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No Progress Made at Latest Round of Iran Nuclear Talks in Vienna

Sia Rajabi
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No Progress Made at Latest Round of Iran Nuclear Talks in Vienna

Last week saw the seventh round of talks to discuss restoring the 2015 Iran nuclear deal take place in Vienna with barely any progress coming to light over the five-day event. Instead, the negotiations seemed to take a step back with the Iranian regime’s spokesman, Ali Bagheri Kani stating that the regime wished to revisit the terms agreed upon during the previous round of discussions.

The delay in negotiations following the last round occurred because Ebrahim Raisi was appointed the regime’s latest president. It was expected that Raisi’s rise to power would signal the start of more aggressive policies and practices, and while he settled into his new role, his administration deflected the issue until recently.

The patience of Western negotiating partners noticeably wore thin during that time, and after meeting in Washington, representatives from Britain, France, and Germany expressed consensus on the need to adopt an alternative approach if the Iranian regime continued its delays.

As stated by the NCRI’s Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman, Mohammad Mohaddessin, the regime stalling tactics are simply to allow them to buy time to continue the deceive the international community while they secretly advance their nuclear weapons program.

Following the conclusion of last week’s discussions, the U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated that “Iran right now does not seem to be serious about doing what’s necessary to return to compliance.”

Even before the Raisi administration took over, Tehran had repeatedly declared that it expected the European Union to exert pressure on the US leading to the wholesale suspension of economic sanctions. Since the regime’s presidential transition, it has become entirely clear that this demand is not limited to nuclear-related sanctions but also includes those addressing terrorist acts and human rights abuses.

The regime has indicated that they will only commit to a return to compliance with the nuclear deal, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) if the U.S. agrees to relieve them from the sanctions placed upon them. As this demand was never going to be fulfilled, instead of walking away from the recent talks with no clear progress, the Western signatories should have taken the opportunity to abandon the existing agreement and instead adopt a new strategy.

It is expected that the eighth round of talks is set to be scheduled, but what will come from those talks is further unanswered questions. It appears that the JCPOA is completely not fit for purpose, but the Western powers are unwilling to let it go. Ahead of the recent round of talks, it was claimed that Iran would need to face consequences for their stalling tactics, but nothing has been done yet. The only foreseeable option is to restore sanctions and increase foreign pressure on the regime

Secretary Blinken’s public frustration with Tehran’s actions last week may signal the administration’s potential willingness to follow through on its promise of enhanced pressure and consequences for the regime. But for the time being, the JCPOA signatories appear poised to continue treading the same path by scheduling yet another round of ‘negotiations’ in which Tehran has flatly refused to negotiate.

IRGC’s Drug Mafia, More Fatal Than the Coronavirus

Sia Rajabi
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IRGC’s Drug Mafia, More Fatal Than the Coronavirus

The Iranian government’s propaganda apparatus is presenting a picture of Iran whereby all the cities and provinces are getting out of a critical coronavirus situation and the numbers of infected people and victims are decreasing.

State media is trying to normalize the two-digit number of over 80 victims per day. About the new variant of the coronavirus, they are saying contradictory things and claiming that the people are responsible for any new peak in the country.

Masoud Younesian, a member of the Scientific Committee of the Government Headquarters for Combating the Coronavirus, said on December 5, on the state TV Channel 5 regarding the new variant of the Coronavirus:

“We have not had any reports from inside the country so far. But having not any report, cannot be considered the virus did not enter the country.”

However, the lifespan of this claim was just one day. As reported by the state-run daily Hamdali, on December 6, Mohamadreza Mahboobfar, a health expert in the regime, stated that “It cannot be said with certainty that no new virus has been observed in Iran” and reminded that “regarding the delta virus and the fifth peak of the disease, the disease was widespread in the country, but the technology and laboratory equipment available in the country could not detect the virus, and therefore, no report on the disease was published and the Ministry of Health and the National Anti-Coronavirus Taskforce they denied the fifth peak.”

Mahboobfar revealed the regime’s secrecy about the spread of the virus in the country and said:

“The arrival of Omicron in the country is certain. Worrying reports are circulating about students suffering from the coronavirus. Statistics released by the Ministry of Health and the National Coronavirus Taskforce and the Mask app, which is affiliated with these two government agencies, cannot be trusted.

