New MEK Secretary General Pledges Regime Change in Iran

Ms. Zahra Merrikhi, swearing in the new MEK Secretary General

By: Keyvan Salami

News Blaze, September 9, 2017 - On Wednesday September 6, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran, (PMOI/MEK) held its annual Congress. The Congress elected Ms. Zahra Merrikhi, 58, as its new Secretary General.
The MEK is the main opposition to the Iranian regime, and it has been brutally suppressed by the Iranian regime. Over 120,000 MEK members and supporters have been executed by the regime. 30,000 political prisoners, a majority of them members and supporters of the MEK, were massacred in the summer of 1988 alone. Iran kept a lid on the massacre for three decades.
In this year’s presidential election, a conservative cleric by the name of Ebrahim Raisi, one of the perpetrators of the massacre, was selected as a main candidate, resurfacing the 1988 massacre and forcing regime officials, one after another, to confess about the carnage and their fear of the MEK’s popular support.
Last July in an unprecedented interview, former Iranian intelligence minister Ali Fallahian revealed the mindset behind the 1988 mass execution. In his interview Fallahian explains whoever had any relationship with MEK was condemned to death.
“Imam [Khomeini] said you must execute those who are steadfast in their beliefs,” he said referring to the Iranian regime founder. “We couldn’t let them go and couldn’t keep them in jail. If we had kept them in jail, we would have had a bunch of people over our head telling us don’t keep them in jail. So a 3-man team of judges and ministers was assigned to oversee these cases, release those who were eligible and execute those that were not,” he continued.
In the summer of 1988 Khomeini issued a religious decree calling for the massacre.
“Whoever at any stage continues to belong to the (PMOI/MEK) must be executed. Annihilate the enemies of Islam immediately! … Those who are in prisons throughout the country and remain steadfast in their support for the MEK are waging war on God, and are condemned to execution … It is naive to show mercy to those who wage war on God,” the decree reads in part.
A committee of four men was formed to implement the order, and in a matter of a few months, more than 30,000 political prisoners were executed, mostly members and supporters of the MEK.
Last year the revelation of an audio tape and unpublished letters of the late Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri, former successor to Khomeini, shed new light on dimensions of this grave crime. Pregnant women and girls as young as 14 and 15 years old were among those executed, Mr. Montazeri wrote.
Despite the brutal crackdown, during more than three decades, the MEK has managed to survive and grow, and it enjoys vast popular support among Iranians inside and outside of the country. Its annual gathering assembles over 100,000 Iranians from all over the world and millions watch the event inside Iran.
This year’s congress was important, because the new Secretary General was elected.
“Today, the PMOI, with the help of the Iranian people, is prepared as never before to overthrow the clerical regime,” Ms. Merrikhi the new elected Secretary General said. Ms. Merrikhi also introduced Narges Azodanlou, 36, Rabi’eh Mofidi, 35, and Nasrin Massih, 39, as new deputies to the Secretary General.

 

PMOI Congress on the 52nd founding anniversary of the MEK.

According to a PMOI statement, the new elected Secretary General became acquainted with the PMOI during the 1979 anti-Monarchic Revolution and joined the PMOI after the revolution. She was soon appointed head of the women’s section in Qa’emshahr, in Northern Province of Iran, and later became a member of the editorial board of the PMOI publication in Mazandaran. She was transferred to Tehran in 1981 and acted as liaison between the PMOI and its branches in the forests of northern Iran. In 1984, she moved to PMOI bases in the border region with Iraq, and a year later became a member of the Central Council. Her younger brother, Ali Merrikhi, was killed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) in 1988.
The statement adds that Ms. Merrikhi oversaw PMOI branches in Scandinavia and Germany for some time. In 1991, she became a member of the Executive Committee and was later appointed head of MEK’s Radio and television network, she was also in charge of the MEK publication, Mojahed newspaper.
In 1992 she became a member of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) the coalition of different opposition groups and individuals, of which MEK is the largest. She was appointed Chairwoman of the Public Affairs Committee of the NCRI. Since 2003 she had been the coordinator of the offices of Mrs. Rajavi, the President elect of Iranian resistance. She also was the Vice-president of the PMOI’s Central Council since 2004.

 

 Mrs. Rajavi and Ms. Zahra Merrikhi.

Iran, MEK and Regime Change Policy

by Pooya Stone

Since the major gathering of the Iranian opposition, MEK in Paris on July 1, the issue of necessity of regime change in Iran has gained traction.

“The only solution to free the people of Iran and establish peace and tranquility in the region, is the overthrow of the Iranian regime,” declared Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the Iranian Resistance, in the major gathering of Iranians in Paris on July 1. She reiterated, “The regime’s overthrow is possible and within reach, and a democratic alternative and organized resistance MEK exists that can topple it.”

Maryam Rajavi’s call for regime change in Iran was widely echoed and supported by other prominent U.S. and European speakers. Among the speakers were former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton. All supported MEK ’s call for regime change in Iran.

