World
Iran ready to implement n-deal: Rouhani
Tehran: Iran is ready to start implementing the nuclear deal reached with the world powers in July, President Hassan Rouhani has said following its approval by the Majlis (parliament).
“After the Guardian Council announces the endorsement, the government will start necessary measures” to implementing the nuclear agreement, titled Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), quoted Rouhani as saying on Tuesday.
The Majlis vote needs final approval of Iran’s Guardian Council, a 12-member high legislative body. It would then become a mandatory law to be implemented by the government.
Iran’s parliament on Tuesday approved the legislation supporting the recent nuclear deal.
The motion asked Rouhani’s administration to implement the deal between Iran and the P5+1 group, namely the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany.
Out of 250 lawmakers present at the Majlis meeting, 161 cast votes in favour, 59 were against and 13 abstained. Also, 17 lawmakers did not participate in the vote.
Iran’s Majlis is a 290-seat legislative body, and 40 lawmakers were absent in the meeting on Tuesday.
The vote of Majlis asks the government to take “proportional measures” and consider national security in implementing the nuclear deal.
In case of violation by “the other side”, “Iran will stop its voluntary cooperation” in relation to the nuclear agreement.
In that case, the government will be obliged to “develop its peaceful nuclear programme” and enhance its uranium enrichment capacity to the level of 190,000 separative work units (SWUs) in a two-year period, according to the motion, titled “Iran’s Plan for Reciprocal and Proportional Measure in Implementing JCPOA.”
Over the past few days, Iran’s Majlis was the scene of bitter discussions over the motion, as the hardliners drew on the “loopholes” in the nuclear agreement which, according to them, would endanger the security of the Islamic Republic.
They criticised Rouhani and members of nuclear negotiating team for the “drawbacks” in the deal. However, they failed to delay the voting for further discussions.
Despite the stances of officials in Iran’s government, who said Majlis vote would not be necessary for the implementation of the deal, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei left it for the parliament to decide on the fate of the deal. Khamenei did not comment on the nuclear agreement openly.
On Tuesday, the government spokesman, Mohammad-Baqer Nobakht, welcomed Majlis vote and referred to it as a “historic decision”.
In the US, attempts to stop implementation of the deal failed in September.
Under the JCPOA, Iran would improve the transparency of its nuclear plan while freezing some of its activities in exchange for international and western sanctions relief.
The transparency measures by Iran to respond to the past and present outstanding questions over its nuclear programme should be approved by International Atomic Energy Association, the UN nuclear watchdog, said in its December 15, 2014 report.
According to the JCPOA, the IAEA is also tasked to monitor Iran’s voluntary measures under the additional protocol which supplements IAEA safeguards agreements.
Shanghai’s rich middle class is leading a wave of online dissent over the strict and prolonged lockdowns imposed in various parts of the country. Chinese internet censorship is struggling as patience is wearing thin in many urban centers, coming up with creative forms of online protests.
Social Media Posts Revealing Lockdown Tension in Shanghai
Drawn-out lockdowns are nothing new in China as authorities insist with the nation’s zero-Covid policy since the start of the pandemic. Currently over This time around, however, metropolitan areas like Shanghai are increasingly difficult to keep quiet, given that its more than 25 million residents have seen weeks of total isolation along with food shortages and many other service interruptions.
Dozens of towns and reportedly over 300 million Chinese citizens have been affected by lockdowns of different severity. As expected, urban netizens have been most outspoken over their difficulties by finding creative ways to get around state censorship and bans placed on topics, news comments and spontaneous campaigns.
Shanghai residents have been using mobile proxies and hijacking seemingly unrelated hashtags to talk about healthcare issues, delivery failures and the overall severity of their situation. The “positive energy” that the Chinese government wants to transmit during the recent prolonged series of lockdowns does not come naturally to those counting food supplies and online censors are working hard to filter words, trending topics and undesired social media sharing.
WeChat groups and message threads are under constant monitoring. Posts questioning the zero-Covid approach have been quickly deleted, including by leading Chinese health experts like Dr. Zhong Nanshan. Video footage is soon censored and protests and investigations are quickly made to disappear.
Where this has not worked, officials have exposed banners with warnings and outright threats like “watch your own mouth or face punishment”, while drones have been patrolling the city skies. Yet, if anything, this has led to further tensions and unspoken confrontation with Shanghai’s educated and affluent middle class.
Creative Online Solutions Harnessing Civic Energy
Announcements by Chinese social media that they would be publishing the IP addresses of users who “spread rumors” have not helped either. Tech industry research has shown that much of Asia’s tech-savvy population has a habit of using mobile proxies and other privacy tools, quickly finding workarounds to browse the internet freely and talk to the world about the hottest topics.
The sheer volume of forbidden posts is already a challenge for the very censorship system, experts explain. Unable to track all trending hashtags, state workers overlook topics that speak about the US, Ukraine or other popular news. Linking human rights elsewhere to their situation, Chinese online dissidents establish their informal channels and “hijack” the conversation to share personal or publicly relevant information about the Covid suppression in their town.
Sarcastic and satirical posts still dominate. Others hope to evade the censors by replacing words from famous poems or the national anthem. One thing is certain – social media, when harnessed with the right creativity, has proven its ability to mount pressure on the government in even some of the most strictly controlled tech environments like China.
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