Spring of freedom

The checkmate situation of the Iranian regime The Financial Action Task Force, the world’s de facto standards body on money laundering and combatting the financing of terrorism, issued a stark warning to the Iranian regime last week. “If by June 2019, Iran does not enact the remaining legislation in line with FATF Standards, then the FATF will require increased supervisory examination for branches and subsidiaries of financial institutions based in Iran. The FATF also expects Iran to continue to progress with enabling regulations and other amendments,” FATF’s public statement from February 22 reads. And so, the already controversial remaining FATF bills have entered new levels of inner quarrels between the ruling elite. Behzad Nabavi, former deputy speaker of the Majlis (parliament) and one of the iconic figures of the so-called reformist camp, warns rival conservatives about the consequences of not passing the FATF bills into law and says: “Not passing FATF will bring the...

A Middle East analyst and counter security expert has issued a white paper on the Iranian regime’s terrorist activities on European soil, outlining how the main target of the Regime’s aggression is the Iranian Resistance, specifically the People’s Mujahedin Organisation of Iran ( PMOI/MEK ). Claude Moniquet’s in-depth report, entitled “The Recent Iranian Terrorist Plots in Europe”, examines how the Regime uses terrorism to distract the world from its many crises, including a domestic uprising at home, and punish the MEK for leading the uprising and exposing the Regime’s many flaws to the international community. In the 35-page document, published in February 2019, Moniquet wrote: “In 2018, the Iranian regime, facing a domestic uprising, collapsing economy, and international sanctions, took the decision to step up terrorism on European and US soil against the Iranian opposition movement [MEK].” He explains that the Regime plotted two terrorist attacks against the MEK in 2018; o...

For the last few decades, the approach to the regime from the international community has been  sanctions  but little else. The recent Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) fell short because it did not address the human rights violations and abuses in Iran, as well as the increasing influence of the regime throughout the region. Its support of terrorist activities only increased as sanctions were lifted. With the election of U.S. President  Donald Trump , there is a change in the approach to Iran. The  Trump administration  withdrew the U.S. from the JCPOA in May 2018, but more than that, they have also started to call Iran to account for its actions against the Iranian people. In response, the regime’s terrorist activities, particularly against the  MEK/PMOI  and the Iranian resistance coalition known as the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), have only increased. In the last 18 months, multiple  arrests  have been m...

The World will be a safer place, without state-sponsors of terrorism Unfortunately, we live in a world that the state-sponsors of terrorism threaten global peace and security. It is clear that terrorism reflects the corruption and deterioration of morality and humanity and alienation from the civilized world in the 21st century. There are governments that exploit terrorism as a device to silence dissidents. But in our era terrorism doesn’t stop at this stage. The most well-known of the state-sponsors of terrorism States-sponsors of terrorism defines governments that not only support terrorism but also use it as leverage to advance their foreign policies. They waste the national assets to fund this aim; instead of spending for people’s welfare. The most well-known of such states is the religious fascism ruling Iran, also known as the godfather of terrorism. Though the Iranian regime was not listed by the US State Department on its list of “State-sponsors of terrorism” at first...

  Maryam Rajavi , the president-elect of the Iranian Resistance As we have seen time and time again over the course of this year – and to be honest the past 40 years – the Iranian Regime has tried to attack the Iranian Resistance using terrorist groups and shadowy murder plots. This should frighten anyone with a commitment to human rights and especially freedom of expression, but how can the West – or indeed, the world at large – target the Iranian Regime and hold them accountable for their crimes? Well, luckily,  Maryam Rajavi , the president-elect of the Iranian Resistance, has a simple plan; one that she laid out for the world in a video message to the Brussels-based conference “Iran’s New Wave of Terrorism – The EU and US responses” in October. Maryam Rajavi says that the only way to effectively counter the mullahs’ terrorism is to stand firm against the Iranian Regime, rather than being compelled into “silence and surrender”. Maryam Rajavi said: “The mullahs ...

The Basij targets Afghan immigrants in Iran, some as young as 14 years old, to fight in Syria.” The US Department of Treasury on October 16 designated the Iranian Basij paramilitary forces along with 22 linked companies and financial institutions as  terrorist organizations . The US Treasury’s latest move against the Iranian regime effectively freezes the assets of these organizations and bans US citizens and companies from dealing with companies and financial institutions connected to Basij, the paramilitary wing of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards. Two days later, Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the United Nations said in her  remarks in UN’s Security Council : “In less than two weeks, on October 30, Iran will celebrate Student Basij Day.” “What does Basij Day celebrate? It is the day during the Iran-Iraq War when a 13-year-old boy strapped a live grenade to his body and leaped under an oncoming Iraqi tank. His name was Hossein Fahmideh. Child soldiers like Ho...

Remaining silent vis-à-vis terrorism is the most damaging form of appeasement of the mullah’s regime On October 4, 2018, in Brussels, an important meeting was held by the International Committee in Search of Justice (ISJ). The meeting discussed the topic of “Iran’s New Wave of Terrorism-The EU and US Responses”. Mohammad Mohaddessin, Chairman of  NCRI  Foreign Affairs Committee, Lord Carlile, Member of British House of Lords Dr. Alejo Vidal-Quadras, Chair of ISJ, Former VP of European Parliament, Giulio Terzi, former Italian Foreign Minister, as well as Robert Torricelli, Former US Senator and David Jones, British Member of Parliament addressed the meeting. Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect by the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) , sent a video message to the meeting. Reminding the features of the clerical regime in suppressing Iranian people and exporting terrorism, Mrs. Rajavi pointed to the regime that by using terrorism, wants to compel the ...