Iran’s Production of Uranium Metal Puts US Policy Under the Microscope

Pooya Stone
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0
Iran’s Production of Uranium Metal Puts US Policy Under the Microscope
The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed on Wednesday that Iran had followed through on recent threats to produce uranium metal, a key component of nuclear warheads. The report comes just days after Iranian Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi delivered remarks via state media which indicated that the Islamic Republic might actively pursue nuclear weapons capability if “pushed” by pressure from the US and its allies.  Alavi’s statement flew in the face of the regime’s longstanding official position that the Iranian nuclear program is intended only for the “peaceful” purposes of power generation and scientific research. In fact, the Intelligence Minister directly cited one of the main sources of support for that argument, a fatwa issued by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on December 12, 2010, which suggested that nuclear weapons were contrary to Islam. But in downplaying the fatwa’s potential impact on future Iranian decision-making, Alavi seemed to corroborate prior rebuttals by the likes of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, which argued that the fatwa was neither binding nor permanent, and was most likely intended only to mitigate Western opposition while the regime inched closer to a short “breakout time” for a nuclear weapon.  Western attitudes toward the notion of a peaceful Iranian nuclear program have been varied, as evidenced by the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and the backlash against it. While the Obama White House and fellow negotiating powers permitted Iran to retain scaled-back nuclear enrichment operations, those who were most skeptical of Iran’s intentions were also keen to protest that these activities should have been ended altogether. That sentiment was a driving force behind the Trump administration’s decision, in 2018, to pull out of the deal that its predecessor had spearheaded.  When President Trump was seeking reelection last year, he argued that the Iranian regime was looking to his opponent, who had been Obama’s vice president, as a possible lifeline in the wake of the economic hardship inflicted by the Trump administration’s re-imposition and expansion of US sanctions. Indeed, Joe Biden hard signaled during the presidential campaign that he would be willing to return the US to the agreement, even as Trump insisted that Iran was on the verge of economic collapse and would swiftly concede to more comprehensive demands if maximum pressure persisted into 2021. 

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We May Produce Nuclear Weapons if We Are Forced To

