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Showing posts from July, 2023

Tehran in Meltdown as Israel Decapitates Hamas and Hezbollah

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  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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Draft Resolution in the US Congress: Condemning the 1988 Massacre in Iran – Supporting Iranian political refugees in Ashraf 3

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  On the afternoon of Thursday, July 27, 2023, a draft resolution was passed in the US House of Representatives “condemning the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran for the killing of political prisoners in 1988 and the uprisings of recent years, including those of 2018, 2019, and 2022, and calling for justice for its victims.” The bipartisan bill killed 40 representatives, initiated by Republican Lance Gooden of the Judiciary Committee and Democratic Caucus Chairman Steve Cohen. The draft states that the Prime Minister of Albania wrote in a letter to the MEP on April 19, 2016: Albania is fully engaged and committed to guaranteeing all the rights enshrined in the Geneva Convention of 1951, the European Convention on Human Rights, and all international laws relating to Iranian refugees. The resolution calls on the United States government to ensure with Albania the full protection of Iranian political refugees in Ashraf 3 and their enjoyment of all rights under the 1951 Geneva...
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Beware Iranian Wolves in Sheep's Clothing

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  By Struan Stevenson A special consultative meeting was held in Tehran last week, headed by Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian. The meeting was attended by former Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi, who called for the Iranian regime to enter into a new comprehensive political dialogue with the West, including the US, to normalize relations and end the diplomatic discord that has persisted since the Islamic Revolution brought the mullahs to power in 1979. It was a blatant attempt to relaunch the tired, old, hard-line versus moderate fairy tale that has been a hallmark of Ali Akbar Salehi’s tactics for years. Salehi successfully persuaded the West that he represented a ‘moderate’ faction within the Iranian regime’s hierarchy when he was Minister of Foreign Affairs under the rule of former ultra-hard-line conservative President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He tried to re-emphasize his credentials as a restrained and mild-mannered soft-liner when he assumed the presidency of the...
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The Pendulum Shifts: Iranian Opposition Prevails over Western Concessions to Tehran

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  By Dr. Majid Rafizadeh When it comes to Iran, discerning observers are usually fixated on the contentious nuclear issue, as well as Tehran’s unabated sponsorship of terrorism. However, recently, a conspicuous spotlight was cast on the intricate internal dynamics, capturing the attention of the global community. Following engagements with the regime, both European and American governments made a consequential decision to assuage the regime’s sensibilities by ascending to one of its paramount demands: imposing constraints on the activities of the principal opposition. The prompt failure of these efforts has shed light on fundamental realities, deserving of profound contemplation by Western policymakers. Amidst a recent flurry of reports surrounding negotiations between Washington and Tehran, a disconcerting pattern of concessions has emerged, all of which pertain to the National Council of Resistance of Iran ( NCRI ) and its main constituent, the Mujahedin-e Khalq ( MEK ). In May, ...
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Iran – UK must label Iran’s Revolutionary Guards as terror group, says thinktank

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  Report from rightwing thinktank calls for tougher sanctions on Iran as October expiry of UN sanctions looms Patrick Wintour Diplomatic editor The October expiry of UN sanctions limiting Iran’s missile programme must become a hard deadline for the UK to adopt a  tougher policy  that includes proscription of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), a rightwing thinktank has warned. The report from the Henry Jackson Society (HJS) is the second from a right-of-centre thinktank in two days demanding tougher action on  Iran , and suggests that the UK ministers’ preferred strategy of introducing an Iran-specific sanctions regime that could lead to sanctions for activities outside Iran has fallen flat with Tory hawks. The UK government has examined the possibility of proscribing the IRGC for months and rejected the option, fearing diplomatic fallout with Tehran. The Foreign Office decision announced a fortnight ago gave political space for Labour’s shadow home secret...
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A Political Milestone in Paris: World Leaders Join Iranian Dissidents

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  By Dr. Majid Rafizadeh On July 1, the streets of central Paris teemed with tens of thousands of Iranian dissidents, as a notable assemblage of A-list international dignitaries joined their ranks to advocate for the establishment of a free and democratic republic in Iran. Spanning a four-day period, the Summit assumed a weighty symbolic significance, as it dealt a substantial blow to the ruling ayatollahs in Tehran, leaving them profoundly humiliated. The event was billed as a momentous “political coup,” garnering considerable attention within Western media circles. Distinguished members of the foreign policy establishments in Washington and Europe, together with over 500 present and former officials and lawmakers, embarked on an unprecedented demonstration of support for the main opposition National Council of Resistance of Iran ( NCRI ). This profound alignment of influential figures is poised to shape the Western approach to the Iranian conundrum, leaving an enduring legacy. Un...
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The West Must Abandon Appeasement Policy On Iran

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  By Struan Stevenson At last week’s 6 th  July meeting of the UN Security Council (UNSC), chaired by the UK, the growing threat posed by Iran and the absurdity of Western appeasement policy to resurrect the defunct Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) nuclear deal, took centre stage. The Security Council was told that under the terms of the UNSC Resolution 2231, aimed at curtailing the regime’s nuclear ambitions, Iran has been in violation of its commitments for more than four years and its nuclear programme has now escalated to alarming levels.  The JCPOA was signed by President Obama in 2015 and abandoned by President Trump in 2018 when he unilaterally withdrew the US from the scheme, declaring it the worst deal in American history. Whatever you may think about President Trump, he was absolutely right on this issue. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), stockpiles of Iran’s enriched uranium now stand at 21 times the amounts permitted under t...
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Maryam Rajavi attends the hearing of the Italian Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee Parliament

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  At noon on Wednesday, July 12, 2023, Maryam Rajavi arrived at Italy’s Chamber of Deputies to participate in a hearing hosted by the Foreign Affairs Committee. The focus of the committee’s discussion was the issue of Iran, and they had extended a special invitation to Maryam Rajavi as a distinguished guest. Upon her arrival at the parliament,  Maryam Rajavi  received a warm welcome from Senator Giulio Terzi, as well as a group of MPs and Senators. Additionally, a gathering of Iranians had assembled outside the parliament to extend their welcome to her. During her address at the hearing, Maryam Rajavi provided a comprehensive overview of the situation in Iran. She said. “The present situation in Iran is characterized by three key elements: First, we witness the  Iranian people ’s courageous protests and uprisings to overthrow the mullahs’ regime. Second, the activities of the organized Resistance inside  Iran  have expanded significantly. And third, it is e...
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UK leads the way in ending appeasement of Iran

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  By Struan Stevenson ON 13th July, in a plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, a French member, Nathalie Loiseau MEP, launched a vicious tirade against the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) and the People’s Mojahedin of Iran/ Mojahedin-e Khalq (PMOI/MEK), the main democratic opposition to the mullahs’ fascist theocratic regime. Her onslaught contained all of the usual propaganda that is regularly trotted out by the mullahs. It was the latest prime example of EU appeasement policy towards the Iranian regime. It seems clear that Loiseau, who is a member of Macron’s party and a former French cabinet minister, was instructed to do this by the Élysée Palace, where President Macron is nursing his anger over his defeat in the French courts at the beginning of the month, when his attempt to ban a mass opposition rally by the NCRI was thwarted. Macron will be desperate to point to some success in his appeasement policy, to try to pacify the Iranian presi...
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