By Struan Stevenson Conflagration engulfs the Middle East, with the Israel-Hamas war having gone on for more than a year now, and many Israeli hostages are still being held in deplorable conditions by Hamas terrorists. In Northern Israel, constant missile and rocket attacks by Hezbollah led to the mass evacuation of more than 70,000 Israelis from their homes in 2024 and to the inevitable military retaliation by the Israel Defense Forces, as they crossed the border into Southern Lebanon. Israeli missiles are raining down on key Hezbollah targets in Beirut. The assassination of Hezbollah’s terrorist leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut, a seismic event, shattered his close friend and ally Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s Supreme Leader and Hezbollah’s main sponsor. Nasrallah’s successor, Hashem Saffieddine, was also killed in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut within hours of being nominated for the Hezbollah leadership role and before the funeral of his predecessor had even taken place. Es...
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Why IRGC issue has become a red line for Iran regime
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By Dr. Majid Rafizadeh
When Joe Biden won the US presidential election in November 2020, hopes were high among the advocates of the Iran nuclear deal that the 2015 agreement known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action would soon be revived. After all, the two key players, the Iranian regime and the US, both wanted to resurrect it. But after nearly a year and half of discussions, it has become evident that reaching a nuclear deal with Tehran is more difficult and complicated than ever before.
During the first few rounds of negotiations in Vienna between the Iranian nuclear team and the world powers known as the P5+1 (the UK, China, Russia, France, the US and Germany), the talks appeared to be progressing. That was until Iran put up a major hurdle by adding yet another demand: The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps must be removed from America’s list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations. In 2019, former US President Donald Trump added the IRGC to this list. This was the first time Washington had officially designated another country’s military organization as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. The State Department said the IRGC was responsible for 17 percent of all deaths of US personnel in Iraq since 2003. It stated: “The IRGC has been directly involved in terrorist plotting; its support for terrorism is foundational and institutional, and it has killed US citizens. It is also responsible for taking hostages and wrongfully detaining numerous US persons, several of whom remain in captivity in Iran today.” It was intriguing that, when Ebrahim Raisi became president in August last year, his Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian initially stated that Iran was willing to revive the nuclear deal even if the IRGC remained on the terrorist list. But then the regime made this issue a red line. There are several reasons why the Iranian regime has changed its stance and why the removal of the IRGC from the US terror list is critical for its leaders. First of all, it is important to point out that, if the IRGC remains on the terrorist list, the financial benefits of the nuclear deal will be minimal for the regime. Tehran wants to attract foreign investment in its energy and industrial sectors, but the IRGC has a large stake in almost every sector of Iran’s economy. In other words, many business dealings and transactions with the Iranian regime will most likely have to be directly or indirectly conducted through the IRGC. As a result, if the IRGC remains designated as a terrorist group, the foreign corporations, firms, European countries and officials who want to deal with Iran will still have to be extremely cautious, as they will risk being sanctioned by the US. In addition, the IRGC needs more cash in order to ensure the survival of the regime. The regime would have likely collapsed a long time ago if it were not for the iron fist of the IRGC and its paramilitary group, the Basij. It is the backbone of the regime and the main tool the clerical establishment uses to maintain power, achieve its hegemonic ambitions and increase its influence in the region.
Secondly, if the IRGC lacks the financial means, it will be extremely difficult for the Iranian regime to export its revolutionary ideals beyond its borders, as well as fund, arm and support militia and terror groups across the Middle East. The IRGC’s footprints can be seen in many nations and conflicts, specifically through its elite branch, the Quds Force. How can the IRGC assist the Houthis in Yemen, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Assad regime in Syria and Shiite militia groups in Iraq if there is a disruption to the flow of cash to its treasury? Finally, from the perspective of the theocratic establishment, the US, the UK, Germany and France are now desperate to strike a deal. As a result, the Iranian leaders believe they will be willing to give more concessions to Tehran at these critical times. In summary, if the IRGC remains on the terrorist list, the benefits of the nuclear deal will be significantly lower for the Iranian regime. Removing the IRGC from the US terrorist list is a red line for Tehran due to the fact the IRGC is the backbone of the theocratic establishment, it safeguards and ensures the survival of the regime, it suppresses opposition groups and dissidents, it has significant control over Iran’s economy, and is the patron of many militia and terror groups in the region.
• Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a Harvard-educated Iranian-American political scientist. Twitter: @Dr_Rafizadeh
Written by Mahmoud Hakamian Two-minute read On Sunday morning, April 14, the Iranian regime launched an unprecedented attack against Israel, escalating tensions in the Middle East. Despite military experts’ assessments that the attack failed, it underscores Iran’s role as a focal point of regional conflict. The October 7th attack sent shockwaves globally. Despite ample evidence implicating the Iranian regime, Western governments dismissed Tehran’s involvement, adhering to a flawed appeasement policy toward the primary state sponsor of terrorism. They disregarded explicit statements from Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) commanders boasting about their direct role in the attack. For decades, the Iranian Resistance has urged the international community to adopt a resolute stance against the Iranian regime’s aggression and terrorism. Despite persistent calls, the failed appeasement policy of the West allowed Tehran to escalate its belligerent activities, including ...
By DR. MAJID RAFIZADEH President Donald Trump will make a decision on whether the US will leave or stick with the Iran nuclear deal, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, by May 12. It has been almost three years since the nuclear accord was reached between the Islamic Republic and the UN Security Council’s five permanent members — Russia, the UK, China, France, and the US — plus Germany (the P5+1). Since the JCPOA’s implementation day on Jan. 16, 2016, the Iranian regime has been receiving various benefits that can be divided into four categories. Based on the terms of the JCPOA, four rounds of the United Nations Security Council’s economic sanctions against Tehran were lifted immediately. The regime also received unilateral sanctions relief from individual countries in exchange for halting its nuclear activities and dismantling some sections of its nuclear program. For instanc...
Link to call signing: https://www.change.org/p/un-secretary-general-call-for-justice-for-the-1988-iran-massacre Let's move our hands to change our world In the age of consciousness, and in the 21st century, brutality and barbarism must be stopped, this is not worthy of humanity. At the first step, you should be the center of this cruelty and the godfather of crime and murder, terrorism and fundamentalism that nobody is part of Iran's terrorist government. The fact is that the killing and execution of political and conscientious prisoners in public or in prisons is secretly in its astronomical dimensions on the coin of killing innocent people abroad by this regime. The issuance of terrorism and the support of fundamentalist and terrorist groups in this regime is institutionalized and is part of the constitution. The crimes committed by perpetrators and groups affiliated with this corrupt and expansionist state in Syria and Lebanon and Iraq ...
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