Whether or not Trump was correct about this, Tehran was evidently frustrated by Biden’s refusal to immediately reverse his predecessor’s policies after taking office. While the new administration is still leaving the door open for a return to the nuclear deal, it has also insisted that Iran has to act first by reversing the various steps that it has taken in violation of the agreement, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.  The US withdrawal from that agreement was followed by a grace period after which sanctions began to be phased back in starting November 2018. Shortly thereafter, Iran acquired stockpiles of nuclear material in excess of what is allowed under the JCPOA. Further violations proceeded in a series of strategic steps until early 2020 when the regime announced that it no longer intended to comply with any of the imposed restrictions.  This prompted the deal’s European signatories – Britain, France, and Germany – to trigger a dispute resolution mechanism. But the leadership of the European Union expressed willingness to draw that process out indefinitely, thus leaving the US as the only party exerting serious pressure on the Islamic Republic while the deal remained on life support. However, this still did not stop Iranian officials from complaining about Europe’s role in the dispute or insisting that the EU take measures to explicitly undermine US sanctions. This desire to divide Europe against America was reiterated by Hossein Deghan, currently the only candidate for Iran’s forthcoming presidential election, in a recent interview with The Guardian.  “To be crystal clear, the Europeans have absolutely no independent stance from America any longer,” Deghan declared in the context of rejecting the notion the EU or its member states might act as mediators in discussions aimed at resolving the dispute between Iran and the US. He also gave voice to Tehran’s early frustration with the Biden administration by suggesting that its foreign policy showed no sign of substantive differences from that which was put in place by President Trump.  Deghan, a military adviser to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and former officers in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, seemed to make it clear that if he were to assume the Iranian presidency the regime would continue to insist upon the immediate removal of all US sanctions, as a prerequisite for any steps toward renewed Iranian compliance with the nuclear deal. However, representatives of the current administration, that of Hassan Rouhani, have attempted to portray the prospective election of a “hardliner” like Deghan as the closure of existing opportunities for peaceful reconciliation.  Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Wednesday that the Biden administration should be wary of missing a “fleeting” window for mutual restoration of the JCPOA. But his comments came in the context of a video that celebrated the Islamic Republic’s 41st anniversary by disparaging its so-called “enemies” and mocking the supposed failure of US-led pressure tactics.  “Soon, my government will be compelled to take further remedial action in response to the American and European dismal failure to live up to their commitments under the nuclear deal,” Zarif said, referring to previously announced plans to restrict access for inspectors from the IAEA on February 21, unless US sanctions have been removed by that time. In the event that Tehran moves forward with that plan, the regime’s uranium metal production may be the last major development to be reported by the UN nuclear agency.  That production, along with Mahmoud Alavi’s threat regarding future nuclear weapons capability, raises questions about how Deghan or any other hardline leader might alter Iran’s strategy to be more threatening in this regard. While the current president has been variously embraced as a “moderate” or “reformist” by certain Western authorities, he has actively participated in communicating the ultimatums associated with the prospective return to JCPOA compliance. And this is only of many public behaviors that have allowed the regime’s critics to all his moderate credentials into question.   “We have still not seen any goodwill from the new government,” Rouhani told Iranian state television on Thursday, apparently ignoring reports from days earlier which indicated that the Biden administration was weighing various options for Iran and the US to trade intermediary steps leading to restoration of the status quo as it existed before maximum pressure went into effect. Rouhani made no apparent effort to demonstrate goodwill on the Iranian side, but merely reiterated the regime’s demand that Biden reverse his predecessor’s policies without regard for the explicit progress that Tehran has made toward nuclear weapons capability.  For many critics of the Iranian regime, that progress is only further confirmation that the Trump administration’s strategy was more or less correct, and that the JCPOA’s restraints on the Iranian nuclear program were too loose to prevent Iran from sprinting toward acquisition of a nuclear bomb at some point in the future. In fact, even though Biden’s diplomatic overtures to the Islamic Republic have been tentative and conditional, they have still been enough to raise alarms among those who believe that Tehran is more likely to respond to coordinated pressure tactics.  On Wednesday, an editorial in Newsweek accused Biden of pretending to “play hardball” with Iran but actually moving in the direction of policies that let the regime off the hook for malign activities, potentially empowering not only Iran but also Russia and China. The piece argued that the administration wants “to help Iran economically despite the fact that its intensive uranium enrichment and other nuclear activities make clear that Iran’s nuclear efforts are entirely military-related.”  It remains to be seen how Biden will react to the increased transparency of those military intentions following Alavi’s comments and the start of uranium metal production in Iranian facilities. On one hand, the White House is sure to face pressure from allies that believe the best course of action is to return to the nuclear deal and dis-incentivize Iran’s continued pursuit of nuclear provocations. But on the other hand, prominent figures within US intelligence and policy circles can be expected to advise the administration that such concessions would only embolden more of the same action.  Along these lines, former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe recently stated that there is “no intelligence to support” the lifting of sanctions on Iran. In fact, Ratcliffe argues that the Iranian regime’s latest efforts to pressure Biden toward more conciliatory policies are a sign of desperation in the face of a situation that has made Iran “weaker, poorer, and less influential in the Middle East than they’ve been in decades.” 

Iran: Rouhani, COVID Vaccine Will Take Until 2022 To Distribute

Jubin Katiraie
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0
Iran: Rouhani, COVID Vaccine Will Take Until 2022 To Distribute
Iran’s president Hassan Rouhani says even if Covid vaccine is read by summer, it will take until 2022 to distribute. Iranian president Hassan Rouhani told a Covid-19 Task Force meeting on Saturday that even if domestic vaccines are ready by the summer, it would take “five to six months” to distribute them.  With over 212,000 Covid-19 deaths in Iran so far, the people cannot wait that long and the Iranian Resistance said that this was “just another excuse to dither on vaccinating the Iranian population”. 

Read More:

