Iran: Security forces use tear gas, pepper spray to disperse protesting teachers

Iran: Security forces use tear gas, pepper spray to disperse protesting teachers

Hundreds of teachers rallied on Thursday in Isfahan, central Iran

Reported by PMOI/MEK

Iran, Feb. 8, 2019 - Hundreds of teachers in Isfahan, central Iran, rallied alongside the city’s famous Zayanderud River on Thursday, protesting the mullahs’ unjust policies, including the drying up of Zayanderud’s waters, and demanding changes. People from all walks of life were seen joining the protesting teachers in this gathering.

Women played an active and significant role in this rally. Other strata of the society joined the massive protest rally to demand that the Zayanderud water to be allowed to permanently flow into the river.

Following this widespread rally, welcomed from a variety of sectors in the society, especially the teachers, authorities dispatched repressive units to disperse the crowd. The security forces were seen firing tear gas and using pepper spray in attacking the demonstrators. However, the brave protesters were heard chanting:

“No fear, we’re all together”

“Our enemy is right here, they lie and say it’s America”

“Release jailed teachers”

On the same day, a group of teachers in the Esfarvarin district of Qazvin Province, northwest Iran, rallied outside of the local governorate building, protesting the hollow pledges provided by the housing cooperative and the judiciary failing to hold them accountable judiciary after twelve years.

In other protest reports on Thursday, a group of defrauded clients of the Padideh Shandiz credit firm in Mashhad, northeast Iran, held a rally outside the office building of Ahmad Alamolhoda, the city’s Friday prayer imam, protesting their claims remaining unfulfilled and demanding a return of their assets. Friday prayer imams are considered representatives of Iranian regime Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Padideh Shandiz is an Iranian private joint-stock holding company affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), which enticed investors by promising huge returns on their shares, only to plunder their assets and refusing to redeem the deceived investors.

On Tuesday, a group of plundered clients of the Sekeh Samen online trading platform rallied outside the General Prosecutor’s Office in Tehran, protesting the plundering of their assets.

Hundreds of teachers rally in Isfahan - Feb. 7, 2019

Hundreds of teachers rally in Isfahan - Feb. 7, 2019

Hundreds of teachers rally in Isfahan - Feb. 7, 2019

Tehran’s increasing missile activity in perspective

Tehran’s increasing missile activity in perspective

Tehran's missile program

Analysis by PMOI/MEK

Feb. 6, 2019 - On February 2, the Iranian regime announced a new missile called the Hoveizeh 8 from the Cruise missile family.

According to the Iranian regime the new missile has a maximum range of 1,300 kilometers. Analysts believe that the new missile is copied from a similar Chinese model.

Cruise missiles are capable of delivering heavy payloads to far distances without leaving the atmosphere. Their low altitude and relatively low heat-producing engines helps them to largely avoid detection by conventional radars, and heat-locking anti-missile systems have a hard time to target them.

Iran's latest announcement of the new missile is considered a direct response to its recent failures in testing ballistic missiles.

Iranian state-run television gleefully broadcasted the new missile on February 2 and reported: "Considerable advancements in Iranian missiles by the announcement of the Hoveizeh Cruise missile. The Hoveizeh missile with a range of more than 1,300 kilometers is capable of destroying a wide spectrum of targets because it is tactical. Before that, the earth-to-earth missile named "Soumar" was announced in 2015 with a range of 700 kilometers."

Abdolrahim Mousavi, current commander-in-chief of the Islamic Republic Army, also said: "Considering the time [the missile] needs to become launch-ready, the very short time of its flight, the very low altitude and the great power of its warhead, god willing, it will be capable of increasing the defense capabilities of our country."

Despite the Iranian regime’s continuous propaganda about its increasing defense capabilities and scientific breakthroughs, western experts say that, "Iran often exaggerates its weapons capabilities, although there are concerns about its long-range ballistic missiles," Reuters reports.

Ali Akbar Salehi, head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, who recently boasted that Iran has concealed some of its nuclear capabilities from the International Atomic Energy Agency, ridiculously suggested that Iran could help neighboring countries in building their nuclear capabilities.

"The Atomic Energy Organization announced Iran's readiness to build [nuclear] power plants in neighboring countries," reported Iran's official television.

"We are ready to design for them, deliver to them, and train them so they can produce their own radioactive and do the necessary tests," Salehi said.

Out of fear for international repercussions, Hossein Salami, second-in-command of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), tried to play down Iran's drive for long-range missiles while saving face and said that, "If we limit the range of our missiles to a specific number, it's because of our strategy," according to Asr-e Iran website.

The main reason behind Iran's recent muscle flexing, while ordinary Iranians can't afford to buy a kilogram of meat to eat, is the mullahs’ desire to cover four decades of economic, political, and social failure.

