By Pooya Stone

Ahead of the 2018 #FreeIran2018 rally in Paris at the end of the month, the Washington Times published a report on Maryam Rajavi and the People’s Mujahedin Organisation of Iran (MEK). In the report, entitled “Iran: the Alternative”, the Washington Times outlined the situation in Iran and the escalating protests. It went on to argue that the National Council of the Resistance of Iran (NCRI) offers a democratic alternative to the mullahs’ rule.

On June 30th, 2018, more than 100,000 opponents of the Iranian regime will meet in Paris. Among their ranks will be senior political figures from Europe, Australia, and North America.

Iran Focus

London, 26 Jun - The steep drop in the value of the rial led to massive protests in Tehran on Sunday and Monday. Protesters took to the streets, shutting down many shops in Tehran’s Grand Bazaar, to bring attention to the country’s failing economy.

The value of the rial has plummeted over the past year, and it has been in a free fall since last week. A U.S. dollar was being offered for as much as 87,000 rials on Sunday, compared to 75,500 last Thursday.

Iran Focus

London, 25 Jun - It is thought that US-Iraqi relations will be damaged with the new pro-Iran Shiite-dominated government in Iraq.

When the new coalition was announced, many questioned if democracy would follow in the country. The coalition that Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has managed to form includes Hadi al-Ameri’s Fatah (Conquest) alliance. He is a Shiite extremist that also leads the Badr organization that has strong ties with Iran. During the Iran-Iraq war in the eighties, it has taken Iran’s side.

By Jubin Katiraie

Calls for a major change in Iran are growing stronger by the day, as the Iranian uprising continues into its seventh month and the Iranian Resistance prepares for their Free Iran gathering in Paris on June 30.

But many in the international community worry that removing Iran from power without a solid opposition that can take over, will actually cause more problems. We’ve all seen the chaos that can emerge when a dictatorship is overthrown and there is no one to fill the void.

Iran Focus

London, 23 Jun - When considering major bills like the proposal to join the UN Convention Against Transnational Organized Crimes (UNTOC), the legislative body will take into account Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s “full directives”, according to the speaker of Iran’s parliament, Ali Larijani.

The Supreme Leader has voiced his disapproval of this bill. He called the bill “unacceptable” June 20, saying the UNTOC, a measure meant to fight money laundering and terrorism funding, had been “cooked up” by foreign powers, and that the parliament should shelve it.

Iran Focus

London, 23 Jun - People with knowledge of the matter say that going beyond the reductions that were demanded when sanctions were imposed earlier this decade, the U.S. has now asked Japan to completely halt oil imports from Iran. But, during talks with Japanese counterparts in Tokyo earlier in the week, no decision was reached. Asking that not to be identified because the matter is confidential, they revealed that discussions will continue later.

After his decision to renew sanction against Iran, U.S. President Trump’s administration gave allies 180 days to reduce purchases from the OPEC producer.

Iran Focus

London, 23 Jun - Last month, US President announced that he would be pulling the United States out of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). He also said that the sanctions that were lifted as a result of the nuclear deal will be reapplied and that fresh ones would be issued. We do not know the full details of the sanctions yet, but it is expected that we will hear soon, as the deadlines approach.

Iran pretends to be rather unconcerned about the sanctions. Iran is used to sanctions and had lived with them for so long that it has been able to find work-arounds. Several Iranian officials have recently said that the sanctions will be little more than an inconvenience.

Iran Focus

London, 22 Jun - According to senior French sources, the European signatories of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal have been primarily focused on “avoiding a military confrontation,” after the US exit from the pact.

Inside Iran, some “want and seek” this confrontation, they say, but Germany, Britain and France, in cooperation with Russia and China, want to avoid reaching the “point of no return.”

The sources also blame Tehran for failing to take advantage of the nuclear deal. Instead of normalizing its ties with regional countries, it forged an aggressive regional policy and developed its ballistic missile program.

