Congressional Support For #IranProtests
Judge Ted Poe (R-TX) Supports Iran protests on the House Floor 9th January 2018
OIAC
Very Strong Congressional Support On The Hill for Iran’s Recent Uprising and Protests. Rep.Ted Poe from Texas, 9th January 2018. Organization of Iranian American Communities. #IranProtests
Speech of Rep.Tom Suozzi (D- New York) regarding Iran protests, 9th January 2018
OIAC
Very Strong Congressional Support On The Hill for Iran’s Recent Uprising and Protests. Rep.Tom Suozzi from New York, 9th January 2018. Organization of Iranian American Communities. #IranProtests, #FreeIran
#IranProtests Related News-Clips
Iranian Revolutionary Guards: Terror Within And Abroad
Daily Caller
“Cold blooded murders”, a friend of mine cried out recently as she recalled gruesome memories from Iran while reflecting on the newly levied sanctions against Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). Encouraged and emboldened, her voice was filled with anger, determination, and a newfound hope that echoed the braveness of protesters and dissident university students in Iran of today. Her hope is a reminder that terror designation on the IRGC pursuant to Executive Order13224 and related Presidential executive decisions carry a subtle but dual message, affecting not only Iranian regime’s activities abroad, but also its enemies within.
Our knowledge of IRGC’s past and present terrorist behavior within Iran has been abstract at best, hindering the development of a practical international response. The real example alluded to here would perhaps serve as a reminder of its brutality and inform the way forward.
An Iran without the ayatollah is no longer unthinkable
Washington Examiner
This weekend marks the 39th anniversary of Ayatollah Khomeini’s return from exile in 1979 to hijack a popular movement that led to the dismissal of Iran’s monarchy and its dictatorship.
But the largest countrywide uprising since 2009 suggests that the Iranian people are prepared to write the next chapter in their history, and it may happen sooner than Tehran’s Washington lobby would like.
Policy toward Iran has historically been an enigma for Western powers and for Washington in particular. It could even be argued that U.S. policy toward Iran has been the bete noire for bipartisan administrations – Republican and Democrat – since the 1979 revolution. This is partly due to fabrications that the Islamic Republic and its apologists have peddled for decades, including that:…
Iran: Revolutionary Guard Crowdsourcing Protestor Identification
American Enterprise Institute
The protests which erupted on 28 December in Mashhad and spread across Iran caught security forces by surprise. While protestors used social media to rally each other and spread word of events in other cities, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its associated media turned to social media to crowdsource identification of protest leaders.
In the accompanying highlighted tweet from the IRGC-affiliated Tasnim, the news agency is asking its twitter followers to identify suspects. Other IRGC-related websites like Gerdab.ir also engaged in similar campaigns to identify protestors. While the Iranian government has gradually improved its facial recognition capabilities, efforts to mobilize regime supporters to inform on other Iranians suggests that holes still exist in Iranian security force capabilities. It also suggests that the government seeks to create a dynamic by which Iranians must prove themselves and their loyalty by informing on others. Such crowdsourcing also highlights a disincentive for the Iranian government to completely close off access to social media platforms.
#Iran_Human_Rights (Women, Minorities, Ethnics)
Iran: Mass Execution Of 10 Prisoners And Mock Execution of 3 Others 
Iran Freedom
In a situation where the waves of nationwide uprising and the wave of social protests shake, the foundations of the mullahs’ regime, and the Iranian people unanimously demand overthrown of this criminal and ominous system, Khamenei is trying to delay his doomed regime by intensifying killings and executions.On Wednesday morning, February 14th, the regime’s executioners hanged ten prisoners collectively
in a gruesome crime in Gohardasht Prison. The prisoners had been transferred to solitary confinement cells the day before awaiting their death sentence. One of the executed was an Afghan citizen.
The executioners laid 13 prisoners on the execution platform and put nooses around their neck. However, after observing the execution of 10 of their cell-mates, three of them were brought down and taken to their cells while they were not even able to talk after watching such a disturbing scene.
Iran Execution: Six prisoners, Including a Juvenile Offender, Facing Execution In Days
Iran Human Rights
According to a close source, on the morning of Monday, February 12, at least six prisoners from different wards were transferred to solitary confinement at Rajai Shahr Prison to be executed. Most of them were sentenced to death on murder charges.Some of them are identified as: Masoud Taghipour from ward 6, Mohammad Saleh Dolatabadi from ward 10, Morteza Shafiq from ward 10, Saeed Ranjbar from ward 10, and Omid Rostami from ward 5.
