MEK: 54 years of struggle for freedom in Iran

MEK: 54 years of struggle for freedom in Iran

PMOI 54th founding anniversary

Iran, September 6, 2019—On the occasion of the 54^th anniversary of the founding of the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), Dr. Behrooz Pouyan, political science expert from Tehran, wrote an in-depth article about the history of the Iranian people's struggle for freedom and the role of the MEK in defending the fundamental rights of Iranians in the past 54 years. Excerpts from the article, originally published in the Persian edition of the PMOI/MEK website, follow:

In evaluating social movements, there are two key criteria. One is the general structure of the movement, including its goal, strategy, ideology, the organization of its members and their resolve in pursuing the movement's goals. The second criterion is the impact the movement has on the society.

In respect to the first criterion, I believe that the MEK, with 54 years of struggle for freedom, is an exceptional movement in the history of Iran, a fact that is irrefutable to it its proponents and opponents. This is an organization with a dynamic and scientific ideology, progressive goals, human values, a strong structure, and an unbreakable resolve, proven by more than 120,000 martyrs fallen for freedom in the past half century.

Each of the martyrs of this organization are proof of the determination and honesty of this organization in its goals, including the first MEK martyrs under the Shah's rule, the martyrs of the 1980s and especially the 1988 massacre, the martyrs of the National Liberation Army of Iran in the Eternal Light operation, and MEK members executed by the regime in recent years.

Also among them are MEK members who were killed in the attacks of the agents of [former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri] al-Maliki and [Iranian regime supreme leader Ali] Khamenei, especially during the September 1, 2013, attack against Camp Ashraf, and the martyrs in Camp Liberty. All of these martyrs prove the resolve of the MEK to bring freedom and equality.

Can any false pretender of freedom and equality pay such a price? Which individual, group or movement can claim to appreciate the importance and value of freedom more than the MEK and its shining stars? This has made the MEK a revolutionary and unprecedented movement. Therefore, in ranking contemporary Iranian movements, there's no doubt that the MEK would stand at the top.

The achievements of the MEK

The characteristic of the MEK, which has put behind 54 years of history, is that since its founding, it has used the experience of revolutionary movements that preceded it. This helped the MEK close the gaps and fissures that made previous movements vulnerable.

To understand the achievements of the MEK, we must review its history in reverse order. We'll start by taking a quick look at the current state of the Iranian society, the mullahs' regime and the MEK itself. What factors contributed to the MEK becoming the only credible alternative to the mullahs' rule in Iran and across the world, driving the mullahs' regime toward its collapse and the Iranian society toward another revolution? Is it by happenstance that people are chanting "Down with the rule of the mullahs" in the streets of Iran?

If the Iranian regime has lost its legitimacy, we must ask, how did it lose it? Who first refused to legitimize the rule of the mullahs? It is worth reminding that the MEK did not take part in the referendum for the constitution of the rule of the mullahs [after the 1979 revolution], and since the beginning, contrary to the false pretenders of freedom and democracy, they did not give it legitimacy.

How did the mullahs' regime lose its international legitimacy? Did western governments, which for years backed this repressive regime, suddenly decided to abandon the appeasement policy and change course? If the MEK and the Iranian resistance did not expose the regime's terrorism and nuclear program, would the appeasement policy be defeated, and would it become possible for global politics to support the interests and desires of the Iranian people? If the MEK's decades-long efforts to expose the suppression and human rights violations of the regime did not exist, would the mullahs be caught in the human rights trap?

Moreover, it is worth reminding that when no political and social movement cared about human rights, it was the MEK that made it its priority to defend the political, social and human rights of all the Iranian people. Today, some people try to make a business out of opposing the regime's forced hijab, but they seem to forget that in 1979, a month after the revolution, the MEK staged the first demonstration against Khomeini's forced hijab law and defended the freedoms of Iranian women.

