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Showing posts from August, 2021

From Ahmad Chalabi to Reza Pahlavi: The politics of manufactured opposition

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  By Ivan Sascha Sheehan , Majid Rafizadeh washingtonexaminer Published October 30, 2026 9:00am ET In May 2004, 14 months after the invasion of Iraq , it was clear that weapons of mass destruction could no longer be cited as justification for it. An intelligence source told the Guardian , “It’s pretty clear that the Iranians had us for breakfast, lunch and dinner.” They were referring to Iraqi fraudster Ahmad Chalabi and the Iraqi National Congress, which he headed. In the months before the invasion, Chalabi’s operation fed Washington repeated claims about Saddam Hussein’s purported WMD program. The claims seemed to arrive through separate channels, independently corroborating one another. In reality, they all had one source. If Iranian intelligence was involved, Tehran had helped remove its greatest regional enemy without ever needing to persuade an American to serve the clerical regime’s interests. Twenty-some years later, a similar question faces Western capitals, this time ab...
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Iran’s Economic Crises and Raisi’s Hollow Promises

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 Written by Shamsi Saadati After decades of the mullahs’ institutionalized corruption, Iran’s economy is experiencing its worst situation. While All economic indicators underline that the regime has no solutions for Iran’s economic crises, the regime’s new president  Ebrahim Raisi  bogusly claims he will resolve economic issues.    There are daily protests by workers who are unable to make their ends meet. While referring to these protests, Etemad daily on Saturday wrote: “The retirement funds are on the verge of collapse, with trillions of dollars worth of uncleared debts.  Due to the emptiness of the treasury, the country’s welfare organization cannot provide adequate services to its target population.”    “The result of these problems are long queues of people, in offices of the Imam Khomeini’s Relief Committee, waiting to become beneficiaries of this institutions,” Etemad daily adds.    “Estima...
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Testimonials About Iran’s 1988 Massacre Highlight Destructive Effects of Impunity

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  Written by Mansoureh Galestan This week, the National Council of Resistance of Iran posted to its website  video testimonials  from sixteen eyewitnesses to the Iranian regime’s massacre of political prisoners during the summer of 1988.    These videos coincided with the regime’s new President Ebrahim Raisi’s  first cabinet  meeting, which state media described as conveying his appeal for the government to “improve people’s livelihoods” and defend the interests of the civilian population. Such statements have no credibility.   In the summer of 1988, Raisi was one of four officials to sit on the Tehran “death commission” that was tasked with implementing Ruhollah Khomeini’s fatwa concerning the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) and its challenges to the fledgling theocratic dictatorship. It was this role, more than anything else, that fueled widespread opposition to his presidency. Many protesters ...
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Wanted: Plan B to curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions

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  By Dr. Majid Rafizadeh When it comes to addressing the threat of the Iranian regime’s nuclear program, the Biden administration and the EU appear to be investing all their political capital in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, aka the Iran nuclear deal. In spite of the regime’s latest nuclear defiance, such as increasing its production of uranium metal, which has no civilian purpose, and Iran’s regional and global aggression, including its attacks on international shipping and an attempt to kidnap a US citizen on American soil, the EU and US are still focused on reviving the 2015 nuclear deal. Instead of taking appropriate action against the regime after it made a man accused of mass murder, Ebrahim Raisi, its president, the EU this month stated that it is optimistic the nuclear deal will be revived. A senior EU official said: “We still think that the most likely scenario is an agreement. What I cannot tell you is when and (under) what conditions… They (the Iranian leaders)...
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Iran: The 1988 Massacre Of Political Prisoners Amounts To Genocide

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 Written by Mansoureh Galestan In a  conference  coinciding with the 33rd anniversary of the  1988 massacre  of political prisoners in Iran, more than 1,000 political prisoners and witnesses of torture in prisons and dungeons of the clerical regime demanded an end to the impunity enjoyed by the regime leaders and to prosecute Khamenei, Raisi, Judiciary Chief,  Eje’i  and other perpetrators of the massacre. During the 1988 massacre, based on Khomeini’s  fatwa , the clerical regime executed at least 30,000 political prisoners. Most of the victims were members and supporters of the  Mujahedin-e Khalq  ( MEK/PMOI ). They were massacred for their steadfast commitment to MEK’s ideals and the Iranian people’s freedom. Geoffrey Robertson, QC, Human Rights Barrister and first President of the UN Special Court for Sierra Leone, was one of the event’s speakers. In his remarks, Mr. Robertson, who has investigated the 1988 massacre, said that the 198...
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Iran: Former Official Confirms Khamenei’s Failure in Consolidating Power in the Regime

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 Written by Mohammad Sadat Khansari In June, the Iranian regime’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, pulled the notorious Ebrahim Raisi out of the ballot box. Selecting Raisi as the regime’s new president was the last step by Khamenei to consolidate his regime. During both sham presidential and parliamentary elections, Khamenei used his Guardian Council, an organization tasked with  vetting  candidates, to eliminate the candidates of the rival factions or those from his own faction who could pose the slightest challenge to his regime. The regime’s parliament approved Raisi’s  cabinet , which consisted of thieves and internationally wanted terrorists, in line with Khamenei’s policy of consolidating his regime. While many may consider Khamenei’s actions are coming from the position of strength, state media and regime officials acknowledge that Khamenei’s contraction policy is doomed to fail. “The  cabinet members  were introduced to the parliament and received a v...
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Former Iranian Political Prisoners Recall 1988 Massacre and Current President’s Role

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 Written by Mansoureh Galestan This week, the  National Council of Resistance of Iran  uploaded a series of  videos  to its official website featuring eyewitness testimony from persons who had been in prison in Iran during the  1988 massacre  of political detainees. For many years, the NCRI has effectively led a campaign for justice on behalf of the massacre’s victims, who are estimated to number over 30,000. But that campaign has taken on a new sense of urgency and timeliness in recent weeks, as Tehran carried out the transition to a new presidential administration, led by one of the massacre’s leading perpetrators. Many of the individuals featured in the NCRI’s videos specifically recalled seeing  Ebrahim Raisi  during the interrogations and sham trials that determined who was to be executed between July and September of 1988. Some of those who had been imprisoned in Tehran during the months and years leading up to the massacre also recalle...
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