A first-person account from Iran
"Like the battle of Karbala, this war must be fought till the end,' Reza Ahmadi, a juice vendor in his 30s, told me, as he went about his business on the busy Naser Khosro street in Shiraz, a historical town of gardens, wine and poetry in southwest Iran's Fars province. It was just two days after Israel had launched airstrikes on Iran, on Friday, June 13. Reza was invoking the 7th-century clash that, in Islamic history, stands as a symbol of moral resistance against political tyranny. We were talking amid street celebrations for Eid al-Ghadir, the air thick with revelry and the aroma of sweetened drinks. Every 10 seconds or so, the sky lit up with streaks of intercepted drones, followed by a thud of explosions. And yet, Reza barely flinched.
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India Today
2 hours ago
- India Today
UN says over 1.2 million Afghans forced to return from Iran, Pakistan in 2025
More than 1.2 million Afghans have been forced to return from both Iran and Pakistan so far this year, the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) reported on Saturday, cautioning that all these repatriations could destabilize Afghanistan's already fragile humanitarian mass returns stem from crackdowns in both Iran and Pakistan that target illegal migrants, and Afghan nationals bear the brunt of the campaigns. Both nations' officers claim removals involve any illegally living foreigners. Since the count of Afghans who are being deported is disproportionate, it has raised alarm within rights organizations as well as within the to UNHCR data, more than half of the returnees came out of Iran, which had imposed a March 20 deadline for undocumented Afghans to leave voluntarily or face forcible expulsion. Since then, Iran has deported over 366,000 Afghans, including registered refugees and those in vulnerable, refugee-like conditions. Tensions related to Iran's brief conflict with Israel have also fueled the rise in deportations. The highest number of returns in a single day was recorded on June 26, when more than 36,000 Afghans crossed back into more than half the Afghan population dependent on humanitarian aid, the influx of returnees is straining resources. Aid agencies have been scaling back operations due to international funding cuts and objections to Taliban governance, undermining access to critical services like healthcare and Attorney General, Mohammad Movahedi Azad, reiterated on Saturday that undocumented foreigners must leave the country promptly or face legal consequences. 'Foreign nationals, especially our Afghan brothers and sisters, should help ensure that those staying illegally exit Iran as soon as possible,' he told state media. Iranian officials estimate that around 2.5 million of the six million Afghans in the country are Reza Bikdeli, Iran's top diplomat in Kabul, visited the Dogharoun border crossing to oversee the repatriation process and pledged support in facilitating returns. Meanwhile, growing domestic resentment in Iran has led to increased scrutiny of Afghan migrants, with some citizens accusing them of espionage linked to recent Pakistan, authorities have announced plans to expel up to 3 million Afghans in 2025, setting a June 30 deadline for 1.3 million to leave voluntarily. Islamabad, like Tehran, insists the removals are based on legal status rather than the Afghan side, the Taliban have issued reassurances to returning citizens. During the recent Eid Al-Adha holiday, Prime Minister Mohammad Hassan Akhund called on Afghans who fled after the fall of the Western-backed government to return, promising their safety. 'Come back to your ancestral land and live in peace,' he posted on social Taliban ministerial delegation recently visited Herat province to meet some of the returnees, vowing swift action to address their immediate needs and facilitate reintegration. Deputy spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat said efforts are underway to ensure returnees receive essential services and is already grappling with deepening poverty, political isolation, and a worsening humanitarian crisis, and the return of over a million people threatens to push the country's limited resources to the brink of collapse.- EndsWith inputs from agenciesMust Watch
India Today
8 hours ago
- India Today
A first-person account from Iran
"Like the battle of Karbala, this war must be fought till the end,' Reza Ahmadi, a juice vendor in his 30s, told me, as he went about his business on the busy Naser Khosro street in Shiraz, a historical town of gardens, wine and poetry in southwest Iran's Fars province. It was just two days after Israel had launched airstrikes on Iran, on Friday, June 13. Reza was invoking the 7th-century clash that, in Islamic history, stands as a symbol of moral resistance against political tyranny. We were talking amid street celebrations for Eid al-Ghadir, the air thick with revelry and the aroma of sweetened drinks. Every 10 seconds or so, the sky lit up with streaks of intercepted drones, followed by a thud of explosions. And yet, Reza barely flinched.