Also, when all political groups had been caught in the mullah-made trap of the war against Iraq (1980-1988), it was only the MEK that delegitimized the destructive war and led widespread efforts to end it, including by introducing a peace plan.

Today, thanks to the honest efforts and sacrifices of the MEK, the Iranian society has distanced itself from the mullahs' regime and is pushing it toward its overthrow. While the regime and its front organizations who pose as opposition groups try to marginalize the MEK, history will undoubtedly reveal the truth.

Iran: Continued strike & protest of truckers, workers, merchants and farmers

Iran: Continued strike & protest of truckers, workers, merchants and farmers

Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran

Iran Uprising - No. 221

Mrs. Rajavi hails the strikers and says that as long as this regime is in power, poverty, inflation and unemployment will continue

On Saturday, November 10, heavy truck drivers and truckers continued their strike in different cities throughout the country for the tenth day of the new round. Earlier in the months of June, August and September, they were striking because of the severe living conditions, low freight rates, high cost of spare parts, severe insurance conditions, and so on. October strike lasted 21 days.

In the fourth round of their strike, in addition to their previous demands, drivers called for the release of their colleagues who were arrested during the third round of strikes. The regime was struggling to prevent the strike through all kinds of pressures and threats.

Haft Tapeh sugar cane workers continued their strike for the sixth day in a row in protest of non-payment of their claims inside the company. Some of them took their protest into the city to make the voices of their innocence and their desires heard.

Workers of the Ahvaz National Steel Group also protested on Saturday, gathering in front of the governor's office in the city. They chanted: No nation has seen this much injustice; Hossein Hossein, is their slogan, theft is their pride; what did behind the scene hands have done with the factory?

Workers of Line 6 project of Tehran urban trains also protested against the non-payment of their salaries in front of the headquarters of the company.

Parts of the bazaar and shopkeepers in Tehran's 15 Khordad street protested against the high cost and lack of goods and customers, and refused to open their shops.

Deprived farmers of cities and villages around Isfahan such as Ghahderijan. Varzaneh, Najaf Abad, Khorasgan and others continued their demonstrations and sit-ins in protest of the deprivation of their right to water and their difficult livelihood conditions. They were chanting: "Lest we are humiliated!"; "The Zayandeh Roud water is our inalienable right."

Mullah Alam-ul-Hoda, a member of the Assembly of Experts of the regime and representative of Khamenei in Mashhad on Friday, November 9, confessed: "Over 40% inflation caused by the recession brought the economy into a ruin. ... This is the situation of our workers who have become unemployed, with families they are left without food, and the miners who work in the worst case situation, they work in the mine, underground and they do not pay their daily wages."

Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the Iranian Resistance, hailed the determination of the truck drivers, the deprived farmers of Isfahan, the oppressed hard-working workers of Haft Tapeh sugarcane factory and Ahvaz steel, and other strikers across the country, and called on fellow citizens, especially the youth, to support them and said: “Poverty, inflation, unemployment and corruption were brought to our country by the religious fascism, and will continue as long as this medieval regime is in power.”

Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran

November 10, 2018

Iran: “If we join the FATF, we’ll have trouble bypassing sanctions”

Iran: “If we join the FATF, we’ll have trouble bypassing sanctions”

Financial Action Task Force

Analysis by PMOI/MEK

Iran, Nov. 9, 2018 - Mojtaba Zolnour, a member of the Iranian regime’s Majlis (parliament) has specifically expressed his opposition to Tehran joining the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) conventions.

“If we join the FATF, we will be facing difficulties bypassing the sanctions. The government cannot legally bypass the sanctions. Those sanctioning us must not have leads on how we bypass the sanctions,” he said. “The 22 issues raised by the Guardian Council regarding the FATF counter terrorism financing bill cannot be resolved.”

It is interesting how this Majlis member is specifically raising issues about the Iranian regime having problems with the international community realizing about its financial support for terrorist groups.

