Spring of freedom

London, 25 April - The US recently placed Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) on its list of foreign terrorist organisations, which is a bold move that complements the Treasury Department’s previous listing of the IRGC as a banned terror group. It was the first time that an entire division of a foreign government was formally labelled as a terrorist organization. This move was made because of increased Iranian aggression and regional interference in recent months, ever since Donald Trump took office, and that is a worrying prospect from the world’s leading state sponsor of terror. The IRGC was founded in 1979 to safeguard the revolution, which basically translates to crushing any and all detractors. Now, the 125,000-strong militia holds incredible influence over the political and economic spheres, with financial interests in the telecommunications, construction, energy and auto industries. They have their own army, air force and navy, control Iran’s nuclear and inte...

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...