iran panorama

Analysis by PMOI/MEK July 29, 2018  - Afghan media are citing Karameldinne Rida Zadah, an MP representing the country’s Ghor Province, accusing the Iranian regime of arming the Taliban. The Afghan Taliban are using Iran-made weaponry in their attacks on Afghan authorities, continuing to endanger security and peace throughout this war-ravaged country and prolonging an already 17-year long conflict. Local authorities in Ghor Province found Iran-made weaponry and munitions at the possession of a captured Taliban member. The insurgency has intensified in the past two weeks as the Taliban is seen increasing their attacks on government troops west of Firozkoh, the capital city of Ghor Province. Afghani security forces showing Iran-made weapons used by Afghan Taliban In May of this year, Afghan police had accused the Iranian regime of supplying weapons to the Taliban in Farah Province in western Afghanistan bordering Iran. Authorities went on to declare the b...

Analysis by PMOI/MEK Iran, July 29, 2018  - Early Sunday morning the black market in Iran began selling the US dollar at a whopping 100,000 rials, breaking the previous psychological barrier. The society and economy were in shock of these reports when only three hours later (around 2 pm local time) new reports indicated the US dollar selling at 108,000 rials and even surpassing the 111,000 rial mark. What can the Iranian regime do to tackle this crisis? Iranian regime President Hassan Rouhani did all he could back when the US dollar was trading at 60,000 rials in the black market. Authorities arrested dozens of currency exchange owners and set a fixed government rate of 42,000 rials. “The mere fact that the Central Bank has banned currency exchanges from trading US dollars will soon lead to severe currency tensions,” according to the Iranian regime’s own ISNA news agency at the time. We are now witnessing such circumstances and it seems the dollar has no int...

By Mohammad Sadat Khansari While the second round of  Iranian trucker’s nationwide strike  staged from Monday July 23, 2018, is spreading day by day, state-run Tabnak website reveals regime’s incapability to resolve truck drivers’ issues. “Two months after truckers staged a strike, their problems are still in place unresolved, with officials being unable to take acceptable and satisfactory steps towards addressing truckers’ concerns; an undeniable fact that proves a great part of earlier promises have been no more than paying mere lip service,” writes the website in an article titled ‘despite earlier promises, truckers’ concerns are still in place’ on July 22, 2018. Started from May 22, 2018, and lasting for 11 consecutive days,  the first round of truckers’ strike  kicked off with truck drivers in seven provinces refusing to carry cargo. The strike soon spread to 274 more cities and turned into a nationwide protest. Faced with huge dimensions of truck drivers’ fi...

Iran Focus London, 27 July - US-Iran relations are at an all-time low after their presidents’ war of words last weekend, but could this really lead to Iran cutting off a key oil shipping strait? On Sunday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani threatened the US with “to the mother of all wars”, to which Donald Trump responded with an all-caps tweet warning Iran not to threaten the US ever again. Their exchanges have only intensified since the US pulled out of the 2015 nuclear deal in May and promised extensive sanctions against Iran, the first of which come into place next week. The US has urged foreign businesses to pull out of Iran before the November deadline to avoid secondary sanctions and many have already dropped contracts and left Iran. In response to the threat that Iranian oil exports, which make up the majority of the Iranian economy, will drop to zero by November, Iran has threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz, where around one-fifth of all global oil exports a...

Iran Focus London, 28 July - General  Qassem Soleimani  commander of the Iranian Regime’s terrorist Quds force threatened President  Trump  this week, targeting a major Red Sea chokepoint. "The Red Sea which was secure is no longer secure for the presence of American (military) ... The Quds force and I are your match. We don't go to sleep at night before thinking about you,”  Iran's  top general said in a  speech from Hamedan , Iran, in which, according to local media, he addressed the American president directly. "If you begin the war, we will end the war.” Soleimani was responding to Trump’s Sunday tweet warning that Iran would face "consequences the likes of which few throughout history have ever suffered before.” Trump’s tweet was prompted by a speech by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani threatening that war with Iran would be "the mother of all wars.” Soleimani's mention of the Red Sea signaled Iran’s willingness to disrupt oil shipmen...

