Subverting Iran

Arash Kamangir presents an op-ed from the "ultra-right state-run newspaper Kayhan" protesting the "questionable" sale of the latest Harry Potter. It seems that Bloomsbury rules were followed - the book arriving in sealed containers not opened until in the bookshop and sold from midnight British time. All this

in a society where there are strict rules for publication and distribution of any book. In this society, any book, either translated or authored, has to be carefully considered by a group of experts and foreign books have to be sold in very specific bookstores under strict control.

So, no censorship despite the fact that Harry Potter “includes destructive words and sentences which oppose to the values [of the Islamic Republic]”. What's worse,

The aims of the Zionist project, Harry Potter, has long been understood, even to the Western intellectuals and they have very frequently pointed out their suspicion about the book. Zionists have spent billions of dollars on this project.

Mind you, it happened. The Iranian authorities, for whatever reason, allowed the book to be released in exactly the same way as it was here, notwithstanding all those Zionist dollars. I don't know enough to say why, how or what that means. But it gives me pause for thought.