“The FATF is fundamentally based on the KYC principle, meaning Know Your Client. The Central Bank and the Foreign Ministry believe the FATF – based on the KYC principle – will be receiving information from Iran. According to this convention, Iran’s relations with other countries must be made specifically clear for the United States and how oil revenues enter the country. Therefore, if Iran joins the FATF, all checkpoints used to bypass sanctions will be identified to the U.S.,” he added.

Zolnour also made it crystal clear how the FATF issue is becoming a dead-end for the Iranian regime.

“Those in favor of the FATF says we must join this convention and not implement it in practice. Whereas if we refuse to implement the FATF after joining it, we will once again be registered in the FATF blacklist. Considering all these difficulties, what is the purpose of joining the FATF? If we are to be blacklisted by the FATF, we should at least go down this path without giving any commitments,” he added.

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In late October, the Iranian regime’s parliament had a session behind closed doors to listen to remarks by two high-ranking officials in the government about a controversial issue that has plagued the regime over the past few months and has escalated the tensions between the political factions in the ruling elite.

Javad Zarif, Iran’s foreign minister, and Abbas Araqchi, his deputy, attended the parliament to address the issue of the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism and to brief MPs on the importance of passing it into law for the country.

Commonly known as Combating the Financing of Terrorism (CFT), the laws required to conform to international norms are globally standardized by the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF) under nine recommendations that act as guidelines to assess a country’s effectiveness in combating terrorism financing.

About a week ago, on October 19, the FATF Plenary, 17-19 October 2018, concluded to give Iran a four-month extension of time to pass the necessary laws to comply with FATF guidelines.

Meanwhile, the four bills related to FATF compliance are stuck amid a power struggle in Iran.

To comply with FATF’s guidelines, the Iranian regime has submitted four bills to the parliament. A bill for joining the Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (Palermo) and an amendment to the law for combating money laundering have already been passed by the parliament and sent to the Guardian Council. The Guardian Council, despite approving the bills, has returned them to the parliament to counsel for the opinion of the Expediency Council. This back-and-forth has created a new controversy in an already heated debate.

Javad Zarif and Abbas Araqchi briefed the parliament behind closed doors about their talks with Europe on CFT. Iranian state television broadcasted a very short report the same night saying: “Members of parliament have been host to the foreign minister and his deputy in a closed-door session and raised issues about the JCPOA, CFT and how Europe will act on its obligations. According to the first deputy of the parliament, the foreign minister reported on his talks with Europe and other countries to the MPs.”

Nemati, spokesperson for the parliament’s board of members said: “In this session, Zarif and Araqchi counted incidents that the US is putting maximum economic pressure on us in the belief that these pressures can lead our country to fall apart.”

Referring to talks with Europe and the financial special purpose vehicle the EU has promised to create to work around U.S. sanctions, Nemati said: “Europe has promised to have the financial vehicle for [dealing with] Iran ready by November 4 and besides Europe, Russia, India, and China are committed to this.”

“In the session, Zarif said, that Europe has stood firmly on this until now… Zarif said the right systems need to be approved by the regime in this four-months’ time frame. He also said that we shouldn’t damage our agreements and bilateral memorandums with some countries through self-sanctioning,” he added.

Ahmad Alirezabigi, a member of parliament from Khamenei’s faction, said to Fars news agency: “In today’s session, Mohammad Javad Zarif and the foreign ministry team tried to excuse their inaction in respect to the JCPOA and FATF.”

“Zarif said that considering the limit of four months that we have, we have no option but to accept FATF and to minimize the costs of FATF and the costs of FATF have become very high today.”

It is worth noting that in the same session with the parliament Zarif said: “These opposing views against FATF in the country paint the regime abroad in a way that in the Islamic Republic there are people who tend to side with and support terrorism.”

Bringing the Expediency Council into the equation has further complicated the fights around FATF.

Ali Motahari, a deputy spokesperson of the parliament, said: “Recently, a new phase has been added to the legislative process. The Higher Commission for Supervision of Executing the Broad Policies has been added to the parliament’s legislation process.”

