Iran’s Regime to Pay Workers Under 20 Only 70% of Actual Wages
Iranian workers are under unprecedented pressure. Under the tyrannical rule of the mullahs, Iran’s workers are not only suffering from low wages, lack of job security and social and health insurance, but they’re also deprived of the most basic rights that every worker in the world should enjoy. The increasing downturn in Iran’s economy has led to an ever-growing economic and social crisis manifested in unprecedented rates of unemployment, poverty, and inequality.
The Secretary of the “National Workers’ Associations (ICEA)” criticized proposals such as “paying 70 percent of the wages to workers under 20 years old to solve unemployment,” saying that such proposals are not “effective.”
The regime’s Majlis Research Center presented recommendations in a report for the “solution to the unemployment problem” in the Seventh Development Program, one of which suggests that, in order to reduce the youth unemployment rate, the minimum wage specifically for individuals under 20 years old and without insurance history should be reduced to 70 percent of the approved minimum wage.
Currently, the minimum wage for workers covered by the labor law, who are married and have a child, is about 80 million rials (approximately $155) per month. However, according to reports published in the official news agencies, hundreds of thousands of workers employed in small workshops, known as “Under the stairs,” who are not covered by labor laws, are deprived of receiving this wage.
Hadi Abavee, the Secretary of ICEA, responded to this proposal by saying to the state-run Tasnim News Agency: “This proposal, in a different way (employment of students through internship programs and similar initiatives), has been pursued years ago and has not yielded results. However, in conditions where workers do not engage in work due to low wages, the implementation of such proposals is not effective.”
He pointed out: “Due to reasons such as low wages, workers are not willing to work. Employers have repeatedly requested workers, but workers do not accept.”
Hadi Abavee emphasized that “the livelihood of workers must be seen as real” and added: “The reality of society is that the cost of workers’ livelihood is much higher than their income. Since such income is not seen for a worker in a job, the worker is forced to constantly seek a job that has better income. Therefore, the implementation of such proposals is not effective.”
The approved minimum wage for workers is 43 million rials (approximately $83), and with the calculation of other benefits, it reaches about 80 million rials for a married worker with one child, which logically, for the target of this plan, which is workers under 20 years old, considering the wages, 70 percent of the amount will be close to that 43 million rials.
Such plans will not even accomplish the goals that the government institutions seek to achieve. Because an unemployed person would prefer to engage in other jobs, such as transportation services, ridesharing, and even working in underground jobs, as they can possibly earn higher income.
For over three decades, after the enactment of the labor law, the regime has always tried to continuously violate the rights of workers by enacting new provisions or amending some of the provisions of the law or approving regulations.
These acts are justified by the regime as efforts to solve the problems of workers or other sectors of society, however in fact, it is nothing but the expansion and deepening of investment, looting, and further exploitation of workers and the community’s resources.
On the surface, actions are announced to reduce unemployment, control inflation, equalize laws, and similar matters, but in reality, the regime only aimed at seeking more profit, ruthless exploitation of workers, and deepening the slave-like relationships against the entire working class in Iran.
These conditions have effectively reduced the status of Iranian workers to that of ancient slaves, being deprived of all the rights that have been gained during the last hundred years through the suffering and struggle of Iranian workers. They have no right to organize movements; no job security or even minimum safety standards in factories and workshops; no right to protest; and the regime’s response to every protest and strike is imprisonment and torture, or at least dismissal from work.
Powdered Milk Shortage Critical in Iran
Several years after the diaper shortage crisis, Hani Tahvilzadeh, the head of the Iranian Association of Powdered Milk and Baby Food Producers announced to the state-run media that the production of powdered milk in the country is also facing problems due to “lack of currency allocation” to the producers.
In an interview with the semi-official ILNA news agency and Radio Tehran, Tahvilzadeh accused Ebrahim Raisi’s administration of “transferring the production of powdered milk to a factory in Turkey” to meet the demand for powdered milk in Iran.
Regime’s officials have not yet responded to Tahvilzadeh’s claim.
He stated that the current crisis is occurring despite Iran never having faced a problem with powdered milk production, and that Iran has even been an exporter of this product in the past.
However, Tahvilzadeh explained that the problem of not allocating currency to powdered milk producers in Iran has intensified since last year, causing the production capacity of powdered milk in Iran to decrease from “10 million units per month to 5million units”.
He announced the closure of powdered milk production units due to “adopting this approach” and stated that currently, companies such as “Niksan Salamat Behbood” and “Pegah Shahrekord” are not producing, and “Behdashtkar” company only has enough raw materials for one month of production.
