Maraym Rajavi's message to the striking bazaar merchants and shopkeepers
Iran Uprising-No. 213
Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the Iranian Resistance, commended the brave bazaar merchants and shopkeepers in Tehran and dozens of other Iranian cities who are on strike against the mullahs' corrupt regime. She said that the bazaar strike, coming on the heels of the strike by hardworking truckers, shows the general population's desire for regime change. For as long as the criminal and corrupt mullahs are in power, high prices, recession and poverty and the path to environmental destruction will continue; the only solution to this national crisis is the establishment of democracy and popular rule.
Since this morning, in line with a previous call and despite suppressive measures by the regime, large parts of Tehran's Grand Bazaar and bazaars in various cities including Mashhad, Tabriz, Azarshahr, Maragheh, Isfahan, Shahreza, Mobarakeh, Orumieh (Urmia), Miandoab, Sardasht, Piranshahr, Shiraz, Kazerun, Zahedan, Kenarak, Hirmand, Chabahar, Iranshahr, Caravan, Sanandaj, Marivan, Baneh, Saqqez, Kermanshah, Paveh, Rasht, Gorgan, Turkeman, Arak, Karaj, Moghan, Borazjan, Bandar Gonaveh, Zanjan, Abhar, Nik Shahr and Rafsanjan have joined the strike.
Mrs. Rajavi described the nationwide strike by bazaar merchants and truck drivers as a part of the people's uprising with the goal of overthrowing the regime and establishing freedom and social justice. She said that under the mullahs' regime, the wealth of Iran's people, which should be spent on economic improvements and people's prosperity, is wasted on suppression and export of terrorism and external wars and is stolen by the ruling mullahs.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
Oct 3-Ghasr e Shirin Terminal-Truck drivers on Strike
Reported by PMOI/MEK
Iran, Oct. 6, 2018 - Trucker drivers and owners across Iran surpassed the 13th consecutive day of their brave nationwide strike on Friday, continuing to demand higher paychecks, lower prices for spare parts and tires, and authorities to start answering to their demands.
Over 300 cities across all of Iran’s 31 provinces are witnessing this strike.
People from all walks of life in Iran are voicing more support for the truckers’ movement.
A group of teachers in the city of Shiraz, south-central Iran, issued a statement announcing their support for Iran’s truckers.
Authorities are continuing their measures against this movement. In Arak, central Iran, police ordered the closure of a local drivers’ association after their members joined the nationwide strike. Truckers are showing bravery and refusing to succumb to any demands or threats raised by the Iranian regime’s officials and authorities.
The Transportation Union in the United States and Canada issued a statement supporting Iran’s truckers and condemning the Iranian regime’s refusal to recognize the dozens of truckers’ unions.
The International Transportation Federation also issued a statement expressing their solidarity with their brothers and sisters in Iran. ITF also voices concerns over the reaction shown by the Iranian regime to the drivers’ demands, especially arresting over 100 drivers as they continue their nationwide strike and protest movement well into its second week.
Inside Iran, various syndicates representing bus drivers in Tehran, sugar cane workers in Haft Tappeh of southwest Iran, retired employees and teachers’ unions have all expressed their support for the protesting truckers.
The measures are seen from the police, security, and judicial authorities against the protesting truck drivers have been extremely harsh. Many protesting truck drivers have been apprehended and detained, and senior judiciary officials are even threatening to issue death sentences for the protesting drivers.
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Truck drivers continued their protests on Wednesday, marking the 11th consecutive day of this nationwide strike. This strike was witnessed extensive on this day, especially in the cities of Ilam, Yazd, Hamedan, Ahvaz, Zarrin Shahr, Abadeh Isfahan, Arak and Ghasre Shireen. This strike has currently reached 270 cities across all of Iran’s 31 provinces.
On Monday, nearly 200 truck drivers on strike were seen forming a large column in Asaluyeh in southern Iran.
As they sought to enter the city of Shiraz in south-central Iran, the regime’s security forces had already imposed roadblocks and sought to prevent their entrance. The drivers refused to give in, however and began to protest these measures.
This quickly transformed into clashes between the protesting drivers and the regime’s authorities.
Other reports from various cities indicate authorities have been seen taking off license plates of trucks belonging to drivers on strike. These measures, however, failed to cause any fear into the ranks of countless struck drivers on strike.
Oct 3-Lorestan, Dehkord, Truck drivers are on strike
The nationwide strike of the truckers, entering its second week, is intensifying the crisis inside the clerical regime whose leaders are increasingly horrified from its continuation and spread. In this regard, Iranian regime attorney general Mohammad Jafar Montazeri is now threatening to execute the strikers.