Referring to the MEK , Bolton, said: “There is a viable opposition to the rule of the ayatollahs, and that opposition is centered in this room today. I had said for over 10 years since coming to these events, that the declared policy of the United States of America should be … to change the regime itself. And that’s why, before 2019, we here will celebrate in Tehran!”

After the MEK and Iranian resistance’s July 1 rally in Paris, Fox News reported, “The Trump administration is potentially considering seeking a strategy to try to topple the regime.” The resistance, however, only needs American political and perhaps economic support to effect “regime change from within.”

As the Iranian regime change notion has gained momentum by the MEK rally, the Iranian regime is regarding the issue very serious. Fouad Izadi, an Iranian international expert in an interview with the state television, admitted to the scope of the new sanctions and terrorist designation of the Revolutionary Guards in the US Congress.

In response to the question that what exactly the Americans are after, Fouad Izadi said, “It doesn’t need any analysis...Mr. Tillerson said about a month ago in the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives, and a couple of weeks ago Mr. Mattis in a press conference he had, said, … we want to change the regime.”
The new bill in the U.S. Congress has added to already shaky regime’s fears. Janati, the head of the Guardian Council announced on Thursday that the main issue which has preoccupied the Supreme leader is his concern over regime change.

Iran Lobby attacks against MEK

At the same time the regime’s apologists and satellite writers in the Western media started their barrage of fake news and attacks against MEK to foil the regime policy.

The Iranian regime and its lobbies have consistently worked to paint the MEK as terrorists – with no evidence to support it – and discredit them in the eyes of the international community.

For instance, Mehdi Hasan an advocate of the Iranian extremist regime in the Britain and an Al-Jazeera English anchorman, could not hide his blind hatred towards MEK. In an article in Intercept, he levied numerous unfounded and threadbare allegations against MEK with many of them rebuked in several court of law during past decade. He also slandered the top politicians for supporting MEK as a viable force and wrote: “Could it be because of the old, if amoral, adage that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend”? Perhaps. Could it be the result of ignorance, of senior U.S. figures failing to do due diligence? Maybe.”

The prominent Washington Free Beacon introduced Mehdi Hasan as, “a controversial British media figure whom insiders have billed as a mouthpiece for the Iranian regime. ...praised Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and publicly branded all non-believers as mentally ill "animals".

Ali Fallahian, regime’s former intelligence minister, made shocking remarks in an interview with Aparat Internet TV, In relation to the massacre of 30,000 MEK prisoners in 1988 he said, “the verdict is death sentence ... Mr. Mousavi (Tabrizi) who was the Revolution general prosecutor used to say that there is no need for trial at all ... it makes no sense that we try MEK ... Imam repeatedly insisted that you should be careful not to let MEK go... Imam always emphasized that you should always be cautious of this side ... MEK ruling is always execution. This was his (Khomeini’s) verdict as a supreme leader, either before this issue of 1988 or afterwards.” Fallahian said,”Many journalists are the intelligence agents ... A journalist is not paid well, so he should work with an intelligence service.” It is hard to believe that Mehdi Hasan is mouthpiece for the Iranian regime for free, as it is hard to believe that he moderates NIAC leadership conference or inviting NIAC president Trita Parsi to Al-Jazeera for free. NIAC of Trita Parsi is widely known as an Iranian regime’s lobby entity kicked off help of Javad Zarif, when he was Iran’s Ambassador to the United Nations. Trita Parsi, another MEK blind foe, unsuccessfully campaigned on behalf of the Iranian regime to keep MEK in the U.S. list of FTO. Mehdi Hasan and Trita Parsi are two typical Iran lobbyist stereotyping MEK as cultish and undemocratic. Obviously, by attacking the MEK and their supporters, they are trying to induce that the regime has no viable alternative and to kill any hope or chance for regime change in Iran, which should happen with the MEK at its core.

Iranian lobby is working hard to show that regime change policy for Iran is equivalent to war and they have been successful with some quarters. The New York editorial board on July 20 writes, “Prominent Trump supporters like John Bolton, a former ambassador to the United Nations; Newt Gingrich, former House speaker; and Rudolph Giuliani, former New York mayor, are pressing Mr. Trump to abandon the deal and are speaking out on behalf of the Mujahedeen Khalq, [MEK] exiled Iranian dissidents who back regime change.” The editorial concludes, “Trump would make a grave mistake if instead of trying to work with those moderate forces he led the nation closer to war.”

What is MEK Demand?

What does MEK stands for and is asking the West to do for the regime change in Iran. Is MEK demanding a war against Iran? No!

MEK supports Mrs. Rajavi call during the July 1, gathering when she said, “Our demands reflect the demands of Sattar Khan, revered leader of the 1906 Constitutional Revolution, and Dr. Mohammad Mossadeq, leader of Iran’s Nationalist Movement in 1950s. As I have reiterated, repeatedly, we want neither money, nor arms. …we say that the struggle of the people of Iran for regime change is legitimate, righteous and imperative. We urge you to recognize this “resistance against oppression.”