The head of the Association of Powdered Milk Producers continued by saying that if Iranian producers were allocated currency and were able to receive raw materials for production, a gradual increase in supply would be possible.
Tahvilzadeh told Radio Tehran that domestic production companies had repeatedly warned the government about this issue in the past, but Ebrahim Raisi’s administration did not pay attention to these warnings.
The budget for “Population Youthfulness” is 11 times greater than the subsidies for powdered milk and medicine, more than five times the emergency essential credits, and about twice the budget of the Red Crescent.
The regime’s officials have made contradictory statements regarding the reasons for the powdered milk crisis and how to solve it.
According to ILNA, Tahvilzadeh also did not confirm recent statements by Parvin Salehi, a member of the Health and Treatment Committee of the Majlis (Parliament), who had announced the end of shortages in powdered milk “in the next forty days”.
On October 24, Heydar Mohammadi, the head of the Food and Drug Organizationaffiliated with the Ministry of Health, claimed in an interview with the ILNA news agency that “there is currently no particular problem with powdered milk.”
Mohammadi claimed, “The current discussion regarding powdered milk is related to certain specific brands whose demand has exceeded their production. If the production of these specific brands reaches the number we have in mind, which is five million units per month, the problem will be solved.”
However, Rouhollah Hossein-Zadeh, the head of the Special Court for Combating Narcotics, announced that powdered milk in pharmacies is subject to rationing, but such restrictions do not apply for addictive substances such as methadone.
Mousa Abbaszadeh Mahmoudi, the Director-General of Governmental Discretionary Punishments Organization in Sistan and Baluchestan, also stated on October 30 that “smuggling of powdered milk has become prevalent in this province over the past three years.”
The shortage of powdered milk in Iran occurs while the officials encourage Iranian families to have more children.
During Hassan Rouhani’s government, the shortage of newborn diapers in Iran also became a crisis, and Ali Khamenei, the regime’s Supreme Leader, reacted to this crisis as well.
Khamenei claimed that the diaper shortage crisis in Iran was a “sabotage” by the opponents, and “the enemy wants to make the people angry with the government apparatus and the ruling system.”
Annual Inflation In 9 Iranian Provinces Above 50%
The latest report from the Statistical Center of Iran indicates that in October, 21 provinces of Iran had an inflation rate exceeding 45 percent, and among these provinces, the inflation rate in nineprovinces exceeded 50 percent.
According to the report, the “annual inflation rate of the country in October 2023” is reported to be 45.5 percent, and it is stated that the “inflationary gap of the decades,” which was 1.2 percent in the month of September, increased to 1.9 percent in October with a 0.7 percent increase.
Simultaneously, the report also mentions a table of the annual inflation rates in October by province, which shows that out of the 31 provinces of Iran, the annual inflation rate in 21 provinces is higher than the announced inflation rate for the whole country, which stands at 45.5 percent.
Among these 21 provinces, in 9 provinces including Yazd, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, Kurdistan, Lorestan, Isfahan, East Azerbaijan, Kermanshah, North Khorasan, and Hamadan, the annual inflation rate in October was over 50 percent.
Yazd province had the highest inflation rate among the provinces with an annual inflation rate of 56.5 percent in October, followed by Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province with a 53.1 percent inflation rate, and Kurdistan province with a 51.9 percent inflation rate, ranking next in terms of the “highest annual inflation rate.”
The report from the Statistical Center also states that the “annual inflation rate” during October in 11 provinces, including Alborz, Markazi, South Khorasan, West Azerbaijan, Sistan and Baluchestan, Ilam, Qom, Razavi Khorasan, Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad, Qazvin, Hormozgan, and Golestan, ranged from 45.7 to 49.6 percent.
Thus, the “annual inflation rate” during October, according to the report from the Statistical Center of Iran, is only less than 45.5 percent in 10 provinces of Iran, including Zanjan, Ardabil, Gilan, Kerman, Fars, Mazandaran, Semnan, Khuzestan, Bushehr, and Tehran.
Despite the claims of the officials, including the regime’s president Ebrahim Raisi, regarding the reduction of the inflation rate, the report from the Statistical Center of Iran shows that the “annual inflation rate” during October was not less than 40 percent in any of the provinces of Iran.
Even Tehran province, which is recognized as having the lowest annual inflation rate among the 31 provinces, had an inflation rate of 40.7 percent in October.
Ali Khamenei, the regime’s Supreme Leader, named this year the “year of controlling inflation and promoting production” in his message on the occasion of the Iranian New Year (March 21, 2023).