Why Iran Does Not Purchase Covid-19 Vaccines

In December, Rouhani said that the Iranian regime was ready to buy the vaccines approved by the World Health Organization but that this was being blocked by the US, something the US and the WHO debunked.  Then, it was the Iran didn’t have the equipment to transport the Pfizer vaccine at minus 70 degrees Celsius, something other Iranian officials denied. Then, it was that foreign banks wouldn’t give Iran credit because it wasn’t part of the Financial Action Task Force, but after FAFT denied this, Central Bank president Abdolnasser Hemati and health minister Saeed Namaki admitted that this was also incorrect.  Finally, it was that the vaccine was not safe and that Iran didn’t want its people to be guinea pigs, even though by this point, the UK was about ready to start administering it en-masse to its citizens following clinical trials of thousands of people. The import of the US and UK-made vaccines were also banned. At this point, Rouhani promised a domestic vaccine by the summer.  The People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) wrote: “Now, he says that even if the vaccine is prepared by summer, it will need another seven, eight, or ten months to have the people vaccinated. And given Rouhani’s history of pathological lying, one can only wonder at how reliable his latest promise is.”  Other regime officials, like Mohammad Reza Shanesaz, the president of the Food and Drug Organization, are admitting that they are delaying vaccine purchases to get a better price, as if this is a gaming system and not lifesaving medicine. It’s also a bizarre take considering that the economy will rebound quicker if the population is vaccinated and herd immunity is achieved.  In this regard, the MEK wrote:  “The deeper reality, however, is that the regime simply doesn’t care how many people die of coronavirus in Iran. Contrary to other countries, where governments are united with their people to fight the pandemic, in Iran, the regime is aligned with the virus to kill the people. Regime supreme leader Ali Khamenei downplayed the pandemic and even called it a blessing on separate occasions. He has refrained from allocating his huge financial and logistic resources to help the coronavirus response.”  But why? Probably because in November 2019, just before the pandemic, Iran saw the biggest nationwide anti-regime protests ever and the mullahs are scared that without the threat of the coronavirus, the people will rise up again. 

Turkey Arrests Iranian Diplomat for Murder

Pooya Stone
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0
Turkey Arrests Iranian Diplomat for Murder
Turkish Daily Sabah website on Thursday, February 11, reported that authorities have detained an Iranian diplomat Mohammad Reza Naderzadeh, 43, for involvement in the murder of Iranian dissident Massoud Molavi Vardanjani in November 2019. Naderzadeh as a staff member of the Iranian Consulate in Istanbul had forged travel documents for Ali Esfandiari, who had masterminded the assassination of Massoud Molavi and then fled to Iran. Molavi was a “former intelligence operative for Iran before he moved to Turkey and launched a social media crusade to expose corruption involving the Iranian administration and the Quds Force, a subsidiary of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC),” the Turkish website wrote.
Iranian Officials Use Stock Market to Plunder People’s Money
Investigating the murder, Turkish security forces revealed that Esfanjani met Molavi’s killer Abdulvahhab Koçak on the murder day. Koçak is also lieutenant of fugitive Iranian drug lord Naji Sharifi Zindashti. Esfanjani and Koçak met in a shopping mall and talked for about half an hour. Then, Esfanjani met Molavi and the two started walking on the street when Koçak approached from behind and fired 11 shots at Vardanjani. “The investigation also shows Abdulvahhab Koçak – who was later captured by police – hid out in a residence owned by Naji Sharifi Zindashti after killing Vardanjani. Koçak’s brother Ali was also a suspect in the Istanbul murder of Saeed Karimian, owner of a Persian-language TV station,” Daily Sabah added. Zindashti was also implicated in the disappearance of Habib Chaab, another Iranian dissident who disappeared in October 2020. Chaab, who had been living in exile in Sweden, was allegedly lured to Istanbul by Iranian intelligence and was smuggled into Iran. “Files show how Iranian dissident Habib Chaab was kidnapped in Turkey after ‘honeytrap by Iran,’” reported Sky News on December 17, 2020. “Sky News has been given exclusive access to Turkish counter-terrorism files which show how Iranian opposition activist Habib Chaab was lured into the trap and smuggled back into Iran.” The above-mentioned instances are the tip of the iceberg, showing the Iranian government’s exploitation of diplomatic coverage to implement terror attacks in other countries. Last week, a court in Antwerp, Belgium, sentenced a senior Iranian diplomat Assadollah Assadi to 20 years in prison for bombing against the Free Iran 2018 gathering hosted by the Iranian opposition coalition National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI). Investigations carried out by the European prosecutors revealed that Assadi had transferred 1lb of TATP explosive material and detonate device on a civil airport under diplomatic status.
Don’t Ignore Iran Terror Plot
He later traveled to Luxembourg and delivered the bomb and instructions to operatives. They had planned to target the NCRI President-elect Maryam Rajavi. However, the operation was foiled at the last moment. During their investigation, European law enforcement discovered an expanded network of the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) on European soil. In his green booklet, Assadi had written around 300 notes, including receipts and appointment places. The NCRI had already disclosed that Assadi was the head of Iran’s intelligence station in Europe. Back in March 2018, Albanian authorities foiled another plot orchestrated by the Iranian embassy in Tirana. Terrorists wanted to blow up the opposition Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK) gathering marking Nowruz, the new Persian year. Following the intelligence services’ investigation, the government expelled Iranian ambassador Gholamhossein Mohammad-Nia and his first deputy Mostafa Roudaki for involving the plot. Mohammad-Nia, who was expelled, is a close figure to Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. The ‘ambassador’ was also a member of Iran’s negotiating team during talks that led to the Iran 2015 nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). In the past 42 years, Iran’s Foreign Ministry was directly involved in terrorism. Tehran’s embassies in Baghdad and Kabul purged nationalists those who were opposing the ayatollahs’ meddling in their countries’ affairs. Tehran’s new ambassador to Houthis-controlled Sana Hassan Irlu was one of former IRGC Quds Force Qassem Soleimani’s closest associates. Moreover, Iraj Masjedi, Iran’s ambassador to Iraq, and his predecessors, all were high-ranking commanders in the Quds Force. This is time to end Iranian officials’ exploitation of diplomatic coverages for terrorism, dissidents say. Iran’s Foreign Ministry, in fact, plays the role of a broker to make advantages for the government’s hostage-taking operations. However, giving concessions to the Iranian government only emboldens it to take more hostages and jeopardize global peace and security by terrorism and nuclear extortions.
Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a Cover for State Terrorism