“This invention will definitely limit the power of legislation and lessen the status of the parliament and the parliament has to defend itself.”

As pointed out earlier, the FATF issue is a dilemma that will have negative consequences for the Iranian regime regardless of the outcome. With the second wave of sanctions coming into effect in a few days, especially targeting Iran’s energy sector which acts as the regime’s lifeblood, it is interesting to see how the power struggle around FATF plays out.

One thing is for sure, the outcome will have a profound impact on near-term developments in Iran and the region.

Consequences of the death of Qom’s salt lake

Consequences of the death of Qom’s salt lake

Qom’s Namak Lake, a salt lake in the Iranian province of Qom

Analysis by PMOI/MEK

Iran, Nov. 8, 2018 - Qom’s Namak Lake, a salt lake in the Iranian province of Qom, is gradually approaching its demise. Its dire consequences for the environment can already be felt in the environment of Qom’s neighboring provinces.

Namak Lake is located 40 kilometers north of Qom district, 85 kilometers south of Tehran. The lake which is also known as “Saveh-Qom Lake” or “Shahi Lake” spreads over a 240-kilometer area and is connected to Semnan, Tehran, Qom, and Markazi provinces. Namak Lake is also called the greatest natural mirror of Iran because of the large salt crystals that cover huge parts of it.

In the past, Karaj, Jajrud, Shur, Qamrud, and Qarechay rivers supplied Namak Lake with water keeping it alive. But nowadays, the salt lake has become one of the center points of dust storms.

According to Iranian officials, Namak Lake’s dry out will lead to an environmental disaster with more catastrophic consequences than those of Lake Urmia, another famous salt lake in Iran. The dust and haze that arises from a dried-out Namak Lake will impact approximately one quarter of Iran’s population.

When Namak Lake started to dry out and the environment started to change for the worse, local farmers began to leave the area and this process has continued until today.

On April 22, Salamat News website published a report titled “Count down until Namak Lake’s complete dry out” writing: “The dry-out crisis of Qom’s Namak Lake, which started half a century ago, accelerated with the 2003 drought, and lead to a complete evacuation of most villages lying between this lake and ‘Hoz Soltan.’”

According to Taadol newspaper, August 6, the technical deputy of the environment protection organization of Qom province acknowledges that, “If the water rights are not allocated properly and existing water resources are used excessively, 200 thousand hectares of salty area of the Namak Lake will transform Qom to another Khuzestan through widespread dust emission.” Khuzestan is a province in southern Iran with notoriously catastrophic sand and dust storms.

On July 28, Hamshahri website published an article about Qom’s Namak Lake situation and its impact on the lives of the local population.

“Nowadays, villages close to this area have become ghost towns in a 50-kilometer radius because of the drought. About 30 to 40 percent of farming lands near this area have also become unusable because the dry lake has made the water of nearby water wells salty,” Hamshahri writes.

Earlier, Jabbar Kuchakinejad, a member of the Iranian parliament, had warned about “salty rain due to the dry out of Qom’s Namak Lake.”

In an interview with Iranian parliament’s news agency he warned the department of environment and asked them to prevent the situation of Namak Lake from becoming a crisis.

“Lakes which contain salt, if they dry out, their remaining salt will pollute the environment like dust,” he added.

The main reason behind the Iranian salty lake crisis is a series of uneducated activities by state institutions and a lack of water rights for the lakes. The water rights are being stolen by the political elite to fill their deep pockets.

On May 10, Young Journalists Club, close to Iran’s paramilitary Basij, quoted the technical deputy of Qom province’s environment department saying that building two dams called “Alqadir” and “15 Khordad” in the “Moseyle” plains has destroyed the vegetation, salted the soil and created an environment crisis in the area.

