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Unsolved Case of Ukraine’s Flight 752 Downed By Iran’s IRGC

Shahin Mahmoudi
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Unsolved Case of Ukraine’s Flight 752 Downed By Iran’s IRGC

Alexei Danilov, secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, the overseer of the Ukrainian government’s investigation into the downing of the Ukrainian airliner in Iran by the regime’s Revolutionary Guards, said in a statement approved by the Foreign Ministry that he believed the Iranian regime had deliberately shot down the plane to possibly prevent a cycle of military tension with the United States.

The Globe and Mail quoting him wrote: “Iran does not allow anybody to examine this tragedy, and they postpone or slow down any investigations. The fact that they are investigating themselves is rather surprising, to it politely, he said in an interview at the NDSC headquarters in Kyiv.

He added: “When they say this was accidental… I don’t buy that. It was intentional. This was a conscious attack.”

Danilov said that when he traveled to Tehran after the plane crash, he expressed his opinion to his Iranian counterpart Ali Shamkhani, but Shamkhani only assured him that his political faction was not involved in the plane crash.

He said: “when I was in Tehran talking to my counterpart, I asked him directly, ‘Why did you this?’ He gave me a very honest reply – that they were not interested in shooting down this plane, but that Iran was a country where different groups of influence exist. There are at least three different military groups under three different commands, including the Revolutionary Guards, but not only them.”

All 167 passengers and nine crew, including 55 Canadian citizens, 30 permanent residents and 53 others who were travelling to Canada via Kyiv, were killed when Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 was shot out of the sky on Jan. 8, 2020.

The Globe and Mail added: “The Government of Ukraine demands a fair and objective investigation by Iran into the causes of the tragedy, ‘Mr. Yenin said in response to e-mailed questions. ‘We don’t believe the version of human error until we see the evidence.’

“Mr. Yenin said Iran had refuse to tell Ukraine the names and ranks of the 10 people Iran says have been charged in connection with the disaster – or even what they were charged with. ‘They never co-operate in a proper manner with Ukraine, he said.”

The Deputy General Prosecutor of Ukraine Gunduz Mammadov accused the leaders of the Iranian regime of deliberately concealing the dimensions of this horrific crime and warned that Ukraine has the legal tools to establish justice and will definitely use them.

Mammadov that Ukraine has only been able to reach information from the media about the downing of the Tehran-Kiev passenger plane, but this information has been hidden in the context of official talks.

Before that, Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry had accused the Iranian regime of manipulating information about an IRGC missile attack on its passenger plane. Ukraine has also stated that the Iranian regime has contradicted the final report on the destruction of the passenger plane.

It has been more than 14 months since the air strike by the Iranian regime‘s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on the passenger plane of Flight 752 of the Ukrainian International Airlines. Nevertheless, the Iranian regime has avoided providing clear information about the cause of the missile attack on the passenger plane.

But this is not all, even after this crime Iran’s government is continuing its crime as the Canadian Intelligence and Security Agency says in its annual report that there are ‘credible reports’ of harassment of families and relatives of victims of the Ukrainian plane victims in Canada.

CBS Canadian media quoted the agency as saying that such actions could be an example of foreign intervention.

Iran’s Government Counts on Fiat Money

Sia Rajabi
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Iran’s Government Counts on Fiat Money

The Iranian government’s financial and Central Bank officials are now speaking about banknote printing in public. Because hiding the government’s financial problems does make any sense more.

Printing fiat money is a blow to the country’s money power and a systematic looting from the peoples’ wealth by the government. It will lead to a huge inflation in the country and have devastating effects on the country’s economy and its smog will burn the people’s eyes, experts say.

About printing fiat money and its reason, some officials said things that are interesting. The state-run daily Arman wrote: “The most important structural factor of inflation in the Iranian economy is the government’s budget deficit. Without the coronavirus crisis, the government’s budget deficit for this year was projected at 130 trillion tomans.