Following this naming, the officials, as well as the regime’s Majlis (Parliament), promised to control the inflation rate and made access to real economic statistics and indicators in Iran more difficult. This is happening while according to economic experts, the official reports from the government on economic indicators have become more unreliable than ever before.
Meanwhile, the regime’s Statistical Center has announced that the year-on-year inflation rate for residential apartments in Tehran has exceeded 75 percent in September of this year.
The Statistical Center of Iran, which has refrained from providing statistics on the housing sector and other economic sectors of Iran for the past eight months, announced in a report on October 21 that the year-on-year inflation rate for residential apartments in Tehran in September of this year was over 75 percent.
According to the report, the weighted average price per square meter of residential apartments in Tehran was over 850 million rials (approximately $1,646) in June of this year, indicating a 122 percent year-on-year inflation compared to June of last year.
On September 20, the state-run Donya-ye-Eghtesad newspaper wrote in an analysis of the housing market that the real estate market in Tehran has been heavily influenced by the “upward outlook of general inflation” and “inflationary expectations” in society from late last year to mid-spring.
The newspaper had previously reported the result of creating an inflationary atmosphere in the housing market at the end of Persian calendar year 1401 (2022-2023) and the beginning of 1402 (March 2023), which led to further price increases in housing in Tehran and other major cities in the country.
The regime’s Tasnim News also covered the housing market developments on April 25, stating that housing prices in Tehran have increased by about 2,500 percent over the past 12 years.
Ebrahim Raisi had promised during the election campaign that he would build one million housing units per year.
An examination of the developments in the housing market and a review of the reports indicate that not only has no housing been delivered in the past two years, but prices have also more than doubled, with the price per square meter in Tehran now exceeding 800 million rials (approximately $1,549).
Parliament Research: Mismanagement Is Main Cause of Iran’s Water Crisis
The United Nations’ index on water conditions indicates that Iran is facing a severe water crisis, and the central plateau of Iran is experiencing absolute water scarcity. Government officials attribute the current conditions to factors such as low precipitation in recent years or high consumption, but the regime’s Majlis (parliament) Research Center has emphasized that mismanagement has played a significant role in this situation.
The Majlis Research Center has also stated that if the goal is self-sufficiency in producing the necessary food products for Iran’s population, the current pattern does not have sufficient water resources to support it.
According to a report by the state-run Tejarat News website, normal precipitation this autumn does not signify the end of drought and water crisis in Iran. The dams’ capacity remains below 50 percent, and many regions in Iran are facing severe water scarcity.
“Tajarat News” emphasized that with excessive water withdrawals, underground water resources have also been depleted, and land subsidence in some areas confirms this fact.
The Majlis Research Center stated in a report that the water crisis in Iran is not solely caused by climate change. In other words, mismanagement and lack of planning in the water sector are also contributing factors in this crisis.
Studies show that human factors, including increased water consumption, economic and livelihood dependence on water, import and export situations, cultivated area, population growth, and food security, have a greater impact on increased consumption and water scarcity than natural factors caused by decreased rainfall.
Referring to the “Falkenmark Water Stress Indicator,” it is evident that Iran is in a critical situation, which signifies inadequate water security and will affect food and social security.
Reports indicate that among the country’s primary basins, the central plateau and the Qareh-Qum basin have the worst absolute water scarcity.
Another index mentioned by the Majlis research center is the United Nations index, which does not portray a favorable picture of water security in Iran.
According to the Majlis Research Center’s report, achieving agricultural self-sufficiency based on limited water resources has been a misguided approach.
Agricultural self-sufficiency has been the dominant policy of the government in recent decades, and this approach has led to the depletion of water resources, especially underground water, and has threatened the country’s water security.
Continuing food production policies in the country without considering the risks of further depletion of underground water resources will lead to instability in various parts of Iran’s central plateau. Water scarcity and increased land subsidence will leave no option but widespread migration of people from desert areas.
Due to high water consumption in the agricultural sector and the lack of plans to control floods in plains, a considerable portion of predicted rainfall in the coming months will go to waste.
As mentioned in the report by the Parliament Research Center, the most critical factors contributing to the water crisis in Iran are the lack of rational governance and improper management.
The absence of a comprehensive plan for water management and a lack of appropriate focus on sustainable development can put Iran in an even more dangerous situation in the near future.