By Jubin Katiraie

The People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) have responded to a Bloomberg News Reza Pahlavi, the son of an Iranian dictator that was overthrown by the Iranian people, in which he told numerous lies about the MEK and displayed his hatred for democracy.

Shahin Gobadi, the spokesman for the MEK, wrote that the Iranian people’s continued fight for democracy has been pushed back by two dictatorships: the monarchy, to which Pahlavi belonged, and the current theocracy. There may be striking differences between the two, but both groups are united on a hostility towards democracy and a violent crackdown on those who advocated for it.

Iran Focus

London, 22 Jun - An Iranian defence lawyer has been arrested by the mullahs’ regime after claiming that her client, who was executed on Monday for the murder of three police officers, was innocent.

Zeinab Taheri was arrested at on Tuesday, according to human rights activist Heshmat Alavi, for allegedly making “false statements” and increasing online debate about the innocence of Mohammad Reza Salas.

A Twitter account bearing Taheri’s name tweeted on Monday that evidence of Salas’ innocence would soon be revealed, but there are questions about who was actually tweeting as they continued to tweet about Salas’ case even after Taheri was in custody and retracted the decision to go public about the case because of requests from Salas’ family.

Iran Focus

London, 21 Jun - After meeting Jordan’s King Abdullah in Amman on Thursday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said European countries shared concerns over Iran’s ballistic missile program and called for solutions to its “aggressive tendencies” in the Middle East. The German Chancellor said, “Iran’s aggressive tendencies must not only be discussed, but rather we need solutions urgently.”

She also announced 384 million euros ($445 million USD) of aid to Jordan this year.

Iran Focus

London, 21 Jun - The CEO of French energy giant Total said on Wednesday that no big oil company can risk doing business with Iran under reimposed US sanctions.

Although Total has yet to permanently pull out of Iran, where it planned to develop a section of the world's largest natural gas field, CEO Patrick Pouyanne was pessimistic about his company's future in the country. The company is prepared to abandon this project unless they can obtain a sanctions waiver, which doesn’t seem likely.

Iran Focus

London, 21 Jun - The new US ambassador to Germany has requested that the German government block Iran’s Mahan Air from flying in German airspace and landing in Germany because the airline provides material support for terrorism.

In a meeting with a senior delegation from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) last week, Ambassador Richard Grenell said: “I have asked the German government to support our efforts to stop an airline called Mahan Air from utilizing German airspace and airports. We know that Mahan Air has been used by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps [IRGC] as a mode of transport for weapons, resources and fighters, so we’re asking our allies to help us put a stop to it.”

Iran Focus

London, 20 Jun - There have been three main players in the war in Syria – Iran, Russia and China. Iran and China’s goals of reaching the Mediterranean have all but disappeared. Russia is now in the process of planning the next reconstruction phase for Syria and there are reports that it is costing up to $500 billion.

China has been awaiting the outcome of the civil war in Syria but it knows that no other country will be able to put up the huge amount of funds required to rebuild the country. It is a given that it will receive substantial projects.

Iran Focus

London, 20 Jun - The Arab coalition, allied with the Yemeni army, are moving ever closer to the city of Hodeidah, a strategic place in the military action to take Yemen back from the Houthis.

Indeed, it is one of the three most important ways that the coalition can drive the Houthis out of Yemen, along with expelling them from the Saudi borders, getting them out of the central governorates.

But why is it so important? Well, the Hodeidah Port is the main naval entrance to North Yemen, which means that a lot of food and other goods go through the port. The Houthis have used this to their advantage, by seizing goods in order to starve or disenfranchise areas that didn’t support them, smuggling weapons from Iran, and threatening international navigation.

Iran Focus

London, 20 Jun - Last month, US President Donald Trump announced that the United States was withdrawing from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), or the Iran nuclear deal, that was agreed in 2015. Iran was supposed to curb its nuclear program and the crippling economic sanctions that were in place were lifted.

However, Trump was not satisfied that the nuclear threat has been curbed and he listed a number of belligerent acts that Iran is involved with as his justification for exiting the deal.