Two Minutes in Tehran — Episode 31

IR Summons Australian Ambassador for LGBT Advocacy

On Monday, the Embassy of Australia published photos from an embassy event celebrating Wear it Purple Day, an Australian LGBT awareness day.
The Islamic Republic’s Foreign Ministry summoned the ambassador, saying the photos were "insulting and contrary" to Iranian and Islamic culture, as well as international norms.
In response, Australia’s Employment Minister said: “I am concerned to see this reaction from the Iranian government to the activities of the Australian Embassy. We’re very proud about the fact that our embassies promote Australian values internationally, and I’m very concerned to see an overseas government seemingly take action against an Australian Embassy that is upholding Australian values.”

As mentioned before, nurses and truckers have been on strike in Iran in response to poor conditions and government neglect. In recent days, oil and gas workers have also joined in.
Workers of the South Pars Gas Complex organized a march in response to neglected demands, corrupt officials, and wages and salaries that have not been fully paid.
After two months, the nurses strike has also continued to grow as the government continues to ignore demands.

In June, I discussed the arrest of Hossein Shanbezadeh, who tweeted a dot in response to one of Khamenei’s tweets and was subsequently arrested when his reply received more likes than Khamenei’s tweet.
This week, his lawyer announced that Hossein has been sentenced to 12 years in prison, on empty charges of “insulting Islamic sanctities,” “spreading falsehoods,” and “anti-regime propaganda activity,” with the court citing his support for political prisoners, using the #NotoExecution hashtag, and supporting lifting the mandatory hijab.