Omid Rostami is reportedly sentenced to death on the charge of murder before the age of 18. However, Iran Human Rights (IHR) has not been able to access his documents so far.The prisoners will be certainly executed on Wednesday if they fail to gain the consent of the plaintiffs.
It is worth mentioning that at least three juvenile offenders were hanged at Rajai Shahr, Noshahr, and Bushehr prisons in January. These sentences prove that the Article 91 of the Islamic Penal Code (2013), as well as other articles related to protection of children at risk of retaliation, cannot effectively protect juvenile-offenders from execution.
More Executions In The Cities Of Shiraz And Karaj
Iran Human Rights Monitor
A man was hanged on Sunday January 21 in Adel Abad Prison of Shiraz, according to the state-run Mehr news agency. He was found guilty of murder. The retribution (death) sentence for Hossein Kh. was issued by the Fars Province Penal Court. Two of his accomplices were sentenced to lengthy imprisonment for showing off their knives.
Two other inmates of Karaj Central Prison were executed in the early morning hours of Wednesday, January 17, 2018. Sina, 30, was one victim. The other, unnamed, was a 33-year-old man.
Two other young people who 19 and 20 at the time of their arrest were executed in Mashhad. On Monday, January 15, a 27-year-old prisoner was hanged in Babol prison.
Meanwhile, Abolfazl Chezani, who was arrested at age 15, is now on the verge of execution in Qom prison after serving four years of imprisonment.
Holder Of Ph.D. From Strasburg University And Law Degree From Tehran University Hanged In Rajaie Shahr Prison Amidst Media Silence
Iran Human Rights Monitor
State run media announced the execution of a person they described as “a middle aged man who was charged with establishing a mysticism institution in Tehran” on February 12.
The man was actually Karim Zargar, the head of the Path to Wisdom (Eckankar) Institute, the former head of the Seda and Sima College, law graduate from Tehran University and holder of a maritime law Ph.D. from Strasburg University in France. He was hanged on January 30 in Rajaie Shahr (Gohardasht) Prison in Karaj.
The 64 year old also had a history in cinematic activities. He was the Chief Executive Officer of TV Abroad, the Director of Broadcasting for Channel One, the head of the Seda and Sima (Iranian national TV) College, and the Editor in Chief of Film Report Monthly Journal.
Karimi was arrested on October 2015 after the closure of and arrest of the directors of the Path of Wisdom Institution along with Marjan Davari. He was transferred to Section 209 in Evin Prison. Before this, Erfanian, Marjan Davari’s lawyer had said that Mr. Karim Zargar was the head of the institution who was sentenced to death and that his death sentence had been confirmed.
Finally, amidst media silence, Karim Zargar’s death sentence was carried out on January 30.
Iran- Terrorism Activities (Middle-East)
How The World Views Iran’s Role In Syria
Forbes
As protests across Iran experience a variety of ups and downs following a major surge early this year, a wide array of analysts are seen writing about this important country’s domestic and foreign developments.
More recently, concerns for Tehran are also increasing abroad as its international isolation begins to take its toll.To stand alongside the Iranian people, the international community must raise the cost of Tehran’s belligerence.In a piece some time ago I discussed How Iran Is Losing Europe, especially taking into consideration the distancing of France from Iran and President Emmanuelle Macron’s improving relations with the United States.
Aiding Iraq Is a Mistake While Iran Regime Is Still In Power
Iran Freedom
Iraq is set to get $30 billion to be used for reconstruction plans, but many are questioning why anyone would invest such a substantial sum in a country with deployed militias and rampant corruption.Abdulrahman al-Rashed, the former General Manager of Al Arabiya News Channel, wrote: “Who would want to invest money in a country her militias are deployed and corruption is rampant?There is sectarianism there and the government is weak.”
The contributors to the reconstruction include Turkey, the US, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, and the EU, but there is one country not included in that list that is particularly telling: Iran.If anyone is most responsible for the destruction of Iraq, it’s the Iranian Regime.
History of the IRGC’s grooming of top al-Qaeda members
Iran Freedom
Al Arabiya, 25 October 2017 – There will always be those that ridicule the idea of a pact between Iran and al-Qaeda, due to the Shiite/Sunni divide, but it has been proven many times over, how Shiite Iran will side with radical Sunni groups such as al-Qaeda (AQ) when it comes to fighting a common enemy, and al-Qaeda will do the same, especially when the target is their most hated enemy the US.
