Monday18 Oct. 2021

Aftab Yazd: Confusing politics?!

Aftab Yazd newspaper, in its editorial column, reviews the statements made by top officials and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs about the continuation of the nuclear negotiations with the 4 + 1 parties and wrote: Negotiations for the revival of Barjam (JCPOA) have not been announced…. Since the formation of the foreign and diplomatic team under the new government, no specific date has been set for the start and resumption of negotiations to revive the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (known as Barjam in Persian).

If we focus solely on the Foreign Minister’s words, we will not be able to understand what Tehran ultimately intends to do about the nuclear deal. It is even understood from some of FM Amir Abdullahian’s remarks that this government is reluctant to revive Barjam because some of the conditions the IRI Foreign Minister sets for the Americans in some statements are not practically possible. “Not that we do not want it, but the White House will not accept it.”

The newspaper writes: “… Yesterday, after the end of the closed session of the parliament, two statements were made by the Foreign Minister at the same time, and when we put them together, we will find that even the members of parliament did not understand whether there will be any negotiation or not! “

It should be noted that last Sunday, the Foreign Minister appeared in the parliament and during a closed session, he explained to the deputies about the government’s views and future actions for Barjam. After the meeting, Alireza Beigi, a representative of the people of Tabriz in the parliament, said: “Amir Abdullahian stated in this meeting that the negotiations with the group of four plus one will start in Brussels on Thursday.”

Aftab Yazd wrote at the end of its editorial: “Anyway, I suggest here if we really do not know what decision to make and the decision is postponed to another time in future that is fine. But if the Foreign Ministry pursues a special policy that seems very complicated and confusing we have to be careful not to get caught up in this policy at some point! That is, the story should not be the story of the army that suffered a heavy defeat in a military maneuver!”

Javan: Attack on foreign exchange fake news

The Javan newspaper devoted its main headline to a discussion about the US dollar and the foreign exchange market. The paper began its main story with the headline: “The foreign exchange market is more complex than anyone can imagine, so since many expert analyses of the foreign exchange market are wrong, they try to move cautiously on the currency so as not to be ashamed later; but the situation is different in cyberspace, because sometimes in this turbulent market with fake news and analysis, the exchange rate is manipulated. 

Referring to the role of brokers in cyberspace to destabilize the foreign exchange market, the President instructed the Central Bank and related agencies to seriously prevent false fabrications in the prices of currency and goods. “The governor of the Central Bank also rejected some statements about the unusual increase in the price of currency, saying that we do not have any shortage of currency now and the market will be as calm in the future as it is now.”

It should be noted that the Central Bank Governor’s reference to “rejecting some statements” is to a report published on Saturday, quoting the Management and Planning Organization, that the exchange rate and the country’s conditions in two cases of continuing economic sanctions or negotiating and lifting sanctions for the next few years.

Javan newspaper which now supports the positions of the Raisi government, also said: “Of course, it should be noted that the currency, gold and coin markets have experienced relative stability since the beginning of the 13th government, while some expected an immediate rise in the price of the US dollar to 35 to 40 thousand tomans and the gold coin to 15 to 20 million tomans, but these expectations were not met and these markets will continue to operate with relative stability.”

In conclusion, it said: “The application of monetary fiscal policies sometimes occurs because of the devaluation of the currency according to the economic situation of countries. … Therefore, it seems that exchange rate fluctuations are not a good indicator to measure the performance of governments. …. Thus, an equilibrium rate should be considered for the currency so that both the goods needed by the country enter at a reasonable rate and that opportunistic people do not find the currency cheap enough to buy property and villas in the countries of the region. On the other hand, it should be noted that the connection between the pricing of some commodities and the dollar or world prices should be cut off. “We are seriously looking to eliminate the prices in US dollar.”

Etemad: Honeymoon between parliament and government over?

On its front page, Etemad newspaper runs a main headline referring to the words of Elias Naderan (MP), who cautioned the government for not having decided its economic team and warned the Raisi administration against bypassing the parliament.

Etemad begins by saying: “The thirteenth government has not yet passed its first 100-days in office, and tonight Ibrahim Raisi will be addressing the Iranian people for the second time as President; also exactly 120 days have passed since the official announcement of his victory in the presidential election as the main Conservative candidate, … and of course, only 52 days have passed since the first meeting of the 13th Cabinet chaired by Raisi. 

But it seems neither the Reformists and Raisi’s classic rivals and his uniform Osoolgara (Principlist) government who accompany him, nor ironically the Principlists and his political and electoral supporters have run out of patience and have risen to criticize the performance of the thirteenth government here and there….”

Voicing the criticisms of Principlist members of parliament, the paper concluded by saying. “Now, in spite of the change of president and members of the government, not only the economic problems are the same and the criticisms are the same, but the solutions and the way of dealing with the problems have not changed. The identities of the critics have remained the same and at least in the wake of the change of government, the political orientation of the government has changed. 

Now that after the change of government, at least the political tendency of the government has changed, it is still the fundamentalists who are complaining about the situation and criticizing the performance of the government they support – a government that has been in power less than 100 days!