We May Produce Nuclear Weapons if We Are Forced To

Pooya Stone
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0
We May Produce Nuclear Weapons if We Are Forced To
“In his Fatwa, the Supreme Leader [Ali Khamenei] announced that the production of nuclear weapons is Haram [forbidden] and contrary to Sharia, and the Islamic Republic would not pursue them. However, if [foreigners] caught a cat in an awkward corner, it may behave unlikely to a free cat. If they pushed Iran to that path, then [the production of nuclear weapons] is not Iran’s fault,” said Iran’s Minister of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) Mahmoud Alavi in an interview with the state-run TV Channel Two on February 8. 

Cornered Cat 

In his unprecedented remarks, the Intelligence Minister described the establishment as a cat to show the country’s dire conditions. Given recent developments and the Iranian government’s concerns about the next events, Iranian authorities are seemingly right.  Alavi raised these remarks while Tehran suffers from economic pressure and isolation as a result of the ayatollahs’ aggressive and outlaw behavior. Only four days earlier, MOIS agent Assadollah Assadi, who had disguised himself as a senior diplomat in Vienna, was sentenced to 20 years in prison in Belgium for masterminding a bomb plot against the opposition gathering in June 2018.
Window of JCPOA Closing, But in Which Direction?
On the other hand, “the threshold of society’s tolerance is going to end,” according to state-run media, which poses serious risk at the Islamic Republic’s survival. In December 2017 – January 2018 and November 2019, economic grievances sparked nationwide protests. Currently, citizens face far worse financial conditions in comparison to the past years and government-linked sociologists warn about the “erosion of the state’s social acceptance.”  Furthermore, members and supporters of the Iranian opposition Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK/PMOI) have recently intensified their anti-establishment activities, inciting the people to voice their protests against the government. Following the MEK domestic network’s activities, there has been no day without protests, rallies, and strikes on behalf of impoverished citizens.  In such circumstances, Tehran is deeply concerned about international developments. Before January 20, when Joe Biden took office as the 46th U.S. President, Iranian officials were hopeful that they could immediately receive financial reliefs and resume their bankrupt economy. However, Biden and his nominees declared that they would not grant privileges to the Iranian government for free, particularly while Tehran has breached many restrictions and limitations under the 2015 nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). 