“In Isfahan alone, in the last two weeks, unfortunately, three journalists and media activists have lost their lives due to coronavirus and despite receiving two doses of vaccine, or in the last 25 days, out of a total of 515 visits to schools in Qom province, 7 classes due to the positive test of 48 students has been closed.”

Even before the new variant enters the country the regime’s officials are shrugging off the burden of responsibility of any disaster in the country – something that is concerning experts about the possibility of the spread of the new virus in the country.

On the same TV program, Younesian said: “Countries that do not do enough genetic sequencing tests are naturally aware that the virus has entered those countries and they have not reported. Given that it has been reported in eastern Iran, in western Iran, and southern Iran on the Asian continent, reason, and logic dictate that we assume that it has either entered our country or will enter soon.”

Now this question is raised, why is the government not reacting to the arrival of the new virus? The response to this question can be read in the state-run daily Hamdeli:

“Even though citizens of eight African countries were banned from entering the country, there were reports that the ban was broken in the port (formerly Shapur) of Khuzestan. It was reported yesterday that even though citizens of India, Pakistan, and South Africa were not allowed to enter, the port police issued visas to these citizens and allowed them to leave the ship and enter the city.

“The issue, which despite recent warnings of a ban on people from these countries, seems to be a deliberate incident in which we can even see the traces of the drug mafia.”

A mafia that is in the hands of the regime’s Revolutionary Guards, which does not care about the people’s lives and safety, like before when at the start of the pandemic the supreme leader Ali Khamenei used this virus as a weapon against the people and their protests, by not canceling the Mahan Air flights to China which were serving the IRGG’s goals. Now this time the drug mafia is following this goal.

Water Shortages Reach Crisis Levels in Iran As Groundwater Resources Are Also Running Low

Hoshang Amiri
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Water Shortages Reach Crisis Levels in Iran As Groundwater Resources Are Also Running Low

With Iran facing major water shortages through its rivers, the availability of its groundwater resources is vastly becoming a problem. Found underground in between rock and soil layers, groundwater is mostly accessible through wells or natural springs.

Depending on the climate of the region, the local geology, the land use, and the water quality, these will all affect the availability of groundwater resources. The issue of land subsidence in the region is also adding to the lack of water, leaving the water shortage issues reaching crisis levels.

Dr. Khalil Khani said, “Environmentalists and land experts are emphasizing the need to review the operation of wells, groundwater withdrawal, and water resources management. Some 29 provinces of 31 are currently at risk of subsidence. If this trend doesn’t stop, there will regrettably be great irreversible environmental degradation.”

The only immediate way out of this environmental crisis is to ban the excess extraction of groundwater, perform a critical review of the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) dam construction program, and implement a plan to carefully maintain what reserves are available.

Flash floods have devastated Iran during the Iranian regime’s four decades in power, but the regime has no plan or made any attempts to collect the water to add to their reserves. Since they took power following the 1979 revolution in Iran, the mismanagement of natural resources has been rife and now the country is facing the consequences of their lack of forward planning.

Dr. Khalil Khani said, “Groundwater exploitation has dramatically been increased over the past decades leading to aquifer depletion. Now, this condition has caused the creation of massive cracks in more than 405 Iranian plains, such as in Fars, southwestern Iran, the central provinces of Isfahan and Markazi, and the capital Tehran, to name a few.”

The Iranian government is desperate to lay the blame elsewhere for the water crisis, claiming that the reason for the shortages is due to persistent droughts. In reality, the cause is their plundering of water resources, the IRGC’s dam construction project, and their man-made environmental crises, such as deforestation and desertification.

The levels of some of Iran’s aquifers have dropped by 100 centimeters over the past few decades. The digging of illegal wells and the use of improper irrigation methods are greatly adding to the depletion of groundwater resources. Of the 609 plains in Iran, it is estimated that over 300 of them are sinking rapidly as a result.

Dr. Khalil Khani said, “Water shortages have created many conflicts, but these conflicts are not between locals in various provinces.”

The biggest conflict is that between the regime and the Iranian people, who have been forced to stand back and watch their country suffer at the hands of the corrupt, violent government. An indication of the extent of this conflict was seen in the recent farmer protests in Khuzestan and Isfahan. The farmers protested for their rights to access much-needed water to maintain their land, and while the regime is to blame for the problems which led to the protests, they retaliated in the only way they know-how, to violently crackdown on rallies rather than find solutions.