Without US hostage taking, Iran regime was overthrown in the first decade Unprecedented confession of the Commander in Chief of Iran Revolutionary Guards Taking US diplomats as hostage was pre-planned and was approved by Khamenei

ander in Chief of Iran Revolutionary Guards Taking US diplomats as hostage was pre-planned and was approved by Khamenei

IRGC commander Jaffari admits that Khamenei approved the US hostage taking in Iran

In his remarks on November 4, Mohammad Ali Jafari, the Commander of the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), underscored that taking over the US Embassy and hostage taking of American diplomats was pre-planned and totally approved by Khamenei. He stressed if this had not taken place, the regime would have been overthrown in the first decade of its tenure. 

Jafari made the unprecedented confession during a speech on the anniversary of taking US diplomats hostage on November 4, 1979.

He said: “According to a highly classified plan, a protest was organized from Tehran University towards the nest of spies (U.S. Embassy)… Only a limited number of students and the University staff knew that an attack to the embassy was planned. When the crowd reached in front of the University, according to the plan, since a limited number of people were cognizant of the plan, amidst all the razzmatazz, all the slogans, and the mood among the crowd, the attack was depicted as being spontaneous and as if it was decided by the crowd and on the scene.”

“Only a handful of the officials and revolutionary figures, and on top of them, the supreme leader, (Khamenei), were totally in support of this revolutionary move,” and if the hostage- taking had not taken place, “undoubtedly our revolution could not last for forty years and it would had been over in the first decade,” Jafari added.

The commander of the IRGC suggested resorting to similar acts as the solution for the regime’s crisis and said: “Similar moves, of course not taking over embassies, this is not what I mean, but this sort of moves, should be conducted for creating stability, for providing more services to the society, for solving economic problems, and in other aspects such as cultural affairs. This is what one can pin his hope on.”

Jafari’s remarks is a clear acknowledgment  that the clerical regime has always found the solution in hostage-taking, creating crisis and havoc, export of terrorism, and belligerence and it plans for these acts at the highest levels.

Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran

November 6, 2018

Iran: Protesters demand release of teachers activist

Iran: Protesters demand release of teachers activist

Family members, colleagues of Hasham Khastar rallying outside the hospital

Reported by PMOI/MEK

Iran, Nov. 6, 2018 - Dozens of people in Mashhad joined family members of Mr. Hashem Khastar, head of the Teachers Union Center, in this northeastern Iran city on Monday to rally outside the Ebn Seena Hospital and protest Khastar’s abduction and apprehension.

State police and anti-riot units ready at the scene immediately arrested Mr. Khastar’s son.

Mr. Khastar’s wife said, “I will remain here until my husband is released.”

However, the repressive police arrested and transferred to an unknown location. It is worth noting that Ms. Maleki, the wife of Mr. Khastar, has recently undergone open-heart surgery and is currently ill.

Mr. Khastar’s sister refused orders from the regime’s repressive forces saying she must leave the area. She was seen shouting they must release her brother.

State police & anti-riot units at the protest rally scene

Hashem Khastar, the retired teacher in Mashhad, was abducted on October 23 by security forces. Following continuous efforts by his family to learn of his whereabouts, security forces eventually said he was hospitalized in the psychiatric branch of the Ebn Seena Hospital

Mr. Khastar’s wife has denied her husband had any physical or psychological illnesses.

Read more:

Following the abduction of Hashem Khastar, a known teachers’ union activist in the city of Mashhad, northeast Iran, and the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) intelligence confining him in a psychiatric hospital his wife and child were finally permitted to visit him.

“On Thursday, I went to the courthouse for permission to visit my husband, Mr. Seyed Hashem Khastar, in Mashhad’s Ebn Seena Hospital. There was no file or records about this arrest. I spoke to the deputy public prosecutor about my husband’s arrest and he said they had not issued any orders for his arrest. I spoke with another deputy public prosecutor and he said we had not given any orders either. I received the same answer from the Intelligence Ministry, the IRGC intelligence and the police,” Mrs. Sedighe Maleki-fard said.