“Traditionally, the government’s budget deficit in the Iranian economy has been offset by the government taking over from the Central Bank, borrowing from the bank and printing banknotes, which increases the monetary base and liquidity, and ultimately has an inflationary effect.” (State-run daily Arman, April 12, 2021)

In March of this year Vahid Shaghaghi, one of the government’s economists, confessed about the government’s malign behavior and said: “In a situation where we are facing a high deficit, there is a double pressure on the resources of banks and the Central Bank, which results in a rial withdrawal from the National Development Fund, for printing banknotes. (State-run daily Arman, April 13, 2021)

Also, in this month, Abdul Nasser Hemmati, Governor of the Central Bank of Iran, in an interview with the State TV Channel Three, announced the debt of 900 trillion tomans of 11 large debtors to the banking system. He confessed about the government’s malign activities to hide its banknote printing with tricks like ‘Currency exchange earnings’ and said: “In 2019 and 2020, parts of the government budget were financed through the National Development Fund’s foreign exchange earnings, which simply means printing money.” (ICANA, April 5, 2021)

Another trick that the government is using to wipe its trace of printing banknotes are the issuance and offer of government bonds. State-run daily Vatan-e-Emrouz on March 16, 2021 wrote: “Since early 2020, the government has issued and offered government bonds to finance the required materials of its budget. According to statistics released by the Central Bank, Treasury and the Ministry of Economy, the government has issued nearly 200 trillion tomans of debt securities since the beginning of this year. These bonds are generally issued with maturities of one to three years and their interest rate has been about 22 percent.”

Two days before this, Vahid Shaghaghi, an economist, wrote that the government’s borrowing from bank resources and selling government property could not cover its budget deficit and said:

“Realization of about 400 trillion tomans of government revenues in the budget depends on the sale of surplus property, shares of state-owned companies, financial and Islamic publications, and the provision of resources from these places is unlikely next year.

“The government does not have the capacity to issue this number of shares and issue financial and Islamic securities, so we will have a high operating balance deficit.”

“In a situation where we are facing a high deficit, there is a double pressure on the resources of banks and the Central Bank, which results in a rial withdrawal from the National Development Fund. And since the reserves in the fund are very limited, we know that any withdrawal from the National Development Fund will be a printing of money.” (State-run daily Arman, March 14, 2021)

The immediate result of the government’s corrupt actions in borrowing from bank resources, and the increase in the exchange rate in 2020, was taking from the people and a dramatically increase in inflation and the price of goods.

In 2020, the inflation of vegetable oil was reported to be about 150 percent, and legumes such as lentils, peas and chickpeas doubled in their price. This shows that the consumer goods in the household basket also faced a significant increase in prices in 2020. After these goods, in the next ranks are butter, soft drinks and machine eggs. It seems that some households have eliminated the consumption of some of these foods due to the high inflation of these goods. Excluding certain foods such as eggs or legumes will cause food poverty for households, especially in low-income deciles.” (Donya-e-Eghtesad, April 11, 2021)

Given that in this year the government still needs to turn to the printing of banknotes, the result is nothing but inflation and deepening poverty in society.

On inflation, the state-run daily Jahan-e-Sanat on April 12, 2021 wrote: “We are still at the beginning of the year and it is not clear what will happen in the coming months. However, it is predicted that the average inflation rate in 2021 will be higher than the inflation in 2020. It is speculated that high inflation will hit the economy this year and given that income levels have not adjusted in line with inflation over the past few years, people will be under severe inflationary pressure.”

Execution Record Under Rouhani Demonstrates Meaninglessness of “Moderation” in Iran

Jubin Katiraie
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Execution Record Under Rouhani Demonstrates Meaninglessness of “Moderation” in Iran

On Tuesday, the organization Iran Human Rights published a 120-page report, co-authored by Together Against the Death Penalty, detailing the usage of capital punishment in Iran since the election of President Hassan Rouhani. The report noted a significant increase in the total number of executions compared to the period overseen by Rouhani’s avowedly hardline predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The findings seemingly reinforce the conclusion that many Iranian dissidents and human rights activists made immediately after the current president took office in 2013, namely that expectations of reform under his leadership were groundless.

Rouhani’s election came as a surprise to many observers of Iranian affairs, given that he was not the favored candidate of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei or any other powerful hardline official. This in turn led some commentators to describe the 2013 election as a partial vindication of Green Movement from four year earlier, which emerged grew out of disputes regarding Ahmadinejad’s supposed election. But underlying the expressions of surprise was recognition of the fact that clerical authorities wield tight control over the electoral process, particularly via the Guardian Council’s power to bar undesirable candidates.

