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Iran Update, April 13, 2023

A senior delegation from Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ)—a US-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO)—traveled to Iraq, highlighting the growing Iranian influence there and potential for Baghdad to become a central node in the Iran-led Axis of Resistance.
IRGC-affiliated Tasnim News Agency reported that President Ebrahim Raisi may soon dismiss Industry, Mines, and Trade Minister Reza Fatemi Amin.
Foreign Affairs Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian participated in a quadrilateral meeting on Afghanistan with his Chinese, Russian, and Pakistani counterparts in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.
Iranian Oil Minister Javad Owji traveled to Caracas, Venezuela to visit Venezuelan state-owned oil company Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) facilities and meet with his Venezuelan counterpart Pedro Tellechea.
CTP recorded no protests in Iran.

https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/iran-update-april-13-2023

The Iranian regime is attempting to manage rising tensions with Azerbaijan without conceding its strategic interests in the Caucasus.
President Ebrahim Raisi gave a televised speech for Quds Day in place of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, possibly indicating Khamenei’s continued support for Raisi as Iran's next supreme leader.
Prominent Sunni cleric Moulana Abdol Hamid is calling on Iran's Shia population to consider an alternative and more moderate version of the Islamic Republic that would also limit the role of the supreme leader
The Iranian rial appreciated slightly from 509,500 rials to one US dollar on April 13 to 508,000 rials to one US dollar on April 14.
Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement (PIJ) Secretary General Ziyad al Nakhalah and Lebanese Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah gave separate speeches using the usual anti-Israel rhetoric that is common on the Iran-sponsored International Quds Day.
Israeli news outlet Channel 11 reported that Israel has closed six kilometers of airspace along the Lebanese, Syrian, and Gaza border, likely to preempt a possible strike into Israeli territory from Iranian-backed proxies in commemoration of Quds Day.

Iraqi Shia cleric Muqtada al Sadr announced a freeze to all Sadrist Movement operations in response to a deviant faction of the Sadrist Movement named Ahl al Qadaa, the People of the Cause.[26] Ahl al Qadaa claimed that Sadr is the Imam Mehdi and called on its followers to attend I’tikaf, a practice of staying at a mosque for several days commonly at the end of Ramadan, with Sadr to pledge their allegiance to him.[27] Sadr rejected the claims and claimed that the faction was corrupt.[28] The Iraqi Judiciary announced that ”dozens” of Ahl al Qadaa members were arrested on April 14 as gang members promoting ideas contributing to discord and civil disruption.[29]

https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/iran-update-april-14-2023