In Iran, slow vaccinations fuel anger in unending pandemic

Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi (2n L) during a visit to Imam Khomeini Hospital and Corona Vaccination Center in the capital Tehran. Iran reported over 500 daily COVID-19 deaths for the first time, as new infections also hit a record high. (File/AFP)
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Updated 11 August 2021
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In Iran, slow vaccinations fuel anger in unending pandemic

  • Only 3 million of Iran's more than 80 million people having received both vaccine doses
  • Since the start of the pandemic, Iran has recorded nearly 4 million COVID-19 cases and more than 91,000 deaths

DUBAI: Iranians are suffering through yet another surge in the coronavirus pandemic — their country’s worst yet — and anger is growing at images of vaccinated Westerners without face masks on the Internet or on TV while they remain unable to get the shots.

Iran, like much of the world, remains far behind countries like the United States in vaccinating its public, with only 3 million of its more than 80 million people having received both vaccine doses. But while some countries face poverty or other challenges in obtaining vaccines, Iran has brought some of the problems on itself.

After Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei refused to accept vaccine donations from Western countries, the Islamic Republic has sought to make the shots domestically, though that process lags far behind other nations.

The supply of non-Western shots remains low, creating a black market offering Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech shots for as much as $1,350 in a country where the currency, the Iranian rial, is on the verge of collapse. Meanwhile,

US sanctions imposed on Iran mean the cash-strapped government has limited funds to purchase vaccines abroad.

And even as the delta variant wreaks havoc, filling the country’s already overwhelmed hospitals, many Iranians have given up on wearing masks and staying at home.

The need to earn a living trumps the luxury of social distancing.

“What is next? A sixth wave? A seventh wave? When is it going to end?” asked Reza Ghasemi, a 27-year-old delivery man without a face mask, smoking a cigarette next to his motorbike on a recent day in Tehran. “It is not clear when this situation will change to a better one.”

Since the start of the pandemic, Iran has recorded nearly 4 million COVID-19 cases and more than 91,000 deaths — the highest numbers across the Middle East.

The true count is believed to be much higher. In April 2020, Iran’s parliament warned its case number was “eight to 10 times” higher than the reported figures, due to undercounting. While coronavirus testing capacity has surged since then, officials repeatedly have suggested the case count remains far off. The death toll is likely three times higher, officials say, as Iran only counts those who die in a hospital while being treated for coronavirus.

Khamenei in January slammed shut any possibility of American or British vaccines entering the country, calling them “forbidden.”

”I really do not trust,” them, Khamenei said of those nations. “Sometimes they want to test” their vaccines on other countries.

The decision, after Khamenei earlier floated conspiracy theories about the virus’ origin in March 2020, saw Iran turn inward and try to develop its own vaccines. Those efforts, relying on traditional “dead virus” vaccines rather than the Pfizer and Moderna method of targeting the coronavirus’ spike protein using RNA, have yet to reach mass production. And while the government claims local shots are 85 percent effective, they’ve released no data from their trials.

For now, the majority of Iranians receiving vaccines rely on foreign-made shots. Japan has donated 2.9 million doses of its locally produced AstraZeneca shots. China has sent 10 million doses of its shots. Iran also made a deal with Russia to buy 60 million doses of Sputnik V, but so far, Moscow has delivered just over 1 million shots.

Doctors received the first set of vaccines, while the government now offers shots to those 50 and older, as well as to taxi drivers, journalists and those with diabetes. But it hasn’t been nearly enough to keep up with demand. Only 4 percent of the Iranian public are fully vaccinated, according to government statistics.

Those with residency permits have sought shots in the United Arab Emirates. Others have gone to Armenia where authorities offer free shots to visiting foreigners. In Tehran, word-of-mouth claims that Pfizer and Moderna shots smuggled in over the border from Irbil, Iraq, including the ultra-cold freezers needed for them, are now for sale in the Iranian capital.

A two-dose Moderna or AstraZeneca vaccine goes for $390, while two Pfizer shots cost $1,350. Those paying go on faith that the products have not expired — or are even legitimate vaccines.

Mahsa, a 31-year-old woman in Tehran, said she got the Moderna vaccine through her boyfriend’s friend, a doctor working at a pharmacy.
“I am sure the vaccine is genuine because I trust the doctor,” she said.