India Today
12 hours ago
- India Today
From the India Today archives (1989)
(NOTE: This article was originally published in the India Today issue dated June 30, 1989)For more than a decade his dark brooding eyes, bushy eyebrows severely knit together, flowing white beard and black turban, had become a symbol of the Islamic revolution he had triggered in his country and tried unsuccessfully to export. In his messianic zeal to spread his faith, he held a superpower to ransom through terror tactics, relentlessly fought a war till he was forced to sip the "poisoned chalice" of peace, and then convulsed the world by decreeing the death of an his detractors had hoped that death would see him buried with the past, they seemed likely to be proved wrong. For in death, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, 86, Iran's spiritual leader, became larger than life. He is, in fact, assuming a prophet-like status among the 53 million people of his was this more evident than at the Bahesht-e-Zahra (martyrs' cemetery) on the outskirts of Teheran where Khomeini was buried. Even ten days after his death, thousands of mourners dressed in black kept pouring in to pay their respects to their departed leader. Among them was Ghulam Razak, a baker, his wife, Fatima, and their six children. They had walked 20 km to reach the burial ground. "I feel like my father has died," said Razak, tears rolling down his Around them people wailed loudly and beat their heads and chests with their hands in a punishing gesture of grief. Fearing that the crowds would scoop handfuls of soil from Khomeini's grave and expose his body, officials had hastily cordoned off the area with four huge shipping containers. Armed guards kept vigil and a helicopter painted green, white and red-the colours of Iran's national flag-hovered decision of Ahmad Khomeini, 44, to bury his father in the martyrs' cemetery instead of the holy city of Qom, 1,340 km away from Teheran, was in a way appropriate. For barely a kilometre from where the Ayatollah lay buried, begin the long rows of graves of the thousands of soldiers who responded to his call and died fighting in the eight-year-long war with neighbouring was a war that killed a million people, many of them in their teens, shattered Iran's booming economy, impoverished the country and left behind a nation full of widows and orphans. Yet, if the frenzied mourning for Khomeini which engulfed Iran last fortnight was any indication, popular support for him remained is difficult to understand the blind, unquestioning adulation for Khomeini even among families which had lost their loved ones in the war. In central Teheran, Sugra Kausami, 50, a housewife, stood patiently for three hours in a long queue, waiting for a bus to take her to Khomeini's grave. Her eldest son was killed three years ago while fighting in the war. Yet. Sugra says: "I am glad my son attained martyrdom. And even if my other son dies fighting, I would not feel sad." About Khomeini, she says: "He taught us the pure way of life and threw out the Shah. I wish I had died instead of him."advertisementThe deification of Khomeini was clearly visible at the funeral procession in Teheran. At least a million people had clogged the streets in a hysterical outpouring of grief. At one point, crowds grabbed and ripped off pieces from the white shroud covering his body - which is considered to be divinely blessed - and exposed his legs. In desperation, officials lowered a helicopter, lifted the body, and moved it to the burial site. There too, the crowds proved unmanageable - a sea of humanity surged towards the helicopter which had to abort landing twice. Eventually, the Ayatollah's body- now placed in an aluminium coffin for protection - was rushed to the grave and lowered Khomeini's death, not many are willing to predict what is likely to happen to Iran without his charismatic presence and force of personality. Indian External Affairs Minister, P.V. Narasimha Rao, who attended the funeral, told X`X`X`: "The death of such a towering personality has created a huge void and will have a profound impact on the future of Iran." Harvey Morris. Middle-East editor of The Independent, a British daily, added: "I don't think the spontaneity of the people's grief is a vote of confidence for the regime. I think people make a discrimination between Khomeini the man and the regime he created."If Khomeini's spiritual purity is unquestioned by his people, his administrative legacy is highly suspect. Saddled with a prolonged war, the country's economy is in dire straits. Internal resources are stretched to a breaking point, with oil, Iran's main source of income, meeting barely 70 per cent of its national budget. Although, unlike Iraq, Iran has not piled up a huge foreign debt, it has had to cut back heavily on essential programmes. Most industries are running at half their capacity and are in desperate need of upgradation of technology. Moreover, Khomeini's policies have isolated the country from the West. Today, the future of Iran is frighteningly mood of uncertainty is reflected in Teheran's sprawling bazaar, the nerve centre of its market economy. Inside the bazaar's cavernous portals, millions of rials worth of business is transacted daily in products as diverse as dry fruits, cars, caviar, garments, electronic goods and handicrafts. With Khomeini's death, business here has come to a grinding halt. This is partly because the bazaar has been closed for the period of mourning, but mainly because traders are unsure of their country's future in the coming months. As one merchant, who did not want to be named, said: "I just don't want to place any large orders because I'm not sure if another revolution will break out."His fears are not unfounded: the Iranian citizen has much to revolt against. Inflation is anything between 50 per cent and 70 per cent. Nothing is more indicative of this than the dollar-rial rate in the bazaar-e-azadi, the Iranian black-market. While the official exchange rate is 80 rials to the dollar, in the free market the price has shot up to an incredible 1,400 rials to the dollar - making a mockery of the Iranian currency. And despite