The United States, Britain and France said Wednesday they were closing their embassies in Yemen following the Iranian-linked Shiite rebels seizing power in the poorest Arab country.
The embassy closures came as Houthi rebels financed and supported by Iran, armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles and dressed in police uniforms and civilian clothes, patrolled the main boulevards of the capital, Sanaa, some in pickup trucks mounted with anti-aircraft guns.
Hamid Yazdan Panah is an attorney focused on asylum and immigration in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is also a human rights activist focused on the Middle East and Iran.
The nuclear negotiations with Iran have continued to dominate headlines, with policy makers focused on reaching a deal with Tehran. Lost in this discussion is the humanitarian crisis faced by the people of Iran, and their struggle to overcome a brutal regime. I believe the case can be made that the Iranian regime should be sanctioned, aside from the nuclear issue, primarily because of its egregious human rights violations against its own people.
In the face of mounting dissent, the Iranian regime has been forced to contain the population using its classical tools of choice; terror and repression. Currently Iran is second only to China in the number of executions, and leads the world in per capita execution rate. Its prisons are overcrowded, and torture and mistreatment is common place.
On 30 January 2015, more than 100 MPs and Senators from 47 countries who are members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the council of Europe signed a statement concerned with the situation of human rights in Iran.
The US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki has stated that the ballistic missile capabilities were in order to deliver nuclear warheads and were thus a part of ongoing negotiations between Iran and six world powers over Tehran’s nuclear program. “That issue has been discussed and will continue to be discussed as part of the negotiations,” Psaki said.
However, Iran begs to differ. In response to the statements by the US State Department spokesperson, Abbas Araghchi, a member of the negotiating team in the nuclear talks has said that the regime’s defense capabilities were not subject to any negotiations.
As P5+1 countries (US, UK, China, France and Russia) engage with the Iranian regime and attempt to chalk out a nuclear deal, it is very important for them to realize who sits before them. The Iranian regime does not represent the Iranian people or their aspirations and its objectives are not in line with their interests. It is ambitious, and aggressive, which is more than evident from its disastrous role in today’s world, particularly in the Middle East.
Iran has retreated in the face of growing pressure from the United States and has named a new envoy – Gholamali Khoshroo – to the United Nations, after withdrawing its first choice, Hamid Aboutalebi. While the US, as the host country, is obliged to issue visas to diplomats, a provision in the country’s law allows it to deny permission in order to “safeguard its own security”.
At least 1,375 people, including 790 civilians, have died in January 2015 in Iraq, according to new United Nations report.
The Iranian regime is actively contributing to the mess in Iraq, as Shiite militias affiliated with the terrorist Quds force continue to spill the blood of innocent Sunnis in various regions. Taking advantage of the crisis created by the Islamic State (IS), Iran is playing a game of its own through Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps, Quds force and militias, which are no less barbaric than IS.
On Thursday, the House Appropriations Committee passed House Bill 1127, sending it to the full House for further debate that would ban Mississippi state from hiring companies doing business with Iran.
Hamid Azimi is the Communications Director for the Iranian American Community of Northern California. Azimi has been actively promoting Human Rights and democratic change in Iran, exposing and combating the Iranian Ayatollahs’ Islamic Fundamentalism. His writings and interviews have been covered by many California based news outlets as well as major national news agencies
An Argentinian prosecutor, Alberto Nisman, who accused his country’s president of covering up the investigation of the bombing of a Jewish Community Centre, was found dead two days ago, hours before he was supposed to testify. The bombing, one that has been speculated to be because of several high Iranian regime officials, laced with the abrupt death of the main prosecutor for it, has opened the door for the actual role that Iran has been playing in international terrorism.