Link with Iranian people through MEK

During the July 1 gathering, Judge Mukasy, the 81st Attorney General of the United States in order to get rid of Mullahs, said, “The best way for both Iranians and non-Iranians to do that is to align with the Iranian resistance [MEK ] so as to make it clear to the oppressed citizens of Iran that the world's quarrel is not with Iran but with the mullahs who have subjugated Iran.” He said MEK members within Iran “have provided both an example and a tool with their daring publicity campaign within Iran urging regime change and posting photos of Mrs Rajavi and slogans opposing the clerical regime. They've been writing slogans on walls to support this gathering.

For five decades, the MEK has put themselves at great risks because of their ideals of democracy, freedom and equality. The Iranian regime has killed 120,000 of dissidents, including 30,000 political prisoners, during the 1988 massacre, the vast majority of whom were MEK supporters.

Indeed, regime lobbyists will be out in force this month but the MEK has the Iranian people and those who champion for human rights on their side.

Iran: Civil and Political Activists Support Hunger Striking Political Prisoners

By NCRI Staff

NCRI - On September 6, on the 38th day of the hunger strike of a group of political prisoners in the Gohardasht Prison in Karaj west of the capital Tehran, a number of families of these prisoners, and civil and political activists, while supporting the legitimate demands of these prisoners, expressed concerns over their well-being and urged them to end their hunger strike.

The families of these prisoners have emphasized in their statement: “Your rightful voice has come to the attention of the Iranian people and the human rights and international institutions and all of them in one voice have acknowledged your rightful demands.”

The families said in the statement:

“It's been a long time since you started hunger strike and closed your lips to food in protest of the inhuman and degrading circumstances of the prison, and we have witnessed the loss of physical power and the complications of hunger strikes, but what inspires us is your resistance and dignity in your standing for human rights of a prisoner. We salute you.”

“Because we regard you, our loved ones, as Iran's assets and its future, and beyond the emotional and family standpoint, we are asking you to end your strike at your discretion and adopt another way to pursue your claims.”

Dr. Mohammad Maleki, the first president of Tehran University after the anti-monarchial revolution, in a letter on September 6 titled “Why there are no hearing ears? Are humanity and morality and honor and freedom in Iran dead?” while supporting the demands of political prisoners in Gohardasht Prison, urged them to end their hunger strike, which lasted more than a month.

“The best children of the nation have been on hunger strike for more than a month; they are on hunger strike in Gohardasht, and the risk of death threatens their lives. I ask the dear strikers ..., I ask my brothers, the Mojahedin and combatant, to stop the strike, and I repeat this request for a number of times that you break your hunger strike and please accept the request of this old father, and make your friends happy, and be certain that all freedom-loving people in Iran and the world will pursue their rights and legitimate demands. Thank you all, your old and sick father: Mohammad Maleki – 6 September 2017.”

Also a former political prisoner and representative of the Syndicate of Iranian Teachers in Eastern Khorasan province, Mr. Hashem Khastar, in a letter to Ali Khamenei, leader of the Iranian regime, on the status of political prisoners and the social situation in Iran writes: “... I told you that the country is heading towards the revolution, but you still do not want to believe. A political prisoner on hunger strike is the cry of the Iranian people who say: “People of the world, the United Nations, and international human rights institutions, and the people of Iran, see how a nation is in captivity in the hands of the rulers who have made religion a tool to suppress the freedom of speech and the press and parties...”

Mr. Hashem Khastar during an interview on September 6 said that he was the voice of the political prisoners and called on the Iranian people to try to bring this voice to the attention of the world.

Meanwhile, on September 6 more than 400 civil activists, while supporting the hunger strike by writing a letter, expressed their concerns about this situation.

The civil rights activists’ letter reads in part:

“We, as a group of activists from various social and civilian fields (teachers, workers, students, women, etc.), announce that the demands of these prisoners are basic, legal and humane, and we support their demands. We believe that human dignity and the legal rights of prisoners must be preserved.”

These civil rights activists wrote to the regime's judiciary and prison authorities: “Before a human tragedy occurs, respond to the legitimate demands of these prisoners, and we consider the prison authorities, the judiciary and the government responsible for their lives.”

Political prisoners detained in Gohardasht Prison, which are estimated to be 53, were transferred early last month to the max-security section of Gohardasht prison. . In this section, even its toilettes and health care facilities are equipped with CCTV and surveillance cameras. There are unprecedented deprivations imposed on the inmates. The situation has forced political prisoners to protest. At least 17 inmates are now struggling in their 40th day of hunger strike in a complicated situation.

Muqtada Al-Sadr Refused to Meet Iran Regime Leader's Envoy to Iraq

By NCRI Staff

NCRI - On Tuesday, September 5, 2017. Muqtada Sadr, leader of Sadri current in Iraq, refused to meet with Hashemi Shahroudi, the envoy of Ali Khamenei, Supreme Leader of the Iranian regime.