"According to the information we have, in some routes, some of the cities, there are elements who are provoking some of the truckers, or possibly blocking them and creating problems for them. They are subject to the rules and regulations of banditry and the punishment of the bandits according to the law is very severe, sometimes resulting in the death penalty,” he said on September 29th as cited by Iranian regime state media.
Oct 3-Lorestan, Truck drivers are on strike
At the same time, Ali al-Qasimehr, the chief justice of the Fars Province, accused the strikers of "corruption on earth," and IRGC Brigadier General Mohammad Sharafi, one of the commanders of State Security Forces, threatened the protesters with harsh action.
However, two days earlier, the Fars Province Transportation Director-General had called the strike of truck drivers as rumors.
"It's been a few days that rumors about truck drivers’ strike have been circulating in the media and cyberspace. This misuse of the opponents from the needs of the truck drivers to create a crisis in the country is clear for every Iranian,” he says, as reported by the IRGC-affiliated Fars news agency.
IRGC Colonel Kavos Mohammadi, a deputy of the Fars provincial police force, described the strikers as "disrupters of the order."
"Following the disrupting acts of some of these people on the roads of Fars ... After the visible and invisible patrol of officers, 22 thugs and disrupters of public order on the roads were arrested and, after filing a case, they were sent to the judiciary authorities and through them to the prisons. Police will deal with sensitivity and vigilance with the smallest insecurity factors in coordination with the judiciary, and the process of confronting with the disrupters of order and security of the roads and axes of Fars province will continue on a daily basis. The police monitor and control all the roads in this province, visibly and invisibly, and resolutely deal with all elements of disrupters of order and security in these areas," he explained to the regime’s official IRNA news agency.
Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the Iranian Resistance, saluted the strikers throughout Iran, describing the vindictive threats of the clerics against the dignified and hardworking drivers as a reflection of the growing crisis of the clerical regime, and said that the ruling mullahs were the biggest thieves in the history of Iran, and that they neither want nor can respond to legitimate demands of striking drivers.
She called on all human rights organizations to take action to release the arrested and urged the general public, especially the youth, to support the strikers. She added that realization of these demands is only possible with the establishment of democracy and people's sovereignty. A regime that threatens to execute its working people due to a strike must be rejected by the international community.
Strikes and protests across Iran are heading towards a final and determining end that is very near in sight. Launching their third round of strikes, truck drivers across the country are demanding what is rightfully theirs.
The mullahs’ regime ruling Iran, however, has always resorted to bogus promises and lacks the capacity to live up to the drivers’ demands. We are entering the stage where the commoners can no longer tolerate the regime and the rich few lack the capacity to take any action.
The truck drivers’ last round of strike was witnessed during the July/August period. In these September strikes, 157 cities across all of Iran’s 31 provinces witnessed truck drivers joining this strike on only the second day of this latest round of protests. This movement expanded to 210 cities on the fifth day of protests on Thursday and the country’s main loading stations are reported to be closed down.
Latest reports indicate fuel truck drivers working in refineries in cities such as Tabriz, Kerman, Bandar Abbas, Arak, Kazerun, Qazvin, Sari, Ahvaz, and Abhar are joining this nationwide movement. Truckers in Karaj, west of Tehran, also announced their solidarity and vowed to remain on strike until their demands are met.
Oct 4-Tehran, Iran-Truck drivers continue on strike
The state-run IRNA news agency cites Jamal Hamidi, director of the loading station in Bandar Khomeini of Khuzestan Province (southwest Iran) saying, “On Sunday, most truck drivers at the loading station went on strike. While 2,000 trucks are active in this loading station each day, only 300 accepted to load any goods on Sunday.”
Oct 5-Marand, Iran-Truck drives are seen joining the nationwide strike
It is worth noting that the drivers righteous and necessary demands and the suffering they undergo has gained the attention and support of international organizations for their strike and protests.
The truck drivers’ protests signal the potential of the entire Iranian society to rise in protest against the regime. This wave of protests will not be stopped and will only continue to grow.
We are in a period that the poor will no longer tolerate the status quo and the rich few can’t do anything. These protests, each resembling a center of anger and demands for change, are signaling an end to the ruling mullahs’ regime.
Oct. 4, 2018 - Acknowledging the complete failure of the mullahs’ ideology in Iran is nothing new. The fact that the Iranian regime’s state media are discussing this subject and the current crises due to the regime’s corrupt apparatus is what is quite new indeed.
New remarks are heard questioning even Iranian regime Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei himself, and directly or indirectly consider him the main individual responsible for the current crises and status quo, signals a growing sign of unrest and dissent inside the country.
