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TEHRAN, March 23 Mohammad Javad enters a fashionable shop in well-to-do north Tehran with his mother. For the first time ever he wants a necktie, long banned in Iran as a symbol of Western decadence.

The 27-year-old dentist said he opted for this clothing accessory in hopes of looking his best during the first meeting with his future in-laws.

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"In our society, wearing a tie is like wearing a mask before Covid-19 hit, he said as the salesman adjusted his suit. "People would look at you differently because the negative view still remains.

"I think a man looks chic with one. Unfortunately, we Iranians have imposed strange and unnecessary restrictions on ourselves. Itll take time for that to change, but hopefully it will.

Dress rules have stoked strong passions in Iran, especially restrictions on women who have long been required to wear modest clothing and headscarves.

Iran was gripped by unrest, labelled "riots by the authorities, after the September 16 death in custody of Iranian Kurd Mahsa Amini, 22, following her arrest for an alleged violation of the countrys strict dress code for women.

Iran banned the tie for men after the 1979 overthrow of the US-backed monarch as a symbol of Western culture. Although it has made a slow comeback since, government officials and most Iranian men continue to shun the cravat.

The upmarket Zagros shop on the capitals Nelson Mandela Boulevard however displays rows of ties in different colours and in wool, cotton or silk.

"We sell around 100 a month, said deputy store manager Mohammad Arjmand, 35. "We import them mostly from Turkey, but some are also made in Iran.

"Customers buy them for ceremonies or for work. In this neighbourhood, you will find that two out of 10 people wear one. These days more people are wearing ties compared with previous decades.

The recent unrest "had no effect on our sales, said branch manager Ali Fattahi, 38. "Our customers who were wearing ties before still do so and come to us regularly to buy new ones.

Sign of decadence

Irans Shiah clerics who came to power in 1979 banned the tie because, in their eyes, it was un-Islamic, a sign of decadence, a symbol of the cross and the quintessence of Western dress imposed by the shah, said one trader who asked not to be identified.

After vanishing for decades, ties reappeared in some shop windows during the era of reformist president Mohammad Khatami from 1997 to 2005.

Today, government ministers, senior civil servants and heads of state-owned companies dont wear ties with their suits and opt for shirts with buttoned, open or Mao collars.

Lawyer Masoud Molapanah said "wearing a tie is certainly not a crime under the constitution or Islamic sharia law. "But there are dress restrictions in certain places such as on television.

Javad, while choosing his tie, was accompanied by his chador-clad mother, who not only encourages him to wear one but also asked the salesmen to teach her how to tie it properly for her son.

"At one time, some sought to remove it, said the 50-year-old state employee, with a smile. "The reason given was the rejection of any sign of Westernisation.

"But then it would have been necessary to also remove the suit and return to the traditional dress worn at the time of the Qajar dynasty of 1794-1925, she said, adding this "was obviously impossible.

Ties give prestige

The head of a nearby Pierre Cardin store, Mehran Sharifi, 35, said many young people now are enthusiastic about the necktie.

"Ties give prestige to people a lot of people buy them, said this son and grandson of a tailor, pointing to a century-old photograph on the wall of his grandfather wearing a tie.

"Customers come to buy suits and we match ties to their choice of clothing. Others buy them as a gift.

In some classy cafes, the black tie or bowtie are part of the uniform of waiters, and doctors in several Tehran districts have also sported ties.

The fashion accessory is almost compulsory for Iranians working at embassies and in some foreign companies, although most remove it when they go out on the street.

Sadeq, 39, employed at the Japanese embassy, said he puts on his tie when he gets to work "because wearing a tie in public is not very common in Iran.

"If you dress up like that and walk in the street, youll definitely turn a few heads. People will think youre either a foreigner or someone headed to a very formal meeting with foreigners. AFP

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Once banned, now back: Iran sees timid return of neckties - Malay Mail

WASHINGTON (AP) President Joe Biden used a White House event to mark Persian New Year on Monday to pay tribute to Iranian women and girls who took to the streets of Iran to protest following the death last year of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini and vowed to keep pressure on Tehran.

Biden said he wished the Nowruz holiday, a nearly 4,000-year-old tradition known as the Festival of Fire thats linked to the Zoroastrian religion, would be a moment of hope for the women of Iran fighting for their human rights and fundamental freedoms.

The United States stands with those brave women and all the citizens of Iran who are inspiring the world with their conviction, Biden said, describing the reception as the biggest White House Nowruz celebration to date. Were going to continue to hold Iranian officials accountable for their attacks against their people.

The United States, Europe and the United Kingdom have imposed a series of fresh sanctions on dozens of Iranian officials and organizations, including the countrys special military and police forces, for their violent clampdown.

The protests began in mid-September when Amini died after being arrested by Irans morality police for allegedly violating the Islamic Republics strict dress code.