“The envoy of Khamenei carries a sectarian project that would cause loss and damage to Iraq,” Baghdad Press reported quoting Amir al-Kanani, a leader of the Sadr's current, in an explanation of the rejection to meet with envoy of Ali Khamenei to Iraq. "

Amir al-Kanani, a member of the Al-Ahrar faction, affiliated with Sadr's current in the parliament of Iraq, said in an interview: “Iran's interference in Iraqi political affairs is detrimental to Iraq’s national interests, and therefore Muqtada al-Sadr refused to accept Khamenei's emissary.”

He accused the Iranian regime of trying to foment internal conflicts and direct political currents to sectarian barricades and said: “Shahroudi's visit to Iraq is nothing but a supplementary project for a sectarian plan that Iran has provided six months ago. Iran proposed a “Shia House Unity” six months ago. Khamenei's emissary has not brought anything new to the Iraqi people.”

Al-Kanani stated: “Iran has no projects in favor of Iraq. The Iranian regime is seeking to create sectarian barracks in Iraq, based on a Shia sectarian bastion against which the bastions of Kurdish and Sunni ethnicity are formed. The Iraqis are fed up with the phases of sectarian projects and the losses they have inflicted, and they are not prepared to accept a new project in this regard.”

“Iran's interference is not in the interest of the Iraqi people who have decided to get rid of sectarian boundaries,” said Sadri's current member. “The Iraqi parliamentary election is an internal affair of the Iraqi people and has nothing to do with Iran.”

“If Iran is honest, it will propose plans for economic development and investment and the fight against terrorists in Iraq, not the sectarian project. So, it is unlikely that Muqtada Sadr will change his mind and accept Shahroudi,” he added.

Before Muqtada al-Sadr, Ayatollah Sistani also refused to meet Ayatollah Shahroudi, the emissary of Khamenei.

Iraqi news agencies, including “Al-Ghad Press”, quoting informed sources, reported that Sistani opposed the meeting with Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, head of the Iran regime’s Expediency Council, who is currently in Iraq.

The sources added: “Shahroudi called for a visit with Sistani during his trip to Najaf, but Sistani opposed and rejected this request.”

Shahroudi is said to have traveled to Iraq sent by Khamenei to unite the Iraqi Shiite political currents that secure the interests of the Iranian regime.

ANALYSIS: With ISIS on the run, is it time to focus on Iran?

Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei leading the Eid al-Fitr prayers at the Khomeini grand mosque in Tehran on 

By Heshmat Alavi

Al Arabiya, 5 September 2017 - Iraq announced the official defeat of the ISIS terror group on its soil recently. Efforts in Syria pinpointing on the cities of Raqqa and Deir Ez-Zor, the last two ISIS strongholds, are also on the rise with estimates forecasting the group’s complete annihilation in October.

Unfortunately, since the rise of ISIS in 2014, thanks to the marginalization and crackdown of mass Sunni populations by former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and Syrian dictator Bashar Assad, Iran has benefited from the existence of ISIS to divert international attention and crosshairs away from its mischiefs.

After three long years of devastation and destruction brought about by ISIS, it is high time for the international community to exert its energy and pressures on Iran to bring an end to its proclivity of regional meddling and bellicosity.

Most recently revelations have made clear of Iran’s efforts to produce advanced, precision weapons in Lebanon and Syria. These activities are dangerously close to Israel, an enemy Tehran’s regime has sworn to wipe off the map.

Iran has been very active in Syria and focusing efforts to transform the country into a military entrenchment base. Anyone having knowledge about the Iranian regime’s nature  and recent history understands how Tehran’s ruling clerics seek to establish war fronts across the Middle East to spread their malign influence.

An image grab was taken from Hezbollah’s al-Manar TV on August 24, 2017, shows Hassan Nasrallah, the head of Hezbollah.

The main proxy

These sites in Lebanon and Syria are intended to produce missiles with state-of-the-art capabilities. Tehran has specifically pressed the gas pedal on these measures during the past year in Lebanon. The Lebanese Hezbollah, Iran’s main proxy and offspring from 1982 to this day, will most likely be the principal benefactor of these new missiles, enabling it to threaten specific targets.

This goes parallel to Tehran’s repeated efforts, especially during the ongoing six-year war in Syrian, to smuggle strategic, game-changing weapons into Lebanon. These attempts have been greeted with numerous Israeli airstrikes against various targets in Syria in recent years, such as advanced weapons caches or convoys that reports indicate were headed for none other than Hezbollah.

Already entangled in the Assad/Iran war against the Syrian people, Hezbollah has yet to show any retaliation against Israel in response to these airstrikes. While these assertions may not be new, the changing times in the Middle East are further providing grounds for dire action as “tomorrow” may prove to be too late.

To add to the regional concerns stirred by Iran, the al-Shabaab terror network, a known affiliate of the al-Qaeda network, has raised the stakes by taking control of uranium mines in Africa. Reports indicate its intention is providing Iran with such crucial sensitive supplies.   This can be described as yet another failure of Obama’s highly flawed, back-channeled deal with Tehran that left the regime’s pivotal threats unaddressed.