Abolfazl Ghadiani and Alireza Rajaie, two figures known for their close relations with the Iranian regime apparatus, issued a statement published in a variety of media outlets discussing this subject.
“The Islamic republic is now engulfed in a flood of crises and it is the target of numerous daily attacks from different sources. Pretending to be calm and having self-confidence will not resolve any of the countless dilemmas, including apprehensions, detentions, and executions,” the statement reads.
“The newly found power oligarchy seen after the 1979 revolution established entity after entity to maybe be able to overcome the increasing crises. The [regime] has filed time and again. It was inside this oligarch that various circles of power and wealth came to life due to their access to government money. These entities consider the government and the country as their own economic playground, and are specifically in contrast with democratic demands, religious and ethnic minorities, and freedom of the press.”
Questioning the complete apparatus of the religious fascism ruling Iran currently is not a subject limited to these two individuals.
In response to this expanding wave of challenging the mullahs’ religious dictatorship, figures close to Iranian regime Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei are heard raising their voices.
“Necessary measures must be taken in the face of seditions. Why must [Khamenei’s] words be heard and no action be taken?” said Mullahs Sedighi, the temporary Friday prayer imam in Tehran.
It is quite interesting that the figures now challenging Khamenei’s methods were once among the utmost loyalists to the mullahs’ rule.
The truth is that protests are spreading in Iran and the organized resistance movement is gaining force, making a growing number of figures inside the Iranian regime extremely concerned about their own future.
Furthermore, Khamenei lacks the power, influence, and capability to take actions against such voices. This weakness is realized by all of Iran’s society and a growing number of people no longer fear the crackdown imposed by the regime’s security apparatus.
This is allowing the Iranian opposition People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) to increase the number of resistance units across the country. Such entities are escalating their measures against the regime and reigniting hope and courage in the hearts of a restive Iranian population that will no longer tolerate the religious dictatorship’s crackdown.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
Reacting to the October 2 joint statement by France’s interior, foreign and economy ministers, the NCRI President-elect Maryam Rajavi called it “an appropriate and necessary response” to the terrorist acts of “extreme gravity” by the Iranian regime’s Ministry of Intelligence (MOIS) on the French soil.
“Behind all this was a long, meticulous and detailed investigation by our (intelligence) services that enabled us to reach the conclusion, without any doubt, that responsibility fell on the intelligence ministry,” a French diplomatic source told Reuters, adding that deputy minister and director general of intelligence Saeid Hashemi Moghadam had ordered the attack.
This foils the efforts by the mullahs and their agents to portray this act of terrorism as an arbitrary measure by fictitious factions within the regime in a bid to whitewash the hands of Khamenei, Rouhani and Zarif in this regard. It is no longer possible for Rouhani and Zarif to attribute the bombing to its victims, as if they were not responsible for the state-sponsored terrorism and were not part of the religious fascist regime in Tehran.
The Security and Anti-terrorism Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran declared on July 11, 2018, “The decision for this terrorist action had been made months ago by the mullahs’ Supreme Leader (Ali Khamenei), the regime’s president (Hassan Rouhani), its ministers of Foreign Affairs (Javad Zarif) and Intelligence, the secretary of the Supreme Security Council, IRGC commanders, the Quds Force, the IRGC Counter-Intelligence and the security-political deputy of Khamenei’s office; the Minsitry of Intelligence was tasked to execute the plan.”
Since three decades ago, the Iranian Resistance has been insisting that the Iranian regime relies on domestic suppression, export of terrorism abroad, and warmongering to guarantee its survival, and is not able to continue its rule without them. All of the regime’s factions are involved in suppression at home, terrorism abroad, and the regime’s missile projects and warmongering efforts.
Had the 29 April 1997 declaration of the European Union been implemented against the Iranian regime’s terrorism contrary to the policy of appeasement, the MOIS would not have dared to attempt bombing of the gathering of Iranians in Paris, since the 5-point declaration called for exclusion of Iranian intelligence personnel from European Union Member States, cooperation to ensure that visas are not granted to Iranians with intelligence and security functions, and suspension of official bilateral Ministerial visits.
The bomb carried by the terrorist diplomat of Javad Zarif’s Foreign Ministry was made with the same explosives used in the ISIS terrorist attacks in France and Belgium. The Sunni Islamic State and the Shiite Caliphate of the mullahs (velayat-e faqih) are acting in parallel under the banner of Islam.
In the wake of the Iranian people’s uprising in December-January, the clerical regime has found its only way out in stepping up its terrorist activities. The regime’s ill-fated attack on the MEK gathering in Albania in March 2018, its aborted terrorist plot against the Iranians’ gathering in Paris in June 2018, and the arrests in August 2018 of two MOIS agents in the US who were preparing for terrorist operations against the MEK, are among such measures.