Amirali, a 39-year-old father of a baby girl, said he bought shots of the Japanese-made AstraZeneca vaccine from an Iranian doctor secretly vaccinating people for profit. Amirali said he took the chance as his wife, a permanent US resident, received the Pfizer vaccine while visiting America.

“I was not sure when the government will provide vaccines for my age group, so I decided to vaccinate myself,” he said.

Both Amirali and Mahsa spoke on condition that only their first names be used for fear of retribution from the authorities.

But for those who can’t pay, there are no shots yet.

Iran’s civilian government, now undergoing a transition of power to hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi, has been overwhelmed by the crisis. And with the Islamic Republic also facing protests over economic issues, water shortages and blackouts, the government likely wants to avoid triggering wider unrest.

“They want us to accept any situation simply because they failed to do their duty with vaccinations,” said Abbas Zarei, who sells mobile phone accessories in northern Tehran. “From time to time, they announce that businesses should close because of corona restrictions though it damages our lives.”

“It is not fair,” said Zarei, who like many in Iran, struggles to make a living. “I do not care about the restrictions anymore.”


With sanctions lifted, Syria looks to solar power as more than a patchwork fix to its energy crisis

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With sanctions lifted, Syria looks to solar power as more than a patchwork fix to its energy crisis

DAMASCUS: Abdulrazak Al-Jenan swept the dust off his solar panel on his apartment roof overlooking Damascus. Syria’s largest city was mostly pitch-black, the few speckles of light coming from the other households able to afford solar panels, batteries, or private generators.
Al-Jenan went thousands of dollars in debt to buy his solar panel in 2019. It was an expensive coping mechanism at the time, but without it, he couldn’t charge his phone and run the refrigerator.
Syria has not had more than four hours of state electricity per day for years, as a result of the nearly 14-year civil war that ended with the ouster of former President Bashar Assad in December.
Syria’s new leaders are hoping renewable energy will now become more than a patchwork solution. Investment is beginning to return to the country with the lifting of US sanctions, and major energy projects are planned, including an industrial-scale solar farm that would secure about a tenth of the country’s energy needs.
“The solution to the problem isn’t putting solar panels on roofs,” Syria’s interim Energy Minister Mohammad Al-Bashir told The Associated Press. “It’s securing enough power for the families through our networks in Syria. This is what we’re trying to do.”

Restoring the existing energy infrastructure
Some of the efforts focus on simply repairing infrastructure destroyed in the war. The World Bank recently announced a $146 million grant to help Syria repair damaged transmission lines and transformer substations. Al-Bashir said Syria’s infrastructure that has been repaired can provide 5,000 megawatts, about half the country’s needs, but fuel and gas shortages have hampered generation. With the sanctions lifted, that supply could come in soon.
More significantly, Syria recently signed a $7 billion energy deal with a consortium of Qatari, Turkish, and American companies. The program over the next three and a half years would develop four combined-cycle gas turbines with a total generating capacity estimated at approximately 4,000 megawatts and a 1,000-megawatt solar farm. This would “broadly secure the needs” of Syrians, said Al-Bashir.
While Syria is initially focusing on fixing its existing fossil fuel infrastructure to improve quality of life, help make businesses functional again, and entice investors, the UN Development Program said in May that a renewable energy plan will be developed in the next year for the country.
The plan will look at Syria’s projected energy demand and determine how much of it can come from renewable sources.
“Given the critical role of energy in Syria’s recovery, we have to rapidly address energy poverty and progressively accelerate the access to renewable energy,” Sudipto Mukerjee, UNDP’s resident representative in Syria, said in a statement announcing the plan.