Dr. Khalil Khani said, “Iran’s environmental crisis is not only limited to inside the country’s borders. It will spill over and contribute to the global environmental crisis. And of course, this will not be resolved as long as the clerics are in power.”

Iran’s Government Has Failed Today and Is Losing Tomorrow

Jubin Katiraie
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Iran’s Government Has Failed Today and Is Losing Tomorrow

After months of a break and expectation for the sixth round of Iran’s nuclear negotiation with world powers, finally last week the next round of the negotiation was resumed without any result as expected because the regime is facing a deadlock and cannot retreat from its nuclear ambitions.

What it cannot ignore and leave behind is the situation in the country especially the increasing inflation and the people’s demands which is reflected in their protests and will accelerate after this news.

The best index for this claim is the increasing currency rate.

“Today in the free market, the price of the dollar reached 30 thousand and one hundred tomans. (Tasnim, December 4, 2021)

This is just another wave that is hitting the high prices in the country. And shocks like this will take the last piece of bread from the people’s tables. The Executive Secretary of the Workers’ House said about this:

“The most important problems for workers are high prices and rampant inflation. With this level of wages, even the lowest living expenses are not provided. Today, workers are not even able to meet the basic needs of themselves and their families, while by law the minimum wage must be able to meet the basic needs of a working-class family. I hope the officials do not fall asleep.” (ILNA, December 4, 2021)

The situation is disastrous and so obvious that not only millions of jobless youths, garbage collecting children, and thousands of other human disasters are an index for economic misery, but all strata have become an index for economic misery.

Four months ago, the regime’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei decided to appoint Ebrahim Raisi as the regime’s new president. Immediately after this decision many of the regime’s economic experts showed their frustration and fear about this decision and expressed themselves publicly that someone like him will do with the country’s economy while having not the minimum expertise in running an administration.

Now after 100 days of the Raisi administration, nothing has been changed except more destruction to the country’s economy which is damaging a population of 80 million.

“In these 100 days, despite the promises, a special change that did not take place in the lives of the people, but the situation of high prices that the Rouhani government had prevented in the last days from being recorded in history, is worsened.” (State-run daily Rooz-e No, November 11, 2021)

The state-run daily Setareh-e Sobh wrote: “What can be seen from the first 100 days of the 13th government is that inflation has increased compared to before this government came to power, commodity prices are rising, housing and rent prices are still rising, promises given about improving living conditions and the economy has not been implemented yet and no plan has been presented to solve them.

“More importantly, the president promised to build one million homes a year, but in the first 100 days the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development did not announce a strategy to achieve such a big goal.”

Meanwhile, the state-run daily Farhikhtegan wrote: “It should be noted that the late formation of the government itself is the result of another event, which may be considered as the lack of a comprehensive idea of ​​governance.

“Promises such as solving the stock market problem and lowering the exchange rate by some presidential candidates who are now presidents are also examples of such naive point of view that problem-solving can be defined in the absence of an idea of ​​economic governance.” (State-run daily Farhikhtegan, December 3, 2021)

Now after years of corruption, looting, auctioning the country’s natural resources, and destruction of the economy the regime is trying to solve the problems with irresponsible economic plans which is facing protests even by its media:

“The behavior of all governments at the time, without exception, unaware of the consequences of these ill-considered behaviors in the budgeting process, was contrary to the actual economic power of the country and its executive capacities, and created destruction, corruption and aggravated the class differences. (State-run daily Jahan-e Sanat, December 4, 2021)

Iran’s Government Must Blame Itself for the State of Economy

Pooya Stone
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Iran’s Government Must Blame Itself for the State of Economy

Following the five-day talks in Vienna last week that turned out to be fruitless in agreeing on the future of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), a dramatic drop in the value of rial occurred within a matter of hours.

From every U.S. dollar being exchanged at 300,000 rials, it suddenly reached 310,000 rials a few hours later. The argument that the talks were to blame was fair, considering that many people had hoped that a breakthrough in the deal would rekindle trade with Iran and open the country to the international market.

The reality is that Iran is suffering from a much deeper economic crisis, one that goes beyond the nuclear program and the ongoing talks with world powers.

For the past four decades, the Iranian economy has constantly been on the decline. Following the 1979 revolution, when the Iranian regime came to power, the price of a dollar was equal to 140 rials. By the early 1990s, this figure had reached 1,420 rials. A decade later, the exchange rate was sitting at 7,920 rials.

