NEWS FROM INSIDE IRAN (4) PERIOD 10 NOVEMBER 2018 TO 14 NOVEMBER 2018

NEWS FROM INSIDE IRAN (4)

PERIOD

10 NOVEMBER 2018 TO 14 NOVEMBER 2018

Stes de Necker

(PLEASE NOTE THAT INFORMATION SOURCES ARE NOT PUBLISHED IN ORDER TO PROTECT THE IDENTITY OF OUR INFORMANTS. UNDER SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES CERTAIN INFORMATION CAN BE MADE AVAILABLE ON RECEIPT OF A DULY MOTIVATED REQUEST)

11 November 2018

According to news from Evin Prison on Saturday, November 10, Abdolreza Ghanbari's political prisoner was suddenly taken to Gohardasht Prison.

Abdolreza Ghanbari, who was detained in Section 8 of Evin Prison, was implicitly transferred to the quarantine of Gohardasht Prisons without prior notice. The imprisoned teacher immediately went on hunger strike immediately after moving to the Gohardasht quarantine and wanted to return to Evin.

It should be remembered that Abdolreza Ghanbari was arrested on Saturday, October 21, 1997, and transferred to Ward 8 of Evin Prison.

Mr. Ghanbari's arrest warrant, released on conditional release, was increased from 10 years imprisonment to 15 years in prison in September 1996 in a re-trial by Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court, chaired by Judge Moghiseh

11 November 2018

Turkic Minority Rights Activist Gets One Year In Prison For Her Cultural Activities

Azerbaijani Turkic minority rights activist, Ulduz Ghasemi was sentenced to one year in prison. The verdict was issued in absentia by judge Chabok, the head of Branch 1, Urmia’s Revolutionary Court.

She was arrested on September 5, along with his brother, Rahman, who was released after two hours of interrogation and signing a written pledge.

Ulduz and Rahman were both interrogated for visiting relatives of one of those killed in protests that took place in Azerbaijan in 2006.

The state security forces had raided her home on September 4, confiscating a number of books, a laptop, and a mobile phone.

Ulduz Ghasemi has been detained several times for her peaceful cultural and civil activities.

She was among a number of activists arrested on May 26th of this year in the West Azerbaijan province, in connection to their participation in a gathering at Naqade County’s Golzaar cemetery to commemorate who had died in the 2006 protests.

Both Ulduz and Rahman were later arrested again after taking part in the Babak Fort celebrations on July 7th of this year. They were released five days later.

The agents of the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) imprisoned dozens of people from the cities of Urumiyeh, Ahar, and Moqan.

The fort is the stronghold of Babak Khurramdin, a historic Persian figure who fought against the foreign invasion of the country. Every year, Iranians gather at the fort to commemorate and celebrate the legacy and memory of Khurramdin. This is a tradition that has gained popularity in the past decades, and many tourists attend the ceremony every year.

The Iranian regime has been disrupting the process in the past years. This is a trend that has been seen elsewhere in Iran, such as the tomb of the ancient Persian King Cyrus, where every year thousands of Iranians gather to celebrate his memory on his birthday.

11 November 2018

Despite Police Claims Iranian Woman Remains In Custody

Despite police claims Azam Dideban who was arrested in a rally seeking the release of teachers activist Hashem Khastar, has remained in custody and denied any family visits.

Azam Dideban was arrested on November 5, 2018, in the protest gathering outside the Ibn-e Sina Hospital of Mashhad, demanding release of teacher activist Hashem Khastar who was arrested by the State Security Force.

The State Security Force had announced that all those arrested in this gathering were released on the same night, but Ms. Azam Dideban was not released. She was taken to the detention center of the Intelligence Department.

On Wednesday morning, November 7, 2018, one of the relatives of Ms. Dideban referred to the Intelligence Department of Mashhad inquiring about her, but agents said Ms. Dideban remains in detention on the orders of a judge and is not allowed to have any visits.

 

11 November 2018

More Than 10 Inmates On Hunger Strike In Northwest Iran Prison

Ten prisoners with who suffer from severe health problems held at Urmia Central Prison, have begun on hunger strike since November 5, protesting the authorities denying them medical treatment.

They are held in prison clinic, in the worst conditions possible, sources say. 

Iran Human Rights Monitor has received testimonies indicating that doctors at the prison prisoners face numerous issues of concern. Prison officials could literally care less about the inmates and are depriving them minimum necessities.

Urmia Central Prison was established in 1969. Approximately 5,000 people are detained in the prison, which has an official capacity of 700.

This has led to the overcrowding, which often results in deplorable living conditions for inmates. Prisoners often have to sleep on concrete floors of hallways, even near washbasins.

There are some cases of political prisoners being locked up with potentially dangerous criminals which violates Iran’s own regulations on the principle of separation of crimes.

Reports indicate torture and inhuman treatment such as solitary confinement, harsh interrogation tactics, the denial of phone calls, and family visits is ‘routine’.

The facility is one of the most notorious prisons in the West Azerbaijan province.

Most executions of prisoners from western Azerbaijan and even Kurdistan prisons are being carried out in Urmia Central Prison.

It is worth noting that recently more than 70 political prisoners went on a week-long hunger strike in Urmia Central Prison despite pressures by the prison authorities.

The inmates launched their hunger strike on Monday, October 14th, protesting a vicious attack by the prison’s special guards units targeting ward 12 where political prisoners are held.

Following this recent attack, the Iranian opposition National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) issued a statement calling on all international human rights organizations, including the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Iran and the Special Rapporteur on Torture to condemn the inhumane treatment of prisoners.

The NCRI also called for an international probe into atrocious prison conditions in Iran, especially the conditions of political prisoners.

11 November 2018

Iran: Sugar cane employees on strike for seven days

Employees of the Haft Tappeh sugar mill workers continued their strike on Sunday for the seventh consecutive day, protesting officials not answering to their demands. These reports join long list of other rallies held across the country.

On Saturday, the protesting employees transferred their strike site, having the locals hear their protests. Another group of these workers were continuing their strike at the company site. 

On Saturday, rail workers in Tehran rallied outside the company office in the Marzdaran district, protesting how they have not received their pay checks for the past two months and company officials not living up to their pledges. 

“The workers are in poor economic conditions and they are becoming incapable to make ends meet. The company officials are constantly providing promises, yet always failing to deliver,” one worker said. “On New Year’s eve, this year we had our family problems and were also unable to provide any of our necessities, let alone gifts, without receiving our pay checks. When we receive our New Year bonuses after eight months, will that resolve the spiritual problems caused for our families? When our family members had tears in their eyes seeing the New Year table was empty?” 

In Shadegan, southwest Iran, municipality workers held a gathering protesting not receiving their already delayed paychecks. This rally was held outside the governor’s office.

