Spring of freedom

The FATF crises escalates more than ever, haunting the mullahs’ regime In Iran, the fate of bills related to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) remain a subject of controversy and infighting between the two factions of the political elite of the regime ruling Iran, while the  terrorist designation  of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps ( IRGC ) by the U.S. State Department has pushed the issue further in a crisis. Both factions argue the IRGC’s blacklisting proves that their particular approach is the best for the future of the ruling theocracy in Iran. Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, a former member of the IRGC and former mayor of Tehran, who was previously opposed to the FATF bills, has now changed sides. Ghalibaf, a member of the Expediency Discernment Council, where the fate of the aforementioned bills is under review, acknowledged the current pressure on the ruling mullahs. “We can’t walk by the U.S. and other issues like FATF and ignore them. Their...

Iran’s deepening economic crisis A multi-dimensional economic crisis has paralyzed the Iranian regime. While the sanctions’ noose has tightened around the mullahs’ neck, the European mechanism has still yielded nothing of value to compensate for the U.S. sanctions due to the Iranian regime’s unwillingness to pass the FATF anti-money-laundering bills into law. Just a few days ago it was revealed that a deficit of about hundred thousand billion tomans has been hidden among other items in the budget bill in order to present a healthier face for the Islamic Republic of Iran. Tehran’s Friday prayer Imam Mohammad Hassan Aboutorabi Fard described the Iranian government’s budget bill a failed attempt and said: “Let’s look at how many steps have been taken to decrease the country’s dependence on oil income in the budget bill that is about to pass. How many steps have been taken to decrease the amount of energy dependence and management of consumption?” Referring to the impact of inte...

Iran Facing Educational Crisis Iran’s academic year begins at September 23 rd  each year. Though Iran enjoys having geniuses such as late Maryam Mirzakhani, a math genius, the only women recipient of the Fields Medal, the most prestigious award in mathematics, Iran’s educational system has been in crisis for years. In this short paper, I want to focus on the crisis that Iran’s educational system has been facing, plunging for worse in the past decades. At the end of September, millions of students in Iran go back to school. But unfortunately, this year, many families were forced to send their children not to school, but to work, because they are not able to pay the costs of their children’s education and they cannot see ends meet. Iran Facing Educational Crisis In many cities and villages of Iran, though the children yearn to start a new academic year, they end up working at local brick kilns or weaving carpets to support their families. The Iranian regime’s tr...