Senior Iranian regime official acknowledges deceptive measures during nuclear talks

Senior Iranian regime official acknowledges deceptive measures during nuclear talks

Arak heavy water reactor site, central Iran

Analysis by PMOI/MEK

Feb. 2, 2019 - Ali Akbar Salehi, head of the Iranian regime’s Atomic Energy Organization referred to more deceptive and misleading measures by the mullahs’ regime during the talks that led to the 2015 nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

“We were enriching uranium at 20 percent during the talks and we never told any of the negotiation parties about such measures,” Salehi said in a recent state TV interview.

“We were able to produce our own 20 percent fuel in less than two years and yet we were also involved in negotiations… Afterwards there were the talks with Turkey and Brazil. We were continuing our work and we knew these talks would lead to nowhere. Finally, at the West’s utter disbelief and shock, we announced that in less than two years we had reached 20 percent fuel of our own and inserted into the reactor,” he explained.

The regime’s Atomic Energy Organization chief also complained of warnings issued by U.S. President Donald Trump resulting in China decreasing its nuclear cooperation – under the JCPOA framework – with the mullahs’ regime at the Arak heavy water reactor site in central Iran.

“We now have a large company of around 900 experts, including the Chinese, who are working on re-designing the Arak reactor. It has been one or two months that considering the pressures imposed by Trump the work is proceeding a bit slow. We are in talks to have this working group bring an end to this slowing of pace… If they continue this trend, we will do the work ourselves and have a variety of options before us in this regard. I cannot explain any further,” he said.

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Ali Akbar Salehi, head of the Atomic Agency of the mullahs’ regime, said in an unprecedented confession that the mullahs lied in nuclear negotiations with the P5+1 countries about the Arak nuclear site and in fact concealed a part of the banned equipment.

"In those tubes we had, the tubes that the fuel goes through them there, we had bought similar tubes previously, but I could not declare them at the time, only one person knew about it in Iran," he said in an interview with the government television. “Only the highest authority of the regime (Khamenei) was aware and no one else ... His Holiness (Khamenei) had said that you should be careful about these people, they are not trustworthy and don’t keep to their promises. Well, we had to work smartly and intelligently, in addition to not breaking the bridges behind us, we also had to build a bridge that would enable us to go faster if we were to go back. It was a tube of two or three centimeters in diameter and three or four meters long ... We had bought similar tubes, the same quantity, we were told to fill them with cement, so we poured cement in those tubes ... but we did not say that we have other tubes because if we ded they would have said, sir, pour cement in those as well ... We are going to use the same tubes now. Now we have those tubes." (Channel 4 State TV, January 22, 2019). https://bit.ly/2RLqSHH

These remarks clearly show that the regime's intention in the nuclear negotiations, especially with the P5+1, were based on falsification and concealment, and had no purpose other than gaining more opportunities to obtain nuclear bomb. Hiding unauthorized equipment on Arak site is one of the latest of series of 30 years of deception and clamor by the mullahs’ regime in nuclear projects under the control of the regime's leaders, especially Khamenei and Rouhani. An issue that the Iranian Resistance has consistently exposed since 1991 and has warned against its threats.

Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President elect of the Iranian Resistance, immediately warned after the agreement on July 14, 2015: "This agreement does not close the mullahs’ path to deception and access to nuclear bomb", and before that, on November 24, 2013, after a temporary nuclear agreement with P5+1 countries she said, "the regime's compliance with international obligations depends precisely on the degree of decisiveness and firmness of the world community vis-à-vis the regime’s evil intentions and its intrinsic deceptiveness.”

Mrs. Rajavi emphasized that, "any leniency, hesitancy and concessions by the international community will prompt Khamenei to once again move toward manufacturing through deception and cheating. The clerical regime has never volunteered to report its nuclear activities to the IAEA according to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), the Iranian Resistance has been the first party that revealed the regime’s clandestine facilities and its nuclear deception."

In his book "National Security and Nuclear Diplomacy" Rouhani, president of the clerical regime, wrote: "In 2002, the activities were moving in a calm atmosphere, but the Mujahedin (PMOI/MEK) suddenly made a lot of noise by making false accusations… Our Atomic Energy Organization's view was to complete the Natanz facility and then notify the IAEA in a fait accompli ... in 2000, the Atomic Energy Organization promised the [Iranian] authorities that until March 2003, by employing 54,000 centrifuges, would be able to produce 30 tons of enriched fuel of %3.5."

Sunday Telegraph March 5, 2006 disclosed: " In a speech to a closed meeting of leading Islamic clerics and academics, Hassan Rowhani, who headed talks with the so-called EU3 until last year, revealed how Teheran played for time and tried to dupe the West after its secret nuclear programme was uncovered by the Iranian opposition in 2002.”