A number of residents in the Kut Abdullah region of Karun in southwest Iran were also protesting on Saturday outside the mayor’s office. These workers were demanding measures by officials to resolve rising waters due to major problems in the city sewage system.

Tehran college students were also reportedly rallying on Saturday outside the regime’s Majlis (parliament), protesting the process of being accepted into various medical fields.

These students are saying Tehran’s Open University pays no attention to the requesters’ grades and rejects various applications based on no logical reasoning.

In Isfahan, central Iran, protesters held a rally on Saturday protesting skyrocketing spare parts prices and their poor living conditions.

11 November 2018

U.S. Sanctions on Iran Showing Signs of Success Already

U.S President Donald Trump pulled out of the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action), also known as the 2015 nuclear deal, earlier this year. He explained that the agreement does not meet the aim of preventing Iran from becoming nuclear – rather it guarantees a nuclear arms race in the region.

He said that the U.S. was going to initiate a maximum pressure campaign and announced that the crippling economic sanctions that were in place before the nuclear deal was signed would be re-imposed.

Trump has been criticised for pulling out of the deal and critics say that his policies are unwise and careless. However, the policies have so far shown success so the criticism does nothing but detract from the action that is forcing the regime to reconsider its own policies.

Since the moment Trump announced that sanctions were to be re-imposed, the Iranian economy started to falter even more. The Rial – the national currency of Iran – lost even more value and foreign companies started to pull out of business deals almost immediately.

Furthermore, the people of Iran have ensured that domestic pressure is maintained. Since the end of last year, the Iranian people have been making sure that their voices are heard. They have been holding anti-government demonstrations and protests and are clearly calling for regime change.

During his time in office, former U.S. President Barack Obama saw the Iranian regime’s behaviour get worse and worse. He maintained that its behaviour would become more moderate with appeasement and concessions, but the exact opposite happened. The regime became more emboldened than ever because it knew that Obama would turn a blind eye.

This was clear when he disregarded his own red lines with regards to the use of chemical weapons in Syria. This was a green light for the regime to continue as it always has.

Obama had a brilliant opportunity to get Iran under control but he wasted it and let Iran take the upper hand. Now Trump is working to change the situation around so that the United States once again takes the lead.

Iran had $150 billion made available to it when foreign assets were unfrozen once the 2015 nuclear deal was agreed. This gave Iran the chance to fund terrorist proxies and militias like the Lebanese Hezbollah and the Houthi rebels in Yemen. It gave Iran the cash to support Assad’s regime in Syria. It gave Iran the funds to move forward with its goal for a “Shia crescent” through the region. And now Trump is trying to un-do all of this.

President Trump is also strengthening ties with allies that were pushed to the side by the former administration. And he is making sure that the previous silence towards Iran’s belligerence is replaced with loud and clear condemnations. He, and his administration, have slammed the regime for its abuses against the people of Iran and the people of the region.

But most importantly, the Trump administration has recognised the plight of the people of Iran.

11 November 2018

Iran: Female Activists Brought to Notorious Evin Prison for Questioning

The human right situation in Iran has not improved despite calls to the Iranian regime by international humanitarian organisations for a halt to serious abuses.

Domestic pressure on the Iranian regime is being maintained by the people who have been protesting since the end of last year. The authorities cannot deal with the widespread dissent and they see it as a major threat to its survival.

And so it should because the people have made it very clear that they want regime change.

As it has done systematically in the past, the regime is trying to quash the opposition. It suppresses the people and threatens to arrest protesters.

Recent news from the country has indicated that nine female activists were brought into the notorious Evin Prison in Tehran. This prison houses a large number of political prisoners.

According to lawyer Amir Raisian, the nine women were charged this week after being interrogated. The warrant that was issued did not state a reason for charges being pressed. The women were informed that they were being summoned because the prosecution has enquiries.

One of the activists, speaking under anonymity, said that further activists would be brought to the prison for questioning over the next few weeks.

Activists in Iran face severe punishment for their activities and are charged with all sorts of charges. Some charges include threatening national security or propagating against the regime.

Since the beginning of the protests that started at the end of last year, many unarmed protesters have been killed by security forces. Some were shot at and others faced excessive force. A large number of protestors have also been arrested and put in jails where they are subjected to violence, torture and various forms of ill-treatment.

Political prisoners are being denied proper visitation rights and are often not allowed to be represented by a lawyer of their choice. Relatives of political prisoners say that the prisoners are given a choice of a few dozen government lawyers.

The human rights abuses in Iran have been going on for many decades. In 1988, the authorities, under the orders of the Supreme Leader at that time, executed more than 30,000 political prisoners, most of whom were members of the opposition. The people of Iran are still calling for justice for this crime against humanity.

Amnesty International said in its latest report on the human rights situation around the world that the issues in Iran are very worrying: “In Iran, the authorities jailed scores of peaceful critics including women’s rights activists, minority rights and environmental activists, trade unionists, lawyers, and those seeking truth, justice and reparation for the mass executions of the 1980s.”

The organisation also described Iran as one of the most prolific users of the death penalty and condemned the regime for executing individuals who were under the age of 18 at the time they committed the alleged crime. It also expressed its concern about the harassment of people campaigning against the death penalty – some of who have been imprisoned.

 

11 November 2018

Iran's Long-exiled Prince Wants a Revolution in Age of Trump

Reza Pahlavi, the son of the last shah to rule before the 1979 Islamic Revolution, has seen his profile rise in recent months following the election of U.S. President Donald Trump, who promises a harder line against the Shi'ite power.

Pahlavi's calls for replacing clerical rule with a parliamentary monarchy, enshrining human rights and modernizing its state-run economy could prove palatable to both the West and Iran's Sunni Gulf neighbors, who remain suspicious of Iran's intentions amid its involvement in the wars in Iraq, Syria and Yemen.

But the Mideast is replete with cautionary tales about Western governments putting their faith in exiles long estranged from their homelands. Whether Pahlavi can galvanize nostalgia for the age of the Peacock Throne remains unseen.

"This regime is simply irreformable because the nature of it, its DNA, is such that it cannot," Pahlavi told The Associated Press. "People have given up with the idea of reform and they think there has to be fundamental change. Now, how this change can occur is the big question."

Pahlavi left Iran at age 17 for military flight school in the U.S., just before his cancer-stricken father Mohammad Reza Pahlavi abandoned the throne for exile. The revolution followed, with the creation of the Islamic Republic, the takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and the sweeping away of the last vestiges of the American-backed monarchy.

Yet the Pahlavis and the age of the monarchy have retained their mystique in Iran, even as the majority of its 80 million people weren't alive to experience it. Television period pieces have focused on their rule, including the recent state TV series The Enigma of the Shah, the most expensive series ever produced to air in the country.