Tehran’s Propaganda for Coercing the U.S. to Rejoin the JCPOA 

Notably, following the revelations by the Iranian opposition coalition National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) about Tehran’s attempts for achieving nuclear weapons, Khamenei claimed, “We believe that the production of nuclear is Haram.”  “We do not believe in Atomic bombs and nuclear weapons, and we would not pursue them. According to our ideological beliefs, our religious basics, using these mass destructive devices are forbidden and Haram. They would lead to destroying earth and human generations,” Khamenei said in February 2009.  However, the Supreme Leader currently tries to terrify the international community to make his government’s advantages. This is another flipside of the Iranian government’s hostage-taking method to gain its required privileges. In other words, Tehran follows its renowned blackmailing policy by jeopardizing global peace and security.  On the other hand, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif warned his counterparts about the Islamic Republic’s decisions. “Time is running out for the Americans, both because of the parliament bill and the election atmosphere that will follow the Iranian New Year,” Zarif said on February 6, pointing to the Parliament (Majlis) recently passed legislation that ordered the government to leave the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) on February 21.  In response, the U.S. State Department Spokesperson Ned Price described Alavi’s remarks as very concerning. “I would say that we, of course, took note of those remarks. They are very concerning. Would also note – and I referenced this yesterday as well – that Iran has an obligation under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty – the NPT – never – never, never, never – permanent prohibition to acquire nuclear weapons, and it reaffirmed that commitment under the JCPOA. I think that’s where we’d leave our reaction,” Price said during the February 9 press conference.  Also, in his first visit to the Department of Defense on February 10, Biden announced, “I would never hesitate to use force to defend the vital interests of the American people and our allies around the world when necessary.”  In this respect, Iranian state-run media slammed Alavi for his recent remarks, displaying the government’s fragile conditions and baseless claims. “It should be asked of the Intelligence Minister… were [his remarks] a personal opinion or a part of the state’s strategy to confront the democrats?” wrote Mashreq daily, affiliated with the Khamenei’s faction.  “The Intelligence Minister’s remarks prepared the atmosphere for a massive wave of propaganda against Iran’s nuclear program. The Islamic Republic’s foes immediately exploited Mahmoud Alavi’s unconsidered comments—which were contrary to the Supreme Leader’s orders— and claimed that [Khamenei’s] fatwa is flexible, and Iran will strive to produce nuclear weapons under special circumstances,” Jahan News daily wrote.  Iran watchers believe that the Intelligence Minister’s recent comments and Zarif’s concerns reveal the Iranian government’s need for negotiations. Furthermore, they indicate that both the Iranian government and the international community are in a new balance of power. It seems that the world has realized that Tehran’s blackmailing and hostage-taking techniques are a sign of its weakness, which should be confronted by firmness and power. 

Iran Executes 113th Woman Under Rouhani

Jubin Katiraie
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0
Iran Executes 113th Woman Under Rouhani
With the execution of an unidentified 23-year-old woman in Ardabil Prison on Monday, the Iranian regime has executed at least 113 women during the presidency of Hassan Rouhani, a supposed moderate.  This comes just over a month after the execution of Zeinab Khodamoradi in Sanandaj Central Prison on December 27 and follows on from at least 27 executions in January.  The Women’s Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) has noted that most women in Iran are executed for murder, but this is actually another example of how the regime fails women because they are mostly victims of domestic abuse who kill in defence of themselves or their children because they have no legal recourse to end an abusive marriage.  This is backed up by political prisoner Golrokh Ebrahimi Iraee  who wrote in 2019 that these women, “had murdered their husbands —instantly or based on a pre-meditated plan—after years of being humiliated, insulted, battered and even tortured by them and because of being deprived of their right to divorce” and that if they were allowed to divorce, they may never have committed murder.  In other countries, they would be granted leniency based on their circumstances, but not in Iran where murder is not separated by degrees. This, of course, does not even touch upon those executed for crimes that are not capital offences under international law, like drug offences, or for non-crimes, like political activism.
Iranians Furious Over Ignored Domestic Abuse
The Committee wrote: “The Iranian regime open-handedly uses the death penalty as a form of punishment. In many cases, the religious and ethnic minorities, political dissidents, and women are targets of the death penalty in a discriminatory manner.”  Number one in executions  Iran is the world leader in executions per capita, as well as executions of women and juvenile offenders. Over 4,300 people have been executed since Rouhani took power in 2013, with the number of overall executions and those of women actually believed much higher because of the fact that most executions take place in secret without witnesses.  The NCRI Women’s Committee has produced a list of the 113 executed women, using information from Iran’s state-run media, human rights activists, and reliable sources inside the country to fill in as much information as possible about those women.  The Iranian Resistance has called in their 10-point plan for a Free Iran for the death penalty to be abolished and for women to have equal rights in many areas, including divorce. 

Iran’s Economic Crisis – What Is the Cause?