Dan Coats, Director of U.S. National Intelligence, delivered the following remarks on the Iranian regime in his opening statement during a recent Senate hearing.

“The Iranian regime will continue pursuing regional ambitions and improved military capabilities, even while its own economy is weakening by the day. Domestically, regime hardliners will be more emboldened to challenge rival centrists and we expect more unrest in Iran in the months ahead.

“Tehran continues to sponsor terrorism as the recent European arrests of Iranian operatives plotting attacks in Europe demonstrate. We expect Iran will continue supporting the Huthis in Yemen and Shia militants in Iraq, while developing indigenous military capabilities that threaten US forces and allies in the region. Iran maintains the largest inventory of ballistic missiles in the Middle East.

“… Iranian officials have publicly threatened to push the boundaries of JCPOA restrictions if Iran does not gain the tangible financial benefits it expected from the deal. Its efforts to consolidate its influence in Syria and arm Hizballah have prompted Israeli airstrikes; these actions underscore our concerns about the long-term trajectory of Iranian influence in the region and the risk of conflict escalation.

“All four of these states – China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran – are advancing their cyber capabilities, which are relatively low-cost and growing in potency and severity… And Iraqi Shia militants’ attempts to further entrench their role in the state, with the assistance of Iran, will increase the threat to U.S. personnel.”

The truth behind the Iranian regime’s “Missile Doctrine”

The truth behind the Iranian regime’s “Missile Doctrine”

Iran's mullahs are silently retracing their steps on their missile taunts

Analysis by PMOI/MEK

Feb. 3, 2019 - Every crisis and controversy in the ruling theocracy in Iran has a few thick links to other crises of the regime. One of the recent controversies in Iran is the European financial mechanism for Iran that should help the country circumvent U.S. sanctions.

Officially called the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), on paper, it should work like a clearing house were companies can sell goods and services to Iran and buy oil and other goods from Iran without money ever changing hands.

But as Iranian hardliners close to the Iranian regime’s Supreme Leader suggest, the issue of SPV is linked with Iran's ballistic missile and regional meddling issues, something that regime president Hassan Rouhani's so-called moderate faction conveniently omits to mention.

But as it turns out, at least some European countries are run by cool heads who understand the dangers of an oil-rich country run by religious zealots seeking to acquire ballistic missile technology and expanding terrorism and sectarianism across the Middle East and the world under the guise of Islam.

Last week, French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told reporters that, "We are ready, if the [ballistic missile] talks don't yield results, to apply sanctions firmly, and they know it."

"Iran's missile capability is not negotiable, and this has been brought to the attention of the French side during the ongoing political dialogue between Iran and France," was the Iranian regime’s immediate response to France, expressed by Bahram Qasemi, Rouhani's spokesperson for the foreign ministry.

Qasemi further threatened Europe and said that, "any new sanctions by European countries would lead to a re-evaluation by Iran of its interactions with those countries," according to state news agency IRNA.

But it seems like the ruling mullahs, embattled by an economic downfall and an increasingly discontent and vocal population, understand very well that they might have overplayed their hand.

On January 29, just four days after the French statements, Ali Shamkhani, Tehran’s secretary of Supreme National Security Council and a close ally of Rouhani, described Iran's so-called defense doctrine and while saying that the regime "has no scientific or executive hurdles to increase the range of military missiles," made a telltale concession.

"Only based on our defense doctrine, [Iran] has no intention of increasing the range of [military] missiles," Shamkhani added.

On the same day, Hassan Firouzabadi, former chief of staff of the Iranian armed forces, current member to the Expediancy Discernment Council, and an advisor to Ali Khamenei, revealed the reasons behind the concession and said: "After the [recent] uproar in France, that country's government reopened Iran's missile [program] issue."

Iran's Fars news agency, close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), revealed new details about the behind-the-scenes of the SPV and its connection to Iran's missile program and regional policies and wrote: "The European SPV is supposed to cover trade that is not sanctioned by the U.S. and in exchange for Iranian oil and gas give Iran food and medicaments. The important point is that, while this European mechanism isn't supposed to cover big and important companies, or define high value trades or non-sanctioned [sic] goods in its program, the mechanism is implemented in case Iran accepts Europe's path considering missile capabilities and the region, especially in Yemen."

Now, it begs to wonder whether Shamkhani's concessions are the prelude of the Iranian regime getting in line and accepting Europe's conditions.

Iranian hard-liners' evident concern and sense of urgency makes this theory appear more plausible.

