Iran Focus

London, 15 Mar – Donald Trump welcomed the Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to the White House earlier this week, in what has been called a “historic turning point”.

A senior adviser to the Crown Prince gave a statement after the meeting, in which he noted that this marked a shift in relations compared with the relationship under President Obama.

Iran Focus

London, 15 Mar – The Turkish Ambassador to Iran warned that the Regime’s smear campaigns against Turkey were harmful to diplomatic relations.

Riza Hakan Tekin told Anadolu News Agency that tourism allows people to experience the culture of another country and encourages diplomatic relations but that Iran endangered this when their Foreign Ministry warned Iranians against visiting Turkey during the upcoming Nowruz (Iranian New Year) holiday.

Iran Focus

London, 15 Mar – The Iranian Regime is still trying to showcase its military power in an attempt to threaten countries like the US into kowtowing to their demands, but they certainly chose a strange way to do it.

Their new Karrar tank is decades behind the tanks of today; Kyle Mizokami actually called the Karrar tank “meh” in an article on Popular Mechanics.

However, this tank reveal could just be a hoax intended to get Iran a better deal on Russian armour. When a deal to buy several hundred T-90MS battle tanks from Russia fell through, Iran vowed to build their own.

Iran Focus

London, 15 Mar – The Iranian people held Fire Festival Ceremonies across various cities, on March 14, in which they burnt pictures of the Supreme Leader, ridiculed politicians, and chanted anti-Regime slogans.

The militant security forces attempted to stop people from holding a political protest during the festival but they were held off by protesters. The Regime effectively turned a celebration into a battlefield.

Mostafa, a taxi driver in Isfahan said: “Despite the authorities’ efforts to stop this festival by scaring the people of [the risk of] fire to the buildings and themselves, nobody is listening and people are by all means ignoring mullahs’ measures to stop the festivities.”

Iran Focus

London, 14 Mar – The Iranian nuclear deal and uncertainty surrounding whether it will remain in place in causing divisions amongst the Iranian Regime ahead of the May Presidential Elections.

Heshmat Alavi, a political and human rights activist, wrote an op-ed on the divide for The Diplomat, in which he reminded us that while most governments deal with divides via debate and discussion, the Iranian Regime is not most governments.

Iran Focus

London, 14 Mar – On Thursday, March 9, thousands of teachers took to the streets across 22 cities in Iran to protest their economic deprivation and the imprisonment of their fellow educators.

They held sit-ins in front of their local branches of the Ministry of Education, calling for their demands to be met.

They chanted slogans against the policies of suppression, repression and plundering which are carried out by the current Regime, and held signs the read: ‘Detained Teachers Must be Freed’, ‘NO to Prison’, ‘Teachers’ future must be secured’.