Alleged longing for past

Pahlavi, 56, insists young Iranians increasingly look toward Iran's past. He pointed to recent demonstrations at the tomb of the pre-Islamic King Cyrus the Great, which have been claimed by a variety of anti-government forces as a sign of unrest. Under his father's secular and pro-Western rule, Iran experienced a rapid modernization program financed by oil revenues.

"If you look at the legacy that was left behind by both my father and my grandfather ... it contrasts with this archaic, sort of backward, religiously rooted radical system that has been extremely repressive," Pahlavi said.

Since the U.S. election, Pahlavi has given a growing number of media interviews, including with Breitbart, the website once run by Trump's chief strategist, Steve Bannon. Pahlavi also has sent letters to the Trump administration.

Gauging national sentiment toward restoring the monarchy in Iran is impossible, especially after the crackdown that followed the country's disputed 2009 election. Iranian state media routinely refer to the Pahlavi monarchy as "despotic," but there has been some reassessing of history in other quarters.

A book published last year, The Fall of Heaven: The Pahlavis and the Last Days of Imperial Iran, offered a revisionist view of the shah. While acknowledging the abuses of his feared SAVAK intelligence service and the corruption surrounding his rule, the book portrays him as a fatalist in an era of disappearing Mideast monarchies.

"The regime has repressed discussion of the Pahlavis for so long that it has had the opposite effect of making young Iranians inside the country curious about what they don't know," said historian Andrew Scott Cooper, the book's author. "There's an interesting generational divide going on here to where young Iranians are saying to their parents and grandparents, the same people who marched against the shah and Pahlavis, 'Why did you get rid of that system and put this one in place?'"

He added: "The family name still retains a lot of magic, more than ever today among Iranians.

Key to revolution: No Western interference

Asked how his envisioned peaceful revolution could play out in Iran, Pahlavi said it would need to begin with labour unions starting a nationwide strike. He said members of the hard-line Revolutionary Guard, a paramilitary organization established to protect the clerical system, would be assured they wouldn't be "all hung and shot."

Most importantly, he said Western governments need to keep their distance and not threaten military action.

That's an exceedingly optimistic vision, especially considering the amount of power the Guard and other hard-liners wield in Iran's economy. It also largely ignores the concerns many in Iran have about Western meddling. Pahlavi's father took power following a 1953 coup engineered by Britain and the U.S.

Pahlavi, who still resides in the U.S., said he hasn't had any "side occupation" since 1979, and has received financial support from his family and "many Iranians who have supported the cause."

"My focus right now is on liberating Iran, and I will find any means that I can, without compromising the national interests and independence, with anyone who is willing to give us a hand, whether it is the U.S. or the Saudis or the Israelis or whomever it is," he said.

Pahlavi said he had yet to meet with the Trump administration despite his letters. Another Iranian exile group, the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, previously paid a member of Trump's Cabinet $50,000 for giving a speech. However, the MEK's siding with Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s and its killing of Americans before the revolution, which the group now denies, makes it an unsuitable partner, Pahlavi said. "It's pretty much a cult-type structure," he said.

For now, Pahlavi said he looks forward to meeting with Trump and his administration. But he pins his hopes on Iran's sense of history. 

"For many Iranians, the revolution is unfinished business."

11 November 2018

Iran Hangs People In Vicious Crackdown On Ahwazi Arabs

Human rights activists are reporting the regime has executed 22 inmates Ahwaz, southern Iran.

The Intelligence Department officials contacted the families of some of these executed individuals informing them of their executions and having them pledge to not hold any gatherings or ceremonies.

The executions were reportedly carried out on Thursday November 8.

Unofficial sources have identified four of those who were executed as Mohammad Momeni 58, and his son, Nesar, Ahmad Heydari, 30, and Hatam Sawari, 24.

On September 24, Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence issued a statement stating that 22 people were arrested in connection to a military parade attack. The names of the four executed men were among the 22 detained suspects.

Sources say authorities have refused to hand over the bodies to their families for proper burials.

The executions have been confirmed by officials at Ahwaz Central Prison and the city court, when asked by the grieving families, yet news agencies have not issued any reports.

Human rights activists in Ahwaz said that the office of the regime’s intelligence ministry contacted the families of the executed detainees on Saturday, November 10, to summon them to appear at its headquarters. On their arrival, they were given their loved ones’ death certificates and ordered not to hold any funeral ceremonies or mourning rituals or to receive anyone at their homes offering condolences, with the regime threatening to arrest anyone breaching these conditions.

The Iranian authorities have waged a sweeping crackdown against the Ahwazi Arab ethnic minority, arresting hundreds of people in Khuzestan province, following the September 22 military parade attack.

Civil and cultural activists who had served time as political prisoners are amongst those arrested.

The arrests have taken place in towns, cities and villages across Khuzestan province including Ahvaz, Hamidiyeh, Khorramshahr (known to Ahwazi Arabs as Mohammareh), and Shush.

Activists have confirmed the identities of 500 Ahwazis taken into custody so far, who include women and children. Some human rights activists however, put the number of those arrested at 800.

In a November 2 statement, Amnesty International condemned the arbitrary arrests of Ahwazi Arabs, saying, “The timing suggests that the Iranian authorities are using the attack in Ahwaz as an excuse to lash out against members of the Ahwazi Arab ethnic minority, including civil society and political activists, in order to crush dissent in Khuzestan province.” 

12 November 2018

The horrible fate of working children in Iran

24 years ago, Iran signed the Convention on the Rights of the Child and has been ever since a party to it. But like many other promises and laws in Iran, the rights of children are only a shallow promise in this country.

Witnessing children under the age of 14 selling all sorts of things on the side of the street is quite common. Child labour is also used in workshops, traditional brick factories, or in weaving traditional Persian rugs.

According to the UNCRC, which sets out the civil, political, economic, social, health and cultural rights of children, child labour is defined by two main parameters: Type of labour and the minimum appropriate age for that type of labour.

In general, a type of work is considered child labour if it hinders the physical, mental, social, moral, or character health of a child. The appropriate age for any given type of labour is measured by its impact on the child’s health.

Fatemeh is a seven-year-old girl. She has to work in a brick factory for hours every day. It’s abundantly clear that this type of work harms her in a variety of ways.  

According to a study published by the state-run Mehr news agency on September 26, there are over 7 million working children in Iran right now.

Studies suggest that about 45 percent of working children and minors living on the streets face the dangers of HIV, Hepatitis, and Syphilis. Symptoms like short stature and underweight caused by malnourishment. They also suffer from mental illnesses created by their social environment and amplified by a lack of proper physical health and nourishment standards. Skin illnesses, mainly through a lack of hygiene and harsh working environments are also not uncommon among child labourers.

