Iran Democracy Monitor: No. 164

LEVERAGING LATIN AMERICAN NAVIES
Iran is eyeing an expanded naval presence - one that will bring it to the Western Hemisphere. "We intend to take a longer stride in marine voyages and even go towards friendly states in Latin America," Major General Ataollah Salehi, the commander of Iran's Navy, recently told reporters. The effort is predicated on greater cooperation between Iran's navy and those of sympathetic seafaring nations in Latin America (such as Ecuador and Venezuela). Through collaboration with those states, Iran "is capable of deploying in that region," Salehi has said. (Tehran FARS, April 2, 2016)

IRAN'S (EVEN STRONGER) MORALITY POLICE
The Islamic Republic is stepping up its crusade against "immoral" behavior among its citizens. The latest plan initiated by Iranian authorities involves the creation of a new undercover police unit in the Iranian capital of Tehran intended to monitor compliance with dress codes and other social conventions. The new unit, which will field some 7,000 agents, will target such behavior as "improper veiling and removal of veils inside cars." (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, April 18, 2016)

THE NEWEST INVESTOR IN IRAN’S NUCLEAR PROGRAM: AMERICA
As part of its efforts to preserve and strengthen the nuclear deal signed between Iran and the P5+1 powers last summer, the Obama administration is now investing in the Islamic Republic's nuclear processes. As part of a new deal between Washington and Tehran, the United States will commit to purchasing 32 tons of "heavy water" - a by-product of nuclear development. The $8.6 million deal would help Iran fulfill one of the conditions of the JCPOA, which stipulates that Iran needs to get rid of the substance as a way of ensuring that it is not later used to help create nuclear weapons.

The agreement, however, isn't simply a security measure. It is also intended as an economic signal to other potential economic partners of the Islamic Republic that it is acceptable to invest in the regime's nuclear program. "The idea is: Okay, we tested it, it's perfectly good heavy water. It meets spec. We'll buy a little of this," U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz has said. "That will be a statement to the world: 'You want to buy heavy water from Iran, you can buy heavy water from Iran. It’s been done. Even the United States did it.'" (Science, April 22, 2016; Wall Street Journal, April 22, 2016)

IRAN REWARDS ITS FOREIGN LEGION
Since its start in March 2011, Iran has been a major strategic player in Syria's grinding civil war, providing extensive military capabilities and assistance to the beleaguered regime of Bashar al-Assad in Damascus. This has included, among other things, the organization and deployment of large numbers of non-Iranian fighters onto the Syrian battlefield. Now, Tehran is seeking to compensate these foreign combatants. A new law passed by Iran's parliament, or majles, enables the country's government to henceforth grant citizenship to the families of foreigners killed while enlisted in the service of the Islamic Republic. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, May 2, 2016)

[EDITOR'S NOTE: The new law is bound to be of particular significance to Iran's Afghan refugees. While that community is large - numbering roughly three million, according to official statistics - it remains economically disadvantaged, and routinely faces discrimination from Iranian authorities. And since the start of the Syrian conflict, Iran has focused heavily on the recruitment of volunteers from its Afghan community to augment its regular and irregular forces in the fight against the Islamic State and other opponents of the Assad regime.]