The 2010s is when the pace of the rial’s value escalated. From 19,000 rials to every dollar in 2011, this figure almost doubled within five years, before hitting a record 150,000 rials in 2018. As Ebrahim Raisi was sworn in as the regime’s president in August of this year, the figure sat at 230,000, before reaching its latest figure this month.

The real reason behind Iran’s fast-declining economy is the annihilation of production in the past four decades. Hundreds of factories and thousands of workshops have been shut down due to the regime’s destructive economic policies.

Today, Iran has been swarmed with imports and smuggled goods and runs on a corrupt network of economic enterprises that are run by regime officials, or by the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC). Regime experts have even referred to the situation as a ‘parasitic economy’.

While these imports are costing the regime vast amounts of money, another drain on the country’s finances is their funding of their nuclear programs and their terrorist proxy groups across the Middle East.

This is why there’s not enough money left in the government’s coffers to pay government employees, teachers, workers, doctors, healthcare staff, and millions of other Iranians who are trying to make ends meet.

In an attempt to temporarily address the country’s budget deficits, the regime resorted to printing absurd amounts of banknotes, at the expense of the Iranian people. An article in the Etemad newspaper last month stated that around 48 million rials’ worth of banknotes is printed every day in Iran. This led to a rise in inflation and skyrocketing prices of basic goods. As a result, a large part of society in Iran is living below the poverty line.

The real culprit behind the nosediving economy and currency is the regime itself, which has only looted the country’s resources and brought nothing but corruption, death, and destruction to the people of Iran and the region. And we can only expect the trend to continue in the coming months.

New Blow to Iran’s Government, Iraq Seeks To Remove It From Its Energy Market

Esmaeil Mohades
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New Blow to Iran’s Government, Iraq Seeks To Remove It From Its Energy Market

Iraq is facing many problems due to the continuation of international sanctions against the Iranian government and is seeking to replace gas and electricity imported from Iran.

Energy expert Mehdi Karamipour has said that Iraq, like other countries, prefers not to get involved in Iran’s political problems, and it seeks to buy and import fuel from other vendors as much as possible.

Speaking to the state-run website Tejarat News, he said that Iraq needs the regime’s gas as the fuel for its power plants, and the regime is exporting gas to Iraq. Iraq needs the regime’s gas to be able to build new power plants. Therefore, if the regime is not able to export gas to Iraq, the regime’s share of the Iraqi electricity market will decrease.

Asked what would happen if Iran does not sell gas to Iraq, he said: If we do not sell gas to Iraq, Iraq will supply its gas from other countries, and this game is a double loss for the regime.

The former secretary of the Iran-Iraq Joint Chamber of Commerce continued: ‘Of course, Iran’s removal from the Iraqi gas market is obvious, because, for political reasons, Iraq prefers to supply its fuel and goods from countries that do not have political problems.’

Due to international sanctions, the Tehran government sells its fuel and goods to its buyers at cheap and discounted prices to keep them as its customers.

About 80 percent of Tehran’s electricity exports go to Iraq, and the rest to Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Yahya al-Ishaq, head of the Iran-Iraq Chamber, had previously said that Iraq’s debts to the regime are between $5 billion and $7 billion. This means that Tehran has sold the gas and electricity needed by Iraq to the country at a lower price, and now it has not been able to return a large part of these dollars to the country due to banking problems caused by international sanctions.

Economists believe that Iraq, because of its strategic ties with European countries and the United States, prefers not to buy from Iran and that this discount cannot be a substitute for trade with Iraq, as Iraq seeks to engage with countries around the world.

Recall that the US government last Saturday gave Iraq an exemption for another 120 days to buy electricity from Iran. This means that Iraq can continue to buy gas and electricity from Tehran for another four months and not be subject to US sanctions.

Under US sanctions, Iraq deposits money for gas purchased from Iran in the Commercial Bank of Iraq, and Tehran can use it to buy humanitarian goods. Although Iraq has said it can pay its debts in dinars, but Tehran wants it in US dollars, which is virtually impossible given international sanctions.

Ahmad Musa, the spokesman for the Iraqi Ministry of Electricity, told Al-Youm Al-Baghdad newspaper on Sunday, November 28, that according to the agreement, Iran should have delivered 50 million cubic meters of gas per day to Iraq, but now this figure has been reduced to 8 million cubic meters.