While various factors can be cited for the water crisis, one of the main causes attributed to the water crisis in Iran is reckless dam construction. Constructing a dam in any country requires extensive research, and countries are usually cautious and strict in dam construction. For example, from the end of the Iran-Iraq war in 1988 until 2019, Iran had over 172 operational dams, 672 dams under construction, 120 dams under study, while during the same period in France, only five large dams were built. Most of these dam constructions are carried out by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
The IRGC justifies its reckless dam constructions by citing the need for supplying the country’s electricity demand. However, our country is located in a dry and semi-arid region of the world and has abundant oil and gas resources, which make it less dependent on hydroelectric power generation. Currently, only 10 percent of the country’s electricity is provided by dams.
The Revolutionary Guards consider supplying drinking water and agricultural water as an excuse for their dam constructions, but the dams built by the IRGC only provide about 10 percent of the water consumed by agricultural lands. Meanwhile, 40 percent of the country’s drinking water is wasted annually, and in the agricultural sector, 30 percent of water is lost annually. The total annual loss from these two sectors amounts to more than 40 billion cubic meters of water, approximately one-third of the country’s water consumption.
One of the factors that has prompted the Revolutionary Guards to engage in reckless dam construction projects is the transfer of water from rivers to dry and central areas of the country for the purposes of nuclear and profitable economic projects such as steel. Additionally, since these projects receive financial support from the government, they bring significant profits to the IRGC.
These exploitative policies will render most areas of Iran uninhabitable in the next 40 years.
UN Special Rapporteur Expresses Concern About Human Rights Conditions in Iran
UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran Javaid Rehman has expressed concern about “broader human rights issues” and the “worsening situation” of individuals attempting to exercise their civil rights in Iran.
In his report to the United Nations General Assembly on October 25, Rehman highlighted the high number of arrests, executions, and arbitrary killings carried out by the Iranian regime, targeting lawyers, human rights defenders, and anyone using their right to freedom of expression.
He expressed concern about the situation of women’s rights in Iran, stating that individuals protesting against mandatory hijab have been arrested and sentenced to long imprisonments, regardless of their gender.
Rehman also stated that Iranian women and girls face gender apartheid and systematic discrimination, while ethnic minorities face discrimination, persecution, and harassment, as they are excluded from all platforms of dialogue or democratic reforms.
Referring to the problems with the Iranian regime’s Constitution, the UN Special Rapporteur stated that these laws are subject to politically engineered standards or the application of state ideology.
He further stated that this situation has led to “widespread mistrust and extensive public protests” in Iran, and the regime responds to peaceful protests in Iran with injuries, killings, arrests, torture, and executions.
Javaid Rehman also mentioned the increase in executions in Iran, with 419 citizens executed this year, stating that as long as fundamental freedoms are not guaranteed by law, the pattern of human rights violations will not change.
Since the summer of 2018, Javaid Rehman has been appointed as the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran and has repeatedly highlighted widespread human rights violations by the regime in his reports. The Iranian regime has consistently described his reports as politically biased and denied all the issues he raised.
The killing of Mahsa Amini by the Morality Police in 2022 sparked a wave of nationwide protests in Iran that called for the overthrow of the regime. This nationwide uprising, centered around women in Iran, also received widespread and unprecedented support from the international community. The Iranian regime responded to this movement with violent suppression of any gathering and demonstrations, and according to reports, over 750 protesters were killed and 30,000 were arrested.
Armita Garavand Passes Away After a Month of Being in a Coma
Iran’s state-run media announced on Saturday that Armita Garavand, a teenage girl who was transferred to the hospital in a comatose state after losing consciousness in the Tehran metro, has passed away.
The official news agency IRNA wrote on October 28 that this 16-year-old schoolgirl “passed away after the failure of extensive medical treatments and 28 days of being in the intensive care unit.”
The news agency further stated, “The brain injury suffered by the victim caused her to spend some time in a coma and she passed away a few minutes ago.”
Other news agencies close to the government, including Tasnim, Fars, and Donya-e-Eqtesad, have also published the same report as their own news.
Armita Garavand, 16 years old, became unconscious on October 1st in Tehran’s Shohada metro station after entering a subway car, and later it was reported that she had fallen into a state of coma.
A video released by the Tehran Subway company shows that shortly after Armita Garavand entered the subway car, she was transferred outside by several individuals while she was unconscious. However, news circulating on social media suggests that security agents pushed her because she was not wearing a hijab, resulting in her head hitting a metal bar and becoming unconscious. After the incident, she was transferred to Tehran’s Fajr Hospital under severe security measures, and no one was allowed to approach her.
The regime’s officials attributed her loss of consciousness after entering the subway car to “a drop in blood pressure,” but human rights sources had raised the possibility of a similar incident to the encounter between the Morality Police and Mahsa Amini.