A SANA handout picture shows (L-R) Hassan Nasrallah, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Damascus on February 25, 2010.

The bigger picture

Iran has been taking advantage of the overall Middle East situation to extend its sphere of reach and influence through Hezbollah and a slate of other proxies. Tehran has also focused on propping the Assad regime in Syria, holding on its foothold in Yemen through supporting the Houthis against Saudi Arabia, and maintaining its strategic presence in Iraq after the fall of ISIS. The latter is specifically important considering the upcoming 2018 parliamentary elections.

And even more disturbing about Syria are recent blueprints of de-escalation zones across the country. The southern de-escalation zone, in particular, would provide Iran and its company of proxies the highly sought opportunity to consolidate their stretch across these sensitive areas. These measures are also aimed at limiting Saudi influence in Syria, considered a red line for Tehran.

Iran took advantage of strategic policy mistakes in Iraq. This should not be repeated in Syria. Assad in Damascus has since 2011 relied on Iran and the Lebanese Hezbollah for its very survival. The Syrian regime has maintained its strategic positioning thanks to Iran’s crucial role in delivering economic and military assistance through the years.

Iran is now seeking to place itself as the ultimate winner of the Syria war, and a glimpse at post-2003 war Iraq and the status of Lebanon provides a prelude of the devastation to come. As such, all the more important to launch global initiatives to counter Iran’s hostile aims.

US President Donald Trump ordered a massive military strike against a Syria Thursday in retaliation for a chemical weapons attack they blame on President Bashar al-Assad.

Understanding the reality Assad may now threaten to look East after the war rather than West in retaliation to those who stood against him.

Yet he should be reminded of how he must face accountability for his horrific crimes against humanity, mostly at the behest of the ruling regime in Iran.

In a recent Paris visit, Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri said Assad leaving Syria is a high probability.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian has called on world powers to impose a transition plan in Syria. The French top diplomat also made it crystal clear there is no place for Assad in Syria’s future.

All this goes parallel to the necessity of displaying an allied, international determination that Iran’s threats to the security of the region and beyond will not go tolerated.As a recent New York Times piece explains,

“The Trump administration has so far seemed willing to cede Syria to Russia, save for the defeat of the Islamic State. But Washington should understand what this really means: ceding it to Iran.”

Iran: Uprising and general strike of the people of Baneh in protest at the killing of laborers+VIDEO & PHTOES

National Council of Resistance of Iran

Ms. Rajavi's call to the people of Kurdistan and throughout Iran to support and support the people of Baneh

On the morning of Tuesday, September 5th, the people of Baneh (western Iran) went on strike protesting the murder of two laborers by criminal Revolutionary Guards, and shut down their shops and the whole bazar. Also, this morning, thousands of the people of Baneh held a protest rally. The angry people went to the governorate from different parts of the city and threw rocks at the governor's building. They demanded the killing of laborers to be stopped.
Killing of laborers is a routine by the anti-human regime of mullahs. Yesterday, two laborers, Heydar Faraji, 21, and Qader Bahrami, 45, were killed with the direct shot by the regime's border guards. Qader Bahrami was married and had four children.
During today’s demonstrations, the repressive forces began to disperse the protesters by storming them and firing tear gas, but the people confronted them and neutralized the tear gas by burning tires.
The mullahs’ regime flew military helicopters over Baneh and attacked the people by bringing anti-riot criminal guards to the scene, but they were not able to prevent the anger of the people.
In the course of the demonstration, a number of people were injured and more were arrested. It is said that the criminal governor of Baneh has escaped from the anger of the people and has hidden in an unknown location.
Mrs. Maryam Rajavi , President-elect of the Iranian Resistance, offered her condolences to the families of the laborers, saluted the people of Baneh and their brave demonstrations, and called on the courageous and freedom-loving people of Kurdistan and other Iranian cities to support the people of Baneh and the toiling laborers. The laborers are being killed by the Revolutionary Guards while according to the regime officials, Khamenei and the Revolutionary Guards and other intelligence and security agencies of the clerical regime are the main controllers of smuggling in the country that, according to the regime authorities, amounts to $25 billion a year.
In a press conference in London on March 7, 2017, the Iranian Resistance unveiled 90 piers, i.e. about 45 percent of the country's total piers, used for large-scale smuggling, and are mainly at the disposal of the IRGC.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
September 5, 2017

 

End negotiations with the regime of Iran

Chamber of Commerce announced that the negotiation between Iran’s Central Bank with world’s mega banks has almost stopped.

IRAN, 06 September 2017-- An official of the Iranian regime’s Chamber of Commerce announced that the negotiation between Iran’s Central Bank with world’s mega banks has almost stopped.

Hossein Salimi, Board Member of the Iranian regime’s National Committee of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), said: “With the publication of some reports from Swift that some companies operating with Iran have been fined, these negotiations are slowing down and big European banks are worried about the resumption of bank sanctions against Iran and the imposition of US restrictions and fines.”