Iraq supplies one-third of its energy needs through the purchase of electricity and gas from Iran and it is now deciding to stop this, and in addition, it is now in a position where, according to figures released by the regime’s Chamber of Commerce, China, Iran’s largest oil customer, has reduced its purchases from Iran by 99 percent.

Daily Protests in Iran Are Developing Into a ‘Dangerous Situation’ for the Iranian Regime

Hoshang Amiri
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Daily Protests in Iran Are Developing Into a ‘Dangerous Situation’ for the Iranian Regime

Due to the Iranian regime’s mismanagement of the economy, their rampant corruption, and their brutal oppression of society, protests are a daily occurrence across Iran and the depth of the socio-economic problems in the country have left society on the verge of explosion.

During the recent protests in Isfahan, people who had initially started the protests by demanding their social rights began chanting political slogans. Iran’s state media have sensed society’s restiveness and have acknowledged this fact in recent days.

The state-run Jahan-e Sanat daily wrote on December 2 that the deterioration of the socio-economic situation in Iranian society is due to mismanagement by regime officials ‘from the ninth to the twelfth government’.

As a result, even the middle class in Iran has become poor. Many protests have taken place across Iran since 2009, with people from across all social classes being involved in different protests year after year.

Jahan-e Sanat wrote, “We had the middle class [protests] in 2009 after [sham] elections, then the frustrated poor people who protested in November 2019 after the increase of fuel prices. Recently we had the protest rallies and strike of farmers in Isfahan, a traditional section of society that had not protested before.”

They warned that if the Iranian people’s demands are failed to be addressed by the regime, ‘the situation will become more sensitive’.

Jahan-e Sanat said, “We now see that the protesters include teachers, workers, the lower classes, and other walks of life. This means that people are aware [of the regime’s misdeeds]. This is dangerous if their demands are not fulfilled.”

They referred to the current social situation in Iran as ‘dangerous’ and acknowledged that the regime will most likely resort to further oppressing the Iranian people as the problems have reached a level where it is practically impossible to address the demands of the people.

Jahan-e Sanat said, “No ruler allows protests to advance more than a certain limit. The system is not unaware of the extent of dissatisfaction. But this is not the way to solve the problem. Protests have accelerated since 2009.”

The state-run Ebtekar daily wrote that the levels of inflation in Iran are continuing to increase, leaving society under unbearable socio-economic pressure, and making more and more families fall below the poverty line.

While many commentators blame international sanctions as the reason for the Iranian people’s financial problems, state media acknowledged that people are suffering since the regime has been wasting national wealth on its malign activities.

The regime has wasted over $2 trillion of Iran’s national wealth on its nuclear program so far while the country’s population is struggling to survive and provide for their families. All the while, the state-run Arman daily has stated that ‘there is no economic justification’ for the regime’s nuclear program whatsoever.

The Iranian regime can no longer oppress these protests or deceive people. Once the regime oppresses a protest or an uprising, another unrest begins. As described by Iran’s state media, this situation is “dangerous” for the regime and a real threat to its grip on power.

Huge but Hidden Corruption

Pooya Stone
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Huge but Hidden Corruption

The chairman of Iran’s Privatization Organization Hossein Ghorbanzadeh previously said that about 525,000 properties have been registered in the SADA system and emphasized that naturally, this number must be much higher about the properties owned by the regime’s officials and their institutions, but they are not registering them and are hiding them from the public.

According to state-run news agency Tasnim, in an interview, he said that despite that these properties should create money they are wasting. The reason for that is improper management, and its result is the waste of these properties. And said that unfortunately, this has become a rule which is one of the factors of corruption and something that is destroying the country’s economy.

He added that in the SADA system 525,000 properties have been registered, from this number 314,000 belong to the executive systems of the government and the rest to other systems. This is while in Turkey about 3 million properties have been registered. And according to the extent and population of Iran, naturally, the number of properties that are owned by the executive systems of the government must be much higher and the regime’s officials have hidden most of them.

He said that the head of all branches of the government and the so-called private-governmental companies and their institutions own many properties and buildings. Even many non-military properties have been usurped by the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) and other military institutions. Even fields belonging to the medical science universities are captured by them.

According to the latest regime’s statistics two times the liquidity of the country, inventories have been identified, this is something that Mohammad Reza Pur Ebrahimi, chairman of the regime’s Parliamentary Economic Commission, has confessed, which is showing the amount of the wealth in the hands of the regime’s officials.