Dissident groups like the National Council of Resistance of Iran highlighted this feature of the ruling system in order to argue that if Rouhani’s election was, at best, a concession in name only. Many of Rouhani’s early supporters seemed to embrace this conclusion during his first term in office, which was marked by inaction on virtually all of the progressive talking points that had defined his campaign.

It is generally understood that when the Islamic Republic holds its next presidential election in June, Rouhani’s successor will be drawn from the hardline faction that is closely associated with Khamenei and the regime’s paramilitary force, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Some Western policymakers have expressed concern over the impact this transition may have on negotiations regarding Iran’s nuclear program. But Tehran has already taken a distinctly hardline position on the status of the 2015 agreement known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, and Rouhani has personally insisted that the US must remove all sanctions before Iran takes any steps back toward compliance with the restrictions that deal imposed.

Of course, the deal itself was harshly derided by some Western policymakers as well as by representatives of Iran’s regional adversaries. Skepticism about the regime’s supposed moderation under Rouhani’s nominal leadership helped to drive the US withdrawal, in May 2018, under then-President Donald Trump. His successor, Joe Biden, has signaled willingness to rejoin the pact, but the two sides are recognizably at an impasse and the European signatories are struggling to achieve a breakthrough before Rouhani is replaced.

The potential implications for the JCPOA are unclear, but what is even less clear is what, if any, practical impact Rouhani’s exit will have on domestic affairs in the Islamic Republic. The recent report on capital punishment raises the possibility that a “hardline” presidency could actually coincide with a downturn in certain indicators such as the number of executions. More to the point, the report reinforces the NCRI’s position that the political affiliation of leading figures is irrelevant as long as the existing system of government remains in place. In recent years, that position has been publicly embraced by large numbers of Iranian citizens, via their participation in at least three nationwide uprisings that featured slogans such as, “Hardliners and reformists: the game is over!”

The first of those uprisings took place in December 2017 and January 2018, and encompassed well over 100 cities and towns. A subsequent uprising in November 2019 saw participation in nearly 200 localities and also led to perhaps the most severe political repression since the 1980s. In a matter of only days, the Revolutionary Guards fatally shot approximately 1,500 people, while another 12,000 were arrested. Many of those arrestees were subjected to torture over a period of weeks and months, and a full accounting of the death toll may never been known.

Naturally, deaths from shooting incidents and torturous interrogation are not counted in the official tally of the regime’s executions. This goes to show that the difference in scale of government-sanctioned killing under Ahmadinejad and Rouhani may be even greater than the Iran Human Rights report suggests. While acknowledging that all Iranian death penalty statistics are estimates, the report concludes that 3,327 people were hanged during eight years of the Ahmadinejad administration, and about 4,050 have been hanged so far during Rouhani’s. This breaks down to an average of 35 executions per month in the first place, and 45 per month in the second.

This is contrary to what one might expect if one were to focus solely on news that comports with Rouhani’s moderate public image. In 2017, the Iranian parliament changed the law to allow for lesser sentences in the case of non-violent drug crimes that traditionally accounted for the majority of the country’s executions. This should have led to a precipitous drop in annual death penalty statistics, but in reality the drop-off was modest and was preceded by an especially prolific period of executions.

What’s more, the number of hangings soon began to rise again, owing both to capricious application of the parliamentary reform and to an increase in the pace of implementation for other types of death sentences, including sentences for political charges like “enmity against God” and “spreading corruption on earth.” Iran Human Rights Monitor recently reported that after a 20-day pause in hangings around the time of the Iranian New Year holiday, Nowruz, the Iranian judiciary implemented at least 14 capital sentences during a one-week period.

Although Iran Human Rights acknowledged that the judiciary is technically independent of the presidency, it also emphasized that this does not necessarily absolve the president of responsibility for the overall pace of execution or other forms of corporal punishment. At no point since he took office has Rouhani lived up to his moderate credentials by urging clemency or speaking out publicly against instances of politically motivated execution or execution for crimes that do not rise to the international standard for “most serious.”

Although it is virtually certain that Rouhani’s successor will be similarly deferent to the judiciary and to other hardline authorities, the final months of his eight year administration will most likely reinforce one legacy ahead of all others: confirmation that a moderate public image makes little to no practical difference where the character of an official in the Islamic Republic of Iran is concerned.