The protests mark one of the biggest challenges to Irans theocracy since the 1979 revolution.

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Biden pays tribute to Iranian women at Nowruz celebration - The Associated Press

BRUSSELS, March 20 (Reuters) - The European Union on Monday imposed a new package of sanctions against Iran, its sixth, in response to human rights violations, adding eight individuals and one entity to its list.

"In particular, the Council is sanctioning members of the judiciary responsible for handing down death sentences in unfair trials, and for the torturing of convicts," the EU said in a statement.

In total, EU sanctions now apply to 204 individuals and 34 entities in Iran.

"We want to make clear that nobody is above the law, which is why we will impose a sixth package of sanctions here in Brussels," German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock had told reporters earlier in the day.

Britain for its part said it had sanctioned senior officials from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), including those who it said were responsible for managing the group's financial investments.

Reporting by Sabine Siebold, Andrew Gray, Bart Meijer; Editing by Kevin Liffey

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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EU imposes further sanctions on Iran for human rights violations - Reuters

South Korean air force F-5 fighter jets shown in 2005. The F-5 has been used by many militaries, including Iran's. The U.S. this week unsealed two previously secret indictments against a network of companies that it says illegally exported military technology to Iran, including a nose landing gear assembly for the F-5. (Seth Robson/Stars and Stripes)

The U.S. government unsealed two previously secret indictments this week against people that it says aided Irans pursuit of weapons of mass destruction by exporting nuclear, ballistic missile and aerial drone technology.

These defendants sought to obtain valuable U.S.-origin goods that could assist Irans military and WMD aspirations, and in some instances, they were successful, Matthew Graves, U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, said in a statement Wednesday.

The unsealing of the indictments comes in the same week that the Treasury Department levied sanctions on three of the people indicted. They were sanctioned for their role in separate schemes, which included shipment of aerial drone engines from Europe to Iran.

The two unsealed indictments are from 2011 and 2018. They accuse three Iranians, a Turk and a man from the United Arab Emirates of conspiring to illegally export U.S. technology between 2005 and 2013.

The Turkish man, Murat Bukey, was sentenced Monday to a little more than two years in prison after pleading guilty to conspiring to violate the Arms Export Control Act and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

The other four men remain at large. They are Amanallah Paidar, Agshar Mahmoudi and Bahram Aran from Iran and Shahin Golshani from the UAE.

The U.S.s inability to capture the other four men since their indictments prompted prosecutors to petition to unseal the case Monday in the hope that the move will help lead to arrests, Graves wrote in a court document filed March 16.

Paidar is the commercial manager of an Iranian company called Defense Technology and Science Research Center, which is owned by Tehrans military, the Treasury Department said.

U.S. federal agents said Paidaris at the center of a procurement network established to export goods related to biological, chemical and nuclear technologies to Iran, a court filing from 2015 said.

The Justice Department says Paidar conspired with Bukey in efforts to ship a device associated with germ warfare used to detect biological pathogens through Turkey during 2012 and 2013.

Bukey at one point sold more than $1 million worth of aerial drone engines from Europe that likely ended up in Iran, the Treasury Department said.

Paidar also worked with Mahmoudi to procure thermal imaging cameras, computer systems and marine electronics, the Treasury Department said.

One of the unsealed indictments also accuses Mahmoudi of working with Aran and Golshani to illegally export advanced technology to Iran.

The exports included a high-speed camera that has known nuclear and ballistic missile testing applications, a nose landing gear assembly for an F-5 fighter jet and a meteorological sensor system.

A thermal imaging camera was tracked as it traveled from the U.S. to Canada to the UAE and finally to Iran, the indictment said.

The Iranian companies listed in Tuesdays sanctions are Defense Technology and Science Research Center, Farazan Industrial Engineering and Selin Technic. A defunct Turkish company, Ozone Aviation, also was blacklisted. The people added to the sanctions list were Paidar, Bukey, and Mahmoudi.

The listings mark another round of U.S. financial action against Irans drone program, after five Chinese companies selling parts to an Iranian drone firm were added to American blacklists in early March.

Sanctions impose financial penalties on companies or private citizens, as well as any bank that works with them.

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Newly unsealed indictments allege Iran's pursuit of weapons of mass destruction - Stars and Stripes

News of the normalisation of relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia came as a surprise to international observers. The enmity between the Middle East rivals has been among the most persistent and dangerous in the region.

This months agreement came after two years of negotiations between Riyadh and Tehran in Baghdad, and Chinese President Xi Jinping played an important role in concluding the deal in Beijing. As part of the ensuing trilateral statement, Saudi Arabia and Iran agreed to implement a 2001 security cooperation agreement and a 1998 deal bolstering economic, cultural and technological ties.