About 10 percent of child labourers are under the age of six and 30 percent of all child labourers in Iran don’t attend school. The average age of children joining the workforce in Iran is 10 and 15 percent of them take up “professions” like begging or garbage collection.

Garbage collection is normally done in teams of two kids or more where they roam through garbage cans or depots to find valuable items like plastic wastes that are sellable. 

25 percent of child labourers in Iran are girls, although one should keep in mind that many girls work in households where their work does not count in child labour statistics. The monthly average wage of a working child is about one-fifth of the official minimum wage in Iran, which itself is less than 58 cents per hour with the current downward spiral of the Iranian currency.

In a country ruled by corrupt mullahs, these kids are victims of a system that virtually doesn’t leave their families an option but to send them to work instead of school to make ends meet.

According to ISNA news agency, 63 percent of these children in Tehran are hawkers selling inexpensive items on the streets and 6 percent of them collect garbage and waste. 24 percent of these kids’ parents are ill and 31 percent of them are unemployed.

Being a hawker of minor age in Iran is nothing like in Europe or the U.S. In addition to not attending school, malnourishment, and illiteracy, these kids face far worse dangers.

ISNA reports that the HIV virus, addiction, depression, self-harm, suicide, all types of sexual harassment and arbitrary violence are common dangers that child labourers face.

A common “profession” for these children is working for contractors of the municipality who work them in garbage collection.

On August 1, ILNA news agency quoted Tayebe Siavoshi, a member of Tehran’s municipality council saying that “there is an organized effort to move immigrants” from the border to the capital and these gangs “squeeze more than 20 kids of ages 9 to 10 in a car and bring them to Tehran. These kids work for the municipality contractors in waste collection or in waste recycling workshops.”

“Reports suggest that the situation of garbage-collecting children is very harsh. These kids fall ill, are infected with the HIV virus and are buried in the very waste-collection areas,” she adds.

12 November 2018

Iran’s regime executes Ahvazi Arabs in mass execution

A number of Ahvazi Arabs have been executed by the criminal mullahs’ regime, according to reports published by a number of activists in Khuzestan Province, southwest Iran.

On Sunday, officials of the Ahvaz Intelligence Department contacted the families of a number of the detained individuals, asking them to come to their office where they received official execution documents.

Iranian regime officials are preventing the mourning families from holding ceremonies for their loved ones, emphasizing they also have no right to contact the media on this issue.

Iranian opposition President Maryam Rajavi tweeted the following message, condemning this heinous crime against humanity.

The execution of my Arab compatriots, carried out under any pretext, is a crime against humanity, and I strongly condemn it.

— Maryam Rajavi   (November 11, 2018)

On Saturday, September 22, the falling regime of mullahs executed nine prisoners collectively in Adelabad prison in Shiraz. The criminal head of the "Justice" of Fars province had already reiterated that he will deal seriously with those who disturb the order and security of the society. 

The hated system of the Velayat-e faqih, being engulfed with domestic and international crises, and incapable of confronting the growing popular protests, has resorted to a new wave of executions and oppression in a bid to escalate the atmosphere of terror and intimidation.

The Iranian Resistance calls on all international human rights advocates, in particular the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, and the Working Group on Arbitrary Executions, to condemn these executions and take immediate action to stop these medieval crimes in the twenty-first century.

12 November 2018

Iran: Continued strike & protest of truckers, workers, merchants and farmers

On Saturday, November 10, heavy truck drivers and truckers continued their strike in different cities throughout the country for the tenth day of the new round. Earlier in the months of June, August and September, they were striking because of the severe living conditions, low freight rates, high cost of spare parts, severe insurance conditions, and so on. October strike lasted 21 days.

In the fourth round of their strike, in addition to their previous demands, drivers called for the release of their colleagues who were arrested during the third round of strikes. The regime was struggling to prevent the strike through all kinds of pressures and threats.

Haft Tapeh sugar cane workers continued their strike for the sixth day in a row in protest of non-payment of their claims inside the company. Some of them took their protest into the city to make the voices of their innocence and their desires heard.

Workers of the Ahvaz National Steel Group also protested on Saturday, gathering in front of the governor's office in the city. They chanted: No nation has seen this much injustice; Hossein Hossein, is their slogan, theft is their pride; what did behind the scene hands have done with the factory?

Workers of Line 6 project of Tehran urban trains also protested against the non-payment of their salaries in front of the headquarters of the company.

Parts of the bazaar and shopkeepers in Tehran's 15 Khordad Street protested against the high cost and lack of goods and customers, and refused to open their shops.

Deprived farmers of cities and villages around Isfahan such as Ghahderijan. Varzaneh, Najaf Abad, Khorasgan and others continued their demonstrations and sit-ins in protest of the deprivation of their right to water and their difficult livelihood conditions. They were chanting: "Lest we are humiliated!"; "The Zayandeh Roud water is our inalienable right."

Mullah Alam-ul-Hoda, a member of the Assembly of Experts of the regime and representative of Khamenei in Mashhad on Friday, November 9, confessed: "Over 40% inflation caused by the recession brought the economy into a ruin. ... This is the situation of our workers who have become unemployed, with families they are left without food, and the miners who work in the worst case situation, they work in the mine, underground and they do not pay their daily wages."

Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the Iranian Resistance, hailed the determination of the truck drivers, the deprived farmers of Isfahan, the oppressed hard-working workers of Haft Tapeh sugarcane factory and Ahvaz steel, and other strikers across the country, and called on fellow citizens, especially the youth, to support them and said: “Poverty, inflation, unemployment and corruption were brought to our country by the religious fascism, and will continue as long as this medieval regime is in power.”

12 November 2018

Rouhani implies that US sanctions are just bunch of meaningless words

Hassan Rouhani, President of the clerical regime, said on Saturday, November 10, at the end of the joint meeting of the heads of three branches of the government:

The Americans "did not have anything new to make, and therefore they had to make a long list, on the one hand, they mention the names of banks, and on the other add branches of the banks, on the one hand they name an airline company and on the other hand, mention the serial numbers of aircrafts to fill the page."

Despite all the lies and inconsistencies, he said that the problem of the sanctions is not in food and medicine. "They have targeted the banking system and oil exports, and some other export items that relate to income and resources that are relevant to the entire country," "In the field of essential and needed goods for the people, we have no problem, and our warehouses are more than ever ready to supply the basic goods for the people for many months, and for the production of basic goods, the import of basic goods and medicines, and other necessities, we have no problem."