The estimated value of the properties in the hands of the government is $634 billion. While these properties could be used for urban development, the government has blocked all these fields.

With this $634 billion the regime can administrate the country for nearly 12 years but the budget to run the country is only $58 billion.

If we want to see the amount of this disaster created by corruption like this, it is enough to have a look at the statistics of the government’s budget statistics. According to the state-run daily Rouydad24, what the government has published about the country’s budget is contrary to the speeches of the Head of Program and Budget Organization.

The government is predicting that they will be able to sell about 1.2 million oil barrels. While there is no official statistic about the regime’s oil sale, but estimations are suggesting that the regime was only able to sell about 600,000 barrels.

The amazing part is that the regime said that for the next year’s budget they are not counting on the lifting of the sanctions but has doubled the oil sale predictions. Even if we predict that the government can sell 1.2 million barrels next year, it will have problems entering the gained money into the country’s economy.

Another strange thing is that the government is predicting the exchange rate to be 23,000 tomans for each dollar. While all the predictions for the coming months are speaking about an exchange rate of 40,000 tomans and even more.

The only solution to decrease the exchange rate in a short time urgently is the increase of the export income so that the regime will be able to inject more dollars into the market. But the reality is that the regime is bartering oil, therefore something like this is just an illusion. Now add to this the number of the 44 percent of inflation, then the extent of the disaster will become visible.

The question is how a corrupt government which has captured most of the public’s properties and frozen them so that none of the people can use them, and with such a minimum allocation of budget for the country’s administration and such an oil export and inflation rate, is even able to speak about an economic boom and ‘Resistive Economy.’

This reveals the regime’s lies and deadlock.

Iran Government’s Quagmire in the Nuclear Negotiations

Mehdi Hosseini
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Iran Government’s Quagmire in the Nuclear Negotiations

After the first round of Iran’s nuclear negotiations with world powers, known as the JCPOA, Ali Bagheri, the Iranian regime’s lead negotiator said: “The result of the previous six rounds of the negotiations is a draft and not an agreement. And a draft relates to the place of negotiations. Nothing is agreed upon until everything has been agreed upon.” (State-run daily Entekhab, November 30, 2021)

The AP on Tuesday reported: “Iran struck a hard line Tuesday after just one day of restarted talks in Vienna over its tattered nuclear deal, suggesting everything discussed in previous rounds of diplomacy could be renegotiated.” (AP, November 30, 2021)

After this round of negotiations in fear, Iranian state media warned the regime about the failure of the negotiations.

They are suggesting to the regime that the result of the negotiations is a landmark therefore the regime’s government should not lose this opportunity and prevent any failure.

The state-run daily Arman said that the negotiations are hanging on a ‘hair stream’ and suggested to the regime’s negotiators that, ‘this hair should not be cut’ and if it is cut, ‘one of the most difficult stages of the country’s history will happen’ and ‘if the negotiations fail, dangerous events will engulf the country (read the regime), in short, said, the delegation of Iran should not leave the negotiations with empty hands in any circumstances.” (State-run daily Arman, November 30, 2021)

Then this daily attacked the regime’s principlist faction and said, ‘did you have understood now that the lifting of all sanctions is more important than the burning of the JCPOA.’ Then it pointed to the changing approach of many of the regime’s media mainly those affiliated with the regime’s supreme leader who in the past said the ‘JCPOA should be burnt’, but now the situation has become so critical that they are not only speaking about the burning of the JCPOA but, ‘their fear and panic’ has become so widen, so that ‘they are calling the JCPOA, not a harm’ and ‘people who called the sanctions a gift, are now negotiating for the lifting of the sanctions. If they really believed that the sanctions are a gift, why are they now struggling to destroy this gift?” (State-run daily Arman, November 30, 2021)

Iran experts believe that if the negotiators seek an agreement and wish for the lifting of the sanctions, they must pay the price for it. The price as the columnist of the Jahan-e Sanat daily wrote, ‘The United States wants Iran to set aside its ambitions not only in the use of nuclear energy but also in regional affairs defined by the United States and the great world powers. Accept what the United States calls terrorism and abandon support for terrorism as defined by the United States.”

Tehran is making many maximalist requests, none of which have been accepted by the US government, which has led to a halt in the negotiations.

These are, guarantee by the US government not to impose new sanctions and not re-impose previously lifted sanctions. They asked the US government to unfreeze $10 billion in assets as an initial goodwill gesture. And finally, they asked that the US government should ensure that they will not leave the agreement ever again.