Iran’s Government Has Just $4 Billion in Gross Official Reserves

Pooya Stone
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Iran’s Government Has Just $4 Billion in Gross Official Reserves

Three day ago, the International Monetary Fund reported about Iran’s economic situation and pointed to its “gross official reserves.”

“These reserves have fallen from $122.5 billion in 2018 to $4 billion in 2019,” wrote the state-run daily Entekhab, on April 12, 2021.

This report pictured a wider image of the tensity of the country’s economic crisis. About the gross official reserves, this report added that from 2000 to 2018 Iran had $71 billion in its reserves. This reached its highest point in 2018 with $122.5 billion but experienced an expedited fall in that period. In one year, these reserves shrank to $12.4 billion and in 2020 it fell to $4 billion.

The Iranian government has other reserves too, which of course are blocked because of the sanctions and are out of the hands of the government. These reserves reach an amount of $36 billion, and the government was expected to have access to them as a positive result of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) negotiations.

But now the entire amount of the reserves is only $40 billion, which are accessible. The Iranian government has used more than $82 billion of these reserves for its nuclear projects and its policies in the Middle East countries while none of these policies are in the favor of the country and the people.

People’s and society’s challenges like inflation, liquidity, high prices and of course the Covid-19 vaccination are fully ignored, according to dissidents.

One of the consequences of the fall in gross official reserves for the government is an increase in the price of foreign currency inside the country, which rose from 17,000 tomans at the beginning of 2019 to 32,000 tomans and is currently in the range of 25,000 tomans.

The Central Bank governor said last year that $280 billion in foreign exchange had been injected into the market over the past 15 years. That is $18 billion a year to control a turbulent market. And of course, in return, it has imposed a flood of liquidity into this shattered economy, so that at the cost of compensating for the budget deficit of Hassan Rouhani’s government, the inflation rate reached 50-60 percent, especially for basic goods, and put the Iranian people on an empty table.

The Central Bank’s own statistics in this regard are more telling than any other analysis. Liquidity was less than 500 trillion tomans at the beginning of Rouhani’s tenure, but last year it reached 3200 trillion tomans.

“The International Monetary Fund also reports that Iran’s inflation rate was 36.5 percent last year and will reach 39 percent this year.” (State-run daily Eghtesad News, April 12, 2021)

Like any other issue when this government is facing unbelievable and shocking revelations, it begins to deny anything and this case it not an exception too. The Chairman of the Central Bank of Iran said: “As the information about these sources and their status is in the possession of the Central Bank, the statements of irresponsible people in this regard are not documented.” (State-run news agency Mehr, April 13, 2021)

Governments in Iran have always incurred huge amounts of consecutive debts by borrowing from the Central Bank and other banks in the country. According to the report, the net debt of the Iranian government from the beginning of 2000 to 2017 averaged 5.1 percent of GDP, but last year this figure peaked at 35.7 percent of GDP, equivalent to $227 billion.

If we calculate this amount of debt at the free rate of the dollar, it is six times the general budget of the government of Rouhani in 2021. Also, the existence of negative economic growth rates in 2018 and 2019, which were negative 6 percent and negative 6.8 percent, can no longer be denied.

Another feature of Iran’s collapsed economy are the hundreds of bankrupted enterprises and production centers around the country. Farshad Momeni, a government economist, said: “The number of bankrupt firms is growing dramatically. Official reports say that the number of enterprises in the country has increased from 16,800 in 2005 to 14,452 in 2014. While we had more than 2,500 bankrupt units.” (ILNA, April 13, 2021)

He also emphasized the horizons facing producers and government employees, i.e. those who the government is putting its foot on their throat to compensate for its budget deficit, and said:

“At a time when production is on the verge of collapse, the government is making life harder for producers by manipulating key prices due to its financial constraints. After fixed wage earners, who are among the most vulnerable social groups, taxing is affecting mostly the producers.”

Retirees’ Protests Mirror Explosive Situation of Iran’s Society

Hoshang Amiri
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Retirees’ Protests Mirror Explosive Situation of Iran’s Society

It is not an exaggeration to say Iranian society is on the verge of collapse and a social explosion. At every corner of the country we are witnessing daily protests by all strata. From the students to the workers to the retirees and women, who have nothing more to lose anymore.