Rouhani's statements is an acknowledgement of the fact that the burning cries of small and large-scale leaders of the regime from the sanctions, are not because of the shortage of food and medicine, but because of the abandonment of fuel to the machine of suppression and assassination and warfare. The problem of the Iranian people is not the lack of food and medicine, nor the sanctions, but the problem is in the corrupt and criminal clerics who over four decades have plundered all the assets of the country or spent them on exporting terrorism and warmongering and missile and nuclear projects. . They also have used the food and medicine of the people, taking them hostage, with their policies and practices.

While the regime's terrorist acts in Albania, France, the United States, Belgium, Denmark and Norway are exposed one after the other, in a ridiculous act, he falsely claimed to fight against terrorism and said: "Americans want to assert that Iran is a supporter of terrorism. They want to falsely claim Iran is a terrorist sponsor. The Iranian nation has always been at the forefront of the fight against terrorism and has always been on the line to stop funding for terrorist groups. "

12 November 2018

Iran: Reports of protest by people from all walks of life

Reports of a variety of protests are coming from cities and towns across Iran.

Truck drivers across Iran are continuing their nationwide strike for the 12th consecutive day on Monday. This movement has now expanded to 75 cities in 25 of Iran’s 31 provinces. 

In Saravan, southeast Iran, drivers were rallying near a gas station, protesting the authorities’ refusal to provide diesel fuel for their trucks.

In Ahvaz, southeast Iran, employees of the National Steel Group continued their strike for the third consecutive day. 

Holding their rally outside the provincial governor’s office in this city, the protesting workers were chanting slogans to have authorities respond to their demands, protesting their current working conditions and not receiving their pay checks for the past several months. 

The Iranian opposition coalition National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) issued a statement saying:

“Workers of the Ahvaz National Steel Group also protested on Saturday, gathering in front of the governor's office in the city. They chanted: No nation has seen this much injustice; Hossein Hossein, is their slogan, theft is their pride; what did behind the scene hands have done with the factory?”

“Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the Iranian Resistance, hailed the determination of the truck drivers, the deprived farmers of Isfahan, the oppressed hard-working workers of Haft Tapeh sugarcane factory and Ahvaz steel, and other strikers across the country, and called on fellow citizens, especially the youth, to support them and said: ‘Poverty, inflation, unemployment and corruption were brought to our country by the religious fascism, and will continue as long as this medieval regime is in power.’”

Also in Ahvaz, the hard working employees of the Haft Tappeh sugar mill continued their strike for the eighth consecutive day on Monday, demanding an end to privatization policies that are ruining their jobs and lives; their delayed pay checks to be provided and officials to promise to never delay their pay checks again.

On Saturday, these protesting workers had expanded their movement into the city and locals were hearing their protests and demands. Another group of these workers were continuing their strike at the sugar mill site.

12 November 2018

Survivors Living Without Shelter A Year After Iran Earthquake

One year have passed since a powerful earthquake struck the Iran’s western provinces, killing more than 600 and injuring thousands more. The earthquake damaged 10 cities and 1,930 villages, and destroyed more than 100,000 housing units.

The cities of Qasr-e Shirin, Sarpol-e Zahab and Salas-e Babajani were hit worst. In Kermanshah’s Dalahu county, according to the local governor some villages had been completely destroyed.

After almost a year, the conditions have become very difficult for the homeless survivors as the authorities continue to fail in providing the aid these people need and deserve.

Iranian state-run media are broadcasting shocking reports acknowledging that many people still don’t have a proper place for living and are forced to take shelter in cemeteries.

A young woman who has forced to live in such deplorable condition while crying says, “I am sick and tired of this life. Twice, I attempted to commit suicide to get rid of this life. I wish I could die and be relieved of so much pain. I cannot do anything. I am sick, myself. This child is sick, too. His treatment costs 150,000 toumans a day and I swear to God, I don’t have it.”

Those forced to live in ‘Mir Ahmad Cemetery’ reported that the authorities care nothing about them, with one woman saying she has to ‘share her life with dead’ and live in extremely deplorable conditions in a cemetery despite suffering numerous illnesses.

The 60-year-old woman who has undergone an open-heart surgery after the earthquake, says, “I am sleeping here in the cemetery with the dead. But they do not allow even this much to us. Now, they say, ‘You must leave here.’ They say, ‘We want to raze here with a bulldozer and build Ahmad-bin-Es’haq market!’ There’s not even a drop of warm water so that we can bathe. We have received no aide from the government. Nothing!”

The housing situation is so catastrophic that some of the residents are reportedly selling their kidneys in order to rebuild their homes.

In an interview with Iran’s ILNA news agency on September 14, Sarpol-e Zahab’s City Council Chairman accuses Hassan Rouhani’s administration of inaction and considers this the reason why some citizens are selling their kidneys.

He adds: “The mental situation of the citizens is very troubling. Hygiene and sanitation are very inadequate, and the municipality hasn’t yet given us any money to do something. I wish the Ministry of Interior would say what services they’ve provided for a city like Sarpol-e Zahab.”

On September 5, Irna news agency wrote about the housing situation: “Earthquake-stricken [families] with sick or elderly members or little children are more concerned, because if they don’t succeed in building their shelters, they have to spend a second cold winter in makeshift Conex houses and tents, not to mention the gruelling summer heat they have to bear right now.”

And while the situation is far from normalized, the government’s promises have proven to be hollow. 

The state-run ICANA news agency reported on November 7, 2018 that the teams assigned to help the people, have left them alone.

The contractors employed to rebuild the stricken areas, have abandoned their projects and banks do not grant loans to the victims of earthquake. Some of the victims have to live in tents in the freezing cold weather.

“On arrival, many of the agencies which came to the area, put up banners in the city saying that they will stand together with the earthquake victims until the end. Unfortunately, many agencies didn’t stay in the area and declared that they want to leave,” says Sarpol-e Zahab’s City Council Chairman.

According to Parviz Fattah, head of the Relief Committee, who was cited by the state-run Tasnim news agency on January 14, the government has not granted gratuitous loans which it had promised to earthquake victims.

Sarpol-e Zahab was one of the areas hit hardest by the earthquake. Most villages in Sarpol-e Zahab do not have drinking water. 80 percent of the city’s infrastructures have been damaged or destroyed. The municipality does not provide any services and people have removed the rubble at their own expense, paying 2 million toumans to rent mechanical shovels.

The Housing Foundation was supposed to do this job, but announced that it cannot do so.

Only 20 percent of the populace live in their own homes, but they would rather live in trailers because of repeated aftershocks. Some are prepared to sell their kidneys to reconstruct their houses. One can imagine the situation of women and children in such conditions.

13 November 2018

Iran Hangs 22 Ahwazis in mass Executions including a Father and Son

The Iranian regime has reportedly hanged 22 Ahwazi Arabs in the past 72 hours after arresting over 1,000 people, including women and children, in recent weeks in a brutal crackdown in the region in south-western Iran. The executed individuals include a 58-year-old man, who was killed along with his son aged 30.

