The term of office of the new Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi begins with an acute conflict.

Two crew members, a Romanian and a British man, were killed in a drone attack on an oil tanker last Thursday near the Strait of Hormuz.

First, the Iranian state broadcaster al-Alam announced that the attack was in retaliation for the Israeli attacks on Iranian military positions in Syria.

The tanker M / T Mercer Street, which was en route from Dar es Salaam to Fujairah at the entrance to the strait, is sailing under the Liberian flag and it belongs to a Japanese company.

The ship is operated by the company Zodiac Maritime, which belongs to the Israeli businessman Eyal Ofer.

Rainer Hermann

Editor in politics.

  • Follow I follow

The Iranian Foreign Ministry, still headed by top diplomats who are close to the outgoing President Hasan Rohani, then rowed back on Monday.

Foreign Office spokesman Saeed Chatibzadeh said that anyone who had evidence of Iran's perpetration should submit it.

In any case, Iran rejects all allegations.

Because Israel is responsible for “insecurity, terror and violence”.

Made a "terrible mistake"

However, the location of the attack and the type of drones used, one of which hit under the bridge of the 183-meter-long tanker, make Iranian perpetrators very likely. The American Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who does not want to leave the attack unanswered, has now committed to this. Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett also expects the international community to make it clear to Iran that it has made a "terrible mistake".

Iran and Israel have been fighting a ship war for two years. Most recently, Israel allegedly attacked and damaged the Iranian ship Saviz off the coast of Djibouti in April. The attack was in retaliation for previous attacks by Iran against Israeli ships, it said. Iranian speedboats, which have recently been equipped with combat drones, are also a danger. For the first time last week, people were killed in such attacks. This escalation is likely to make it more difficult for American President Joe Biden to come to an agreement with Iran in the negotiations on the nuclear deal, which his predecessor Donald Trump had terminated.

The Iranian media hardly reported on this incident.

The Iranian people are closely following the threats of retaliation from Israel, the USA and Great Britain.

But she is primarily interested in her own problems in Iran itself. Apparently, Raisi wanted to address this when he presented a vague ten-point program on the most pressing problems facing the population when he was inaugurated.

Even the official inflation rate has reached 43 percent, the drought is exacerbating water scarcity, and Iran is facing the climax of the fifth wave of pandemics.

Raisi, who regretted not being able to kiss Khamenei's hand because of the pandemic, was nowhere specific.

Khamenei urged the Iranians not to expect a quick recovery and to be patient.

No vaccines from the west

The government announced 411 Covid-19 deaths last Monday. The Ministry of Health expects a daily death toll of 600 to 800 in the coming weeks. Less than eight percent of the population are vaccinated. One reason for this is that Khamenei categorically rejects the import of vaccines from the West. Another reason is likely - as Rouhani's statements from the past few days suggest - that the leadership hoped from the lockdowns that the population would stay at home and thus be more controllable. The Ministry of Health has now proposed that the military ensure a two-week tough lockdown.

With robust raids, the security forces are currently suppressing the protests that sparked off in the province of Chusistan because of the drought and the worsening water shortage. As the province's mostly Arab tribes are armed, bloody clashes cannot be ruled out. However, the flow of news from Khusistan has dried up for a week because the regime completely switched off the Internet in the troubled province.