“The Social Emergency unit arrested him outside his orchard and took him straight to the Ebn Seena Hospital. They took blood from him and gave him an injection… Considering the fact that my husband’s life is in danger in this psychiatric hospital, he must be released immediately,” she continued.

Mrs. Maleki-fard issued a call to her compatriots asking them to raise the issue of her husband’s arrest with the Iranian regime’s judiciary and demand his release.

The Iranian opposition coalition National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) is calling on all international human rights organizations to see into this matter and call on the Iranian regime to have Mr. Hashem Khastar released. His transfer to a psychiatric hospital after the revelation of his abduction is nothing but the regime’s effort to cover up their crime.

The NCRI Education Commission is also calling on the international community, the United Nations Secretary-General, the UN Security Council, the UN Human Rights Council and the Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Iran to take urgent action aiming to protect Mr. Khastar’s life and guarantee his well-being.

According to reports published in social media networks about the sudden disappearance of Mr Hashem Khastar, the representative of the teachers union and a known teachers’ rights activists, Mrs. Sedighe Maleki, the wife of Mr. Khastar, said the IRGC intelligence arrested (abducted) Mr. Khastar without providing an arrest warrant. He was hospitalized on Tuesday in Mashhad’s Ebn Seena Psychiatric Hospital that is specially designed to treat mentally disturbed patients.

“A nurse told me that Mr. Khastar has been hospitalized in an emergency room and is banned from any family visits, based on orders issued by security officials,” she continued.

“He was completely healthy and after retiring spent many of his days farming. The only medication he consumed were blood pressure pills. Khastar being hospitalized in an emergency section of a special facility for psychiatric patients means [authorities] injected a special type of medication with the intention of killing him, or he had been severely injured under torture or during his arrest,” Mrs. Maleki added.

Seyed Hashem Khastar, had gone missing since Tuesday. His vehicle was found on Tuesday outside the city of Mashhad, northeast Iran, near an orchard. His mobile phone was turned off.

Khastar had time and again been harassed by operatives linked to the Iranian regime for defending the rights of Iran’s teachers. On numerous occasions, Khastar was arrested by the mullahs’ intelligence agents and placed behind bars.

During the past few weeks, Khastar had made public calls for widespread measures aimed at having jailed teachers released.

Ever since Khastar’s disappearance, teachers across the country and other social media users have launched a wave of protests demanding information about his whereabouts, security, and well-being. They are using two different Farsi hashtags, “Hashem Khastar” and “Where is Hashem Khastar,” warning the mullahs’ regime is responsible for his well-being.

U.S. imposes new sanctions against the Iranian regime

U.S. imposes new sanctions against the Iranian regime

U.S. Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo declares new sanctions on Iran

Report by PMOI/MEK

Washington DC, November 2, 2018 - The U.S. Treasury declared today new sanctions against the Iranian regime for its illicit nuclear program and its support for terrorism across the globe.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin declared the sanctions, which will target the Iranian regime’s shipping, financial and energy sectors. Oil exports, which account for the funding of most of the illicit activities conducted by the Iranian regime, will be the biggest focus of the new sanctions.

The U.S. officials also declared that 700 companies, individuals, businesses, aircraft and ships will be added to the U.S. sanctions list and will be blocked from accessing global business and financial networks.

The reimposition of sanctions "is aimed at depriving the regime of the revenues it uses to spread death and destruction around the world," Pompeo said, adding, "Our ultimate aim is to compel Iran to permanently abandon its well documented outlaw activities and behave as a normal country."

The measures will restore sanctions that were lifted after the signing of the 2015 nuclear deal between the Iranian regime and world powers. At the time, the regime was given economic incentives and access to frozen assets in exchange for the partial suspension of its nuclear activities and the reduction of its enriched uranium stockpile. As the Iranian opposition had warned, the regime used the windfall to fund its terrorist activities and fuel wars and conflict in the Middle East region. The main beneficiary of the deal has been the IRGC, which is the regime’s main implement for suppressing protests in Iran, developing ballistic missiles and pursuing the regime’s terrorist agendas abroad.