Jubin Katiraie
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0
Iran’s Economic Crisis – What Is the Cause?
The economic crisis in Iran has been the focus of media attention around the world, with the regime and its apologists blaming foreign sanctions, but the Iranian Resistance states that the problem lies with the regime itself and even some regime officials have backed up the stories of economic mismanagement and institutionalized corruption.  Indeed, Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said last month that the budget infrastructure was “damaged” because it indicates a “36% difference between salaries and expenses”. But the Resistance highlighted that Isa Sharifi, a former deputy of Ghalibaf when he was the mayor of Tehran, was actually sentenced to 20 years in prison for stealing almost five trillion tomans. 
Iranian Workers’ Salaries Don’t Reach the Poverty Line
Even the state-run is reporting on the economic struggles of Iranians and how their situation is only getting worse, with the Hamdeli daily reporting that the poorest in society are only earning a quarter of what would put them just above the poverty line.  Other news agencies wrote about how, while Iranians live in poverty, the regime is embezzling billions to enrich themselves, something that former Minister of Roads and Urban Development Abbas Akhundi, spoke about.  The ILNA news agency wrote on February 3 that even doubling the pay of workers would not lift them out of poverty, which has left many living in tents and unable to afford food.  All of this just ridicules the idea that the economic problems are linked to sanctions, with even the state-run Arman daily admitting that it is “far too optimistic” to assume that a lifting of US sanctions would bring about a change in the Iranian people’s economic outlook.  After all, there was no let-up in poverty during the period 2016-2018, when sanctions were lifted. And despite widespread poverty, Iran still found  “$600 million” for the “expansion at the Imam Hussein shrine” in Iraq in December.     Sanctions relief only benefits the regime by providing money for their malign actions, like for instance the type of international terrorism that Iranian diplomat Assadollah Assadi has just been found guilty of in Belgium. Evidence produced in the trial found that he had spent plenty of money to finance a spying and terror network across Europe.  The Iranian Resistance wrote: “World leaders should provide incentive packages to the regime. They should maintain and increase sanctions on the regime for its support of terrorism and human rights violations. Iranian people underlined their desire for regime change and pointed to the regime as Iran’s only problem during the major protests in 2018 and 2019. The time has come for the international community to support the Iranian people’s desire for regime change, democracy, and equality.” 

Iran HRM: January Report on Iran Human Rights Violations

Pooya Stone
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0
Iran HRM: January Report on Iran Human Rights Violations
As the coronavirus death toll in Iran surpasses 210,000, the regime has still not bought any of the approved vaccines, following a ban on the import of vaccines from the US or UK by supreme leader Ali Khamenei last month.  Khamenei claimed that the vaccines were “completely untrustworthy” and suggested that they were being tested on Iranians, even though most Western countries already have their vaccination efforts well underway.  At the same time, the regime has increased repression against the people, with Deputy Police Chief Qasem Rezaei ordering officers not to leave so-called “troublemakers” unharmed during arrests last month and MP Nasser Mousavi Laregani calling for “petty thieves” to be punished with amputations.  Iran Human Rights Monitor said, in their report for human rights violations in January, that the regime is using repressive measures to prevent escalation of popular uprisings. Here, we will look at the violations in January, but we recommend that you look at the full report here.  Executions  There were at least 27 executions in Iran in January, including: 
  • 16 for murder 
  • Six for drug offenses 
  • Four for political activism 
  • One for rape
Iranian Authorities Secretly Bury Executed Political Prisoners in Ahvaz
Importantly, 11 of those people did not commit crimes that are punishable by death under international law and there is severe problems with how Iran handles murder cases, including failing to categorise murder by degree.  Torture  The regime tortured 35-year-old Bahman Oghabi to death at an Islamabad police station, but told his family that he died of an overdose.  Meanwhile, seven Turkic minority rights activists were given a total of 380 lashes, with five of them facing prison time.  Denial of prisoners’ rights  Several prisoners of conscience have gone on hunger strike over mistreatment at their prisons and the authorities’ failure to address demands. These are Abolfazl Ghasali, Yousef Kari, Abbas Lesani, Siamak Mirzaei, Ali and Reza Vaseqi, Jasem Heydari, Ali Khasraji, Hossein Seilavi, Ali Motiri, and Ali Mojaddam.  While many prisoners, especially political prisoners, have been denied medical treatment for existing conditions, injuries sustained under torture and COVID-19. These include Khaled Pirzadeh, Ali Nouri, Raheleh Ahmadi, Monireh Arabshahi, Seyed Tabib Taghizadeh, Reza Khandan and Fatemeh Mosanna.  Labour activist Shapour Ehsani Rad, held at the Greater Tehran Penitentiary, was also banned from family visits because he protested poor prison conditions. While the Marivan Intelligence Service revoked the temporary leave for political prisoner Tahsin Dadres.  The regime also added another 11 months onto the imprisonment of political prisoner Saeed Sangar, who has spent 20 years behind bars. 

