The embattled Iranian regime is orchestrating a campaign to scapegoat "the perverted government" of Britain and other western powers for its worst crisis since the founding of the Islamic republic in 1979.
The invective has mostly been aimed at Britain and the United States by Iranian officials, and the Tehran media is putting further strains on Iran's troubled relations with the international community.
The United States, in particular, has been preparing for a historic engagement with the Islamic republic on a range of issues, most pressingly the nuclear dispute but also on such areas of dove-tailing interest as Iraq and Afghanistan.
Britain has often been a convenient whipping boy for the Iranian regime in times of domestic strife. Widespread mistrust of the "colonial old fox" is rooted in Iranian history and is a staple of high school textbooks. Washington armed and supported the Shah until his tumultuous final days in power, but "duplicitous" Britain still is seen as more Machiavellian and influential than the US "Great Satan", which is portrayed as a dim-witted and muscle-bound puppet of "perfidious Albion".
Now, however, it will be much more difficult for Tehran to use the West as a lightning rod to deflect popular anger: the mistrust of millions of Iranians who feel robbed by the June 12 presidential election is focused on their regime, not its critics abroad.
Regime "progaganda" linking the peaceful actions of pro-democracy demonstrators to foreigners "is a symbol of wrong policies, which increase the gap between the people and the government", warned Mohammad Khatami, Iran's reformist former president, a key ally of Mir Hossein Mousavi, whom protesters are viscerally convinced was the rightful winner of the "stolen election".
Undeterred, the hardline Siyasat e-Ruz daily took aim at Gordon Brown, the British prime minister, mocking him as "one of the most inefficient politicians of England who has witnessed cases of financial corruption in his cabinet". Little wonder, it argued, that Mr Brown was "trying to interfere in other countries' domestic affairs in order to hide his failures".
Western governments have robustly denied as "baseless and unacceptable" Iranian accusations that foreign powers are supporting "rioters" - Tehran's term for pro-democracy protesters - and have called for an immediate halt to state violence against them. The White House spoke out against the lack of "justice" in Iran and said President Barack Obama had been moved by scenes of demonstrators braving repression, especially women.
But apart from criticising human rights abuses and urging an end to the crisis through "dialogue and peaceful means", western leaders wisely are refusing to take the Iranian regime's bait: they are not expressing outright opposition to Iran's existing power structure.
To do so could scotch any chance of eventual negotiations with whatever government emerges from the unprecedented turmoil in Iran. It would also enable the Iranian regime to amplify its unfounded claims that the protesters are western-backed stooges, dealing a possibly fatal blow to the demonstrators now risking their lives on Tehran's streets.
Yesterday, Iran took a step back from its brinkmanship with Britain by forbidding at the 11th hour a planned protest by pro-government students outside the UK Embassy in Tehran. Regardless, several hundred hardliners gathered outside the sprawling diplomatic compound in the teeming heart of the Iranian capital, which has in recent years been the main focus of sometimes violent, stage-managed ire against the West since the US Embassy became defunct in 1980.
Insisting there could be no compromise with the "old fox, Britain", Esmail Tahmouressi, a student leader, warned on Monday that the protest could be another "November 4", a menacing reference to the storming of the US Embassy in 1979 when 52 US diplomats and other personnel were taken and then held for 444 days.
Fearing a repeat of that event - which is seared on the American psyche - Britain ordered the evacuation of the families of the 22 British diplomats and warned British citizens against any non-essential travel to Iran.
The green light to lambaste Britain was given by Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in his uncompromising sermon last Friday when he ordered the ostensibly defeated presidential candidates to accept that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, his firebrand protégé, was the rightful winner of the election. The supreme leader excoriated Britain as the most "evil" of western powers, which he claimed were using the presidential election to destabilise the republic.
On Monday, Iranian parliamentarians urged a review of diplomatic ties with Britain while the country's foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, accused Britain of plotting for two years against the election. A day earlier, the regime expelled the BBC's correspondent, Jon Leyne, and claimed that agents of the British secret services had been infiltrating Iran "in droves".
Leading US media were not spared Tehran's wrath. "CNN and the BBC have set up a psychological war room," proclaimed Hasan Qashqavi, a spokesman for Iran's foreign ministry. "As for BBC Persian and VOA [Voice of America], their case is obvious," he continued. "Their objectives are: A, to weaken national solidarity and, B, to threaten Iran's territorial integrity and divide Iran. This is the approved agenda that was promulgated to the VOA and BBC Persian, after their budgets were approved by the British parliament and US Congress."
Iranians are steeped in the history of British imperial meddling in Iran in the 19th and 20th centuries. The defining moment was in 1953 when the US Central Intelligence Agency carried out a coup, backed by Britain's Winston Churchill, that toppled Iran's popular, democratically elected and charismatic prime minister, Mohammad Mossadegh and reinstalled the unpopular Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. Mossadegh's sin, in Anglo-American eyes, was to have nationalised the Anglo-American oil company, the forerunner to British Petroleum (BP), which had previously paid huge taxes to Britain.
However the unpredictable situation in Iran turns out, it is a "historic turning point" in the history of Iran's Islamic Revolution, said Gary Sick, a senior Iran scholar at New York's Columbia University, in a blog post. Mr Sick served at the National Security Council under three US presidents. In a pointed reference to the June 12 election, he wrote in an earlier blog entry: "Iranians have never forgotten the external political intervention that thwarted their democratic aspirations in 1953. How will they remember this day?"
mtheodoulou@thenational.ae
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, (Leon banned).
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
BULKWHIZ PROFILE
Date started: February 2017
Founders: Amira Rashad (CEO), Yusuf Saber (CTO), Mahmoud Sayedahmed (adviser), Reda Bouraoui (adviser)
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: E-commerce
Size: 50 employees
Funding: approximately $6m
Investors: Beco Capital, Enabling Future and Wain in the UAE; China's MSA Capital; 500 Startups; Faith Capital and Savour Ventures in Kuwait
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
WHAT%20MACRO%20FACTORS%20ARE%20IMPACTING%20META%20TECH%20MARKETS%3F
%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Looming%20global%20slowdown%20and%20recession%20in%20key%20economies%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Russia-Ukraine%20war%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Interest%20rate%20hikes%20and%20the%20rising%20cost%20of%20debt%20servicing%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Oil%20price%20volatility%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Persisting%20inflationary%20pressures%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Exchange%20rate%20fluctuations%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Shortage%20of%20labour%2Fskills%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20A%20resurgence%20of%20Covid%3F%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million