative government has dealt a hard blow to Iran's national interests.
He said as a result of the performance by officials in recent years, the people have come to believe they no longer can trust them and what they say, and this is rather worrying.
Montajebnia said, under the circumstances, a majority of the people either oppose the government, or protest its behavior, or try to be indifferent. He added that there are two major elections in March 2024 and the people need to make sure that these are competitive elections in which they can choose whoever they want for parliament and the Assembly of Experts.
Montajebnia further highlighted that successive governments over the past two decades have disappointed the people. Financial corruption cases and restrictions on people's power to choose their representatives have eroded trust in officials and rendered elections meaningless. Consequently, the regime's legitimacy is declining, and fewer people continue to support the government.
In another development, pointing out the division between the people and the government, the former chief of the Iranian parliament's national security and foreign policy committee Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh told reporters in Tehran that the fact ordinary young people are sent to defend the borders where many conscripts are killed in clashes with smugglers and opponents, while children of well-connected families often are exempt from military service, shows a high degree of discrimination.
Defending the government, hardline conservative politician and a member of the Islamic Coalition Party, Ahmad Karimi-Esfahani promised that "The government will gradually but slowly realize its potentials and the country's problems will be solved."
He then resorted to an outdated intimidating rhetoric and warned Iranians not to play into the hands of the enemies by criticizing the government. He added that the government hopes that prices will come down, while annual inflation is hovering between 70-120 percent, depending on who issues estimates.
Karimi-Esfahani added: "It is unfair to criticize the Raisi administration which is heir to a government that had made too many mistakes." He claimed that the Raisi administration has had major achievements that we cannot ignore.
His remarks contradict a chorus of harsh criticisms of the government from the early months of Raisi’s presidency.
"According to statements by local sources, efforts have been started to extinguish the fire, but there is a possibility of fire spreading and nearby reservoirs exploding," the official IRNA news agency said.
Bandar Abbas is located on the Persian Gulf coast and is one of the hubs for export of oil and oil products.
The official government news agency IRNA reported that six firefighters have been injured in trying to extinguish the blaze. Footage of a large black smoke coming out of an industrial compound was shared by IRNA.
The cause of the incident is still unknown, but similar industrial accidents in the past have usually led to speculations of domestic or foreign sabotage.
As the case drags past its third year, Western powers are growing tired of Iran’s lack of action and are now escalating to the global legal body, the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, filing action on July 5.
The case, listed as “concerning a dispute under the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Civil Aviation (the “Montreal Convention”), is a desperate bid to help gain justice for the families of the flight PS752 of January 8 2020, on which all 176 people on board died when it was downed by Iranian missiles.
The plane, which was en route to Kiev and transporting mostly Iranians, crashed minutes after takeoff near the Iranian capital, shot down by Iran’s air defenses amid tensions between Tehran and Washington following the US assassination of IRGC’s Qassem Soleimani in Iraq days earlier.
The regime has since been claiming to be open to talks for years since the tragedy but nothing has moved forward since other than some low level prosecutions, several of which have even since been appealed.
In a press release last week, the ICJ stated that the the United Kingdom, Canada, Ukraine and Sweden “claim that Iran has violated a series of obligations under the Montreal Convention as a result of the shooting down on 8 January 2020 of a civil aircraft in service, Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752, by military personnel of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps”.
In the application, the joint statement accuses Iran of having “failed to take all practicable measures to prevent the unlawful and intentional commission of an offence described in Article1 of the Montreal Convention, including the destruction of Flight PS752. It also subsequently failed to conduct an impartial, transparent, and fair criminal investigation and prosecution consistent with international law”.
In a typically dogmatic response, Iran’s foreign ministry said Monday that the escalation of the case to the ICJ is only serving “political objectives”, and maintains that the country formed an independent technical group right after the incident and took necessary actions “with goodwill, transparency, and utmost seriousness” to investigate.
“Following the tragic incident involving the Ukrainian plane, the Islamic Republic of Iran has officially, in accordance with domestic laws, international commitments, and with goodwill, transparency, and utmost seriousness, taken necessary actions to shed light on various aspects of the incident,” the statement said.
However, Canda and Ukraine have repeatedly complained that Iran has stonewalled and not cooperated in allowing an independent investigation.
The recent join application reflects the growing fatigue not only for the scores of families left devastated, but for the global powers fighting for justice.
Last year, Marilyne Guèvremont, a spokesperson from Global Affairs Canada, said the issue had become futile, with inaction from Iran making any attempt at discussions in vain. She told Iran International: “We are now focused on the subsequent actions to resolve this matter in accordance with international law. We will not rest until the families get the justice, transparency and accountability from Iran that they deserve.”
Iran International first reported June 29 that special envoy Rob Malley has been absent for a considerable time, his security clearance has been suspended and he is under investigation related to his handling of classified documents. Later it was revealed that he is on unpaid leave and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is involved in the investigation.
Following the initial reports committee chairman Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Tx) wrote a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and demanded answers as to why the State Department had not informed Congress directly and clarification on Malley’s case.
State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller in his press briefing confirmed the receipt of McCaul’s letter and said, “We take our oversight obligation extremely seriously, we obviously got the letter from the Chairman, and we’ve been reviewing it and we will be engaging with his office on the matter.”
McCaul in his letter set a deadline of Tuesday, July 11 at 5:00 pm for a response from the State Department.
“These reports raise serious concerns both regarding Malley’s conduct and whether the State Department misled Congress and the American public,” McCaul wrote to Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) also tweeted on the matter June 30, raising a series of questions. “When did the investigation that led to the suspension of Malley’s clearance begin?”, asked Sen Hagerty, and added, “When were Secretary of State Antony Blinken and President Joe Biden informed of it?”