The new sanctions, which will come into effect on Monday, November 5, will deal a heavy blow to the IRGC’s financial resources.

Iran: 80% decrease in workers’ purchasing power

Iran: 80% decrease in workers’ purchasing power

Iranian people are losing their purchasing power day by day

Analysis by PMOI/MEK

Iran, Nov. 2, 2018 - Davoud Mirzaie, an economic expert close to the Iranian regime, recently said Iran’s workers have lost 80 percent of their purchasing power as the country’s currency, the rial, continues to plummet.

“The 19.5 percent wage increase has not shown itself in the workers’ lives, meaning the value of their wages in March 2018 is far below its value in March 2016. In other words, the workers’ purchasing power has decreased between 50 to 80 percent. This is causing numerous problems for the families of the country’s workers,” he said in an interview with the state-run ISNA news agency on Wednesday.

“Such conditions have left the workers unable in providing for their basic needs. Therefore, labor unions have time and again called on the Ministry of Labor to see into this issue. Unfortunately, this remained unresolved,” he added.

It is worth noting that Mohammad Reza Pour-Ibrahimi, head of the Majlis (parliament) Economy Commission has made interesting remarks over skyrocketing prices of essential goods.

“The average price of essential goods, despite providing currency at 42,000 rials/U.S. dollar, has increased 30 to 50 percent in comparison to last year. It shouldn’t be this way,” he said recently.

The price of most goods in Iran, in comparison to last year, have increased. The price hike in meat, dairy products and fruits have has been over 20 percent, meaning these goods are no longer even seen at the tables of workers’ families, or will eradicate as this trend continues. Furthermore, the price of imported tea has also increased by nearly 20 percent.

According to the latest Central Bank report focusing on developments in Iran’s home market for this summer, mortgages have increased by 13.6 percent in Tehran in comparison to last year, and 11.1 percent other cities.

To add to the Iranian regime’s concerns, Assadollah Asgar Oladi, head of the Iran-China Chamber of Commerce, said recently no Chinese bank is willing to work with Iranian merchants. As a result, Iran’s exports to China have come to a standstill, he added in an interview with the state-run Tasnim news agency, affiliated to the Revolutionary Guards Quds Force.

Negotiations between the mullahs’ Central Bank to gain the cooperation of Chinese banks have failed to this day, he added. U.S. secondary sanctions have resulted in many banks and companies ending their cooperation with Iranian regime entities.

Read more:

An open-door session of the Iranian regime’s Majlis (parliament) back in September shed new light on the country’s economy and poor living condition of  ordinary Iranians.

“To those government officials who are trying comfort themselves with unreal statistics, our workers and employees, young and old, are all living in conditions with inflation reaching 60 or 70 percent,” said Majlis member Mohsen Bigleri. “Mr. Rouhani, we have five million unemployed people and most of them are college educated, and yet they’re struggling to procure their next meal… The prices of people’s basic necessities, such as meat, poultry, dried goods and fruits have increased more than 70 percent…”

Sedif Badri, another member of the Iranian regime’s Majlis (parliament) expressed concerns about the inflation and skyrocketing prices.

“The government’s weak and indefensible economic practices… unbridled inflation increase and skyrocketing prices, are imposing pressures on the lower class of our society and has completely disappointed our middle class… the people are truly being crushed under these conditions…” she added.

Alaedin Borujerdi, a member of the Majlis (parliament) National Security and Foreign Affairs Commission, cited foul practices in Iran’s petrochemical industry.

“The petrochemical industry presents its own products in the stock market. Informed dealers purchase the products instantly… and these products are then sold to needy factories at extremely higher prices. The factories are forced to either not purchase the raw material or as a result increase the prices of their own goods to an extreme extent. This results in inflation; people lack purchasing power and finally workers are fired from factories,” he explained.