The belief by certain commanders in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), is if they could persuade al-Qaeda to come on side in any future conflict with the West, with the offer of financial assistance and weapons, as well as the use of the IRGC’s vast terror and sleeper network; with the aid of Hezbollah, the result would be catastrophic.
Ex-Iran military leader: Western nations use lizards to spy
New York Post
Iran’s former military leader leveled a cold-blooded charge Tuesday – that Western spooks used lizards to “attract atomic waves” as part of their espionage on his country’s nuclear program. Hassan Firuzabadi, top military adviser to leading mullah Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was responding to questions from local journalists on the recent arrest of environmentalists.
He said Western nations had often used tourists, scientists and environmentalists to spy on Iran.”Several years ago, some individuals came to Iran to collect aid for Palestine… We were suspicious of the route they chose,” he told the reformist ILNA news agency, the Times of Israel reported.”In their possessions were a variety of reptile desert species like lizards, chameleons… We found out that their skin attracts atomic waves and that they were nuclear spies who wanted to find out where inside the Islamic Republic of Iran we have uranium mines and where we are engaged in atomic activities,” he said.
Iran- Nuclear Activities
Nikki Haley: The U.N.’s Uncomfortable Truths About Iran
The New York Times
Last week, the United Nations published a report with news a lot of people don’t want to hear. A panel of experts found that Iran is violating a United Nations weapons embargo – specifically, that missiles fired by Yemen’s Houthi rebels into Saudi Arabia last year were made in Iran.
The mullahs in Iran don’t want to hear this news, because it proves Iran is violating its international agreement. Die-hard defenders of the Iran nuclear deal don’t want to hear it because it proves, once again, that the Iranian regime can’t be trusted. And some members of the United Nations don’t want to hear it because it is further proof that Iran is defying Security Council resolutions, and the pressure will be on the U.N. to do something about it.
Iran’s radical Islamic government will likely not stay in power for long
OIAC
The anti-American, radical Islamic theocracy that rules Iran with an iron fist today will likely not be able to hold onto power for much longer. Right now Iran is a ticking time bomb that will explode without a systemic and transformational reform of its economy. And there’s no chance the ruling clerics will make such fundamental reforms.
So at some point this year, growing unemployment, inflation, bankruptcies and declining living standards will inevitably push Iranian citizens back onto the streets in anti-government demonstrations. These could escalate to the point of forcing a change in government.
Iran’s clerical regime will not give up power easily. It is adaptive. Its leaders have outmaneuvered, arrested or assassinated their way out of all previous attempts by Iran’s citizens to challenge state authority. But this time seems to be different. Iran is rapidly approaching a fiscal cliff that expedient short-term fixes cannot make disappear.
Iran devising phone apps for ‘mass surveillance’ of dissidents, new report says
The Washington Times
Iran’s intelligence services have “significantly accelerated” spying on their own citizens in the wake of anti-regime protests that rocked the nation, according to an extensive investigation released Thursday by a leading Iranian exile dissident group.
The Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran, relying on what it says include sources inside the government, contends the country’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Ministry of Intelligence and Security are engaging in “mass surveillance” of protesters and dissidents by employing a web of state-produced mobile phone apps.
Just days after U.S. intelligence warned in its annual “Worldwide Threat Assessment” of increased cyberthreats emanating from Iran, the NCRI report said the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has so successfully deployed its social media spyware that millions of users outside Iran could be exposed to it.
While not immediately verifiable, the assertion marks the latest push by the NCRI, which also has a U.S. branch, to expose what it says are authoritarian and nefarious activities by Tehran. The Iranian regime, in turn, accused the group of having a hand in stoking violent street protests against economic conditions in recent months.
Iran’s Future, In Its Own Words
Forbes
On the very sensitive subject of how Iran plans to confront ongoing protests, described by some as an uprising, all the while attempting to resolve the very issues engulfing the ruling regime, there are critical concerns raising from various voices within.
And considering U.S. President Donald Trump’s powerful State of the Union message, underscoring “America stands with the people of Iran in their courageous struggle for freedom,” the stakes at hand in the months ahead for Tehran are extremely high.
Iran’s state-linked media are a good source, shedding significant and noteworthy light on the seemingly obscure nature of the Iranian regime.The common tone heard in all such messages is hopelessness. Those loyal to the faction of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei see the solution in sacking the regime’s president, Hassan Rouhani.