As usual, the families were denied the chance to see their loved ones’ bodies, which are buried in unmarked mass graves in an attempt to further ‘disgrace’ dissidents and to deter any protests at regime abuses.  Family members also said that the regime officials had mocked them and told them to “cheer up” when they expressed grief at their bereavement.

The regime justified the executions, as it has justified its latest ongoing campaign of mass arrests in the region, with vague fabricated allegations such as “acting against national security”.  The executions were carried out without any trial, with the detainees denied the right to any legal representation or to see their loved ones before being executed.

Activists in the region have confirmed the identities of 500 of the 1,000-plus Ahwazis taken into custody so far, who include women and children.   The latest brutal campaign is an effort to silence further protests or activism in the region, with many of the detainees targeted for campaigning or protesting for democracy and human rights or for participating in political, religious, civic or media-related activities, all of which are forbidden to the indigenous Arab people of the region.

The arrests and mass executions follow an attack by members of a local militia on a regime military parade in the region on September 22 in which 25 people, mostly regime military personnel, were killed. Although the regime has blamed the attack on ISIS, as it now does routinely in reaction to any attack on its personnel, the military wing of the Arab Struggle Liberation Movement for Ahwaz, which opposes ISIS as well as the regime, has claimed responsibility.

Although none of those executed by the regime were involved in or associated with the ASMLA or with the attack on the military parade, the regime is apparently using that attack to justify another crackdown against the long-suffering people who have escalated protests against regime oppression and demanded reform, freedom and human rights in recent years after facing persecution for decades

Speaking about the regime’s latest mass executions of Ahwazis, Kamil Alboshoka, an Ahwazi rights activist now based in London, said simply, “Out of vengefulness, these mass executions have been carried out in Ahwaz.”

The names of five of the 22 activists executed by the regime in this latest mass execution have been confirmed as:

Mohmmad Moemeni Timas (Silawi), aged 58.

Nassar Moemeni Timas (Silawi), son of Mohammad, aged 30.

Ahmad Abdoudi (Heidari), aged 30.

Ali Beit Sayah.

Hatam Sawari, aged 24.

According to figures from Amnesty International and the US State Department, Iran’s regime is second only to China in per capita executions annually, with the number rising to its highest ever level since the current president, Hassan Rouhani, took office.

Ahwazi activists in Iran and in exile have appealed for international human rights organizations to condemn the latest executions and the Iranian regime’s escalation of its campaign against Ahwazis, and other minorities and dissidents, warning that the regime takes the silence on its persecution and crimes against humanity as a green light to increase its brutality and to kill many more, both domestically and regionally.

13 November 2018

Young Kurdish Woman Hanged At The Central Prison Of Sanandaj

Young Kurdish woman, Sharareh Eliasi was executed a few hours ago at Central Prison of Sanandaj, west Iran. She was only 27 at the time of execution.

Sharareh Eliasi had been imprisoned since five years ago on murder charges. 

Iran is the world’s leading per capita executioner. It also holds the record in the execution of women and minors. 

Over 3,600 people have been executed under Hassan Rouhani. In the same period, Sharareh Eliasi is the 85th woman to be executed under Rouhani.

13 November 2018

Ex-Houthi Official Admits Crimes Against Yemeni People

The Iran-backed Houthi militias have committed "heinous crimes" against the Yemeni people, according to the militant group’s former propaganda chief who defected on Friday.

Abdelsalem Jaber, a self-styled information minister for the Houthis, explained during a press conference in Riyadh on Sunday that it is the right time for allied forces to complete the “liberation” of Yemen from the Houthis before detailing a long list of abuses carried out by Iran’s militia, including turning state institutions into competing “centres of power”.

Jaber, the most senior member of the Houthi militia to switch allegiance to the internationally recognised Yemeni government since the war began in 2014, said that “detainees in Houthi prisons are being treated inhumanely” among other horrendous abuses.

Jaber said that the Yemeni people reject “the foreign domination of the country”, i.e. Iran’s control over the Houthis, and that the “Yemeni people have rejected Houthi injustices and are waiting for an opportunity to get rid of them”, meaning that the US-backed Saudi-led Arab alliance will soon be able to bring democracy back to Yemen.

Moammer al-Iryani, the information minister of the Yemeni government confirmed on Saturday that Jaber and his family fled the capital Sanaa for Saudi Arabia.

His defection comes amid ongoing clashes between the Yemeni government forces backed by a Saudi-led coalition and the Houthis backed by Iran over the strategic Red Sea port city of Hodeidah. Reportedly, fighting has flared up in Hodeidah’s east with one government official stating that “the battles here are turning into street fighting”.

On Saturday, government forces regained control of the May 22 Hospital during the offensive. Human rights watchdog Amnesty International accused the Houthis of “deliberate militarization” of the hospital after they deployed snipers on its roof.

Terrorist Designation?

Meanwhile, the Trump administration is contemplating designating the Iran-backed Houthis as a terrorist organization, which would increase pressure of the group to conform to acceptable behavioural standards. This is part of a wider effort by the White House to crack down on Iranian activities that are destabilising the region.

Del Wilder, a counterterrorism specialist, said: “Everyone knows they are terrorists and that they’re controlled by Iran, which itself is a ‘terrorist organization’, but until there is regime change in Iran the Houthis, Hezbollah, Hamas, and others will continue to go about the business of committing acts of terror and disruption.”

And let’s make no mistake, the Houthis are tied to Iran, as even spokesman Mohamed Abdel Salam, has acknowledged.

13 November 2018

Iran Trying to Bypass U.S. Sanctions on Its Oil Sector

SHANA, the oil ministry news website reported that Iran – in a second attempt to bypass sanctions – sold 700,000 barrels of crude oil for export to private companies. The barrels were traded on the country’s energy bourse

The oil was sold to three unnamed companies. One shipment of 210,000 barrels, and the two others at 245,000 barrels each, were sold for $64.97 per barrel.The U.S. sanctions targeting Iran’s oil sector took effect last week on 5th November. In preparation, Iran started to sell its crude oil to companies in the private sector at the end of last month.

The Iranian regime is clearly in a desperate situation and it is resorting to a number of measures to survive.

The domestic situation is putting a lot of pressure on the country’s leadership and the people have been calling the regime out on the widespread economic corruption that is rife on all levels. The Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, ordered the establishment of special courts in an attempt to combat economic crime. So far, the special courts have handed the death penalty to several individuals.

Instead of taking responsibility and putting into place measures that will prevent further economic crime and corruption, the regime is taking its usual method of imprisonment and death penalties to dissuade others.