To prevent the Iranian regime’s terrorism in European countries, the EU declaration of April 29, 1997, must be enforced in dealing with the MOIS intelligence personnel and agents.
the suspension of official bilateral Ministerial visits to or from Iran under the present circumstances;
confirmation of the established policy of European Union Member States not to supply arms to Iran;
cooperation to ensure that visas are not granted to Iranians with intelligence and security functions;
concertation in excluding Iranian intelligence personnel from European Union Member States.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
Paris, Oct. 2, 2018 - The French government has frozen assets related to the Iranian regime’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS), according to authorities.
The MOIS is directly linked to the Iranian regime’s Vienna-based diplomat arrested in Germany for his role in a June bomb plot targeting a major Iranian opposition rally held in Paris. According to the French government’s Gazette daily, Asdollah Assadi is one of the two individuals whose assets have been frozen by French authorities.
Assadi personally provided a dangerous explosives device to an Iranian-Belgian couple who were missioned to carry out the specific bomb plot targeting the June rally in support of the Iranian opposition People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI).
These reports are published after AFP posted earlier about French authorities arresting 11 individuals during an anti-terrorism operation targeting a Shiite center in northern France.
This raid, said to be conducted to prevent future terrorist operations, targeted the “Zahra Center” in the town of Grande Synthe of France. Three of the 11 arrested individuals have been placed under temporary detention.
This raid, beginning at 6 am Tuesday morning local time, was carried out by 200 police agents who also placed the residence of this religious center’s officials under surveillance.
The Zahra Center is responsible for directing and supporting a number of Shiite associations. French officials believe these associations are suspected of being involved in activities aimed at legitimizing and supporting terrorist organizations backed by the Iranian regime, such as Hamas and the Lebanese Hezbollah.
Prior to these latest developments, the French government had called on its diplomats to refrain from any unnecessary traveling to Iran. Paris has also refrained from appointing a new ambassador to Tehran until the Iranian regime provides explanations regarding the June bomb plot in Paris.
Three senior French ministers issued the following statement:
Joint press release by Gérard Collomb, Jean-Yves Le Drian and Bruno Le Maire (02.10.18)
An attempt to attack was foiled at Villepinte on June 30th.
This act of extreme gravity envisaged on our territory could not remain unanswered.
By order of 2 October 2018 of the Minister of State, Minister of the Interior and the Minister of Economy and Finance and without prejudice to the results of the criminal action taken against the initiators, the authors and accomplices of this project France haven taken targeted and proportionate preventive measures in the form of the adoption of the national freezing measures of the assets of Assadollah Asadi and Saeid Hashemi Moghadam, two Iranian nationals, as well as the Directorate of Internal Security of the country, Ministry of Intelligence and Security of Iran.
In taking this decision, France reiterates its determination to fight terrorism, especially in its own territory.
“The foiled attack in Villepinte confirms the need for a demanding approach in our relations with Iran,” said Jean-Yves Le Drian.
Gerard Collomb reaffirms his "determination to do everything possible to prevent any form of terrorism, wherever it comes from.”
Bruno Le Maire emphasizes that "we must dry up the financing channels of terrorists in order to put an end to their intolerable acts. We are acting firmly at the national level and we continue to strengthen the arrangements at the international level."
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A terrorist diplomat of the clerical regime by the name of Asdollah Assadi, who was the main planner of the terrorist plot against the great gathering of Iranians in Paris, was arrested in Germany. The terrorist diplomat, who is the station chief of the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) in Vienna, has been stationed in Austria since August 2014.
The two arrested terrorists are Amir Sadoni and Nassim Nomeni and are residents of Antwerp.
Prior to Asadollah Assadi, an individual by the name of Mostafa Roudaki was the MOIS station chief in the regime’s embassy in Austria. Roudaki was transferred to Tehran and was subsequently dispatched to Albania in 2017 as the MOIS station chief there to plot against the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran.
The Iranian Resistance once again reiterates the need to shut down the Iranian regime’s embassies and representative offices in Europe as centers of espionage and terrorism and expel the agents of the Ministry of Intelligence and the terrorist Quds Force from European countries.