One example are the retirees who now for the third time since the Persian New Year have taken to the streets to protest their miserable livelihood situation and low wages, which are breaking their backs under the burden of high costs and inflation.

Their protest this time took place in Tehran and 26 other cities while the regime’s police force was fully prepared and tried to prevent anyone from filming and or joining them by attacking the protesters.

The repetition of the protests and its maturation into three protest movements this year shows the social readiness. This fact is clearly crystallized in the slogan of the retirees.

“For as long as we do not get our rights, we will come here every Sunday.”

“Only on the streets will we gain our rights.”

Reaching the point that only by coming to the streets to gain the rights is a blessed achievement for the social movement and a serious alarm for the regime.

The regime’s options are very limited. On the one hand it cannot repress these protests because it fears the consequences of the spread of these protests. On the other hand, it cannot ignore them because it will have the same effect and more people will join these protests. This is a situation in which the regime is stuck.

In a situation whereby the regime needs a silent society to run its presidential election, such protests are very dangerous. Among the protesters’ recent chants were: “We will not vote anymore, because we have heard too many lies.”

This slogan targeting the regime’s election. Its repetition and expansion is very dangerous for the regime’s legitimacy.

The regime’s officials are well aware that any mistake could well be their last mistake, especially because of a society after the November 2019 protests. Previously the regime’s Parliament Speaker Mohamad Bagher Ghalibaf said:

“Today we face various challenges in the system. We are witnessing economic problems in the system. People’s livelihoods are under pressure to the extent that the issue of supplying and distributing chicken simply plays with the people’s soul.

“These issues are due to poor management, not lack of resources. Today, the enemies enter the economy to weaken the system, so the dichotomy of poverty and wealth has become more important to the system than the dichotomy of war and peace. If the demands are not answered accurately, in a timely manner and quickly, we will face different problems every day.”

He was evidently confessing to the self-made social gap in the society and its danger for the regime, which will lead to more protests as he said that ‘we face different problems every day.’

“The mentioned inefficiencies cause problems that the police have to bear the burden of, and any action in this direction causes various problems.” (ISNA, April 10, 2021)

While requesting more law enforcement and the allocation of more resources to it, Ghalibaf was trying to reduce and cover up the people’s hatred and disgust for these forces and said: “Today, law enforcement is at the heart of people’s lives, and NAJA (police) commanders often meet with people more than their own forces, so it is important to know the phenomena before taking any action. NAJA is successful when it can move actively and ahead of phenomena.”

‘Moving actively and ahead of phenomena’, means that the regime’s forces should have the society’s pulse in their hands, to predict any uprising and prevent it in time.

Tragedy of Iran’s Student Dropouts, An Ominous Gift From the Rulers

Hoshang Amiri
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Tragedy of Iran’s Student Dropouts, An Ominous Gift From the Rulers

Iranian lawmaker Behrouz Mohebi pointed to the 30 to 40 percent rate of student dropouts in Iran and showed his concern about the consequences for the country.

In his opinion one of the reasons for such a phenomenon is ‘the lack of proper infrastructure for using software and internet space for virtual education’ in many cities which forces the students to drop out. (ILNA, April 2, 2021)

The Arman state-run daily pointed to one of the societies’ concerns over ‘the situation of those students’ who are forced, ‘because of the lack of a smartphone or tablet are forced to dropout,’ and spoke ‘about the uncertain educational fate of 6 million students.” (State-run daily Arman, April 3, 2021)

In the Khorasan Razavi province, there are more than 40,000 student dropouts which is indicating a 300 percent increase in students leaving school in this province, while independent watchers are seeing this number much higher than this in this province and of course in the country.

But this situation is not specialized just to the last year and because of the coronavirus outbreak. Many students due to extreme poverty quit their school and are working on the streets as vendors to provide a livelihood for their families, endangered by social hazards and addiction.

Javad Hosseini, Deputy Minister of Education, said that 5 million of the students who drop out are not benefiting from smart devices for their education.

And the state-run daily Mouj which quoted this expression added that this statistic is more than just a news announcement, but a social catastrophe.

This is while in any country, children are the creators of the future of the country, and they must grow in a proper educational system and bear the burden of responsibility, guidance, and growth of the country.

But with the conditions mentioned above, children and students in Iran are far from this goal, because the educational system in Iran is burning out the country’s talents.