Immediately after the incident was reported, a journalist who had gone to investigate the matter was detained for several hours, and afterward, state security forces isolated Armita Garavand’s family and blocked all avenues for journalists and reporters inside the country.
Such actions by the government, have raised concerns that the authorities, due to the similarity of Armita’s situation to that of Mahsa Amini, are worried about the emergence of another protest in the country, especially since this new event occurred less than a month after the anniversary of protests that erupted after Amini’s death.
It is said that several non-governmental media outlets in Iran have been “prohibited” from following up on Armita Garavand’s situation and publishing reports about her.
Prior to this, news agencies had announced that this teenage girl had not undergone any surgical procedures since the first day due to her critical condition.
Last week, some Iranian media outlets, without citing the source of the news, claimed with certainty the “brain death” of Armita Garavand.
Last Monday, following the publication of this news, two sources close to Armita Garavand’s family, denied reports of her “brain death” quoting medical sources at Fajr Hospital in Tehran which means that they are banned from discussing Armita’s situation.
The IRNA news agency wrote on Saturday that “according to the official theory of the doctors, Armita Garavand has suffered a sudden drop in blood pressure, resulting in a fall, a blow to the head, followed by continuous seizures, reduced cerebral oxygenation, and cerebral edema.”
Earlier, Amnesty International issued a statement that the regime’s authorities should allow an independent international delegation, including UN experts, to investigate the circumstances that led to the hospitalization of Armita Garavand. Tehran has left this request unanswered.
Regime Change in Iran: A Prerequisite for Peace and Stability in the Middle East
In recent days, the world has witnessed events that unfolded in Gaza, leaving everyone shocked at the sight of the massacre of innocent people. There is no doubt that the Iranian regime supports terrorist groups in the region, but when it comes to addressing the destructive role of the Iranian regime, all parties hesitate and express doubt. The reason for this hesitation is not the lack of awareness of the Iranian regime’s detrimental activities in the region, but rather the prevailing policy of indecisiveness and appeasement towards it.
There is no doubt the the Iranian regime actively fans the fires of war in the region, including the most recent episode that we’re seeing today. Khamenei and his Revolutionary Guards take advantage of the devastating war in the Middle East to escape the regime’s overdue overthrow.
Last year, during these very days, a major uprising took place in more than 280 cities across Iran. The regime’s security forces killed at least 750 people, injured many, and arrested 30,000 individuals.
According to regime officials, during this uprising, 5,000 members of the Revolutionary Guards were wounded, and around 200 of them were killed. Thus, the regime realized that it was on the verge of collapse.
In the face of the regime’s brutal repression, the people of Iran continued their protests, posing a serious threat to the religious tyranny ruling over Iran. In these circumstances, the Iranian regime must take action to escape overthrow and future uprisings. Terrorism sponsorship and destabilizing the Middle East and beyond have been key elements in the Iranian regime’s playbook to ensure its survival and control over the country. Senior regime officials have admitted that if the regime does not fight in Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Palestine, and Lebanon, it would have to fight for its survival in Tehran.
The Iranian regime’s Foreign Minister, in his latest remarks on national television on October 16, stated, “If today we do not defend Gaza, tomorrow we will have to defend against these bombs in our own cities.”
This is the policy that the Iranian regime has pursued for years. The regime’s atomic bomb project, which was revealed by the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), awakened the world to the existence of such a project. The regime’s ballistic missiles now have the range to reach European capitals. IED bombs in Iraq and the regime’s interference in that country have resulted in the loss of thousands of lives. The regime’s interventions in Yemen and Syria, the massacre of people, the hostage-taking of foreign nationals in Iranian prisons, and its interference in Lebanon through Hezbollah are just a fraction of this regime’s policies.
And we have not forgotten that Iranian-made drones kill innocent Ukrainian people every day.
However, the international community has largely remained indifferent to this regime. It cannot be said that international sanctions have been ineffective in restraining this regime, but it can certainly be said that these sanctions have only slowed down the regime’s pace in sponsoring terrorism and have failed to target the heart of the issue.
Just recently, the United States released $6 billion of seized Iranian regime assets in exchange for the release of five of its hostages. If you think that this money will be spent on the Iranian people, you are greatly mistaken. Therefore, the prevailing policy of the West towards the Iranian regime has been appeasement and rapprochement.
This misguided policy allows the Iranian regime to continue its interventions in the region and further suppress its own people. When it comes to dealing with the mullahs, appeasement only sends a signal of weakness and emboldens the regime to further expand its provocative actions.
As Winston Churchill once said: “An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.”