Iran experts say Iran does not have the possibility of any new maneuver, and it is facing a dilemma and must make the final decision.

Either it should step back from its conditions and by accepting the conditions of the world power it must drink from a new poison chalice, or it must face itself with greater problems.

To prevent greater dangers, the state-run daily Setareh-e Sobh suggested to the regime: “The negotiators must be fully aware of the consequences of the JCPOA revival negotiations and try to find a way to at least prevent the negotiations to fail once they have entered into negotiations. This could be, in the short term, opening the door to negotiation or finding a temporary agreement with the joint venture and leaving the door open to negotiate to resolve disputes in the future.” (State-run daily Setareh-e Sobh, November 30, 2021)

Assuming that the regime’s negotiators accept such a situation then the regime must accept a serial of retreats and as the regime’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei said, ‘to be caught in endless decline.’ And in such a situation the regime will get to its final stage which is the confrontation with the people.

If Tehran fails to accept the conditions of the US and EU, it will face a great confrontation in the region.

“The domestic, regional and international situation of the country will be very different from the current situation after the possible failure of the negotiations; Nothing more can be said at this time.” (State-run daily Arman, November 30, 2021)

“If the other side does not agree to the demand, it will put Iran (regime) in a much more difficult situation than before, and it is unlikely that even Russia and China will be willing to support Iran (regime). (State-run daily Shargh, November 30, 2021)

Iranian Teachers Continue To Protest Their Rights Due to the Regime’s Inaction To Resolve Their Demands

Hoshang Amiri
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Iranian Teachers Continue To Protest Their Rights Due to the Regime’s Inaction To Resolve Their Demands

On December 2, Iranian teachers in nearly 50 cities across Iran held demonstrations to protest the Iranian regime’s lack of action and disregard of the demands that the teachers have been making for months since the start of the academic year.

Both working and retired teachers are demanding for a ‘classification plan’ to be implemented, which will divide teachers into five classes and have their salaries adjusted accordingly.

as well as the adjustment of the salaries of retired teachers and for other socio-economic problems they are facing to be addressed.

According to the Iranian opposition, “The rallies were planned and organized in advance. The Iranian Teachers Coordination Council, which had organized the rallies, had declared that the announced budget for teachers in the classification legislation is not enough and the government and parliament are just trying to put something on paper.”

In a statement from the council, they stated that the government has only allocated 25 trillion rials to the classification plan. Of this total, 12.5 trillion rials cover the needs of the teachers for the remainder of this year, with the rest being postponed until the next Persian year which starts in mid-March 2022 if enough funds are available. The regime’s own experts have stated that the plan requires double the allocated amount.

Iranian opposition highlighted that “Demonstrations took place in at least 66 cities in most provinces, including Tehran, Isfahan, Kermanshah, Khuzestan, Yazd, Fars, Qazvin, Mazandaran, Khorasan, Kerman, and Sistan and Baluchestan.”

Teachers in the provinces of Tehran and Alborz gathered in front of the Iranian Majlis (parliament), while in other cities and provinces, rallies took place outside of the education ministry’s offices.

Among the slogans chanted during the demonstrations were, “Detained teachers must be released,” in response to the regime’s repressive actions towards the protests and demands, and “This nation has never seen such injustice.”

The President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), Maryam Rajavi expressed her support for the protest rallies of the hordes of teachers across Iran.

She said, “Khamenei, Raisi, and his cabinet of IRGC terrorists and torturers squander the Iranian people’s assets to make bombs, missiles, and drones. Thus, they keep teachers and other sectors of society under the poverty line.”

The teachers, who have been protesting since September, are rightly disappointed at the regime’s disregard of the problems they are facing. The ratification of the legislation for the classification plan was delayed by the regime for several months, and they are now only addressing a small part of the problems.

The Teachers Coordination Council has also stated that the legislation to adjust the salaries of retired teachers was brought before the Majlis in the summer but has still yet to be discussed during the parliamentary sessions. A number of reports have suggested that the delay in ratifying this legislation is due to a number of MPs who are circulation petitions against it.

The Iranian opposition in this regard said, “The Iranian regime is literally stealing from the country’s teachers by maintaining their salaries at a low level. Many teachers have committed suicide in recent years due to poverty and not being able to provide for their basic needs.”

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