Brief on Iran (BOI – 440)

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House commends Iranian protesters in bipartisan vote
PBS, January 25, 2023

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. House overwhelmingly approved a resolution Wednesday expressing solidarity with people in Iran who have been risking imprisonment and even death to protest against the country’s theocracy.
The 420-1 vote marked the latest round of international condemnation against Iran’s government, which has engaged in a brutal crackdown of its citizenry since the September death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody.
“It is vital that we in the U.S. House of Representatives, a body that is among the greatest symbols of freedom and democracy around the world, stand with one voice to affirm our support for the brave Iranian people,” Rep. Claudia Tenney, R-N.Y., said during floor debate Wednesday. Read More

Treasury Sanctions the IRGC Cooperative Foundation and Senior Iranian Officials Connected to Protest Suppression
Treasury.gov, January 23, 2023

WASHINGTON — Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is designating Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Cooperative Foundation and five of its board members, the Deputy Minister of Intelligence and Security, and four senior IRGC commanders in Iran under human rights authorities. Today’s action, in coordination with both the United Kingdom and European Union, targets a key economic pillar of the IRGC, which funds much of the regime’s brutal suppression; as well as senior security officials coordinating Tehran’s crackdown at the national and provincial levels.
“The United States remains committed to supporting the Iranian people in their demands for human rights and other fundamental freedoms,” said Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson. “Along with our partners, we will continue to hold the Iranian regime accountable so long as it relies upon violence, sham trials, the execution of protestors, and other means of suppressing its people.” Read More

EU imposes new Iran sanctions, won’t brand Guards ‘terrorists’ for now
Reuters, January 23, 2023

BRUSSELS, Jan 23 (Reuters) – The European Union on Monday imposed sanctions on more than 30 Iranian officials and organisations, including units of the powerful Revolutionary Guards, blaming them for a “brutal” crackdown on protesters and other human rights abuses.
The United States and Britain have also issued new sanctions against Iran, reflecting a deterioration in the West’s already dire relations with Tehran in recent months.
Foreign ministers from the EU’s 27 member countries agreed the measures at a meeting in Brussels.
The sanctions targeted units and senior officials of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) across Iran, including in Sunni-populated areas where the state crackdown has been intense, a list published in the EU’s Official Journal showed. Read More

Despite crackdown, Iran protesters still challenging regime
Despite a slackening of street activity in the face of a brutal crackdown, Iranian protesters are still challenging the Islamic regime four months into their movement, observers say.
France 24, January 22, 2023

Paris (AFP) –There have been fewer daily street protests nationwide since November as the authorities seek to quell the protests with methods including capital punishment, which has already seen four protest-related executions.
But the anger unleashed by the death in mid-September of Mahsa Amini, who had been arrested for violating the Islamic republic’s strict dress rules, has not subsided. At a time of economic crisis, it still poses a potential threat to the regime. Meanwhile protests have taken on different forms, notably including strikes.
Mass street actions continue in some regions, and there have been tentative signs of division within the regime.
“With the number of protests diminishing since mid-November 2022, it appears that a stalemate has set in, with neither the regime nor the protesters’ side being able to overwhelm the other,” said Ali Fathollah-Nejad, Iran expert with the American University of Beirut’s Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs.
“Revolutionary processes usually entail phases of both relative calm and uproar. Read More

Not Heard Elsewhere
News From Inside Iran
Compiled by NCRI
This informative bulletin is updated regularly
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