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Raisi: Active Participation in Elections Creates a Strong Iran

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi attended an event in Tehran (Iranian Presidency)
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi attended an event in Tehran (Iranian Presidency)
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Raisi: Active Participation in Elections Creates a Strong Iran

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi attended an event in Tehran (Iranian Presidency)
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi attended an event in Tehran (Iranian Presidency)

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi urged Iranian citizens on Friday to make a "correct and informed" choice to create a "strong parliament" amid fears of record reluctance to participate in the upcoming legislative elections.
Iranian elections are held simultaneously with the selection of members of the Assembly of Experts, responsible for determining the Supreme Leader's tasks and place of residence.
A few days ago, Iranian Leader Ali Khamenei made a new appeal to increase the participation rate in the vote scheduled for next March.
Raisi spoke through a video conference on Friday during the opening of 200 nationwide radio and television election campaign channels.
The Mehr government agency quoted Raisi as saying, "All capacities must be used to make a correct and informed choice to create a strong parliament."
Raisi stressed that the participation of all people is effective for the elections, calling for using all capabilities as a "duty."
The new television channels are supposed to cover electoral districts throughout the country and allocate hours of broadcast for the candidates, according to the head of the Radio and Television Corporation in Iran (IRIB), Peyman Jabali.
However, there is a widespread exclusion of candidates, including former President Hassan Rouhani.
Last month, without giving reasons, the Guardian Council did not approve Rouhani's candidacy for a new term in the Leadership Council of Experts.
According to Agence France-Presse, the complex process of selecting the final candidates has come a long way after the Guardian Council rejected a third of the 24,982 nominees.
The multiple calls for "active participation" in the elections reflect concern over reluctance to participate in the first electoral vote since the massive wave of protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini in August 2022.
The Iranian authorities often cited the expansion of the support base for the regime with widespread participation in the elections, but the last poll in 2021 witnessed a record decline in the number of voters.
Iranian officials fear a repeat of the scenario of the last elections held in 2020, which witnessed limited competition between conservatives and hard-line conservatives after the exclusion of reformists and moderates.
Raisi confirmed earlier that his government does not have "any candidate" for the parliamentary elections but is "only trying to encourage increased participation."
Weeks before the voting date, the tone of "warning against the enemy" escalated to dominate political and religious discourse in Iran.
Tehran's Friday prayers preacher Ali Akbari said last month that the enemy is taking measures to ensure the failure of elections in Iran, urging strong participation in the vote.
Tasnim Agency, affiliated with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), quoted Akbari as saying that the enemies want to prevent the people from participating in the elections by waging "psychological warfare" and despairing them.
They also want to distort security and cast doubt on the validity of the elections, said Akbari.

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Iran to Launch 'Advanced Centrifuges' in Response to IAEA Censure

Western countries successfully moved a resolution at the IAEA to censure Iran over its nuclear program - AFP
Western countries successfully moved a resolution at the IAEA to censure Iran over its nuclear program - AFP
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Iran to Launch 'Advanced Centrifuges' in Response to IAEA Censure

Western countries successfully moved a resolution at the IAEA to censure Iran over its nuclear program - AFP
Western countries successfully moved a resolution at the IAEA to censure Iran over its nuclear program - AFP

Iran said Friday it would launch a series of "new and advanced" centrifuges in response to a resolution adopted by the UN nuclear watchdog that censures Tehran for what the agency called lack of cooperation.

The censure motion brought by Britain, France, Germany, and the United States at the 35-nation board of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) follows a similar one in June.

It came as tensions run high over Iran's atomic program, with critics fearing that Tehran is attempting to develop a nuclear weapon -- a claim the Islamic Republic has repeatedly denied.

The resolution -- which China, Russia and Burkina Faso voted against -- carried with 19 votes in favor, 12 abstentions and Venezuela not participating, two diplomats told AFP.

"The head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran issued an order to take effective measures, including launching a significant series of new and advanced centrifuges of various types," a joint statement by the organization and Iran's foreign ministry said.

Centrifuges are the machines that enrich uranium transformed into gas by rotating it at very high speed, increasing the proportion of fissile isotope material (U-235).

"At the same time, technical and safeguards cooperation with the IAEA will continue, as in the past" and within the framework of agreements made by Iran, the joint Iranian statement added.

Behrouz Kamalvandi, Iran's atomic energy organization spokesman, on Friday said the new measures are mostly related to uranium enrichment.

"We will substantially increase the enrichment capacity with the utilisation of different types of advanced machines," he told state TV.

Iran's retaliatory measures "are reversible if this (Western) hostile action is withdrawn or negotiations are opened," Tehran-based political analyst Hadi Mohammadi told AFP.

- 'Legal obligations' -

The confidential resolution seen by AFP says it is "essential and urgent" for Iran to "act to fulfil its legal obligations" under the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) ratified in 1970.

The text also calls on Tehran to provide "technically credible explanations" for the presence of uranium particles found at two undeclared locations in Iran.

In addition, Western powers are asking for a "comprehensive report" to be issued by the IAEA on Iran's nuclear efforts "at the latest" by spring 2025.

The resolution comes after the IAEA's head Rafael Grossi returned from a trip to Tehran last week, where he appeared to have made headway.

During the visit, Iran agreed to an IAEA demand to cap its sensitive stock of near weapons-grade uranium enriched up to 60 percent purity.

- 'Cycle of provocation' -

"Iran did not start the cycle of provocation -- the Western side could, without passing a resolution... create the atmosphere for negotiations if it really was after talks," the analyst Mohammadi said.

In 2015, Iran and world powers reached an agreement that saw the easing of international sanctions on Tehran in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program.

But the United States unilaterally withdrew from the accord in 2018 under then-president Donald Trump and reimposed biting economic sanctions, which prompted Iran to begin rolling back on its own commitments.

On Thursday, Iran's deputy foreign minister for legal and international affairs Kazem Gharibabadi warned of Iran's potential next step.

"Iran had announced in an official letter to European countries that it would withdraw from the NPT if the snapback mechanism was activated, and the Security Council sanctions were reinstated," Gharibabadi said in a late-night interview with state TV.

The 2015 deal contains a "snapback" mechanism that can be triggered in case of "significant non-performance" of commitments by Iran.

This would allow many sanctions to be reimposed.

Tehran has since 2021 decreased its cooperation with the agency by deactivating surveillance devices monitoring the nuclear program and barring UN inspectors.

At the same time, it has ramped up its nuclear activities, including by increasing its stockpiles of enriched uranium and the level of enrichment to 60 percent.

That level is close, according to the IAEA, to the 90 percent-plus threshold required for a nuclear warhead and substantially higher than the 3.67 percent limit it agreed to in 2015.