And children who are going to school also have to learn in miserable conditions. Difficult living and educational conditions will force them in the future to drop out of school, willingly or unwillingly, joining the working children and street children. The catastrophic situation of the classrooms and schools is further exacerbating this situation.

Eskandar Momeni, Secretary General of the Anti-Drug Headquarters, said: “A careful survey was conducted in the community and the result was that 90 percent of students who drop out the school, they turn to one of the social harms such as addiction. (State-run daily Khabar Fori, January 5, 2021)

Another issue that accelerates the process of children dropping out is frustration about the future after their graduation. Seeing the educated unemployed youth, they prefer to leave school so that they may be able to find work. But because there is no employment for them, they are trapped in various social harms.

What is happening to the children of Iran and their education is not the result of ignorance or negligence, but the result of the government looting and corruption, whose first target are children and adolescents of Iran, dissidents say.

Iran’s Internal and External Security Weaknesses

Mehdi Hosseini
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Iran’s Internal and External Security Weaknesses

The Iranian government is facing extreme security crises. The latest explosion at Iran’s uranium enrichment facility in Natanz speaks volumes about this situation. Crises which are now joining the social crises and making the situation even worse for the government. Another fact about its weakness is its isolation in the region.

These situations cumulated show the government is in a process of deep decay. Many of its forces have now defected and are working for foreign services, as it was seen in the assassination of the Mohsen Fakhrizadeh Mahabadi, a commander of the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) and a senior official in the nuclear program of Iran.

Similarly, the latest explosion in Natanz’s nuclear facility shows how deep the intelligence services of other nations have penetrated the most important security centers, which is alarming for the regime and shows its weakness.

There is also another conclusion to be made from the Natanz explosion. Despite what Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei and commanders of the Revolutionary Guards want to show, their forces are weak in confronting the people.

The state-run daily Setareh-e-Sobh on April 13, describing the current critical situation of the regime in the region, in an article by a government expert wrote:

“With the strengthening of Israel’s military and security alliances with the sheikhdoms in the Persian Gulf, the regime’s security links in the region have become more limited, and the level of pressure from those countries is increasing. Issues such as the Saviz ship, attacks on Syrian positions and the recent incident in Natanz show this.

“Meanwhile, the recent incident in Natanz has another message, and that message is that, unfortunately, the country’s defense and security system is in trouble against foreign sabotage, including the Israeli regime’s attack on nuclear sites, and this major weakness needs to be compensated as soon as possible.”

Ali Bigdeli, a government expert, said about the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) talks with world powers in Vienna:

“As livelihood and economic problems put pressure on the Iranian people, the diplomatic team needs to do its utmost to resolve the issue of the JCPOA by taking on the task from within. If the system fails to resolve this issue in the current situation, [US President Joe] Biden would also conclude that he must return to the Arab and Israeli worlds and increase the pressure on (the regime).

“So, my suggestion is that the authorities show more flexibility at this critical juncture. To say that a verification should be done is not in the text of JCPOA at all, and the United States cannot promise that a French or German company, for example, would come and invest in Iran.

“These issues also depend on Iran’s foreign trade policies and the acceptance of certain international rules and regulations, such as the FATF Bills, and to expect countries to commit to Iran’s corporate trade cooperation is an expectation beyond the basics of political science. Therefore, it is hoped that on Wednesday, when the diplomatic team enters a new round of negotiations on the revival of the JCPOA in Vienna, they will negotiate more flexibly.”

The state-run daily Setareh-e-Sobh wrote about the incident at the Natanz nuclear facility:

“This is not the first time that the finger of blame for the events and issues is pointing at Israel. On July 2, 2020, an incident that led to the failure of the Natanz Advanced Centrifuge Assembly Center was announced as Israel’s doing by some media outlets. Also on April 7, this year, the attack on the Iranian ship ‘Saviz’ in the Red Sea was attributed to Israel.

“Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, head of the Research and Innovation Organization of the Ministry of Defense, was assassinated on November 27, 2020 in the ‘Ab Sard’ city of Damavand after a car exploded by firing with a remote-controlled machine gun.

“From 2009 to 2011, prominent Iranian nuclear figures and scientists, including Dr. Majid Shahriari, Dr. Masoud Ali Mohammadi, Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, and Dariush Rezainejad, were martyred during operations by attaching magnetic bombs to their cars, where the Ministry of Intelligence named Mossad as one of its perpetrators.”