"Europe's current SPV is an insulting fata morgana," wrote Fars news agency on January 30.

"It isn't supposed to cover any sanctioned path and is defined for companies and factories with low-quality goods to keep [Europe's] consumer market in Iran. Its main purpose is to sell oil in exchange for food and medicaments and has linked this very charlatanism and fraud to other JCPOAs. The only thing that occurs to one is that Europe's villainy is no less than what Trump and Pompeo have asked for," Fars further rants.

You reap what you sow, wise men say. Unfortunately, human memory is short often times and plays funny games too.

Maybe the ruling mullahs in Iran expected the Iranian people to reap once again the misery of what the ruling elite has sown, while they continue to live in luxury with impunity just like the past four decades.

But this isn't how history works.

The disastrous outcome of Iranian regime leader’s outreach to the East

The disastrous outcome of Iranian regime leader’s outreach to the East

Iranian regime Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei

Analysis by PMOI/MEK

Jan. 31, 2019 - While the Iranian regime accelerates on the slippery slope of total social, economic, and political bankruptcy, new doors are closed shut in its face every day.

Back in February, 2018, in an attempt to outmaneuver the potential of a coming isolation, Iranian regime Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei announced the policy of “embracing the East,” hoping to find a fast-lane between the West and the East.

"In foreign policy, preferring the East over the West, preferring the neighbor over remote preference, and preferring nations and countries with whom we share similarities over others, is one of our priorities today," Khamenei said in February last year in Eastern Azerbaijan province.

Following Khamenei's statements, the Iranian regime's rank and file—who were already pessimistic about the regime's prospects especially in the wake of Dec 2017–Jan 2018 uprisings and a new U.S. administration which, unlike its predecessor, had no love lost for the Iranian mullahs—started to cry Eureka!

"According to [Khamenei's] statements, one of the important paths for foreign exchange is the East over West preference," wrote Fars news agency, close to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, in May 2018.

"Currently, the political convergence of Iran and Russians has increased Russia's desire for economic convergence between these two countries," Fars continues.

Fars then attacks Rouhani's faction for supporting the JCPOA and counting on Europe's support without tangible guarantees and writes: "The West oriented movement in the country while prettifying Europe, supports the continuation of JCPOA with Europe even without Europe providing necessary guarantees. And on the other hand, [the same movement] spreads fake news about Russia's positions about Iran, in order to destroy one of the alternative paths to exchange with the West (i.e. developing relations with the East)."

But after a few months, it turned out that Russia has different interests in Syria.

In an interview with CNN, Russian deputy foreign minister Sergey Rybakov said that Israel's security is "among the top priorities" of Russia and the Iranian government is not Russia's ally in Syria.

He further said that despite the Islamic Republic's support for peace negotiations in Syria, Moscow and Tehran don't have a united interpretation about the developments in Syria.

Rybakov's statements came shortly after the Israeli air force conducted heavy attacks against military sites in Syria belonging to Iranian terrorist Quds Force.

According to a January 24 article in Asr-e Iran website, Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh, chair of Iran parliament's national security and foreign relations committee, criticized Russia for not using its S-300 anti-air missiles during Israel's latest air-attack against the Iranian regime’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps in Syria and said: "The Russian S-300 surface-to-air missile system stationed in Syria has been deactivated during the Zionist's [Islamic Republic's parlance for Israel] attack against this country [Syria]. There is serious criticism against Russia for having deactivated their S-300 surface-to-air missile system during the attacks by the Zionist regime. It appears that there has been sort of a coordination between the Zionist regime's attacks and the Russian anti-air system that is stationed in Syria."

It appears that Ali Khamenei's Policy of embracing the East is nothing more than wishful thinking and the means to boost the morale of a regime whose change is long overdue.

Iran Regime's Lies and Concealments in Atomic Projects After the Nuclear Agreement

Arak Reactor Site

Ali Akbar Salehi, head of the Atomic Agency of the mullahs’ regime confessed that the mullahs had concealed parts of the banned nuclear equipment. In an interview with a state TV station, he said: "the tubes that the fuel goes through them there, we had bought similar tubes previously, but I could not declare them at the time, only one person knew about it in Iran". He continued: “Only the highest authority of the regime (Regime's Supreme Leader Khamenei) was aware of this and no one else ... His Holiness had said that you should be careful about these people (P5+1), they are not trustworthy and won’t keep to their promises. Well, we had to work smartly and intelligently, in addition to not breaking the bridges behind us, we also had to build a bridge that would enable us to go faster if we were to go back. It was a tube of two or three centimeters in diameter and three or four meters long ... We had bought similar tubes, the same quantity, we were told to fill the main tubes with cement, so we poured cement in those tubes ... but we did not say that we had other tubes because if we did, they would have said, sir, pour cement in those as well ... We are going to use the same tubes now. Now we have those tubes." (Channel 4 State TV, January 22, 2019). https://bit.ly/2RLqSHH

On Wednesday, January 30^th, Salehi told the state news agency, IRNA: “We had some substitute parts and bought some more and these were not against the rules. There was no need to announce that we have substitute tubes”. He then explained that the concealment and breach of the agreement were done under the order of regime's Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei. He said: “We have to be alert and calculate the process of possible return. In other words, we should not eliminate all the bridges behind us.”