“Some of the comments and penalties imposed by SWIFT have made them so afraid such that the current Iranian banking talks with the world's major banks are almost halting,” state-run Mehr news agency reported on Monday, quoting Salimi.

Concerns about banking ties with the Iranian regime are not limited to European banks. Chinese banks also closed some of their Iranian customers’ accounts in August 2017.

According to the state-run ISNA news agency, “China has blocked Iranian accounts in ABC, ICBC and MERCHENT banks, and China has blocked Iranian accounts in an unprecedented measure.”

A report by the National Security and Policy Commission of the Iranian regime’s parliament, in August 2017, about the implementation of the nuclear deal between Iran and Western countries, referred to the concern of European big banks about cooperation with Iran, saying that only a few small European banks are willing to cooperate with Iran.

U.S. charges former Turkish minister with Iran sanctions evasion

Former Economy Minister Zafer Caglayan takes part in a debate focused on corruption charges against four cabinet ministers of Turkish Prime Minister

ISTANBUL, Reuters, SEPTEMBER 7, 2017 - U.S. prosecutors have charged a former Turkish economy minister and the former head of a Turkish state bank with conspiring to evade U.S. sanctions against Iran, widening an investigation that has fuelled tension between Washington and Ankara.

The indictment is the first time a former member of the Turkish government with close ties to President Tayyip Erdogan has been charged in the case, which stems from an investigation into a Turkish-Iranian gold trader over sanctions evasion.

Erdogan has said he believed U.S. authorities had “ulterior motives” in prosecuting the wealthy gold trader, Reza Zarrab, who was arrested by U.S. authorities last year.

Prosecutors charged former economy minister Zafer Caglayan and former Halkbank general manager Suleyman Aslan and two others, according to a statement, dated Wednesday, from the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York.

They were charged with “conspiring to use the U.S. financial system to conduct hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of transactions on behalf of the Government of Iran and other Iranian entities, which were barred by United States sanctions”.

They were also accused of lying to U.S. government officials about those transactions, laundering funds and defrauding several financial institutions by concealing the true nature of these transactions, U.S. prosecutors said.

Zarrab and a Halkbank deputy general manager, Mehmet Hakan Atilla, were both arrested while in the United States in March 20 16 and are scheduled to begin trial in October.

Zarrab has hired former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and former U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey to defend him against the charges.

Giuliani has said that both U.S. and Turkish officials remained “receptive” to a diplomatic solution due to the nature of the charges against Zarrab and the perceived importance of Turkey as an ally.

Caglayan, Aslan and others indicted in the case on Wednesday remain at large, U.S. prosecutors said.

Reuters was not immediately able to reach Caglayan or Aslan for comment. Halkbank has said its said its operations and transactions fully comply with national and international regulations.

Shares of Halkbank fell 2.5 percent in early trade in Istanbul before paring some losses. They were down 1.5 percent at 14.07 lira at 0750 GMT, underperforming the benchmark BIST 100 index, which was flat.

Iran: A 19-year-old girl commits suicide

A young teenage girl commits suicide (file photo)

Iran, Zabol, Sept. 7, 2017 - According to reports from inside Iran, a 19-year-old teenage girl identified as Miss Kothar Sargazi committed suicide on Thursday, September 7, 2017 using a pistol. She was pronounced dead at the scene. 
There is no information as to the motive behind this unfortunate action. But many of such attempts in Iran ruled by the suppressive mullahs are due to extreme suppression and/or deprivation and economic poverty. 
Iranian people have called this disastrous phenomenon, which stems from the rule of Velayat-e Faghih (Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist), as Suicide Tsunami. 
According to international statistics, Iran shares the highest number of suicides in the world 

WHY IRAN FEARS NIKKI HALEY’S TRIP TO VIENNA

• Iran
• NCRI
• JCPOA

 By f Mahmoudi

There is an Iranian saying that when someone is suspicious and not trustworthy, he has something in his shoes!The root of this proverb comes from a time when people used to hide dagger in their boots and used when needed. This story seems to be true for members of the Iranian regime.The announcement of Nikki Haley’s visit to Vienna on August 23 and her meeting with Yukiya Amano, the Director General of the International

Atomic Energy Agency, regarding the US demanding UN inspection of Iranian military sites, has been terrifying Tehran. Are they hiding anything in their shoes?

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif described the visit as the “continuation of US violations of the JCOPA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action)” and in a letter to the High Representative of the European Union Federica Mogherini and Amano while “expressing concern about the stated objectives” moreover wrote that “this trip can undermine the credibility of the agency”.

In response to these concerns, Haley said: “It’s interesting to me that Iran is so worried about my trip to Vienna. If they do not have anything to hide, they should not be worried about my questions from the agency. And if the activities of the Iranian regime are peaceful and there is nothing to hide, why are they rejecting their military sites to be visited by international inspectors? The news shows that the Iranian regime has suspicious activities in Parchin.”