Sanctions crippled the power grid
While the war caused significant damage to Syria’s infrastructure, crippling Washington-led sanctions imposed during the Assad dynasty’s decades of draconian rule made it impossible for Syria to secure fuel and spare parts to generate power.
“Many companies over the past period would tell us the sanctions impact matters like imports, implementing projects, transferring funds and so on,” Al-Bashir said.
During a visit to Turkiye in May, the minister said Syria could only secure about 1700 megawatts, a little less than 20 percent, of its energy needs.
A series of executive orders by US President Donald Trump lifted many sanctions on Syria, aiming to end the country’s isolation from the global banking system so that it can become viable again and rebuild itself.
The United Nations estimates the civil war caused hundreds of billions of dollars in damages and economic losses across the country. Some 90 percent of Syrians live in poverty. Buying solar panels, private generators or other means of producing their own energy has been out of reach for most of the population.
“Any kind of economic recovery needs a functional energy sector,” said Joseph Daher, Syrian-Swiss economist and researcher, who said that stop-gap measures like solar panels and private generators were luxuries only available to a few who could afford it. “There is also a need to diminish the cost of electricity in Syria, which is one of the most expensive in the region.”
Prices for electricity in recent years surged as the country under its former rulers struggled with currency inflation and rolling back on subsidies. The new officials who inherited the situation say that lifting sanctions will help them rectify the country’s financial and economic woes, and provide sufficient and affordable electricity as soon as they can.
“The executive order lifts most of the obstacles for political and economic investment with Syria,” said Qutaiba Idlibi, who leads the Americas section of the Foreign Ministry.
Syria has been under Washington-led sanctions for decades, but designations intensified during the war that started in 2011. Even with some waivers for humanitarian programs, it was difficult to bring in resources and materials to fix Syria’s critical infrastructure — especially electricity — further compounding the woes of the vast majority of Syrians, who live in poverty.

The focus is economic recovery
The removal of sanctions signals to US businesses that Trump is serious in his support for Syria’s recovery, Idlibi said.
“Right now, we have a partnership with the United States as any normal country would do,” he said.
Meanwhile, Al-Jenan is able to turn on both his fans on a hot summer day while he watches the afternoon news on TV, as the temperature rises to 35 degrees Celsius (95 F). He doesn’t want to let go of his solar panel but hopes the lifting of sanctions will eventually bring sustainable state electricity across the country.
“We can at least know what’s going on in the country and watch on TV,” he said. “We really were cut off from the entire world.”


UN teams deploy to Syrian coast as wildfires force hundreds to flee

Updated 07 July 2025
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UN teams deploy to Syrian coast as wildfires force hundreds to flee

  • UN teams are ‘conducting urgent assessments to determine the scale of the disaster and to identify the most immediate humanitarian needs’
  • Firefighting teams from Turkiye and Jordan have joined Syrian civil defense teams, providing support from the air with helicopters

LATAKIA, Syria: United Nations teams have deployed Sunday to the Syrian coast, where firefighters are battling wildfires for a fourth day.

UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Syria Adam Abdelmoula said in a statement that the fast-spreading blazes in the northwestern province of Latakia “have forced hundreds of families to flee their homes, while vast tracts of agricultural land and vital infrastructure have been destroyed.”

UN teams are “conducting urgent assessments to determine the scale of the disaster and to identify the most immediate humanitarian needs,” he said.

Firefighting teams from Turkiye and Jordan have joined Syrian civil defense teams, providing support from the air with helicopters. Syria’s state-run SANA news agency reported that emergency crews are attempting to prevent the blazes from reaching the Al-Frunloq natural reserve, with its “large, interconnected forests.”

Syrian Minister of Emergency and Disaster Management Raed Al-Saleh called the situation “extremely tragic.”

In a statement posted on X, he said the fires had destroyed “hundreds of thousands of trees” covering an area estimated at 10,000 hectares (38.6 square miles).

“We regret and mourn every tree that burned, which was a source of fresh air for us,” Al-Saleh said.

The Syrian Civil Defense had expressed concerns over the presence of unexploded ordnance left over from the country’s nearly 14-year civil war in some of the wildfire areas.

Summer fires are common in the eastern Mediterranean region, where experts warn that climate change is intensifying conditions.

Below-average rainfalls over the winter have also left Syrians struggling with water shortages this summer, as the springs and rivers that normally supply much of the population with drinking water have gone dry.


Crew abandons Liberian-flagged, Greek-owned ship attacked in the Red Sea, UK military says

Updated 07 July 2025
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Crew abandons Liberian-flagged, Greek-owned ship attacked in the Red Sea, UK military says

  • The ship was first targeted by gunfire and self-propelled grenades launched from eight small boats, with armed security on the ship returning fire, UKMTO said