These remarks clearly show that the regime's intention in the nuclear negotiations, especially with the P5+1, were based on falsification and concealment, and had no purpose other than gaining more opportunities to obtain the nuclear bomb.

Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the Iranian Resistance, immediately warned after the agreement on July 14, 2015: "This agreement does not close the mullahs’ path to deception and access to a nuclear bomb". And before that, on November 24, 2013, she had said: "Any leniency, hesitancy, and concessions by the international community will prompt Khamenei to once again move toward manufacturing through deception and cheating.”

In his book, "National Security and Nuclear Diplomacy" Rouhani, president of the clerical regime, wrote: "In 2002, the activities were moving in a calm atmosphere, but the Mujahedin (PMOI/MEK) suddenly made a lot of noise by making false accusations… while our Atomic Energy Organization wanted to … notify the IAEA in a fait accompli".

Sunday Telegraph March 5, 2006, disclosed that in a public speech Hassan Rouhani had “revealed how Teheran played for time and tried to dupe the West after its secret nuclear programme was uncovered by the Iranian opposition in 2002.”

Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran

30 January 2019

Labor activists arrested in Iran

Labor activists arrested in Iran

Ms. Parvin Mohammadi and Mr. Jafar Azimzadeh

Reported by PMOI/MEK

Iran, Jan. 30, 2019 - On January 29, Iranian regime intelligence and security agents arrested the Mr. Jafar Azimzadeh, Secretary of the Board of Directors of the Free Union of Iran Workers, at 5:30 pm local time.

According to reports, Azimzadeh is detained at the 11^th police headquarter in Karaj, west of the capital, Tehran, and will be kept there until the judge's announcement. The agents confiscated Azimzadeh’s laptop, cell phone, and personal belongings.

A few hours later, security forces also arrested Ms. Parvin Mohammadi, the Vice President of the Free Union of Iran Workers, in Fardis district of Karaj and confiscated her belongings, as well.

Airing the news, the Free Union of Iran Workers condemned the arrest of its members.

Ms. Parvin Mohammadi and Jafar Azimzadeh participated in a labor rally

Azimzadeh was previously sentenced to 17 years behind bars for defending workers’ rights against the Iranian regime’s corruption and mismanagement. However, the Iranian regime considers these measures as acting against the regime’s security and propaganda, and against the mullahs’ rule in Iran. In 2016, Azimzadeh went on hunger strike in prison for 63 days.

“Where else in the world is a worker whose wage is four times below the poverty line forced by the police to work?” Azimzadeh asked in his August 2018 video message posted on Telegram, a popular messaging app used extensively in Iran. “This is a crime. This is slavery,” Azimzadeh said in his description of the workers’ situation in Iran.

Parvin Mohammadi was a former representative of Iran Metal Industries. In December 2018, she published an open letter strongly criticizing the clerical regime for ordering nightly raids targeting the houses of workers of Iran National Steel Industrial Group (INSIG) in Ahvaz and arresting them. In parts of this letter, Mohammadi addressed the oppressive rulers of Iran and wrote:

“Gentlemen, you arrested and incarcerated (some workers). From now on, however, what will you do with the rage and fury of thousands of INSIG workers and their families, and millions of workers and toiling wage earners across the country whose lives have turned into hell at your hands?

“Gentlemen, if the arrests and imprisonments of dozens of INSIG workers have put them in a position to stop their street protests for several days, you should rest assured that this is not the end of it.

“Because these are only moments and days when the rage and fury of INSIG workers and all workers throughout Iran are accumulated to soon erupt like a giant volcano.”

Iran’s FM: Hold a parliament session behind closed doors so we can talk

Iran’s FM: Hold a parliament session behind closed doors so we can talk

Iranian regime Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif

Analysis by PMOI/MEK

Jan. 29, 2019 - The Iranian regime’s Majlis (parliament) summoned Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Monday for questioning over economic issues and the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Zarif made interesting remarks in response to questions raised by one Majlis member, “Hold the session behind closed doors so I can raise some issues… otherwise, I will not be able to raise all the necessary subjects.”

