Iran Focus
London, 12 Aug – International Youth Day on 12th August is a celebration of young people and a recognition that they are essential elements of change. It encourages the inclusion of young people in peace and security agendas and reaffirms their role in society. International Youth Day is also an encouragement of their ability to play a part in deterring and resolving conflicts.
Iran Focus
London, 12 Aug – There are many different opinions about Iran and the nuclear deal coming from Washington. The Trump administration has just recertified its compliance with the nuclear deal, yet there are also whispers about it pursuing regime change policy with regards to Iran.
Many believe that regime change is the only way to bring an end to the horrific human rights abuses and the only way to achieve democracy for the country. However, there are many apologists and Iran lobbyists that are trying to make us believe otherwise.
Iran Focus
London, 12 Aug – In Iran, ethnic and religious minorities have been on the receiving end of persecution for decades. The human rights record of the country is despicable and women, journalists, artists, and almost every sector of society is pressured by the authorities.
Free speech is punished in Iran at the discretion of agents of the regime. Religious freedom is also inexistent. The regime discriminates against all minorities, but it pays particular attention to Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians.
Iran Focus
London, 12 Aug – Iran has arrested six people for attempting to teach Zumba classes to children, which the totalitarian Regime equates to an attempt to “change lifestyles”.
Four men and two women have been charged for their choice in excercise, which the Iranian Sporting Federation described as “rhythmic motions and dance and are unlawful in any shape and title”, and for not adhering to Iran’s strict hijab dress code.
Hamid Damghani, an official with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), said: “The members of a network teaching and filming Western dances have been identified and arrested.”
Iran Focus
London, 12 Aug – Amnesty International has condemned the Iranian Regime’s “shameful” execution of a man arrested and sentenced to death at 15.
Alireza Tajiki, who reported that he was tortured into confessing, was executed on Thursday, August 10. He was the fourth person, arrested as a child, to be executed in Iran so far in 2017.
Amnesty International reported that this is part of a horrifying pattern where children are sentenced to death in Iran after grossly unfair trials.
Iran Focus
London, 11 Aug – The Iranian Regime is not upholding its obligations under the 2015 nuclear deal, according to Donald Trump on Thursday.
Speaking to reporters at his private golf club in New Jersey, Trump said that he doesn’t believe that Iran is “living up to the spirit of the agreement”.
He said: “They are not in compliance with the agreement and they certainly are not in the spirit of the agreement in compliance, and I think you’ll see some very strong things taking place if they don’t get themselves in compliance.”
Iran Focus
London, 11 Aug – Tensions are growing between Iran and Tajikistan following a Tajik state-TV broadcast which accused Iranian Regime officials of carrying out political assassinations across its country in the 1990s.
On August 8, in a primetime documentary, the Tajik Interior Ministry accused Iran of instigating the 1992-97 Tajikistan civil war, providing support to the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT), which made up part of the Tajik parliament after 1997 but was banned in 2015 and branded a terrorist group, and training IRPT militants on Iranian soil.
Iran Focus
London, 11 Aug – At Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s inauguration last week, one guest in particular sparked a lot of attention; Kim Yong Nam, the speaker of the North Korean parliament.
Iranian state media clamoured at the idea that Yong Nam was second only to Kim Jong UN, the country’s leader, in terms of importance but Arash Azizi on The Daily Beast called foul.
Azizi stated that no one can be entirely sure what the power structures are in such a closed-off and isolated state, and assessed that Yong Nam’s powers were mostly ceremonial.
Iran Focus
London, 11 Aug – Many in the West have described Iranian President Hassan Rouhani as a ‘reformer’ or ‘moderate’ within the Iranian Regime and even cheered his victory in the sham elections this May.
The academics, media personalities, and even diplomats who like to make this false distinction between moderates and hardliners within the despotic Regime have made the ultimate mistake of judging a politician on his campaign promises rather than his actions once in office.
Iran Focus
London, 10 Aug – Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has remained silent about the recent sanctions specifically targeting the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) that were ratified by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Donald Trump.
President Hassan Rouhani, however, has stated, “…first, the Majlis (parliament) will take steps in this regard. If they have the Congress, we have the Majlis.”