Hesamodin Ashna, security advisor of Iran’s president Hassan Rouhani, showed the extremely weak position of his government as he said: “Iranians will continue their activities in both Natanz and Vienna. In Natanz by increasing the power of enrichment machines and in Vienna by reducing the bargaining power of the western sides.”

Which is a vise versa request for the continuation of the negotiations.

Spying On Iranian Citizens Among the Provisions of Agreement With China

Shahin Mahmoudi
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Spying On Iranian Citizens Among the Provisions of Agreement With China

After the Iranian government signed a 25-year contract with China last month, the concerns of Iran’s people are becoming real. Until now many parts of the contract have not been made public and parts of it which are now public are not telling the truth about the dark purpose harming the people and the interests of the country.

Now after two weeks it has become clear that one part of it is the government’s goal of spying on the people with the help of China by gaining full control over the internet.

Iran’s government has a long history of internet censorship and is one of the worst countries in the world for internet freedom. The Telecommunication Company of Iran (TCI), the Ministry of Culture, the Islamic Guidance, the Intelligence Ministry and the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) are working together to put a strict control on the internet, according to Iran experts. Working alongside native internet service providers (ISPs) to implement content-control software of the websites and email and spying on the people’s communication in the social media.

In 2010, Reporters Without Borders included Iran on its list of 13 countries designated as “Enemies of the Internet”. And on Freedom House’s internet freedom status map, Iran has a score of 15 from 100 which is indicated as ‘not free.’

This score was based on three areas that Freedom House tracked:

  • 7 out of 25 points for obstacles to access
  • 5 out of 35 points for limits on content
  • 3 out of 40 points for violations of user rights.

The report noted that Iranian authorities have a 42,000-strong army of volunteers who monitor online speech. Key internet controls used by the regime included:

  • Social media or communications platforms blocked
  • Political, social, or religious content blocked
  • Progovernment commentators manipulate online discussions
  • Blogger or ICT user arrested, imprisoned, or in prolonged detention for political or social content
  • Blogger or ICT user physically attacked or killed (including in custody)
  • Technical attacks against government critics or human rights organization

By alibis like “counter-revolutionary”, “anti-Islamic” or “anti-social” the government is trying to restrict the people’s access to the internet, while in truth they are fearing the people’s awareness over a free world and their connection with the regime’s opposition. The goal is to prevent any protests and voices against its rule, according to activists.

The application of internet censorship and its enforcement is the responsibility of the so-called Supreme Council of Virtual Space.

In one its latest enactments on September 15, 2020, this council in its 66th meeting approved the so-called ‘Master Plan and Architecture of the National Information Network’, which was informed to the regime’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei, and its start was approved by the Secretary of this council on October 7, 2020.

This is just one of the many levers of Iran’s government to crack down on the people’s access to the internet. The Committee to Determine Instances of Criminal Content (CDICC) makes the decisions on censorship, which is just a cover for the censorship of opponent voices.

In the protests of the past years, there were multiple reports that mobile data and foreign websites were difficult to access, which could be an indication that traffic is being blocked or throttled.

In 2016, Iran invested $36 million to develop “smart filtering” technology. This was based on existing Chinese software. The software would allow authorities to censor the internet access of its citizens selectively.

The 25-year Iran-China contract not only is selling the country to China, but is also taking away the people’s freedoms. In an interview with the state-run Mehr news agency, Mahmoud Nabavian, one of the regime’s clerics and the Vice Chairman of the Commission of Principle 90 of the regime’s parliament, said about the regime desire on internet control:

“At the moment, unfortunately, we do not have control over cyberspace, search engines, social media, and e-mail, and we have lost control of it, and it is very important for us to be able to control our cyberspace by working with the Chinese. Produce tablets, laptops and mobile phones and cooperate with China in the field of artificial intelligence.” (State-run news agency Mehr, April 11, 2021)

For the government of Iran and Khamenei, apparently, it seems that cyberspace is the Achilles’ heel. So, it is using any source to restrict this tool of the free world, mostly with the help of countries who are appeasing this regime.

Iran Sentences Two Protesters to 13 Years

Sia Rajabi
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Iran Sentences Two Protesters to 13 Years

The Iranian Judiciary handed down long prison sentences to two protesters arrested during the November 2019 nationwide protests.