What West Should Do Following Assadi Verdict

Sia Rajabi
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0
What West Should Do Following Assadi Verdict
The Belgian court found Iranian diplomat Assadollah Assadi guilty on terrorism charges last Thursday and sentenced him to 20 years in prison for attempting to bomb the 2018 Free Iran rally in France.  His three accomplices, Nasimeh Naami, Mehrdad Arefani, and Amir Saadouni, were also found guilty and sentenced to 18, 17, and 15 years of imprisonment, respectively.  This historic case, which is the first time an Iranian diplomat has been tried for terrorism, was the result of a two-and-a-half-year investigation by Belgium, especially momentous considering how the regime falsely tried to claim diplomatic immunity and used every tool in their arsenal to stop him facing accountability from lobbyists to lawyers to threats of future terrorist attacks. 
Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a Cover for State Terrorism
Of course, the regime has complained about the verdict, calling it “illegal” and “unjustifiable”, but they are just scared of what actions the West may take next because the Belgian prosecutors asserted that Assadi was working on behalf of the regime.  The Iranian Resistance wrote: “This verdict ended this false and hollow notion that terrorism is limited to some “rogue” elements or factions of the regime. It demonstrated the close collaboration between the regime’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Thus, it became clear that the entire regime, from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and its Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, the so-called “moderate” government of Hassan Rouhani, and the MOIS, are generally involved in terrorism and particularly in the 2018 bomb plot, under the supervision of the regime’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei.”  They called on Western countries, especially those in Europe, to take a firm stance on Iran and not appease the mullahs, lest it emboldens another terrorist attack. The Resistance advised that the West also take on board the regime’s demonisation campaign against the Resistance, which has long sought to undermine the freedom fighters at home and abroad.  Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), said: “The time has come for the European Union to take action. Silence and inaction under whatever pretext will only embolden the mullahs’ regime to continue its crimes and terrorism. The Iranian people expect that the EU revises its Iran policy and hold ruling theocracy accountable.”  The Resistance said that the West should stop negotiating with Iran and its officials, close the embassies, and expel Iranian agents from their soil if they want to stop the regime from committing another atrocity. 

No Sanctions Relief for Iran Unless It Is Earned With a Change of Behavior

Mehdi Hosseini
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0
No Sanctions Relief for Iran Unless It Is Earned With a Change of Behavior
The Islamic Republic of Iran keeps doubling down on its demands for unearned relief from US sanctions, but so far the Biden administration has responded appropriately by saying that Tehran must be the one to make the first move. It is vitally important that the administration remains firm in that position, lest it end up providing the mullahs with further incentive to threaten the international community and expand upon its various malign behaviors.  The latest Iranian statements suggest that the conflict over this issue may be drawn out for some time to come. But it can only last as long as the Iranian economy can avoid succumbing to the pressure that was ramped up by Biden’s predecessor. And regardless of how long that may be, the effects of that pressure include a substantial increase in leverage on the US side, which must not be given away without cause. 
Window of JCPOA Closing, But in Which Direction?
On Sunday, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei delivered remarks to military leaders which were carried by state media. After outlining the regime’s expectation of full and immediate relief from US sanctions, Khamenei said that only afterward would Iran return to full compliance with the restrictions on nuclear activity that were put into place by the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. “It is the irreversible and final decision and all Iranian officials have consensus over it,” he added.  President Joe Biden did not immediately respond to those remarks, but in a separate media interview on the same day, he reiterated that the US takes the opposite position: Iran must resume compliance with all the formal terms of the JCPOA, and only then will sanctions relief be phased back in.  Iran has been violating those terms since early 2019, at in January 2020 the regime announced that it would comply with none of them. This led to the deal’s European signatories – Britain, France, and Germany – triggering a dispute resolution mechanism, but the European Union’s head of foreign policy soon expressed willingness to draw that process out indefinitely. Josep Borrell’s remarks reinforced perceptions of the US as standing alone in its hardline approach to Iran policy, and the longevity of that situation was promptly called into question by the American presidential election.  In the run-up to Biden’s election, then-President Donald Trump argued that that outcome would be a boon for Iran, given that Biden had expressed an interest in returning to the JCPOA as written. Before pulling out of the nuclear deal in 2018, Trump described it as one of the worst ever negotiated, on account of its arguably weak restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program and its failure to address adjacent issues like the regime’s ballistic missile development and its regional imperialism.  To justify a strategy that he described as “maximum pressure,” Trump suggested that a faltering Iranian economy would force the Iranian regime to come back to the negotiating table and accept stricter limits on its nuclear activity as well as restrictions on other categories of malign behavior. The administration maintained its commitment to that strategy even after Trump’s electoral debate, putting new sanctions into place even in the few weeks immediately prior to Biden’s January 20 inauguration.  To date, Biden has not removed any of those sanctions. On some level, this can potentially be regarded as tacit acknowledgement of their value. Trump believed that Iran’s economy was on the verge of collapse prior to the election, and that Tehran was looking to a Biden presidency as a possible source of last-minute reprieve. It is not entirely clear whether the new administration’s shares the previous one’s assessment of how dire the situation is for Iran, but during his first three weeks in office, Biden has made it clear that he is in no rush to provide the expected lifeline.  This is as it should be, and it’s how things should remain for the foreseeable future, regardless of whether or not Iran’s economy is indeed teetering on the brink of collapse. While there may be some uncertainty on that matter, there is no doubt whatsoever about the provocative steps Iran has taken in its attempt to shift things back toward the status quo as it existed prior to Trump. These include the resumption of uranium enrichment to 20 percent fissile purity, the full resupply of nuclear stockpiles, and the start of work on uranium metal that would be a core component of a nuclear warhead.  But Iran’s provocations also extend beyond the nuclear sphere and include last month’s seizure of a South Korea-flagged vessel and threats against the lives of various dual nationals and falsely accused spies like the Iranian-Swedish medical researcher Ahmadreza Djalali. Some of these gestures are aimed at extracting concessions from the US specifically, while some are aimed at US allies, often in the interest of encouraging them to act as proxies for Tehran and to ramp up their own pressure in favor of American concessions.  The Biden administration must stand fast against both these forms of pressure, on the understanding that it is the right thing to do not only for US interests but also for those of other Western nations and for the Iranian people themselves. Giving into Iran’s demands would be foolish under almost any circumstances, and it would be especially foolish at a time when those demands are being issued ineffectually in response to a massive increase in American leverage.  By acquiring sanctions relief while sacrificing nothing on its end, the Iranian regime would come away from this situation believing that threats of nuclear weapons development and politically motivated execution are both successful strategies, which it can fall back on the next time it comes under international pressure.  Regardless of what one thinks about the Trump administration’s maximum pressure campaign, there is no giving up on it now unless we want Iran’s provocations to grow worse and more frequent. The time may still come when that campaign can be ended safely, but it will only come after the Iranian regime has changed its behavior following the conclusion that tit-for-tat threats cannot work against the United States of America. 