If you look for the greatest enemy of the Iranian regime, you will find it among the people and their resistance movement. This is what the regime fears more than a military attack. In 1988, the regime executed 30,000 members and supporters of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), its principal opposition. But the MEK survived and continued to thrive in the following decades. In the past year alone, the supporters of the MEK inside Iran carried out more than 3,000 anti-regime activities across the country and proved once more that the Iranian Resistance is the true alternative to the mullahs’ regime.
Regime change in Iran is the prerequisite for peace, security, and stability for the hundreds of millions of people living in the Middle East. Unfortunately, as long as the West’s policy of appeasement towards the Iranian government persists, peace and stability in the region will not be achievable.
Fortunately, regime change does not require a foreign conflict or an outside invasion. There is already great potential for it inside Iran. Over the past year, the people of Iran have taken to the streets once again, rejecting all forms of dictatorship, whether monarchy or religious rule. The people of Iran demand a regime change and the establishment of a democratic republic based on the separation of religion and state.
Unfortunately, pursuing the wrong policies towards the Iranian regime comes at the cost of losing thousands of lives in the region and Iran itself. Western governments are well aware of the destructive role of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its proxies in the region, their involvement in terrorism and warmongering abroad, as well as their suppression at home.
The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) has long stated that the religious and terrorist dictatorship ruling Iran is the epicenter of tension and the exporter of terrorism and fundamentalism in this region of the world. Today, everyone can see this reality.
Any anti-terrorism policy pursued by Western governments that does not target the source of terrorism in Tehran will ultimately have no effect and will only buy time for the mullahs ruling Iran.
However, the solution does not lie in foreign military intervention. The mistakes made by the United States in its invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq make this option highly risky and ineffective, and it may even advance the sinister goals of the Iranian regime in the region.
Mr. Masoud Rajavi, the leader of the Iranian Resistance, said thirty years ago that the head of the snake in Tehran should be the target, and this can only be achieved with support for the opposition.
On October 24, in her message to a conference in the British Parliament, Mrs. Maryam Rajavi said:
“Unfortunately, the western governments have ignored three decades of warning and revelations of the Iranian Resistance about the regime’s warmongering, particularly the role of the IRGC and the terrorist Quds Force and its proxies.
“Since two decades ago, we have insisted that the IRGC must be designated as a terrorist entity. Any delay in this regard will enable the IRGC to increase its influence, pursue its nuclear projects using European facilities, export terrorism and warmongering, and have access to equipment used for suppression in Iran. Therefore,
“First, it is time for the UK parliament to ask its government to designate the IRGC as a terrorist group as soon as possible.
“Second, it should recognize the Iranian people’s struggle to overthrow the regime and the legitimate fight of Iranian youths against the IRGC.
“In recent days, the regime has been warned to stay away from the conflict. These warnings are ineffective. The regime must be held accountable for stoking the war.
“To put out the fire, the world must stand against the party that fuels the fire. Otherwise, the regime will restart the war in another place and in another way. Any form of killing of innocent civilians provides fuel to religious fascism in Iran. It gives them a shield and cover to contain the uprising and avoid being toppled.”
The solution is solely in the hands of the people and their resistance.
Iranian Authorities Destroy Graves of Political Prisoners Executed in the 1980s
Security forces have reportedly demolished a section of the Behesht-e Reza Cemetery in the city of Mashhad, Iran, which was the burial site of political prisoners executed in the 1980s. According to social media reports, the recent demolitions in Mashhad began in early September and have continued since then.
While the policy of destroying the burial sites of executed political prisoners in the Behesht Reza Cemetery and Salam Hill in Mashhad has been in place since 2016, recent days have witnessed an intensification of these actions.
Similar inhuman actions have also been carried out in the cities of Ahvaz, Tabriz, and Babol. In Ahvaz, it is reported that mass graves containing the remains of 44 political prisoners, buried in a piece of remote land, three kilometers east of Behesht Abad Cemetery, were destroyed, and construction work was carried out there to eradicate the evidence of crimes.
According to the report, during excavation work in the outskirts of Phase 2 of Padadshahr and Bonakdar Boulevard, several bodies were discovered in a mass grave covered with cement. The security forces eventually covered the grave with dirt and continued the street widening project to conceal these graves.
In the past, more than 75 graves of the executed prisoners from 1980s, particularly from the year 1988, in the Vadi Rahmat Cemetery of Tabriz, were destroyed.