This is reminiscent of its attitude when it comes to dealing with dissent and opposition. It arrests, jails, tortures and even executes political opponents and anyone that sympathises with the opposition. There are a huge number of political prisoners in Iran and international human rights organisations have expressed their grave concern for the situation.

Political dissidents have been targeted for decades. In what has become known as the 1988 massacre, more than 30,000 political prisoners were executed in the space of just a few months. The opposition was, and still is, a major threat to the survival of the regime.

And this is more true than ever because the people are desperate for change. They want freedom, democracy and human rights and they know that the only way of being able to enjoy this – what we in the West take for granted – is via regime change.

The people of Iran are supported by the Resistance – an Organization that is the only organised and viable alternative to the clerical rule in Iran. And this is what makes the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) a target of the Iranian regime because it is popular both inside and outside of Iran. It has been present at every major development in the past few decades and they know the regime better than anyone.

The people of Iran are living through some major hardships including the soaring cost of living and the terrible decline of social services. Despite the impact of the U.S. sanctions making their lives more difficult, they also bring hope that the increased international pressure, coupled with the domestic pressure they are exerting and maintaining, will bring the regime to collapse sooner rather than later.

The determination of the Iranian people should be commended and supported by all freedom-loving people around the world.

13 November 2018

Thousands of Iranian children deprived of education because of lack of shoes

Zeinab Fathali Poor, an expert in the Social Welfare Bureau of Khuzestan province, southwest Iran, revealed that, “over 12,000 children in Khuzestan are deprived of education, many of whom just have no footwear to go to school.”

“Many of children in the province are stopped by very basic necessities as many of them just do not have a pair of shoes to go to school”, she added.

Oil reserves bring money and power. However, Khuzestan which is sitting on an ocean of oil, is struggling hopelessly against poverty.

The general manager of the bureau of nutrition improvement, which is a branch of the Ministry of Health, stated that people of Khuzestan are suffering from malnutrition.

Local press in the ancient city of Masjed Soleyman, northeast of the province, has raised the red alert for the growing number of suicides committed in the city because of poverty and unemployment.

The city of Ramhormoz is known for the export of 700,000 petroleum barrels per day, but the rate of unemployment in the city is exceeding 50 percent.

While the city of Shadegan southwest of the province is just 17km away from one of the largest rivers of Iran, Karun, the city, is suffering from poverty and lack of water. A member of the Iranian regime’s parliament exposed the facts saying, “people of Shadegan need water to stay alive! Need work to have their lives, and they need the basic necessities to enjoy dignity.”

“Where should I point out to describe the terrible situation in Shadegan? Unhealthy drinking water? Transfer of Shadegan’s water to other places and leaving un-purified water for the people to drink? Drying the Shadegan pond out? The hot weather with the heat of 50°C? Rate of divorces is increasing and people are struggling financially… people have nothing to eat except bread and tomatoes!” the MP added.

The situation of the people in Minoo Island and Shalamche, in the western fringes of the province, is not better. Reports show that many families have just one set of school uniform for their girls, and they have to take turns wearing them. Also in Shalamche, many girls have to quit education as their families cannot afford the cost of education or even the high cost to commute to school.

The phenomenon of poverty in Khuzestan province has a direct link to the regime’s policies and corruption in the power hierarchy, which is worsening the situation as time passes. 

The province is now witnessing continuous strikes against the regime’s policies– Periodic strikes of Haft Tapeh Sugar Cane Mill in central Khuzestan and taxi drivers have become a fixture of daily life in the province. Many factories have been closed down due to the wrong policies taken by the regime.

In addition to many economic woes, the impoverished Iranian province of Khuzestan has been hit hard by drought, pollution, and a water crisis 

Many farmlands and date trees have dried out due to the devastating projects of the IRGC building dams on rivers to serve their own needs. The farmers of Khuzestan are suffering the consequences, losing access to vital water sources for their lands.

As the regime ratchets up oppressive measures against the Iranian people and Arab minorities in the province, the people of Khuzestan are readying themselves for another uprising against the dictatorship.

14 November 2018

Iran Hangs 2 Men In Reaction To Public Outrage Over Corruption In The Ruling Clique

Iran hanged two men on Wednesday, in reaction to public outrage over corruption in the ruling clique. 

One of the two executed men was Vahid Mazloumin dubbed the “sultan of coins” by media, a trader accused of manipulating the currency market, according to Mizan, the news site of the Iranian judiciary.

Mazloumin was allegedly caught with two tons of gold coins, according to the state-run ISNA news agency.

One of the two executed men was Vahid Mazloumin, dubbed the “sultan of coins” by media, a trader accused of manipulating the currency market.

The second man was part of Mazloumin’s network and had been involved in the sale of gold coins, Mizan reported.

Both of them were convicted of “spreading corruption on earth”, a capital offense under Iran’s Islamic laws. Special courts focused on financial crimes were set up in August with the approval of the Supreme Leader.

The courts have handed out at least seven death sentences since they were set up and some of the trials have been broadcast live on television.

Special courts have handed out at least seven death sentences since they were set up and some of the trials have been broadcast live on television.

The special Islamic revolutionary courts were set up on August quickly after Ali Khamenei called for “swift and just” legal action to confront an “economic war” by foreign enemies.

Judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei had told state television, late July: “29 people have been arrested for economic disruption and will be soon put on trial ….”
“Many of them face the charge of ‘spreading corruption on earth’,” Ejei said, referring to a capital offence under Iran’s Islamic laws.

Mohseni Ejei, quoted by state TV in late September, had said the courts handed down out death sentences to three defendants after convicting them of “spreading corruption on earth”, a capital offense under Iran’s Islamic laws.

Mohseni Ejei had not named the three but said the sentences would have to be upheld by the supreme court before being carried out.

14 November 2018

Iran: Students rise in support of their protesting teachers

Teachers in cities throughout Iran launched a strike on Tuesday and refused to show up in their classrooms.

These cities include Tehran, Isfahan, Shiraz, Tabriz, Kermanshah, Yazd, Bushehr, Karaj, Ilam, Ardabil, Baneh, Saqqez, Marivan, Ivan Gharb, Saveh, Hamedan, Sanandaj, Shahin Shahr, Shahr-e Kord, Jolfa, Babol, Lamerd, Chaboksar, Nowshahr and many others are witnessing teachers refuse to show up in their classes.

Teachers are protesting the arrest of their colleagues, their own poor living conditions and living in poverty.

In various provinces, students and their parents are voicing their support for the protesting teachers’ demands.

In Isfahan, Sanandaj, Shiraz, Divandareh and Marivan students held rallies and raised signs expressing solidarity with their teachers. 

Iranian opposition President Maryam Rajavi hailed the protesting teachers and tweeted a message of support. 