The upshot of these developments was a lose-lose for both Riyadh and Tehran

This is based on an agreement the two countries reached in the mid-1990sthat remained in effect until 2005. I negotiated the terms for then-President Hashemi Rafsanjani alongside then-Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud in Riyadh.

As I detailed in my recent book, A New Structure for Security, Peace, and Cooperation in the Persian Gulf, Rafsanjani and Abdullah agreed to revive relations. I was commissioned by Rafsanjani as his special envoy to discuss a deal with the crown prince. Over the course of four long nights in Abdullahs mansion in Jeddah, we debated and finally agreed on a plan of action.Then, Rafsanjanis son and I met King Fahd, and he approved the agreement.

After returning to Iran, the agreement was also approved by Rafsanjani and Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. It was implemented fully during former President Mohammed Khatamis term (1997-2005). I was told by a high-level Saudi official that Abdullah viewed Khatami as continuing Rafsanjanis policies. In 1997, Abdullah visited Tehran, and the cooperation and security agreements were subsequently signed.

In my negotiations with Abdullah, security issues were the primary concern. Riyadh was concerned about Tehran exporting Shiism and supporting Saudi Arabias Shiaminority, and about demonstrations by Iranian pilgrims threatening the security of the annual Hajj ceremony.

For its part, Tehran was concerned about SaudiArabia supporting the Sunni minority in Iran and spreading Wahhabi fundamentalism. The bilateral security pact greatly reduced anxieties in both governments over interference in each others internal affairs.

Unfortunately, the agreements collapsed after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took office in August 2005. Iran restarted its nuclear enrichment programme, the UN Security Council adopted resolutions sanctioning Iran, and Abdullah - by now the king of Saudi Arabia - repeatedly exhorted the US to cut off the head of the snake by launching military strikes to destroy Irans nuclear programme.

Then, in January 2016, Saudi Arabia executed a prominent Shia cleric, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, along with 46 other Shia dissidents. Nimrs execution triggered protests in front of Saudi Arabias embassy in Tehran.

The proxy war between Iran and Saudi Arabia escalated in Yemen, as the Houthis used drones and missiles to attack Saudi oil installations. In ever, and Iran supported Syrian President Bashar al-Assad against internal and external efforts to overthrow him. Assads efforts to normalise his regime have made considerable progress during the past year.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia welcomed former US President Donald Trumps decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal, and supported reinstating economic sanctions on Iran - only to see it now enriching uranium to near weapons-grade levels.

Trumps maximum pressure and sanctions campaign against Iran has been devastating. Ordinary Iranians have been confronted with skyrocketing prices and a greatly devalued currency. Last autumn, a wave of anti-government protests swept the country after the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody.Irans government responded by strengthening its military and political alliance with Russia, as evidenced by Irans supply of drones to Russia amid its invasion of Ukraine.

The upshot of these developments was a lose-lose for both Riyadh and Tehran, demonstrating that their confrontation would have no winner.The recent agreement in Beijing shows that Irans conservative government, led by President Ebrahim Raisi, has restored relations with Saudi Arabia based on the two agreements formulated during the moderate government of Rafsanjani and implemented by the reformist government of Khatami.

The distrust between Tehran and Riyadh is both deep and serious. Both governments, however, have committed to observe the principles of the UN Charter, including respect for national sovereignty and non-interference in each others internal affairs. This is necessary, but not sufficient on its own. The agreement must be supplemented with additional commitments to ensure sustainable, friendly relations between Tehran and Riyadh.

Saudi-Iran reconciliation: Why Riyadh and Tehran felt the time was right

As the most powerful regional and Islamic states, they should commit to regarding each others security as an integral part of their own; put an end to illusions about regional hegemony and work to create a system of cooperation and collective security among the eight countries bordering the Gulf;and convert their unhealthy competition in crisis-ridden countries such as Yemen, Syria and Iraq into a constructive partnership.

In addition, they should join forces to foster effective regional and international cooperation against weapons of mass destruction, extremism and terrorism;treat the members of their religious minorities as full citizens;and work to de-escalate tensions between Washington and Tehran.

Finally, with Iran and Israel in a quasi-war situation, Beijing - which has strong diplomatic relations with both states - could potentially mediate a ceasefire.

Irans Supreme National Security Council secretary, Ali Shamkhani, just held talks with the crown prince of Abu Dhabi. Qatar and Oman have been actively mediating to revive the Iran nuclear deal and secure the exchange of prisoners between Iran and the US. Irans deputy foreign minister recently visited Oman, and China is planning to host an unprecedented summit later this year, attended by Iran and its six Arab neighbours in the Gulf Cooperation Council.

After years of bitter hostilities and escalating crises in the region, the era of diplomacy and wisdom has now arrived. It is time for Iran, Iraq and the Gulf states to embrace and cooperate, to collectively create a powerful region.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye.

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Saudi-Iran deal: After years of tension, a new chapter for the region begins - Middle East Eye