Iran Democracy Monitor: No. 112

IRAN’S CULTURAL REVOLUTION INCHES FORWARD
In an effort to purge corrupt Western influence from Iranian society, officials in Tehran are taking the logical next step: targeting early education. Under a new edict issued by the country’s Education Ministry, Iran’s preschools henceforth will begin segregating boys and girls. "The mingling of boys and girls is forbidden at preschool classes, except in schools where the number of students does not reach the required minimum," the directive outlines. The move constitutes a significant expansion of governmental authority, observers point out, because most preschools in the Islamic Republic are private in nature, and therefore were previously exempt from the efforts to promote gender segregation in education that was launched by the Islamic Republic back in 2009. (Radio Free Europe, August 23, 2011)

MALAISE AND DESPAIR IN THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC
Deepening governmental repression, a lack of economic opportunity and serious social discontent have contributed to a soaring suicide rate among ordinary Iranians, a new official survey has found. Regime officials have disclosed that the country’s rate of suicides has jumped by nearly 20 percent over the past two years. The number of Iranians who now kill themselves averages 10 per day, with nearly 1,000 suicides logged in the first quarter of this year, the country’s chief of forensic medicine has admitted. (Jerusalem Post, August 24, 2011)

BLOWBACK FROM THE "ARAB SPRING"
Iran’s steadfast support for the increasingly brutal crackdown being carried out by ally Syria against its own people is taking a major toll on the Islamic Republic’s standing in the Middle East. At the outset of the “Arab Spring” earlier this year, Iran’s government sought to exploit the anti-regime sentiment spreading throughout the region as part of its own anti-Western and Islamist narrative. More recently, however, the Iranian regime has come under fire for its role as an enabler of regional repression—most directly through its backing for the embattled regime in Damascus. Thus, a recent poll of Middle Eastern public opinion carried out by the Arab American Institute found that Iran’s popularity has taken a serious nosedive in recent months. Only 37 percent of Egyptians polled now have a favorable view of Tehran; in 2006, nearly 90 percent did. Similarly, in Jordan, where three-quarters of the population saw Iran in a favorable light five years ago, the Islamic Republic currently now is approved of by just 23 percent. (Wall Street Journal, August 31, 2011)

IRAN-PAKISTAN PIPELINE INCHES FORWARD
For years, Iranian officials have floated the idea of building a pipeline to carry the Islamic Republic’s natural gas wealth to South Asia, with its 1.6 billion energy consumers. For just as long, however, the plans have been frustrated by American pressure on the parties that would be involved in such a potential project: India and Pakistan. Now, however, the Pakistani government has broken ranks and agreed to build the pipeline. The declaration was made at a meeting in Tehran between Iranian and Pakistani officials, which involved a tentative bilateral agreement to erect a bilateral natural gas link capable of carrying as much as 21.5 million cubic meters of natural gas from Iran to Pakistan in the next two years. (Radio Free Europe, September 9, 2011)

NEW AMERICAN ATTENTION TO DEMOCRACY IN IRAN
After years of comparative neglect, the Obama administration appears to be paying new attention to Iran’s revolutionaries and their struggle against the Iranian regime. In a recent televised interview, new Defense Secretary Leon Pannetta gave the clearest indication to date that the White House – which once was committed to engagement with Iran’s ayatollahs – now has hopes for the country’s freedom movement. "I think we saw... in the last election in Iran that there was a movement within Iran that raised those very same concerns that we're seeing elsewhere," Panetta told the Charlie Rose television show during a discussion of the “Arab Spring” and the changes taking place in the region. "[I]n many ways, it's a matter of time before that kind of change and reform and revolution occurs in Iran as well." (Reuters, September 7, 2011)