Spring of freedom

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...

The Representative Office of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) in Germany welcomes the ban on flights imposed by the Federal Government on Mahan Air to Germany and calls for the cessation of all trade and economic relations with the Iranian regime, in particular with companies and institutions directly or indirectly linked with the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC). Experience has shown that this regime exploits every opportunity that exists in Western countries for espionage, terror, technology theft, drug smuggling and other illegitimate purposes. On the other hand, the income from foreign trade is spent mainly for the oppression of the Iranian population, for warmongering and export of terrorism, and in short to bolster the mullahs' reprehensible rule. The National Council of Resistance of Iran has already revealed in several reports, including a report released in October 2017 that Mahan Air is part of the Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guards and has called f...

US economic sanctions against Iran   A significant portion of the sanctions imposed against the Iranian regime following the U.S. withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal will become active after 90 days and others after 180 days. The new U.S. Treasury sanctions, however, go online immediately. The economic impact of these sanctions can be witnessed in a rush to the exit door by numerous foreign companies involved in business with Iran. Many foreign companies one after another are currently pulling out of Iran and/or completely ending their contracts with Tehran. “Eight large European firms are determined to exit Iran,” according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency, affiliated to the Iranian regime’s Revolutionary Guards Quds Force. There are numerous reports in the media of large, multinational European companies exiting Iran. This slate includes Total, Reliance, Eni, Siemens, Airbus, Maersk, Allianz and…, proving the United States’ influence to neutralize Euro...

When it comes to human rights violations in Iran, Europe’s stance is often influenced by its economic interests.  Whenever Europe is mentioned outside the continent itself, one key feature associated with it by non-Europeans is human rights. Whenever its leaders come together to discuss global matters, they ostensibly emphasize the importance of upholding human rights around the world. While the recent protests in Iran were still ongoing, Ayatollah Hashemi Shahroudi, a prominent and infamous figure in Iran, was receiving advanced medical treatment in Germany. Ayatollah Shahroudi served as Iran’s chief justice from 1999 to 2009, his tenure coinciding with protests by Iranian university students in July 1999 that became known as the Kooye Daneshgah confrontation. The protests started peacefully, provoked by the closure of reformist Salam newspaper and the campaign against dissidents, known as the Chain Murders, that stretched from 1988 and came to light in the fall of 1...