                                For several years, IAEA has insisted Iran must disclose all aspects of its atomic military program. (AFP)

The military dimension

Questions that Haley is looking to answer as a US government representative include how to resolve the “possible military dimension” case, the documents and indications of the military dimension of the nuclear program of the Iranian regime, which was one of the serious conflicts during the nuclear negotiations.

Another aspect is the permission of IAEA inspectors for access to military centres, in particular the non-transparent site in Parchin, which was bungled by the Iranian regime sampling in a formal visit by Amano.

For several years, the IAEA insisted Iran must disclose all aspects of its atomic military program, including the reason for the presence of highly enriched uranium that can solely be used to make nuclear bombs.

This issue ultimately remained on hold, however, due to the appeasement policy of the Obama administration. Now, with Haley’s trip to Vienna, the case is going to be opened and it forces the Iranian regime to choose whether to accept the request or to reject it.

Nuclear inspectors

So far there is a sign of dismissing US demands for UN nuclear inspectors to visit Iran’s military bases. “Iran will never allow such visits. Don’t pay attention to such remarks that are only a dream,” said Iranian government spokesman Mohammad Bager Nobakht in a weekly news conference.

This path of rejection constitutes a violation of the JCOPA by the regime, which can lead to the annulment of the agreement. In this case, the previous UN Security Council resolutions are enforceable and Resolution 2231 places Iran susceptible to military action by the international community.

Agreeing with the White House request will cause a lot of trouble for the regime and all the secretive nuclear activities that have been shadowed by the appeasement policy will be exposed to the international community, leading to the same result. In this scenario, however, the Iranian regime can use the old tactic of buying time.

 Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif speaks at a press conference in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2017. (AP)

Policy shift

But since Barack Obama is no longer the US president, and there is a policy shift in the US administration toward Iran, such a tactic is not going to work anymore. It seems that in the face of serious economic and social crises with no solutions, time is not on the regime’s side.

“We need to confront possible future US action pledges by the violation of JCOPA at the expense of Iran. If they do so at our expense, it means that they will create a consensus in the international community against Iran,” said Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in a recent interview.

“A challenging autumn is ahead of JCPOA!” said an Iranian TV reporter on August 24th. It is far more than that. Following the enactment of heavy sanctions imposed against the Revolutionary Guards with the signature of US President Donald Tramp, it is inevitable that the JCPOA agreement is on the brink of collapse. This should not sound very encouraging for the rulers in Tehran.

Mahmoudi is a Kurdish-Iranian political and human rights activist.

Shocking: Price to be relieved of orphans, step-fathers can marry step-daughters

Considering that the new law ‘supporting’ children without caretakers or those with irresponsible caretakers have allowed single women to take custody of a girl, a footnote on article 27 of this law that has become very controversial, indicates the legalization of marriage of a caretaker with their adopted child, with the consent of a court.

Those opposing this law say such marriages will harm the children in the future. The marriage of step-fathers with their step-daughters was first proposed by the regime’s Welfare Department. There have been rumors indicating that the department is seeking to relieve itself of the defenseless children, even at the cost of the marriage of a caretaker who once was the children’s father or mother. Department officials have said they have to finalize the status of 22,000 children left without caretakers.

(State-run ‘Mardom-Salari’ daily – January 5, 2015)

New Light On Iran's Human Rights Violations

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres addressing UN delegates at the General Assembly December 12, 2016 at the United Nations in New York.

By Heshmat Alavi

Forbes, September 4, 2017 - Two of the major crises the international community is currently engaged with are terrorism and nuclear proliferation. Iran, in particular, is negatively involved in both fields, being known as the central banker of international terrorism, and suspicious for its own controversial nuclear program at home parallel to its nuclear/missile collaboration with North Korea.

As these subjects are of significant importance and deserve even more attributed attention, what must not go neglected is the fact that Iran is taking advantage of such circumstances to continue an equally important campaign of belligerence against its own people. The scope of human rights violations carried out by Tehran is continuously on the rise, with the ruling regime interpreting the mentioned international crises as windows of opportunity to extend its domestic crackdown.

And yet, a promising report issued from the United Nations has shed very necessary light on a specific dossier Iran has gone the limits throughout the past three decades to cloak. In 1988 the Iranian regime carried out an atrocious massacre sending tens of thousands of political prisoners to the gallows. Unfortunately, the world has until recently remained silent in this regard.

Twenty nine years after the atrocious carnage, Asma Jahangir, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, issued a report on September 2nd for the first time referring to the massacre of over 30,000 political prisoners, mostly members and supporters of the Iranian opposition People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK).

This document, coupled with a note by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and presented to the UN General Assembly, has for the first time specifically attributed a number of articles to the 1988 massacre. Thousands of men, women, and juveniles were sent to the gallows and buried in mass, unmarked graves, all according to a fatwa, or decree, issued by the deceased Iranian regime founder Ayatollah Khomeini.

Raising the stakes to a level Tehran has sought to avoid through the years, this damning UN report has called for an independent and thorough inquiry into these crimes to unearth the truth of the atrocities carried out in the summer of 1988.