Iranian Authorities Secretly Bury Executed Political Prisoners in Ahvaz

Pooya Stone
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Iranian Authorities Secretly Bury Executed Political Prisoners in Ahvaz
Political prisoners executed in various prisons in Ahvaz, a city in the southwest of Iran, are buried in complete secrecy in a secret cemetery. The purpose of this is for families not to learn where their children are buried or to move their bodies. The regime refuses to deliver the bodies of the executed political prisoners to their families: “Most political prisoners are executed in Sheiban Prison without the knowledge of their families,” said a source who asked not to be identified. Judicial and intelligence agents do not deliver the body of an executed prisoner to his family at all. They are buried without the presence of his family and friends. The prisoner’s family must also promise that they will not hold any ceremonies for their loved ones.” The source added: “The place where the executed prisoners in Ahvaz are buried is a mausoleum that people call the ‘Tomb of the Martyrs.’ But the agents of the murderous government, out of resentment against these political prisoners, have named this unknown shrine the ‘Damned Place’.” It should be noted that similiar events occurred in most cities of the country in the 1980s. The burial place of Baha’i people or other minorities was called the damned place, and then the executed political prisoners who were mainly from the opposition MEK/PMOI and other leftist organizations were buried there.
Iran’s Human Rights Abuses in 2020
Families are blindfolded and taken to their loved ones’ graves The report on Ahvaz added: “Executed Iranian Arab political prisoners are not handed over to their families and are secretly buried. Cement is poured on the body and iron plates are placed. Then they bury them under the soil, and in order is given for the families not to be able to exhume the bodies of their children and take them out of the grave. They only put a metal plate with a number on each grave, and there is no trace of the executed person on the grave.” Continuous torture of the families A report on Ahvaz states that up to 48 hours after the execution of the executed prisoner, guards are placed around the burial place of the executed prisoner so that the family cannot find the burial place of their loved one. They even take the family blindfolded to the grave so that they do not learn the location of their child’s grave. These actions fit the pattern for what Amnesty International has called am ongoing crime. Keeping the family unaware of the time of execution and the burial of the executed person is a continuous torture of the person’s family. The report further states that in the area called the damned place, government agents installed CCTV cameras so that none of the citizens and families can or dare to approach the graves. It is said that this place was in fact the graveyard for people of other religions and minorities. But later they removed a piece from it and dedicated it to the burial place of political prisoners. The collection related to minorities and other religions has a painting of Ferdows Garden. But there are no plaques on the tombs of executed political prisoners. Each tomb has an iron plate that characterizes it.
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