the infamous 'death to the US' slogan still plastered on many Teheran streets, the US dollar is the most coveted currency in post-Khomeini order to ease the pressure of high prices, the Government had introduced the coupon system - similar to Indian ration cards - which assures people of essential items at controlled prices. The coupon system now encompasses foods like meat, chicken, rice, milk and eggs. While queues in the coupon shops are getting longer by the day, the prices of these items in the open market have skyrocketed. One example: milk at coupon shops is 18 rials (Rs4) a litre, whereas in the free market, it costs 220 rials (Rs 49).Besides subsidising essential foodstuffs, the Government also has to bear the fiscal burden of running special schemes for the buniyad shahids or families of the martyrs (those killed in the war with Iraq). The state provides the needy families of slain soldiers with houses, a salary, good schools for their children and exempts them from paying life for the average Iranian remains hard. So steeply has inflation risen that Ali Akbar, 30, a steel worker, says: "I can't afford to get married." A house with one bedroom in Teheran now costs 60,000 rials (Rs 13,320). This equals the annual salary of 60,000 rials to 80.000 rials that an average worker is paid. As Khomeini's promise of uplifting the poor - made in 1979 after he overthrew the Shah - remains far from fulfilled, many Iranians are gradually getting disillusioned with the ruling clerics. Said Hazrat Kausami, a taxi-driver: "You can't feed my children's bellies with religion."Even Khomeini had once told his followers: "If poverty comes through one door, then religion goes out through the other." Yet, the simmering discontent has not resulted in another explosive revolution. There are several reasons for this. While the poor have been hit by inflation, it is the middle and upper classes - who were used to a more opulent life-style during the Shah's days - who suffered the most under Khomeini's reign. But they barely account for 30 per cent of the population. Though nothing has been done to improve the lot of the poor, Khomeini's promise of paradise after death had a potent appeal for this class, which blindly stood by him. The other major reason was the war, which-despite its debilitating impact on the economy-had united the country and diverted people's attention from domestic however, with Khomeini's charismatic presence missing, and with the war over, the new leadership emerging in Teheran faces an uphill and challenging task. Aside from the grave economic crisis that has to be tackled. Iran's leaders have serious differences of opinion about how the country should be run. When Khomeini was alive, he deftly balanced the divisive opinions. Since his writ was law, the leaders by and large toed his line. One of the few persons to take an independent stance was Ayatollah Hussein Ali Montazeri, Khomeini's designated successor until three months made no attempt to hide his unhappiness over the manner in which the revolution was progressing. He openly admitted that the regime had made mistakes and even questioned the cost of the long-drawn war. During the 1Oth anniversary celebrations of the revolution he stated: "We have to calculate our invaluable losses of manpower, of towns and cities destroyed, and see if we have erred." His outspokenness had enraged Khomeini who showed Montazeri the door in April this Montazeri's exit, a bitter battle for succession was expected to break out immediately after Khomeini's death. But such conventional wisdom proved wrong. In fact, the shrewd Khomeini seemed to have anticipated that such a problem might arise. In April, he had called for some major amendments to the Constitution. The two most important were that firstly, his successor need not be a grand ayatollah but need only to be a man of learning plus a good and just administrator. The second was the presidency-till then largely a ceremonial post-was to be made into an executive position similar to the US before the 25-member special council appointed for the task could work out the amendments, Khomeini died. Still, he had given sufficient indication that he wanted President Ali Khan Khamenei to succeed him. Soon after his death, the 83-member council of experts, dominated by ayatollahs, met and ratified Khamenei's elevation as the supreme Khamenei's appointment, the man who is emerging as a major power centre in Iran is Hojatoleslam (a title lower than ayatollah) Ali Akbar Rafsanjani, the wily speaker of the Majlis or Iran's Parliament. Son of a farmer and a former student of Khomeini, Rafsanjani, 55, is considered to be the most pragmatic on economic reforms. He favours involving the private sector in the economy and is not averse to receiving foreign technical assistance. Announcing that he will be running for the next presidential elections to be held in August, Rafsanjani said: "The next decade is for reconstruction."While Rafsanjani's play for the presidency might well be successful, to get Iran out of the mess it is in he will have to move carefully. There is stiff opposition to some of his economic reforms, with several powerful ayatollahs favouring a greater role for the public sector and no business dealings with the that the West is dealing with Iran at the moment. Khomeini's fatwa (edict) against The Satanic Verses' author Salman Rushdie had led to a boycott by many western nations that further isolated Iran. Even if the Iranian leadership did want to mend fences, it will not be an easy task. Though he is considered one of the more realistic and pragmatic leaders, even Rafsanjani has to tread carefully in matters of foreign policy. He recently evaded questions about the fatwa against Rushdie by saying: "That is the Imam's verdict."Rafsanjani would also have to be careful not to deviate from Khomeini's puritanical ideals. With so much reverence being showered on the departed Ayatollah, it would be foolhardy for the new leadership in Teheran to undo the Islamic legacy he has left behind. Even from his grave, Khomeini will continue to dominate Iranian thinking for many to India Today Magazine- EndsTune In