In the city of Babol, numerous graves of executed political prisoners from the 1980s, especially in 1988, which were buried in the Baha’i Cemetery and Jewish Cemetery, were also destroyed by agents of the Ministry of Intelligence and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
A large housing project of multistory buildings was constructed on some of these execution graves, and all of the residential units were allocated to the agents of the IRGC and the police.
May 6, 2021, Amnesty International said in its account: “In recent years, Iranian authorities have repeatedly engaged in the destruction of mass graves of the victims of the 1967 massacre. These actions are criminal in nature and are carried out with the aim of eradicating evidence and traces of crimes against humanity. They also deprive the families of the victims and the society of accessing truth and justice. #Khavaran_Historical_Memory” Over the past decades, the Iranian regime has repeatedly attempted to erase the evidence of its crimes in the Khavaran Cemetery and other cemeteries across the country using various methods. Last year, the regime tried to restrict access to the families of the victims of the 1988 massacre, especially the families of the victims of the summer 1988 massacre, by digging up the Khavaran Cemetery, installing security cameras, and building concrete walls. The alteration of the Khavaran Cemetery’s structure through the creation of new graves is a common method employed by the government to destroy evidence of their own crimes. This tactic is used as a means of eradicating the traces of past atrocities. Thousands of political prisoners, especially during the 1980s, particularly during the summer of 1988, were executed due to their affiliation with groups and organizations such as the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) or their support for these groups. The executions of the summer of 1988 were carried out by a committee with the fatwa and approval of Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic, who appointed its members. Ebrahim Raisi, the current President of the Iranian regime, was also a member of the committee responsible for the summer 1988 massacre.1) مقامات ایران طی سالیان گذشته بارها اقدام به نابودی گورهای جمعی قربانیان #کشتار67 کردهاند. این اقدامات مجرمانه هستند و با هدف حذف شواهد و آثار جنایات علیه بشریت و محروم کردن خانوادههای قربانیان و جامعه از دستیابی به حقیقت و عدالت صورت میگیرند. #خاوران_حافظه_تاریخی pic.twitter.com/Xht16WlWxB
— Amnesty Iran (@AmnestyIran) May 6, 2021
Iran: Oil Sale Goals Not Achieved, Official Says
During the first seven months of the current Persian calendar year (March 21-October 23), only “approximately 70 percent” of the government’s projected revenues had been realized, according to Davoud Manzour, the head of the Iranian Planning and Budget Organization, who spoke at a press conference on October 23. This indicates a significant budget deficit.
This government official also stated that the government has failed to achieve the goal of “daily oil exports of 1.5 million barrels.”
The head of the Planning and Budget Organization, in an explanation of the reasons for the “non-realization” of the projected budget for the current year, rejected the statements of senior government officials regarding Iran’s oil exports surpassing 1.8 million barrels per day and stated that the volume of oil exports “falls short of what was predicted in the budget law.”
According to Davoud Manzour, the reason for the non-realization of 30 percent of the projected resources and revenues for the current year is that the oil revenues in the budget law were overestimated.
He mentioned that the budget law had predicted oil revenues of 6,200 trillion rials (approximately $12.156 billion) and added, “It was assumed that we could sell oil at $80 per barrel and export 1.5 million barrels per day,” but these figures were determined with an “overestimation.”
The head of the Planning and Budget Organization stated that practically, “for most months of the current year, the selling price of oil has been less than $80” and that the “daily oil exports” have been less than 1.5 million barrels, especially considering the domestic market’s demand, particularly during the summer when there was an increase in the consumption of oil products. As a result, the projected oil revenues specified in the budget law were not realized.
Davoud Manzour also highlighted another item determined in the budget law that has not been realized after seven months of the year, which is the “revenue from asset divestitures and asset generation” that was set at 1,040 trillion rials (approximately $2.309 billion). He stated that the revenue achieved from divestitures and asset generation in the first seven months of the current year is “less than 100 trillion rials” out of the projected 1,040 trillion rials.
According to the head of the Iranian Planning and Budget Organization, the failure to achieve the projected oil exports and the non-realization of revenues from “asset divestitures and asset generation” have resulted in only 70 percent of the planned revenues being realized.
His statement indicates that 30 percent of the projected revenues for the first seven months of the current year have not been achieved, leading to a significant budget deficit for the government.
The government had set the general budget at 20,820 trillion rials (approximately $40.823 billion) for the current year and expected to generate 12,140 trillion rials (approximately $23.803 billion) of revenue in the first seven months. However, according to the head of the Planning and Budget Organization, 30 percent of this amount has not been realized, resulting in a budget deficit of 3,640 trillion rials (approximately $7.137 billion).
