Iranian press review: Calls grow to maintain military pressure on Gulf states

Submitted by

MEE correspondent

Thu, 07/02/2026 - 09:58

Mothers mark Ashura by mourning children killed in protests, lawmakers challenge Ghalibaf over suspension of parliament, and the national football team is praised abroad but criticised at home

The sun sets over a vessel off the coast of Dubai on 2 June 2026 (AFP)

Off

Military pressure is key to Gulf trade deals, says analyst

A younger generation of analysts close to Iran's ruling establishment says the only way to reach trade deals with the Arab states of the southern Gulf is to maintain military pressure on them.

The group has gained more space to express its views after many senior Iranian political and military figures were killed in this year's US-Israeli war on Iran.

Speaking on a television roundtable, Majid Shakeri, an analyst close to Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said there was no way to secure a practical trade agreement with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) without continued military pressure.

"Having a trade agreement with the Persian Gulf countries is not incompatible with continuing military pressure on them because previous experiences have shown that pursuing a neighbourhood policy with them leads nowhere," he said.

Shakeri said the same approach should apply to Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

"If we want to reach economic deals, we must keep up the [military] pressure because we have seen many times that the Emiratis, Qataris and Saudis promise investment in official meetings, but later it becomes clear that those promises were only meant to influence Iran's behaviour," he said.

He also argued that Iran should continue attacking US military bases in the region to strengthen its position in economic negotiations.

"The only way to make such agreements happen is to continue targeting American bases in the UAE to force them to leave the region and, at the same time, maintain pressure on the UAE," he said.

Remembering victims of protests during Ashura

Mothers whose children were killed in the Iranian government's crackdown on nationwide protests in January have used a mourning period for Shia Muslims to commemorate their loved ones and denounce the authorities.

In the shadow of Minab: Inside the US testing of 'new missiles' on Iran’s Lamerd

For Shias, Ashura commemorates the killing of Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, who was slain by the forces of Yazid ibn Muawiyah at the Battle of Karbala in 680 CE. The month has long symbolised both mourning and resistance against injustice.

Videos circulated by Persian-language media in recent days show grieving mothers publicly remembering their children, while in other cases, mourning processions stopped outside victims' homes to pay tribute.

One video shows the mother of 18-year-old Mani Safarpour, who was killed in southern Tehran, holding her son's photograph as mourners beat drums. In the video, she repeatedly cries, "My son, my dear son," while striking her head and chest in mourning.

Another video shows the mother of 22-year-old university student Matin Parvizi, who was shot dead in Zanjan, speaking at her son's graveside. "The Yazids of our time shot my son in the back while his hands were in his pockets," she says. "He had nothing with which to defend himself."

According to Iranian authorities, 3,117 people were killed during the unrest. Human rights organisations have disputed the official figures, reporting significantly higher death tolls. The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, Hrana, says it has identified 6,488 protesters who were killed.

Anger over Ghalibaf's closure of parliament

Several lawmakers have accused Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf of acting unilaterally by keeping parliament closed, saying he has sidelined the legislature and concentrated decision-making in his own hands.

Parliament has not held a public session since 28 February, when the US and Israel launched a new war on Iran. In recent days, criticism has grown over the continued suspension of parliamentary sessions, with lawmakers protesting the decision.

The war on Iran was a strategic disaster for America and Israel

Critics argue that Ghalibaf has effectively stripped parliament of its role during a time of war and has instead been making decisions on his own.

Kamran Ghazanfari, a conservative lawmaker, was among those criticising the speaker, saying, "We have repeatedly said that Mr Ghalibaf has been illegally keeping the parliament's public sessions closed for the past four months."

He also rejected Ghalibaf's claim that the closure was based on a decision by the Supreme National Security Council, calling it "a complete lie".

Another lawmaker, Ali Akbar Alizadeh, also questioned the legal basis for suspending parliament.

"According to our follow-ups, neither the Supreme National Security Council nor its secretariat issued a decision to close parliament," he said.

National football team criticised at home

Despite being eliminated from the 2026 World Cup after drawing all three of its group-stage matches, Iran's national football team has received praise from many experts and fans outside the country.

Inside Iran, however, football experts have sharply criticised the team's tactical performance and the way it is managed by government-backed football officials.

Much of the praise the team received abroad was linked to the obstacles it faced during the tournament. As one of the World Cup hosts, the United States did not allow the Iranian team to hold its training camp in the country, refused visas to some members of its technical and managerial staff, and required the team to leave the United States and return to Tijuana, Mexico, after each match.

In Iran, however, some football experts dismissed those issues as off-field matters and blamed the team's failure to reach the next round on tactical weaknesses and what they described as the "mafia-like management" of Iranian football.

Mohammad Kalhor, a former player and football coach, was among those who blamed the national football federation for the team's elimination, saying, "There is a mafia in our football."

Although Kalhor did not elaborate on the claim in an interview with the Etemad newspaper, he suggested that it influenced both the selection of the national team's ageing squad and the appointment of its head coach.

Assessing the team's performance, Kalhor said: "In terms of tactics and style of play, our team did not perform well. The reason is that our national team had no plan to build attacks from the beginning to the end of the matches, except when we received a goal and had to attack. We had the ability to attack before that, but I do not know why it did not happen."

*Iranian press review is a digest of news reports not independently verified as accurate by MEE.

Iranian Press Review

News

Post Date Override

Update Date

Mon, 05/04/2020 - 21:19

Update Date Override