Spring of freedom

Archive photo: Struan Stevenson, former MEP, and coordinator of the Campaign for Iran Change (CiC), speaking at the Geneva Conference on the situation of human rights in Iran The former member of the European Parliament Struan Stevenson published an  op-ed for UPI  on Thursday, April 25. He used the opportunity to urge the US government to maintain its application of financial pressure on the Iranian regime and end its reign of violence and tyranny. Stevenson called President Trump’s decision to end waivers for Turkey, Iraq, India, Japan, and China that permitted them to continue purchasing Iranian oil “the final nail” in “the mullahs’ coffin.” For Stevenson, this was a necessary move to slash Iranian oil exports closer to “zero” goal. STRUAN @STRUANSTEVENSON My article in @ UPI Decision to cancel the temporary waivers that had enabled some countries to continue purchasing # Iran 's oil has hammered the final nail into the mullahs' coffin # MEK @ Se...

President Donald Trump announced on Monday, April 8, 2019, that the United States is designating Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) a foreign “terrorist organization” as part of an effort to increase international pressure on the country. It is the first time the US has labeled another nation’s military as a terrorist organization. The White House said the IRGC was Iran’s primary means of “implementing its global terrorist campaign”. This designation ends the façade that the IRGC is part of a normal military. Labeling the IRGC as a terrorist organization will allow the US to impose further sanctions – particularly affecting the business sector. The IRGC is not only Iran’s most powerful military force but also dominates the country’s key economic sectors, such as energy, construction, telecommunication, media, mining, electronics, automobile, banking, nuclear, and more. While IRGC leaders claim their involveme...

The US condemned on Tuesday the appointment of a notorious ayatollah, responsible for the deaths of thousands of political prisoners in the 1980s, to head Iran’s all-powerful Judiciary. US State Department’s Deputy Spokesperson Robert Palladino tweeted, in both Farsi and English, that the appointment of conservative cleric Ebrahim Raisi was a “disgrace”, given that he served on the Tehran Death Committee that sent thousands of political prisoners to the gallows in the  summer of 1988 . Palladino said: “Ebrahim Raisi, involved in mass executions of political prisoners, was chosen to lead Iran’s judiciary. What a disgrace! The regime makes a mockery of the legal process by allowing unfair trials and inhumane prison conditions. Iranians deserve better!” Robert Palladino ✔ @StateDeputySPOX Ebrahim Raeesi, involved in mass executions of political prisoners, was chosen to lead # Iran ’s judiciary. What a disgrace! The regime makes a mockery of the legal proc...

 The Iranian government used George W. Bush and Barack Obama to promote its own interests and now Donald Trump is left to deal with the fallout. Bush was warned that Iran was the major threat in the Middle East, not Iraq; that the mullahs would make life hell for US troops if he invaded Iran; and that Iran wanted to take control of Iraq. But why? Well, Iraq was home to a group exiled from Iran, the People’s Mujahadeen of Iran ( PMOI/MEK ), who were fighting for a free Iran. The MEK has been a great threat to the continued rule of the mullahs since the early 1980s, which is why they’ve executed over 120,000 MEK members and smeared them as terrorists in the Western media. So when tensions between Iraq and the US flared up, Iran saw its opportunity. They used Ahmad Chalabi, an Iran-backed Iraqi politician, fed the US misleading information about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction and offered to help the US meet with the head of Iran’s intelligence service. This led to the bom...

Republican Congressman Tom McClintock speaks to VOA Persian at an Organization of Iranian American Communities event at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, Dec. 11, 2018. A U.S. Republican lawmaker sponsoring a bill to support a democratic and secular Iran says Washington should provide Iranians with material support to help them “overcome” their Islamist rulers. U.S. Representative Tom McClintock spoke to VOA Persian late Tuesday at a Christmas celebration held by the Organization of Iranian American Communities (OIAC) at Washington’s Rayburn House Office Building. “I believe it is increasingly important that we provide (Iranians) with material support that they need to overcome the tyranny in Tehran,” McClintock said, without specifying what form that support should take. “In previous years, we provided cash on cargo pallets to the mullahs, cash used to oppress the Iranian people. Now we owe it to the Iranian people to provide the resistance with the kind of ...

Rep. Peter Roskam (R., Ill.)   Recent focus on the Iranian regime’s espionage operations inside the United States and the arrest of two Iranian agents suspected to be pursuing significant measures targeting the Iranian opposition are only “the tip of the iceberg,” according to a prominent Member of Congress and U.S. officials speaking out on the subject. Rep. Peter Roskam (R., Ill.) is telling the media it is highly likely the Iranian regime has from long ago stationed a large number of agents linked to Tehran in the U.S. to carry out intelligence operations. Tehran is known to have a variety of targets in interest, especially members of the Iranian opposition coalition National Council of Resistance of Iran ( NCRI ), and the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran ( PMOI/MEK ), the main NCRI member. The arrest of Iranian regime spies continues to make noise in the media. All the while, Roskam is saying he is anything but surprised that these reports have already led to ...