On the other hand, the regime’s officials and the Ministry of Oil have not provided precise figures on Iran’s oil exports. However, Javad Oji, the Minister of Oil in the Ebrahim Raisi’s administration, had previously stated that Iran had exported “at least 190 million barrels more oil than in 2020 and 83 million barrels more than in 2021” in the year 2022. He also mentioned that a new record would be set in Iran’s oil exports this year.
Furthermore, on October 8, Javad Oji announced “increased oil exports” from Iran and stated, “With the efforts of my colleagues in the Ministry of Oil, the statistics of crude oil, condensates, and petroleum product production and exports are increasing every day.”
Mousa Mousavi, a member of the regime’s Majlis (parliament), stated on October 13, “The increase in oil exports and the return of its revenue to the country amidst the peak of sanctions is a miracle, and in the past two years, oil production has increased from over 2 million barrels to over 3 million barrels per day.”
On September 4, the official Iranian news agency, IRNA, reported that “Iran exported 1.7 million barrels of crude oil and 152,000 barrels of condensates daily in the month of August” and that “the total exports of oil and gas condensates from Iran in that month were 1.85 million barrels per day.” It was stated that this figure represents the highest level of Iran’s oil exports in the past five years since the United States’ withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as the Iran nuclear deal.
It’s worth noting that different sources and officials may provide varying information or interpretations regarding Iran’s oil exports and revenues.
However, Davoud Manzour, the head of the Planning and Budget Organization, announced that the volume of Iran’s oil exports over the past seven months was “less than 1.5 million barrels per day.”
Iran: Journalists Sentenced To Prison For Reporting Death Of Mahsa Amini
The Iranian regime’s Judiciary has sentenced two imprisoned journalists to seven and six years of imprisonment.
After more than a year of detention, Niloufar Hamedi and Elaheh Mohammadi, two journalists who had reported on the death of Mahsa Amini, were sentenced to seven and six years of imprisonment, respectively, by Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court in Tehran.
Mizan News Agency, run by the judiciary, wrote about the details of Elaheh Mohammadi’s charges: “Ms. Elaheh Mohammadi has been sentenced to six years of imprisonment on charges of collaborating with the hostile government of the United States, five years of imprisonment for conspiracy and collusion to commit crimes against national security, and one year of imprisonment for anti-establishment propaganda activities against the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
According to this report, Niloufar Hamedi was also sentenced to “seven years of imprisonment on charges of collaborating with the hostile government of the United States, five years of imprisonment for conspiracy and collusion to commit crimes against national security, and one year of imprisonment for anti-establishment propaganda activities against the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
According to the regime’s “Islamic Penal Code,” the maximum punishment of seven years of imprisonment is applicable to Niloufar Hamedi, and six years for Elaheh Mohammadi.
The court also sentenced these two journalists to a two-year ban from membership in political parties and groups, as well as activities in online platforms, media, and press, as supplementary punishment on charges of “anti-security measures.”
Mizan News Agency provided separate reports detailing the charges against these two journalists. The reports mention the collaboration of Niloufar Hamedi and Elaheh Mohammadi with a foreign website, and their production of content for this website has been classified as “collaboration with a hostile government.”
Mizan News Agency states: “Mohammadi was involved in activities related to the project of the mentioned website, such as formulating guidelines for the website’s members, distribution in cities and universities, preparing multiple reports, translation, designing the questions posed about the website Dideban-e Azar (harasswatch), collecting Instagram polls, and collaborating in the compilation of a book, among others. In general, Mohammadi has played a pivotal role in all content-related and executive matters of the project within the country.”
Finally, the Judiciary has also mentioned Niloufar Hamedi’s communication with several Persian-language media reporters outside the country, as well as her connection with civil and media activists and non-profit organizations as part of her charges.
Regarding the communication of his client’s verdict, Parto Borhanpour, Niloufar Hamedi’s lawyer, told Shargh website on Sunday: “We have heard news through the media about the issuance of our clients’ verdicts. However, according to the Civil Procedure Law and the Criminal Procedure Law, if a lawyer has announced representation in a case, the verdict must be officially communicated to the lawyer by law.”
Niloufar Hamedi was detained on September 22, 2022, by the State Security forces at her home due to her reporting on Mahsa Amini’s situation from the hospital.
One week later, Elaheh Mohammadi, a journalist for Ham-Mihan newspaper, was also arrested for publishing reports on Mahsa Amini’s funeral in the city of Saqqez.
These two journalists came under pressure and were targeted by security institutions due to their reporting on the death and funeral of Mahsa Amini, and the security agencies of the Islamic Republic issued statements against them.