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates: Crew members aboard a Liberian-flagged ship set ablaze by a series of attacks in the Red Sea abandoned the vessel Sunday night as it took on water, marking the first serious assault in the vital corridor for trade after a monthslong campaign by Yemen’s Houthi rebels there.
Suspicion for the attack on the Greek-owned bulk carrier Magic Seas immediately fell on the Houthis, particularly as a security firm said it appeared bomb-carrying drone boats hit the ship after it was targeted by small arms and rocket-propelled grenades. The rebels’ media reported on the attack but did not claim it. It can take them hours or even days before they acknowledge an assault.
A renewed Houthi campaign against shipping could again draw in US and Western forces to the area, particularly after President Donald Trump targeted the rebels in a major airstrike campaign.
Shortly before midnight in Yemen, Israel’s military issued a warning for three Houthi-held ports and said airstrikes would begin shortly in Hodeidah, Ras Isa and Salif along with at the Ras Al-Khatib power station.
Attack comes at a delicate time
The ship attack comes at a sensitive moment in the Middle East, as a possible ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war hangs in the balance and as Iran weighs whether to restart negotiations over its nuclear program following American airstrikes targeting its most-sensitive atomic sites amid an Israeli war against the Islamic Republic.
“It likely serves as a message that the Houthis continue to possess the capability and willingness to strike at strategic maritime targets regardless of diplomatic developments,” wrote Mohammad Al-Basha, a Yemen analyst at the Basha Report risk advisory firm.
The British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center first said that an armed security team on the unidentified vessel had returned fire against an initial attack and that the “situation is ongoing.” It described the attack as happening some 100 kilometers (60 miles) southwest of Hodeida, Yemen, which is held by the country’s Houthi rebels.
“Authorities are investigating,” it said. It later said the ship was on fire after being “struck by unknown projectiles.”
Possibly a major escalation
Ambrey, a private maritime security firm, issued an alert saying that a merchant ship had been “attacked by eight skiffs while transiting northbound in the Red Sea.”
Ambrey later said the ship also had been attacked by bomb-carrying drone boats, which could mark a major escalation. It said two drone boats struck the ship, while another two had been destroyed by the armed guards on board.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said the ship was taking on water and its crew had abandoned the vessel.
The US Navy’s Mideast-based 5th Fleet referred questions to the military’s Central Command, which said it was aware of the incident without elaborating.
Moammar Al-Eryani, the information minister for Yemen’s exiled government opposing the Houthis, identified the vessel attacked as the Magic Seas and blamed the rebels for the attack. The ship had been broadcasting it had an armed security team on board in the vicinity the attack took place and had been heading north.
“The attack also proves once again that the Houthis are merely a front for an Iranian scheme using Yemen as a platform to undermine regional and global stability, at a time when Tehran continues to arm the militia and provide it with military technology, including missiles, aircraft, drones, and sea mines,” Al-Eryani wrote on the social platform X.
The Magic Seas’ owners did not respond to a request for comment.
Houthi attacks came over Israel-Hamas war
The Houthi rebels have been launching missile and drone attacks against commercial and military ships in the region in what the group’s leadership has described as an effort to end Israel’s offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The group’s Al-Masirah satellite news channel acknowledged the attack occurred, but offered no other comment on it as it aired a speech by its secretive leader, Abdul Malik Al-Houthi. However, Ambrey said the vessel targeted met “the established Houthi target profile,” without elaborating.
Between November 2023 and January 2025, the Houthis targeted more than 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones, sinking two of them and killing four sailors. That has greatly reduced the flow of trade through the Red Sea corridor, which typically sees $1 trillion of goods move through it annually.
The Houthis paused attacks in a self-imposed ceasefire until the US launched a broad assault against the rebels in mid-March. That ended weeks later and the Houthis haven’t attacked a vessel, though they have continued occasional missile attacks targeting Israel. On Sunday, the group claimed launching a missile at Israel which the Israeli military said it intercepted. Shipping through the Red Sea, while still lower than normal, has increased in recent weeks.
The Yemeni Coast Guard, which is loyal to the exiled government, has engaged in a firefight with at least one vessel in the Red Sea in the past as well.
Pirates from Somalia also have operated in the region, though typically they’ve sought to capture vessels either to rob or ransom their crews. But neither the Yemeni Coast Guard nor the pirates have been known to use drone boats in their attacks.

