Iran Focus

London, 26 Jan – When Donald Trump took office in 2017, he promised to strengthen old US alliances and create new ones, but there was one quasi-alliance that he couldn’t wait to get rid of: Iran.

Trump’s key policies in the Middle East are to limit Iranian influence in the region and to renegotiate or scrap the Iran nuclear deal of 2015, but how is he achieving this?

The Nuclear Deal

A long-time critic of the deal, Trump promised to fix it or rip it up whilst on the campaign trail. During his time in office, his administration has repeatedly cited violations of the deal by the Iranian Regime, which culminated in Trump declaring the Regime non-compliant in October 2017. In January, Trump stated that if the flaws of the nuclear pact are not fixed by May, he will pull the US out of the deal altogether.

Iran Focus

London, 26 Jan – A group of Iranian politicians plan to visit the notorious Evin prison in Tehran, on Sunday, January 28, to inspect the conditions that dozens of political prisoners are living under, but we shouldn’t expect this to be anything more than a PR exercise on behalf of the Regime.

Allahyar Alishahi, the head of the parliamentary judiciary commission, announced the visit in the wake of calls for an investigation into five suspicious deaths in custody in January alone, as well as reports of mistreatment and torture of other political prisoners.

Iran Focus

London, 26 Jan – The widespread anti-regime protests in Iran may have significantly decreased since early January, but don’t be fooled into thinking that the mullahs have won or that the protests weren’t significant.

The mullahs are terrified about what these protests represent for their continued rule and know that it represents the beginning of the end for their dictatorship.

These protests, fuelled by deep economic stress that is not going away anytime soon, spread like wildfire throughout Iran, even taking hold in the Regime’s traditional strongholds. They took on a life of their own, incorporating the many, many issues that the ordinary people have with the Regime, including corruption, human rights abuses, rigged elections, support for terrorism, and foreign warfare.

Iran Focus

London, 25 Jan – The article “We should listen closely to Iran” published on January 25 in Forbes is addressing an important issue that must not be ignored.

The article points out to a very important key question in the aftermath of the outburst of protests in Iran which is so called “Lack of Leadership” while the European governments are debating about what happened and are looking to see who was leading the protests if anyone? It should be noted that there is no doubt what so ever in the mind of top Iranian regime’s official who was guiding and managing the uprising as well as planning its roadmap and future outlooks.

Iran Focus

London, 25 Jan – A number of senior Iranian Regime officials who are affiliated with former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad have requested permission to hold a sit-in protest against the current problems in Iran, including a failing economy, in a letter to Iranian Interior Minister Abdul Ridha Rahmani Fadhli.

The letter, signed by seven officials, read: “The protest is a response to the performance of the three authorities (legislative, executive, and judicial) and some policies and behaviours, especially in terms of economic, legal and social affairs.”

Iran Focus

London, 25 Jan – One persistent myth about the People’s Mojahedin of Iran (PMOI/MEK) is that it is unpopular amongst the Iranian people, but nothing could be further from the truth.

The MEK is the oldest, biggest, and most popular resistance movement in Iran, but it should also go without saying that it far outstrips the Regime’s popularity among the Iranian people.

It is impossible to get precise numbers on support for the MEK within Iran, as Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini declared them to be enemies of the Regime in 1980 and criminalised the pro-democracy movement soon after, but their signs can be seen during every election and at every protest.

Iran Focus

London, 25 Jan – Professor Gawdat Bahgat, of the National Defense University in Washington DC recently cast the Iran protests as dangerous for regional stability and the wrong solution for the conflict between the West and Iran and for what is distressing the Iranian people, in an article for The National Interest.