Jalal Namdari, from Kermanshah, and Saeed Khaledi, from Paveh, were sentenced to a total of 13 years in prison for taking part in the anti-regime protests that sprung up following the government’s overnight tripling of fuel prices.

Khaledi will serve three years for “acting against the national security and cooperation with dissident opposition groups” and another year for “spreading propaganda against the establishment”. While Namdari will serve five years on the charge of “acting against the national security and cooperation with the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK)” and another three for “assembling and collusion for crimes by participating and encouraging people to participate in the November protests”.

Namdari, currently held in Kermanshah’s Diesel Abad prison, was arrested on December 30, 2020, by the Revolutionary Guards’ (IRGC) intelligence unit. Khaledi was arrested just after and released on bail until the verdict.

This comes at a time of increased worry over human rights abuses of the many thousands arrested during the November 2019 protests, which doesn’t even account for the 1,500 killed by the security forces, as they opened fire on huge crowds.

Amnesty International reported in September 2020: “[Our] research shows that many of the arrests took place during the five days of protests, but, in the days and weeks that followed, the pattern of mass arrests continued, particularly in provinces that had suffered high death tolls in a context in which the authorities had stationed significant numbers of security vehicles and personnel in public places to deter further protests.”

Eight high ranking IRGC figures and three Iranian prisons were sanctioned by the European Union on Monday for their role in the November 2019 protests. This included Revolutionary Guards head Hossein Salami who, according to the EU, “took part in the sessions that resulted in the orders to use lethal force to suppress the November 2019 protests [meaning he] bears responsibility for serious human rights violations in Iran”.

Maryam Rajavi, the President of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), welcomed the sanctions saying that “firmness is the only language Iran’s ruling mullahs understand”. She went on to say that the IRGC and Intelligence Ministry (MOIS) should be sanctioned as a whole, with their assets in Europe expelled.

She wrote on Twitter: “They’re not political refugees or ordinary citizens, but MOIS spies and terrorists.”

Iran: Economic With the Truth

Jubin Katiraie
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Iran: Economic With the Truth

Iranian officials alternate from saying that their economy is doing fantastically despite international sanction and saying that it’s failing because of US sanctions. Trouble is, neither of these statements is true and a quick look at the data proves that the economic crisis is down to the mullahs’ misguided policies and institutionalized corruption.

The state-run Jahan-e Sanat daily warned last week that “economic freefall is on the horizon”. In fact, they likened the situation to that of having a “painful and fatal heart attack and [slipping] into a long coma” if nothing is done to cure the problems.

They quoted economist Mohsen Rannani as saying: “Economic and social crisis has driven the country to a dangerous point. If [authorities] do not act quickly to control and manage these crises. In that case, the country will enter an irreversible path.”

Meanwhile, former Minister of Urban Development Abbas Akhundi said that the country’s inflation rate since 1969 is a horrific and disturbing “546845%”. He further explained that national investment growth over the past nine years has been “negative 6.8%”, which means that investment has gone down to 52% compared with 2011 and that the inflation rate increase next year will mean “absolute poverty”.

The Iranian Resistance wrote: “In other words, Iran’s economy under the mullahs’ regime has no solution. People pay the price of the regime’s economic mismanagement and corruption. For example, while Iran is going through the fourth wave of the coronavirus outbreak, thousands of Iranians stand in long lines to purchase poultry at the government-set price.”

Yes, the Iranian people are finding it hard to buy even basic food items, like chicken, eggs, fruits, and vegetables, because of inflation and price rises above inflation. Their purchasing power has dropped considerably and this is concerning for industries across the board.

Despite this, the government claims to have controlled the crisis, but how can they when the situation is so dire on the streets? And how can they blame sanctions when the rulling system has been wasting money on terrorism and printing bills to meet the budget deficit?

The Siyasat-e Rouz daily wrote Wednesday: “Tying all problems to sanctions is going on for years. Sanctions are not the reason for all of Iran’s economic crises. According to economic and political experts, 30% of problems are due to sanctions, but 70% of problems are due to mismanagement, [wrong] decisions, and governments’ planning. Should we blame sanctions for skyrocketing prices and the scarcity of poultry? [the regime’s] recklessness and disabilities are not involved in this [crisis]?”

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