 


Turkiye says methane exposure kills 5 troops in north Iraq

Updated 07 July 2025
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Turkiye says methane exposure kills 5 troops in north Iraq

  • The incident occurred as they were searching for the remains of a soldier who was shot dead by Kurdish fighters in the area in May 2022, whose body was never recovered, it said

ISTANBUL: Five Turkish soldiers died after being exposed to methane gas during a search operation in caves in northern Iraq on Sunday, the defense ministry said.
The incident comes at a sensitive time with Turkiye in talks to end the conflict with the Kurds after the PKK militant group agreed to end its decades-long armed struggle.
The conflict, which began in 1984, has cost more than 40,000 lives.
The incident occurred as they were searching for the remains of a soldier who was shot dead by Kurdish fighters in the area in May 2022, whose body was never recovered, it said.
At the time, Turkiye was waging Operation Claw Lock, with its troops seeking to eradicate Kurdish PKK militants holed up in caves along the border.
“During a search operation in a cave... previously known to have been used as a hospital... 19 of our personnel were exposed to methane gas.” it said.
They were immediately taken to hospital for treatment, but five of them died, it said.
News of the deaths emerged as a delegation from the pro-Kurdish DEM party was visiting jailed PKK founder Abdullah Ocalan as part of the ongoing negotiations with the Turkish government.
“During the meeting, we were informed that there were soldiers who lost their lives due to methane gas poisoning in the territory of the Kurdistan Regional Government,” the delegation said.
“This incident caused Mr. Ocalan and all of us deep sadness. We wish Allah’s mercy to those who lost their lives and offer our condolences to their families and relatives.”
 

 


Trump says there’s a good chance for Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal this week

Updated 8 min 52 sec ago
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Trump says there’s a good chance for Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal this week

  • Netanyahu earlier said he hoped his meeting with Trump could ‘advance’ Gaza deal ahead of Doha talks
  • Hamas seeking guarantees against a resumption of fighting during negotiations and of UN-led aid distribution system

WASHINGTON/JERUSALEM: US President Donald Trump on Sunday said there was a good chance a Gaza hostage release and ceasefire deal could be reached with the Palestinian militant group Hamas this week.

Trump told reporters before departing for Washington that such a deal meant “quite a few hostages” could be released.

Netanyahu said earlier in the day that he hoped his upcoming meeting with Trump could “help advance” a Gaza ceasefire deal, after sending negotiators to Doha for indirect talks with Hamas.

A Palestinian official familiar with the talks on Sunday said that indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas toward a ceasefire deal in the Gaza Strip had started in Qatar.

“Negotiations are about implementation mechanisms and hostage exchange, and positions are being exchanged through mediators,” the official said.

Under mounting pressure to end the war, now approaching its 22nd month, the Israeli premier is scheduled to sit down on Monday with Trump, who has recently made a renewed push to end the fighting.

Speaking before boarding Israel’s state jet bound for Washington, Netanyahu said: “We are working to achieve this deal that we have discussed, under the conditions that we have agreed to.”

He said he had dispatched the team to Doha “with clear instructions,” and thought the meeting with Trump “can definitely help advance this (deal), which we are all hoping for.”

“We’ve gotten a lot of the hostages out, but pertaining to the remaining hostages, quite a few of them will be coming out,” Trump added.

He said the United States was “working on a lot of things” with Israel, including “probably a permanent deal with Iran.”

Netanyahu had previously said Hamas’s response to a draft US-backed ceasefire proposal contained “unacceptable” demands.

Since the start of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, mediators have brokered pauses in fighting during which hostages were freed in exchange for Israel-held Palestinian prisoners.

Of the 251 hostages taken by Palestinian militants during the October 2023 attack, 49 are still being held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.

Israel’s military campaign, lack of food and dire humanitarian conditions for more than 2 million people in the Gaza Strip has killed at least 57,418 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.

The United Nations considers the figures reliable.

Hamas’s October 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

Earlier Sunday, a Palestinian official tsaid that Hamas would also seek the reopening of Gaza’s Rafah crossing to evacuate the wounded. Hamas’s top negotiator Khalil Al-Hayya was leading the delegation in Doha, the official tsaid.

Two Palestinian sources close to the discussions tsaid the proposal included a 60-day truce, during which Hamas would release 10 living hostages and several bodies in exchange for Palestinians detained by Israel.

However, they said, the group was also demanding certain conditions for Israel’s withdrawal, guarantees against a resumption of fighting during negotiations, and the return of the UN-led aid distribution system.

Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed at least 57,418 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. The United Nations considers the figures reliable.

– with AFP and Reuters