Iran's rebranding of Chinese and Korean missiles as achievement of natively acquired technologies and scientific breakthroughs also tell a story of an embattled ideology that fails to satisfy the popular Iranian opinion after four decades of economic mismanagement, nepotism, corruption, and kleptocracy.

Senior Iranian official: Corruption is eating away at the establishment like termite

Senior Iranian official: Corruption is eating away at the establishment like termite

Ahmad Tavakoli, member of the Iranian regime's Expediency Council

Analysis by PMOI/MEK

Feb. 6, 2019 - Ahmad Tavakoli, member of the Expediency Council, is the latest senior Iranian official to confess that the endemic corruption that plagues the entirety of the Iranian regime is causing a rift in the society and fueling protests.

In an interview with the state-run ILNA news agency, Tavakoli said, “When systematic and networked corruption is eating away at the bases of the establishment like termite, who would need foreign enemies?”

Tavakoli specifically pointed to the corruption among regime officials, especially after the end of the Iran-Iraq war in 1988. “In recent years, especially since the [Iran-Iraq] war ended, inclination toward comfort and luxury living started to expand among officials, a fact that caused dissatisfaction among the people. Dissatisfaction gradually turned into hatred,” Tavakoli said, adding that never has the people’s hatred of the Iranian regime been so profound that it is today.

In late 2017, protests erupted in more than 140 Iranian cities over economic woes and government corruption. The protesters, Iranians from every segment of the population, shouted anti-regime slogans and called for regime change. Having been on the losing end of government-run embezzlements and state-run financial corruption, the Iranian people have become fed up with the misery that their life has become.

Protesters bare-handedly confronted security forces that had been dispatched to quell the demonstrations. In many cities clashes ensued and the regimes repressive forces killed several protesters. Thousands more were arrested and dozens were killed in prisons.

But since December 2017, protests have been intermittently continuing in different provinces and reasons by different Iranian communities. The common denominator of all protests are the anti-government slogans which make it clear who the protesters hold to account for the calamities that have engulfing the country.

In his interview with ILNA, Tavakoli said, “When corruption grows, one of its results is the incapacitation of the government. This is how the country currently is.”

In the past year, different Iranian officials have given promises to address the economic problems across the country, including unpaid wages of thousands of workers, demands for better work  and education conditions by teachers, water shortages in agricultural regions, mitigation of disastrous living conditions of disaster-struck regions, job security for truck drivers, refunding of the stolen investments of Iranian investors, and much more.

But so far, the only response that the Iranian regime has given to the demands of protesters across the country is hollow promises, ignorance and crackdown by security forces.

It is clear that a regime that spends billions of dollars on fueling terrorism and sectarianism in neighboring countries if fully capable of solving the country’s economic problems. But the regime’s priorities lie in spending the country's wealth to preserve its rule through the spread of violence in the Middle East and the brutal repression of dissent inside the country. And Iranian regime officials would rather fill their own coffers than solve the people’s problems.

But as Tavakoli warns, the continued corruption at the highest level of the Iranian regime will continue to intensify the hatred toward the regime. And there’s only so much the regime can do to contain that hatred through violence and repression.

Iran: $1.45 billion of natural gas sales stolen by Rouhani gov.

Iran: $1.45 billion of natural gas sales stolen by Rouhani gov.

The Iranian regime is known for its massive embezzlement and corruption

Analysis by PMOI/MEK

Feb. 5, 2019 - Citing a letter written and signed by nine members of the Iranian regime’s Majlis (parliament) to regime President Hassan Rouhani, the Siasat-e Rooz daily raised accusations of a new and major case of embezzlement.

“Around $1.45 billion of natural gas sales has not been deposited to the treasury and an additional $1.177 billion in crude oil and natural gas sales have not entered the National Development fund,” the piece reads in part.

Unsurprisingly, massive cases of embezzlement are becoming the new norm for the regime ruling Iran. The state-run daily attempts to shed crocodile tears in saying, “What happened to the $1.45 billion from 2016?”

The Iranian regime has a long history of stealing from ordinary Iranians.

It is worth noting that former Iranian health minister Hassan Ghazizadeh Hashemi in his last session of the Council of Deputies made very interesting comments.

“For two years we forced people to go from this to that facility in the summer heat and winter cold, the rains, from this building to that site. These people were seen setting up tents in the streets in their protests seeking their funds returned. However, we took around $3 billion from their accounts and told them nothing. With our heads high we are managing the issue,” he said.

“All the money spent in the Health Plans of these two last administrations, according to our friends in the Planning Organization, the cost has been around $1.5 billion and other numbers stated would be false,” he added in his remarks on January 5^th.

Rouhani’s former health minister also provided more alarming numbers.

“Around $3 billion have spent on corrupt financial and credit institutions,” he added.

Corrupt credit institutions are now a source of ongoing protests in cities across the country.

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.

Read more:

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.