by Jazeh Miller According to an Amnesty International report, Iranian authorities are building a road over a mass grave and dozens of individual graves in Ahvaz, Khuzestan province. This plot of land is believed to contain the remains of dozens of political dissidents, both men, and women, who were forcibly disappeared and extra-judicially killed in the 1980s including during the mass killings of 1988. The families of the victims are suffering much distress because the individual and mass graves of their loved ones are being destroyed. They are also afraid of facing further persecution if they speak out. Photo and video evidence has revealed that the concrete structure marking the mass grave as well as dozens of individual graves have been smashed. Now, the graves are hidden under piles of dirt and debris. According to an official sign at the site, the purpose of the project is to build a “boulevard” and create a 21-acre park, and that the project is supervised by the Munici...

By INU Staff INU - On its official English Twitter account, The People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) posted an excerpt from US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley’s speech, that highlighted the Iranian regime’s human rights violations and referring to the Iranian people’s uprising. Her speech also called for firm action by the international community against the regime. This tweet followed three days later: US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley emphasizes how # Iran's   "horrendous" regime faced massive protests in the Dec/Jan period. And yet the UN Human Rights Council remained silent. #IranProtests Iranian media outlets responded in a fashion that may have been coordinated by the Ministry of Intelligence. Insulting remarks were made against Ambassador Haley and senior US officials. It appears that this retweet touched a soft spot for the regime. They referred to the recent Iranian opposition convention in Paris in which international officials ...

By Dr. Majid Rafizadeh Iran is ratcheting up its threats again. But this time the warnings are emanating from the top leader of the regime. In addition, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who has the final say in Iran’s domestic and foreign policies, is shrewdly directing his threats toward two separate issues: The region’s oil exports and Tehran’s nuclear activities. With respect to Iran’s nuclear program, Khamenei said he has instructed authorities to be prepared to increase the capacity of the country’s uranium enrichment in case the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as the Iran nuclear deal, collapses. Since US President Donald Trump withdrew from the agreement and announced the re-imposition of sanctions on Iran, the other signatories — France, Germany, the UK, Russia and China — have been attempting to save the deal and address five additional demands made by Khamenei in response to Washington’s decision. The head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, ...

I ran Focus London, 24 July - Relations between the United States and Iran heated up over the weekend. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani warned that war with Iran would be “the mother of all wars”. He said: “America should know that peace with Iran is the mother of all peace, and war with Iran is the mother of all wars.” U.S. President Donald Trump warned Iran that he will not allow such threats to be made. His anger was evident in his message on social media that he posted in block capitals. His message on Twitter read: “To Iranian President Rouhani: NEVER, EVER THREATEN THE UNITED STATES AGAIN OR YOU WILL SUFFER CONSEQUENCES THE LIKES OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED BEFORE. WE ARE NO LONGER A COUNTRY THAT WILL STAND FOR YOUR DEMENTED WORDS OF VIOLENCE & DEATH. BE CAUTIOUS!” The whole situation is reminiscent of the tweets that were posted regarding Kim Jong-un in which Trump threatened to destroy his command. However, since then, the two leaders have g...

Iran Focus London, 24 July - It should come as no surprise to anyone with even the barest knowledge of foreign policy that appeasing a brutal government does not often convince their tyrannical leaders about the benefits of democracy, peace, and freedom. The US has ended its policy of appeasement on Iran and is now getting tough on the mullahs who rule Iran, both via official US policy and via Twitter; a move which is more than supported by Saudi Arabia, as explained by the Saudi Ambassador to the United States, Prince Khalid bin Salman, in a powerful essay on Monday. Prince Khalid wrote: “Saudi Arabia’s policy is to confront evil wherever it may be found and in whatever form it takes.” THREATS Iranian President Hassan Rouhani warned the US against getting tough on Iran on Sunday, even threatening that “war with Iran is the mother of all wars”. Donald Trump hit back at this via Twitter later that day, telling Rouhani to “never, ever threaten the United States again” or he ...