Activists and the Iranian Diaspora have for 29 years focused their measures on presenting evidence of the killings. This has finally been acknowledged in this UN report.

“Between July and August 1988, thousands of political prisoners, men, women, and teenagers, were reportedly executed pursuant to a fatwa issued by the then Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khomeini. A three-man commission was reportedly created with a view to determining who should be executed. The bodies of the victims were reportedly buried in unmarked graves and their families never informed of their whereabouts. These events, known as the 1988 massacres, have never been officially acknowledged. In January 1989, the Special Representative of the Commission on Human Rights on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, Reynaldo Galindo Pohl, expressed concern over the “global denial” of the executions and called on Iranian authorities to conduct an investigation. Such an investigation has yet to be undertaken.”

The atrocities, of such grave nature, rendered a major rift amongst the regime’s leadership and highest authorities. The late Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri, then Khomeini’s designated successor, expressed his opposition to the killings and the massacre came back to haunt a presidential hopeful in the most recent such election held back in May.

“In August 2016, an audio recording of a meeting held in 1988 between high-level State officials and clerics was published. The recording revealed the names of the officials who had carried out and defended the executions, including the current Minister of Justice, a current high court judge, and the head of one of the largest religious foundations in the country and candidate in the May presidential elections. Following the publication of the audio recording, some clerical authorities and the chief of the judiciary admitted that the executions had taken place and, in some instances, defended them.”

The mentioned “head of one of the largest religious foundations” is none other than conservative cleric Ebrahim Raisi, said to be groomed by Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to replace the incumbent Hassan Rouhani as president. Khamenei, battling with cancer, sought this as a launching pad in Raisi’s rise to succeed him as the regime’s leadership.

However, a nationwide campaign led by the network of PMOI/MEK-associated activists inside Iran exposed Raisi’s past and raised immense emotions and opposition amongst the Iranian population. This development left Khamenei no choice but to place his blueprints aside and allow another term for Rouhani as his regime’s president.

The UN report also refers to Raisi’s candidacy in May’s election.

Mullah Ebrahim Raisi

“During the period of candidate registration, a total of 1,636 individuals, including 137 women, submitted their names as candidates for president. However, in April, the Guardian Council, a body of six clerics appointed by the Supreme Leader that oversees the electoral process and vets the candidates, announced that the candidatures of only six men (0.37 per cent of the applicants) had been approved. Among them was Ebrahim Raisi, who reportedly had served on a committee that had ordered the extrajudicial executions of thousands of political prisoners in 1988.”

The 1988 massacre victims’ families have throughout these years desperately sought to find the final resting places of their loved ones. All have been provided next to no information by the regime’s authorities and left to search and grieve amongst the dozens of mass graves sites checkered across the country.

“In March, families who visited a mass grave located in the city of Mashhad, Razavi Khorasan Province, where up to 170 political prisoners are believed to be buried, reportedly discovered that the previously flat area had been covered with soil to create a raised mound over the grave. In mid-May, bulldozers were reportedly seen working on a construction project directly alongside the mass grave site at Ahvaz, located on a barren piece of land 3 km east of Behesht Abad Cemetery, where the remains of at least 44 people killed during the summer of 1988 are believed to be located. The plan is reportedly to ultimately raze the concrete block marking the grave site and build a “green space” or commercial development over the site.”

Khavaran cemetery, Iran

After decades of endless efforts by Tehran to keep a lid on the 1988 massacre, this UN reports demands dignity for the victims and their families.

“Over the years, a high number of reports have been issued about the [1988] massacres. If the number of persons who disappeared and were executed can be disputed, overwhelming evidence shows that thousands of persons were summarily killed. Recently, these killings have been acknowledged by some at the highest levels of the State. The families of the victims have a right to know the truth about these events and the fate of their loved ones without risking reprisal. They have the right to a remedy, which includes the right to an effective investigation of the facts and public disclosure of the truth; and the right to reparation. The Special Rapporteur, therefore, calls on the Government to ensure that a thorough and independent investigation into these events is carried out.”

The Iranian regime has considered the international community turning its back on this crime against humanity as a green light to continue its rampage of domestic crackdown and human rights violations.

The so-called “moderate” Rouhani has a dismal report card of over 3,000 executions during his first tenure, over 100 executions in July and at least 55 such cases in the month of August, according to reports.

The regime also has no tolerance for even the slightest protest by political prisoners in its own jails. Nearly two dozen such inmates in Raja’i Shahr (Gohardasht) prison of Karaj, a town west of Tehran, are continuing their hunger strike for well over a month. They are protesting their illegal transfer to a section of the facility placed under 24/7 audio and visual surveillance, even in bathrooms and showers.

As Iran’s other bellicosities have rightfully raised international concerns in recent years, it is vital to understand that human rights violations are this regime’s chink in the armor.   No matter what their position, all ranks and files of the Iranian regime involved in the 1988 massacre must be held accountable in an international tribunal and face justice.