iran panorama

By Mahmoud Hakamian The regime’s parliament seems to be currently struggling with the legislation of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). On Saturday May 26th, the Chairman of the Iranian Parliament Committee for Foreign Policy and National Security, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, had announced that the FATF bill was going to be reviewed and approved in a meeting the following day. However, no information was ever released from this private meeting; on Sunday May 27th, the Head of the Parliament, Ali Larijani, made only a few general comments about FATF, but did not specify any particular outcome; which is indicative of serious disagreements between the political parties. FATF and associated problems The truth is that FATF aims to institutionalise a legal approach that can enable an easy and systematic international surveillance of Iran’s banking system; which is impossible to achieve, as the regime will no longer be able to pay terrorists like Hezbollah; and will not be ab...

JUBIN AFSHAR   28 May 2018 As the west deliberates about dealing with Iran, take into account the desires of the people who are protesting on the streets of Iran for an end to imposed religious rule. Screen shot: YouTube.Iran Truck Drivers Start Nationwide Strike. May 24, 2018. For the seventh consecutive day on Monday, Iranian truck drivers disrupted the nation's transportation system and put Iran's already struggling and decrepit economy in a stranglehold. On the face of it, the truckers are just one of many sectors of Iranian society who have risen in protest. Joining the victims of insolvent Iranian credit unions, teachers unions, bus drivers, metro workers, students, as well as adherents of various Sufi orders, and also political prisoners and their families, the truckers are striking a chord of dissent and resistance to regime authority in Iran. On Tuesday initially truck drivers in over 22 cities spanning all of Iran launched a nationwide strike...

For the sixth day, truck drivers from hundreds of cities in Iran have refused to work or load their trucks as loading fees and expenses went up. The truck strike in  iran  started in parts of Shiraz and Isfahan last Tuesday and drivers announced they will not go back to work until they receive higher transportation fares, higher driver’s insurance, and payable prices for spare parts. Officials in certain cities have tried to persuade the  drivers  to stop their  strike  and made promises to them that there is going to be a 17 percent rise in their fares. But the drivers are not taking it seriously and say the government has always lied to them. The Transportation Organization called on all drivers to go back to their jobs as there will be a 20 percent rise in load fares but the drivers said they will remain striking till fares go up to 50 percent. Over a thousand fuel tank drivers also went on strike By the fourth da...

By Heshmat Alavi The United States’ important policy shift against Iran’s growing ambitions, spelled out in a 12-article speech delivered by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, is leaving Tehran’s clerical rulers facing quite a difficult challenge. Iran experts believe these changes are based on two domestic and international pillars, acknowledging the reality of Tehran’s regime as a main threat in regards to its nuclear program, ballistic missile drive, exporting terrorism and fundamentalism, and a domestic crackdown machine on full throttle. Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei understands how such dangerous circumstances are rendering severe setbacks for his forces both inside the country and militia proxies abroad. Reports indicate the  Afghan “Liwa Fatemiyoun”  militias, hired to fight in Syria, are deserting their units, and Tehran is apparently ordering Houthi militia units in Yemen to withdraw from the country’s western coastline and surrender their most stra...

By IVAN SASCHA SHEEHAN In a press conference during his French counterpart’s visit to the Oval Office, President Donald Trump  issued a stark warning  to the Islamic Republic of Iran. If they restart their nuclear program, he said, “They will have bigger problems than they’ve ever had before.” The warning was notable, not simply because the White House may reinstate sanctions that were suspended under the 2015 nuclear agreement or withdraw from the deal altogether, but because of the historic rebellion underway in Iran. There is a strong argument to be made that the Islamic Republic is facing bigger problems than they’ve ever had before. The regime is struggling to stabilize its currency in the midst of an economic crisis that caused the rial’s value to fall in April to roughly half the value it enjoyed the previous September. This is a threat in and of itself but it is made worse by persistently poor economic indicators that are certain to exacerbate an already embol...

Iran Uprising - No. 168 On Sunday May 27th, the funeral ceremony of the famous Iranian cinema star Naser Malek Motiei, with the participation of a big crowd of the Iranian people and the fans of this late artist, turned into an anti-regime demonstration. The participants who were angry with the regime's anti-Iranian and anti-art treatment of Naser Malek Motiei chanted: "Death to the dictator, Hail to Naser”; “Our disgrace is our (state) radio and TV”. Naser Malek Motiei was one of the most prominent actors in Iran's cinema who was deprived of his artistic career for four decades and was isolated by the regime due to his failure to accede to the regime’s anti-popular policies. He passed away on Friday, May 25, 2018 at the age of 88. In fear of spreading this funeral and anti-regime protests, the repressive forces, attacked the crowd by sending anti-riot forces, and tried to disperse the people by throwing tear gas and shooting in the air. The people confronted the mer...

Iran Uprising - No. 168 On Sunday May 27th, the funeral ceremony of the famous Iranian cinema star Naser Malek Motiei, with the participation of a big crowd of the Iranian people and the fans of this late artist, turned into an anti-regime demonstration. The participants who were angry with the regime's anti-Iranian and anti-art treatment of Naser Malek Motiei chanted: "Death to the dictator, Hail to Naser”; “Our disgrace is our (state) radio and TV”. Naser Malek Motiei was one of the most prominent actors in Iran's cinema who was deprived of his artistic career for four decades and was isolated by the regime due to his failure to accede to the regime’s anti-popular policies. He passed away on Friday, May 25, 2018 at the age of 88. In fear of spreading this funeral and anti-regime protests, the repressive forces, attacked the crowd by sending anti-riot forces, and tried to disperse the people by throwing tear gas and shooting in the air. The people confronted t...

NCRI-US Staff On May 25, 2018, MSNBC’s “On Assignment” Program, narrated by Richard Engel, regurgitated a series of stale, unfounded, and repeatedly debunked allegations against the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), a member of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), which acts as Iran’s Parliament in Exile. The following is in order: The MSNBC piece by Richard Engel on May 25, 2018, lacks the minimum standards of journalism and objectivity. It revolves around the outlandish, and at times hilarious, assertions of Masoud Khodabandeh, a notorious agent of the Iranian regime’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) for two decades. This report is, of course, not the first such hit-piece against the largest and best-organized Iranian opposition movement, the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK). On February 2, 2012, NBC’s Rock Center broadcast a bogus report, also co-narrated by Richard Engel, quoting unnamed sources that the MEK had assassinated Iranian nuclear scientists. MEK flat...