by Poorang Novak The Iranian regime has been given chance after chance to reform but it has failed to do so on each occasion. Different world leaders have used different strategies – taking a harsh approach, rapprochement, appeasement policies, and so on – but none have been effective. This is why the people of Iran instigated a major uprising at the end of last year. Their only hope of ever experiencing a free and democratic Iran is through regime change. They are determined. Many agree that regime change cannot be forced by a foreign government – it is something that needs to come from within the country. This is certainly the case with Iran and, if it was not for the appeasement policies, the regime would have toppled years ago. However, it is essential that the people are supported by the international community. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke to an audience of Iranian-Americans about what the Trump administration is doing for Iran. He reassured the audience...

Written by Edward Carney Since President Donald Trump tweeted a stern warning to his Iranian counterpart on Sunday regarding the potential consequences for threatening the United States, various outlets have pointed out that his foreign policy principals are invoking the same hardline stance toward the Islamic Republic. This is certainly true of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who attended an event that same day titled “Supporting Iranian Voices,” in which he spoke to Iranian expatriates in order to describe the clerical regime as being headed by “hypocritical holy men” and being more akin to a mafia than a government. The confrontational language has generated predictable responses from Iranian officials. As CBS News pointed out, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif issued the first direct response to Trump’s tweet on Monday, also via Twitter. It declared the regime to be “unimpressed” with American “bluster,” intimating that the long-term survival of Iranian culture is indicativ...

By Majid Hariri When the widespread protests and uprising of the Iranians started last year in December 2017 across more than 140 cities, the top authorities of the regime, held the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) accountable and thereby, threatened them with severe consequences!. In fact, one of the revolutionary guards’ commanders named Ali Shamkhani (who’s also the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of the Iranian Regime) announced on January 1, 2018 (which happened to be the 5th day of the nationwide protests): “The interference of some organisations from overseas is to prevent Iran from developing and to basically take it apart”. In reference to the MEK, he added: “Those responsible for the protests, will pay the price in an unexpected way”. In a one-hour phone conversation held on January 2, 2018, Rouhani asked the president of France to take actions against MEK who reside there; which Le Figaro News also published about: “The official...

By Abdolrahman Mahabadi, political analyst and writer A clear and explicit look at Iranian regime’s recent failed terrorist attempt could help clearly understand why the regime decided to move forward with its plot despite being faced with such unfavorable conditions. Wasn’t the regime aware of the heavy price it had to pay even if the attempt succeeded? The answer is definitely ‘Yes’, and the regime was fully aware of that. The religious dictatorship ruling Iran knows quite well that, unlike the past 40 years, the world’s cameras are zooming in on the regime, with no sign of the past golden era’s mystical rescuers to help the regime survive while turning a blind eye on its crimes. With the start of Iranian people’s nationwide uprising, Tehran rulers were clearly aware that the Iranian  annual gathering held on June 30 in Paris  would put a head on the body of Iranian people’s uprising, calling on the world to stand by the Iranian people. That’s why regime officials...

By Dr. Majid Rafizadeh Amid high security, thousands of human rights defenders and politicians gathered last month in Paris, in a massive expression of support that urges the international community to take a firm stance against the ruthless Iranian regime. This is reportedly the world’s largest gathering of people outside of Iran who call for freedom and democracy in Iran. Iran’s clerical establishment has been in power for almost four decades. Since 1979, major pillars of the regime’s foreign policy have remained intact. These pillars include anti-Semitism, anti-Americanism, sponsorship of terrorism, support for proxies and militias such as Hezbollah and Hamas, engagement in asymmetrical warfare, pursuit for regional hegemony, and expansion of the mullah’s revolutionary ideals abroad. Some Western powers believed that they could change the Iranian regime’s behavior from within, by empowering the moderate politicians. But a few months ago the widespread protests in Iran and...