Mohammad Dehghan, a member of the Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Commission asked, “What is the reason all the nine conditions raised in a Majlis bill in regards to the JCPOA?”

Zarif: “The measures carried out by the Foreign Ministry have been mentioned in numerous letters from the beginning of the JCPOA implementation. To this day we have seen the U.S. go back on its word over the JCPOA. Measures have been taken. As I’ve said before, in this regard the Foreign Ministry acted based on its authority and reported the matter.”

Majlis member Ali Adiani: “The JCPOA was the most important event in the country’s history following the 1979 revolution. The agreement was to be implemented based on the Majlis’ nine conditions bill. If everything is as simple as Mr. Zarif explained, then everything should be all well across the country… I didn’t intend to raise this issue here in this open-door session. On March 4, 2018, Mr. Zarif, we agreed on some issues and you were scheduled to provide me the necessary documents within two weeks for review. Other Majlis members are witness how not even one single piece of paper has been provided to me. The Iranian people know far better than I that the JCPOA is the only agreement with foreign countries in our history that we have lived up to our end of the bargain on the spot and agreed to only relative commitments from our counterparts. Where in Iran’s history have you seen us hand over everything on the spot with full trust and accept to receive our share only in promises? This wasn’t the case even in the Treaty of Turkmenchay. Iran took part in the talks with the specific objective of lifting the cruel economic and financial sanctions… Mr. Zarif, you must answer this question: Did we get enough guarantees? The statement issued by the European Union and the U.S. President must specify clearly that these sanctions are fully lifted. Did we witness such a development? If so, where is the document? If it’s confidential, bring it for us to see. If it must not be published, the document will remain classified.”

Zarif said in response, “Criticizing our accomplishments is quite easy. However, it’s necessary to take a look at the circumstances on the ground and understand the fact that the Foreign Ministry is missioned to carry out state orders. If necessary, the Majlis speaker should arrange a session behind closed doors so I can raise certain issues. I have a duty to defend our country’s national interests in the face of foreigners. Therefore, I cannot express all the necessary issues. Hold a session behind closed doors and I’ll answer the questions.”

Iranian officials confess to regime’s role in bombings and terrors

Iranian officials confess to regime’s role in bombings and terrors

Debate between Alireza Zakani and Mostafa Tajzadeh

Analysis by PMOI/MEK

Jan. 27, 2019 - A debate between former Iranian officials from rivaling factions has been surfacing damning realities about the crimes committed by the mullahs’ regime.

In a public discussion broadcasted by state-run media, Mostafa Tajzadeh, former political deputy of the interior minister during the presidency of Mohammad Khatami, and former MP Alierza Zakani, discussed different matters of state and the history of the Iranian regime.

During the debate, Tazjadeh, who is tied to the so-called “reformist” camp, challenged Zakani, a renowned “principalist,” the faction that is close to Iranian regime supreme leader Ali Khamenei, on two issues that have haunted the regime for decades.

“Regarding the chain murders, Mr. Zakani, who has to be exposed? Who was opposed to keeping the issue silent and solving the issue in another way? They suggested to Mr. Khatami to carry out a scheme just like in Mashhad, find two [MEK members] and say they did it. They wanted to extract confessions in ways that they know, and we would execute them,” Tajzadeh said.

The rare comments have touched on two contentious issues that have been the sources of heated debates between regime officials for decades. The first, the chain murders, was a series of assassinations carried out by government operatives against dozens of Iranian intellectuals in the 1990s. When the murders came to light, the Iranian regime’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei denied his regime’s involvement and blamed them on “foreign enemies.”

The second event which Tazdeh refers to is the 1994 bombing of the Shrine of Imam Reza in Mashhad. Imam Reza, one of the descendants of the Prophet Mohammed, is among the 12 historical leaders of Shiite Muslims. After the bombing, the Iranian regime made several arrests and broadcasted forced confessions from people who claimed to be associated with the PMOI/MEK and had carried out the bombing on the orders of MEK leaders. As Tajzadeh makes clear in his remarks, the entire process was staged and made up by the regime.

Tajzadeh’s remarks reveal a recurring pattern in the Iranian regime’s tactics: committing crimes and blaming them on the MEK to defame the main opposition.

In recent years, Iranian regime officials have made many similar remarks, claiming that the MEK have conducted missile attacks on their own bases and have carried out bombing plots on their own conferences. The mullahs’ regime founder Ruhollah Khomeini even claimed that the MEK set fire on the fields and crops of Iranian farmers. These claims and their absurdity only indicate where the real fears of the Iranian regime lie and who their real opposition is.