Hossein-Ali Shahriari of the Iranian regime’s Majlis (parliament):

“Are you aware that people have no income? Are you aware that the people’s drinking water has serious problems? Are you informed that people are leaving their ancestral homes and resorting to living in city slums…? What crime have these people committed to be punished like this?”

As explained by another Majlis member by the name of Gholamreza Sharafi, social issues in Iran are evolving into security matters.

“People in parts of Abadan (in southwest Iran) haven’t had decent drinking water for 17 years… These innocent people rarely see a blue sky due to air contamination. These people have the sea, yet non-standard laws have made fishing difficult for them. These people once had the best dates production in the region. Today, however, their share of agriculture water is stolen and they are witnessing their date trees being destroyed,” he said. “4.3 million date trees have been lost.”

This is only the tip of the iceberg of the corruption, crimes and theft taking place by Iranian regime officials. It’s strange how various European countries continue to seek appeasement deals with this regime that is engulfed in theft and corruption.

The Iranian people, and the resistance units associated to the Iranian opposition People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), are seeking to bringing an end to this regime. This regime’s days are numbered and those companies continuing to seek economic incentives should better plan for the future.

Iran: Khamenei rep threatens missile attack on regional targets

Iran: Khamenei rep threatens missile attack on regional targets

Iran’s regime is threatening terror attacks on targets across the Middle East

Report by PMOI/MEK

Iran, November 3, 2018 - Following the announcement of the second round of U.S. sanctions against the Iranian regime, Alam Alhoda, representative of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in Mashhad, northeast Iran, resorted to unbridled threats of terrorism against regional countries.

"If we reach a point that our oil is not exported, the Strait of Hormuz will be mined. Saudi oil tankers will be seized and regional countries will be leveled with Iranian missiles,” he said at Friday’s prayer sermon.

"Qaher missiles along with technology have been provided to the Ansarollah. These are Yom al-Assad systems. When orders are issued from Iran, they're enough for the Saudis' Aramco oil facilities, putting all of these facilities out of control,” he added in reference Houthi militias in Yemen.

"The navy will mine the Strait of Hormuz and protect the mines. Three Saudi oil tankers pass through this strait each day. If necessary, we'll seize three Saudi ships each day, confiscate the oil and imprison the personnel,” Alam Alhoda continued.

"At first, after seizing these three oil tankers, the joint UAE-Qater oil field and rigs will be closed down by Iran. With just one missile, Qatar's Wafaq site oil systems will come to a standstill. They will seek to retaliate and attack Iran from the air. Missiles will target six international airports in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Riyadh, Bahrain and Qatar. All air/shipping lines in the Persian Gulf will be cut off in just 30 minutes with our missiles,” he added.

"The world economy and stock markets, mainly owned by these Arab countries, will cripple. The price of oil will reach $400 a barrel instantly… Sharjah-14 missiles; Manama-4; Abu Dhabi-7; Doha-11; Kuwait-22; Jadah-24; Riaydh-28... These missiles will destroy these cities,” Alam Alhoda threatened.

"If Iran decides, a single drop of this region's oil will not be exported and in 90 minutes all Persian Gulf countries will be destroyed. The UAE and Saudi Arabia will be destroyed in 60 minutes. After 90 minutes the U.S. will have nothing in this country. And we haven't even started with Israel. Beware of the day we go after Israel, too. That's why they want us to round up our missiles."

In regards to the Iranian regime’s terrorist intentions, Iranian opposition President Maryam Rajavi recent said in a video message on October 4:

“By using terrorism, the regime wants to compel the world to silence and surrender. The best response to such a regime is firmness. This is a responsible policy for global peace and security.
The mullahs are highly motivated for terrorism. Popular protests have been continuing for nine months in Iran and the mullahs have not been able to stop them. As the regime’s highest officials have confessed, the PMOI has had an increasing role in organizing and leading the uprisings.
The country’s currency has lost 80 percent of its value in 12 months.”