“Hail to the freedom-loving teachers of Iran who have staged a nationwide strike and sit-in in protest to their living conditions and lack of job security, demanding release of their imprisoned and exiled colleagues.” — Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) -  (November 13, 2018)

In this new movement, the teachers are protesting their low paychecks and pensions, living in poverty, inflation, skyrocketing prices and decreasing purchasing power; not being authorized to establish independent organizations, lacking adequate insurance; authorities plundering the Teachers Fund; authorities refusing to implement the National Management Services Law since 2006 and many other plans that have remained merely on paper.

On October 14 and 15, teachers in dozens of cities launched a similar nationwide strike protesting poor living conditions, oppressive measures and authorities dispatching a large number of security units to schools and college campuses.

In the first round of these protests, teachers in more than 60 cities across Iran are continuing their nationwide strike for the second consecutive day on Monday, reaching the cities of Mashhad, Marivan, Isfahan, Hamedan, Karaj, Homayounshahr, Shahinshar, Ahvaz, Baneh, Ravansar and many more.

Reports from the cities of Qeshm, Ahvaz, Poldokhtar, Ravansar, Rafsanjan, 

Zarineh and Babol indicate all teachers are on strike. Their protests have also spread to the cities of Divandareh, Shiraz, Sanandaj, Sari, Langrud, Saqqez, Khomeini Shahr, Kermanshah, and many others.

Earlier this year, teachers across the country took to the streets to protest against discrimination, imprisonment of political activists and economic woes. This round of strikes by teachers is happening in parallel to a widespread strike by truck drivers across the country, which has lasted for more than three weeks and has expanded to more than 300 cities across the country.

Last week, a separate strike by merchants and shop owners reached dozens of cities.

14 November 2018

Iran: PMOI/MEK network spread message of opposition

Aiming to further enflame the fire of resistance, protests and an anti-regime uprising.

Many Iranian regime officials are voicing deep concerns of these ever-expanding activities. 

Members of Resistance Unit 730 in Isfahan, central Iran, responded to a message from Iranian Resistance leader Massoud Rajavi voicing their readiness for the road ahead against the mullahs’ regime.

 From Urmia, northwest Iran, members of a resistance unit also expressed their readiness while holding signs reading portions of the message.

A member of a Tehran resistance unit sent a message saying the end of the mullahs’ regime is near and expressing readiness for the final blows to this regime.

In Kermanshah, a member of Resistance Unit 534 put up a placard expressing readiness for the era of the mullahs’ overthrow. 

Members of another resistance unit put up posters of Iranian opposition President Maryam Rajavi with parts of her message saying, “No to the mullahs’ regime, yes to the people’s sovereignty in a republic based on the people’s vote.”

In Sari, northern Iran, members of a resistance unit took to graffiti and wrote, “Hail to Rajavi” in various parts of this city. 

In Quchan, northeast Iran, a resistance unit member wrote “Death to Khamenei” in graffiti, referring to Iranian regime Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. 

Setting fire to images of senior Iranian regime officials has been seen on a wide scale by members of the Iranian opposition People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) resistance units members in numerous cities. This is yet another sign of Iranian youths responding to calls for more protests across the country.

Members of Resistance Unit 905 in Tehran set fire to a large billboard containing images of Iranian regime founder Khomeini and Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

 In Sari, members of a resistance unit also set blaze to a Khamenei poster.

 These days, Iranian resistance units continue their activities across the country, keeping the fire of resistance and uprising alit and spreading fear among the ranks of the regime’s suppressive forces. In Urumiyeh, the members of one of the resistance units set fire on a large banner picturing Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of the Iranian regime.

The Iranian regime considers the supreme leader as its ultimate red line. Even when quarreling among themselves, regime officials take care not to raise the ire of the supreme leader. It also considers the PMOI/MEK as a red line and treats anyone who supports them harshly. In the past decades, the regime has executed tens of thousands of Iranians for being members or supporters of the MEK.

At great risk to their lives, the resistance units are continuing the nationwide protests and the struggles of the Iranian people for regime change. 

Since protests erupted across Iran in December, the mullahs’ regime has become weakened in its entirety. The past months have shown that for the regime of Tehran, there’s no turning back and returning to the state of affairs before the protests. The national uprising will not be stifled.

If the regime wants to respond to the demands of the people in any way, it will embark on a journey that will result in its own undoing. Therefore it has no way to escape from its current deadlock. For the regime, it is either capitulating to the demands of the people, which will cause the unravelling of the suppressive and tyrannical rule it has established in the past four decades, of the intensification of its suppressive measures, which will result in the intensification of the rage of the people and trigger more protests and confrontations between the people and the regime.

Members of resistance units associated to the Iranian opposition People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) are expanding their activities in cities across Iran following a recent message delivered by Iranian opposition leader Massoud Rajavi. 

Furthermore, following years of the Iranian regime taking advantage of the appeasement policy, recent sanctions imposed by the United States shows this lifeline is reaching its end for the mullahs’ rule. 

Members of Resistance Unit 881 in Qazvin, northwest Iran, set fire to a poster of Iranian regime Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.  

Back in June at the Iranian opposition convention in Paris, Iranian opposition President Maryam Rajavi delivered remarks regarding PMOI/MEK resistance units.

“These days, an industry of concocting phony alternatives has become prevalent in the political arena, of course copying and pasting aspects from others. And this in itself is another sign of the phase of the regime’s overthrow. But the crux of the matter is how they are going to actually bring down this regime in practice. This question is especially relevant as the blood of the martyrs has permanently and historically blocked the path to reform within the clerical regime and the return of the monarchy.

“Now, if one can topple this regime without an organization and leadership, without overcoming thorny trials, and without paying the price and making sacrifices, we say: Please, go ahead, don’t delay.

“If one can restore the people’s sovereignty without a history of fighting against two regimes, without drawing boundaries against dictatorship, subordination and dependency, without waging a nationwide resistance and offering a galaxy of martyrs, without challenging the principle of the velayat-e faqih and phony regime “moderates,” we say: Please, go ahead, don’t delay.

“If one can topple the mullahs without challenging Khomeini over the unpatriotic Iran-Iraq war, forcing an end to the inferno of that war, and discrediting the regime’s slogan of ‘Liberating Quds via Karbala” without compelling Khomeini to accept the ceasefire by launching 100 military operations by the National Liberation Army of Iran, which captured the city of Mehran and marched to the gates of Kermanshah; and without exposing the regime’s nuclear weapons, missile, chemical and microbiological programs and facilities, yes, go ahead and don’t delay. 

“The overthrow of this regime inevitably requires a willingness to pay the necessary price, it requires the practice of honesty and sacrifice, it requires an organization and a sturdy political alternative, and it requires the organization of resistance units and an army of liberation.”