by Jubin Katiraie
Previously, we’ve spoken about how the Iranian Regime attempts to discredit the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) outside of Iran through disinformation campaigns, using attack websites, disinformation agents, and the shadowy pro-Regime lobby.
Now, we’re going to speak about how the Iranian Regime attempts to discredit the MEK within Iran itself in order to get the Iranian public to turn their backs on the MEK and how that doesn’t work.
by Pooya Stone
With the new developments in US foreign policy and the prospect of the country’s walking away from Iran nuclear deal getting more serious, the question that keeps popping up more than ever is what would be Iran’s approach and what options it would have at its disposal?
Before delving into possible solutions, it should be pointed out that despite Iran’s expectations, it’s now quite clear that the 2015 nuclear deal has actually made the situation more complicated for the Iran, giving rise to different viewpoints within the Iran to deal with the current crisis.
Iran Focus
London, 27 Mar – On Monday, the Iranian rial hit a record low. For the first time, it went past the 50,000 per dollar mark.
Experts are saying that the reason for this is the mounting uncertainty from the United States.
The value of the Iranian rial has dropped by almost a quarter of its value in less than half a year. The gap between that and the official rate – 37,686 as of yesterday – is widening and there is nothing to say it will stop growing.
Iran Focus
London, 27 Mar – Over 200 people in Iran have been killed in traffic accidents over the course of the Persian New Year; with 76 deaths reported in the three days of the year and 126 in the days leading up to it.
On March 22 alone, 16 people died and a huge 467 people were injured in car accidents, according to highway patrol deputy chief Mousa Amiri.
This is horrific, especially during a holiday, but traffic accidents in Iran are incredibly common and these spike during the two-week Nowruz holiday, which ends on April 2nd.
Iran Focus
London, 27 Mar – A high-ranking Iranian official has indicated that the Regime may soon block access to the encrypted messaging app, Telegram.
On March 16, Abdolsamad Khorramabadi, the secretary of the Taskforce to Determine Instances of Criminal Content (TDICC), which is in charge of censoring internet content, told the Iranian Students’ News Agency (ISNA): “Twitter and YouTube will not be un-filtered. In fact, on the eve of the Iranian new year [March 20, 2018], an unprecedented consensus has developed among officials to cut the enemy’s domination and influence on the country’s cyberspace.”
Iran Focus
London, 27 Mar – The Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen launched seven ballistic missiles at Saudi Arabia on Sunday, killing one person and injuring two in the largest attack on the Kingdom since Iran began controlling Yemen in 2015.
This provides more evidence that Iran has not only been smuggling ballistic missiles to the Houthis in violation of two UN resolutions, but that the Regime has been orchestrating the attacks. This means that the Saudis and others in the region were right to be worried about Iran’s malign expansionism.
A few weeks ago, we wrote a piece detailing for the Iranian Regime was running a disinformation campaign against the Iranian opposition group, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) through both disinformation agents and media disinformation.
Today, we will focus on the third leg of the Iranian Regime’s disinformation campaign, which is used to both influence policy and discredit the MEK: fellow travellers.
Fellow travellers are people who support the policies of a foreign government, but do not have a formal relationship with it. In the US, the Iranian Regime has fellow travellers known as the “Iran Lobby” to promote the Regime and discredit the MEK at all costs.
Iran Focus
London, 26 Mar – US President Donald Trump announced last week that his National Security Adviser, H. R. McMaster, would be replaced by former Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton next month.
Critics of the Trump administration are saying that the president is turning his office into “war cabinet” because of the number of generals he is appointing.
The National Security Adviser, or NSA, holds a critical post in the White House and is in a role that puts them in direct contact with the President very frequently, especially for numerous briefings.
Iran Focus
London, 26 Mar – A high-ranking Iranian Shiite cleric has advised the authorities to be tougher in their crackdowns on women protesting the compulsory hijab laws in Iran.
Nasser Makarem Shirazi also insisted that Iranian officials needed to stop referring to the laws as “compulsory hijab” because it has “negative connotation[s]” that risk undermining the Iranian Regime.
He said that the hijab was not “forced” upon Iranian women by the Regime, but rather it is “a requirement women should comply with”, which sounds pretty much compulsory to everyone else.
Iran Focus
London, 26 Mar – It seems quite obvious that Donald Trump will pull out of the 2015 Iranian Nuclear Agreement on the May 12 deadline. After all, he’s already appointed noted Iran hawks CIA chief Mike Pompeo and former UN ambassador John Bolton to the positions of Secretary of State and National Security Advisor respectively.
These men are more than familiar with the aggression and expansionism of Iran and they know how vital US action against Iran will be to America’s allies in the Middle East.