A German court approved the extradition of Assadollah Assadi to Belgium
Analysis by PMOI/MEK
Bamberg, Oct. 1, 2018 - On Monday, the regional court of Bamberg region, Germany, declared it had approved the extradition of Assadollah Assadi, an Iranian diplomat involved in a foiled terrorist plot against Free Iran 2018, the largest annual Iranian opposition gathering
The Free Iran 2018 gathering, held on June 30, saw the attendance of tens of thousands of Iranians from across the world who support democratic regime change in their country. The event featured speeches by Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), as well as politicians and dignitaries from different countries of the world. The rally’s guest speakers included Rudy Giuliani, lawyer and advisor to the U.S. President, Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Stephen Harper, former Canadian Prime Minister, and Bernard Kouchner, former Foreign Minister of France.
European authorities arrested Assadi and five other people who were involved in a terrorist plot that aimed to detonate a bomb at the event. Assadi was responsible for the coordination of the attack and had personally delivered 500 grams of explosive material to an Iranian couple tasked with carrying out the attack.
In July, Belgian authorities had requested the extradition of Assadi. The Iranian regime had tried to raise diplomatic immunity as an excuse to avoid the extradition and trial of Assadi, but the German court declared "The wanted man cannot cite diplomatic immunity because he was on a several day holiday trip outside his host state Austria and not traveling between his host country and the state that dispatched him.”
Assadi was based in Vienna, Austria, since 2014, where he was responsible for coordinating the Iranian regime’s espionage and terrorist activities in Europe. He also did a stint as the third secretary in the Iranian regime’s embassy in Baghdad, Iraq, where he was actively involved in the Iranian regime’s terrorist plots against the PMOI/MEK and coalition forces.
In September, the NCRI held a conference in London, in which it warned against the Iranian regime’s escalating terrorist activities abroad, especially against members and supporters of PMOI/MEK and NCRI. In recent months, authorities in the U.S. and Europe have arrested several people linked to the Iranian regime and involved in spying and terrorist activities directed toward the Iranian opposition.
The NCRI and supporters of the Iranian opposition are demanding European countries to close down the Iranian regime’s embassies and expel its diplomats, which have a long history of carrying out terrorist activities in their host countries.
Situation of 100,000 children in Iran working to support their families to help make ends meet
Analysis by PMOI/MEK
Iran, Sept. 26, 2018 - Every year, at the end September, millions of students in Iran go back to school. But unfortunately, this year, many families were forced to send their children to workinstead of school because they are not able to pay the costs of their child’s education.
The Iranian regime’s treacherous policies towards the education system has created a real national crisis. Approximately ten million people in Iran are illiterate and another 15 million half literates.
State-run news agency Ilna published a report on September 21 titled “Many students will drop out soon!” and drew a grave perspective for Iranian students saying: “It appears that if things stay as they are, drop-out numbers, especially for girls, will rise. As things are, low-income families, especially in deprived regions, prefer to just ‘survive’. So they must choose between eating enough and continuing their children’s education, and naturally, they will choose survival. On the one hand, living costs and education costs have multiplied, and on the other hand, free education plans have become a thing of the past. In such conditions, there are few low-income families who can pay the cost of their children’s education, especially girls. The red alarm is already shining for a few months. While salaries are still 70 percent behind the increase of life costs, education should be free for everyone and students from low-income families should receive subsidies for stationeries and other educational assistance tools. Otherwise, soon we will face a high rate of illiterates and half illiterates.”
In addition to the poverty that the mullahs’ regime has created in four decades of ruling Iran, due to a continuing decrease of educational budgets, there is a lack of educational space and educators and available educational space isn’t up to safety standards. It’s noteworthy that the educational budget for the current years has decreased from 16 to 9 percent.
On June 14, Iranian state-run website Eqtesad News wrote an article titled “There is a staggering rate of dropouts in Iran” and quoted an Iranian official saying, “In Iran, one in every four students drops out and the reason is mainly a lack of stationaries… in a place where the school can collapse at any minute, you can’t talk much about education and now it’s a little difficult to talk about education.”
Unbelievable stationery prices
Quds website wrote on September 14: “Stationery prices have increased 100 percent this year and there are no Iranian-made items… Families and students go shopping but eventually leave the stores with tearful eyes because of the prices.”
IRGC-run Fars News Agency reported on September 8 that 60 percent of stationeries are imported and a great share of it is from China. The outlet quotes an Iranian official saying, “Considering the price increases for raw materials, stationery prices have increased 60-70 percent compared to last year.”
Isna news agency published an article on September 9 titled “Favoritism for Managers, Costs for Families,” revealed another aspect of corruption in Iranian schools: “One of the major costs for families in the back-to-school season is the purchase of new outfits, which is done through wrong channels and inflicts exorbitant costs on families… In recent years, pre-made uniforms are in parts put aside and schools choose special uniforms for their students based on the principal’s personal taste… A major part of the uniforms are created through unlicensed dressmaking shops and they receive these orders because of their connections with the school’s principal.”
