Iran

جمهوری اسلامی ايران
Jomhūrī-ye Eslāmī-ye Īrān

Flag | Coat of Arms
Capital | Tehran
Government | Theocracy
Language | Farsi (official)

President | Ebrahim Raisi

Area | 636,372 sq. mi.
Population | 84,000,000 (2020)
GDP | $480,000,000,000 (2020)
GDP per capita | $5,357 (2020)
Currency | Iranian rial

Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (جمهوری اسلامی ايران) is an Islamic theocratic dictatorship in southwest Asia. Its capital is Tehran and its official language is Farsi. A historical name for Iran was "Persia", which is also the name of the dominant ethnic group. Iran is believed by Israel and her western allies of pursuing nuclear weapons to gain a strategic advantage in a regional cold war against Sunni-majority Saudi Arabia. Israel also accuses Iran of pursuing nuclear weapons for use against Israel, which is officially "denied" by Iran's government propagating, that the program is to be used for "peaceful" purposes, requiring the enrichment of uranium. Israel's fear is especially in light of Iranian regime, repeatedly threatening to annihilate Israel. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7] Islamic Republic's "beef" with Israel is more transparent as being nothing more than pure radical Islamic bigotry. As even "land" excuses are not applicable, since Iran does not share any borders with Israel.

Iran has an extremely poor human rights record.[8] Iranian brutality is infamous. A rare admission by Iranian authorities in Aug/2021 came about forcefully only due to hackers exposing images of brutal beating of political prisoners.[9]

The Islamic Republic is a real Apartheid religiously and ethnically.[10][11][12] Ethnic minorities are especially persecuted by the real-apartheid racist Iranian regime,[13] such as Ahwazi Arabs, Kurds, Azeris and Baloch.

It also incites hatred against Christians. [14][15]

Christian activist, victim of the Islamic regime explains that forcing her to strip is "part of the sexual violence that the regime has been using to suppress female protesters and activists."[16]

oppressed Baluchi.[17]

One columnist argued that Iran is currently under attack by CIA agents who wish to destabilize it through a color revolution.[11][12]

## Contents

* 1 History
* 2 Government
* 2.1 Principal Government Officials
* 2.1.1 The Butcher
* 2.1.1.1 Media's portrayal
* 2.1.1.2 Butcher's cabinet
* 2.2 Political conditions
* 2.3 Genocidal
* 2.4 Hate
* 2.4.1 Holocaust denial
* 2.4.2 Racist terror
* 2.4.3 Racist defemation and inciting Arabs against Jews
* 2.5 Iran's role in persecution of Mideast Christians
* 2.6 Anti-Arab racism while hypocritically using "Palestinians"
* 2.7 World domination
* 2.7.1 Iraq
* 2.7.1.1 Attacking the U.S
* 2.7.1.2 Persecuting pro peace, pro Israel Iraqis
* 2.7.1.3 Al-Kadhimi assassination attempt
* 2.7.2 Cyberattack on children hospital
* 2.7.3 Secret Service plot
* 2.7.4 Assassinations plots
* 2.7.5 On Azerbaijan
* 2.7.6 Threats
* 2.7.7 Lebanon
* 2.7.8 Yemen
* 2.7.9 Syria
* 2.7.10 Turkey
* 2.7.11 Latin America
* 2.7.12 UK
* 2.7.13 Apocalyptic motivation, goal in world domination
* 2.7.14 Support for global terrorism
* 2.7.15 Iranian nuclear deal
* 2.8 Foreign Relations
* 2.8.1 Relations with the United States
* 3 Ethnic cleansing
* 4 People
* 5 Economy
* 6 Law
* 7 Military
* 7.1 In Syria
* 8 Disputed Territories
* 8.1 South Azerbaijan
* 8.2 West Balochistan
* 9 With Jihadi terror
* 10 Iran protests 2019-2020
* 11 Sep-2022 - Jan 2023 protests
* 11.1 Mahsa Amini
* 11.2 Omar / Tlaib - hypocrisy
* 11.3 Christians
* 11.4 Zehedan massacre
* 11.5 Nika Shakrami / kids
* 11.6 Rape
* 11.7 Racist oppression
* 11.8 Victims
* 11.9 Qatar
* 12 Further reading
* 13 Related
* 14 See also
* 15 References
* 16 External links

## History[edit]

See also: History of Iran

In the Western world, Persia was historically the common name for Iran.[18] In 1935, Reza Shah asked foreign delegates and the League of Nations to use the term Iran ("Land of the Aryans"). The suggestion for the change of the country’s official name to Iran is said to have come from the Iranian ambassador to Germany, who came under the influence of the Nazis. German friends of the ambassador convinced him that the name change would free his country from the past influences of Russia and the British Empire. It would be a new beginning as an Aryan nation. Many Persian elites and intellectuals nurtured the idea of Aryan superiority.[19] Reza Shah[20]said,

“Germany was our age-old and natural ally, Love of Germany was synonymous with love for Iran. The sound of German officers’ footsteps was heard on the shores of the Nile. Swastika flags were flying from the outskirts of Moscow to the peaks of the Caucasus Mts. Iranian patriots eagerly awaited the arrival of their old allies. My friend and I would spin tales about the grandeur of the superior race. We considered Germany the chosen representative of this race in Europe and Iran its representative in Asia. The right to life and role was ours. Others had no choice but submission and slavery. We discarded the old maps and remade Iran into a country larger than what it was in Achaemenian times.”[21]

Reza Shah and Mohammad Reza Pahlavi legacies evoke consternation and controversy. Both were pro-Western modernizers, promoted science, Western education, women and minority rights, economic development, a judiciary more on a Western model as opposed to shariah and clerical rule. But the Carter administration viewed the Ayatollah Khomeini as a paragon of human rights, an expression of the will of the Iranian people for self-determination. One of the Ayatollah's first acts was to issue a fatwa promising paradise for children who joined the Iranian military during the Iran-Iraq war. By 1982, with Shi'a clergy in command, the government asked children, age 9 years old and up, to clear minefields so the regular Army could advance against the Iraqi Army. [22][23] About 100,000 died as Basij child soldiers building the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Ayatollah Ruholla Khomeini, founder of the Islamic Republic.

Iran today is 75 million people with a per capita income behind Mexico but ahead of Brazil. Female enrollment and graduation rates in higher education now outnumber males.[24] But if political repression during the monarchy was troublesome, Iran's human rights record and coercive measures against dissidents under its religious rulers has been abysmal.[25] That, and its active sponsorship of terrorism to further its foreign policy objectives abroad. Its non-cooperation with international conventions in pursuit of nuclear power status is particularly worrisome. Iran's Quds Force (Jerusalem Force), as its name implies, carries out external special operations worldwide to further Iran's foreign policy aims.[26]

Iran's revolution in 1979 and the creation of an Islamic state based on Shariah law was a source of pride, inspiration and envy to Sunnis everywhere. The revolutionaries successfully deposed a Western leaning monarch and sent U.S. military personal and technicians packing.[27] Initially Iran sought to export its revolution to the Gulf States and Lebanon. Iran was behind two U.S. Embassy truck bombings in Beirut and the Marine barracks bombing that killed 241 U.S. soldiers. As the Iran-Iraq war progressed, Iran concentrated its efforts to removing Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq. After the war Iran began providing assistance to the radical Sunni leader Hassan al Turabi who took power in Sudan in 1989[28], and to Hamas in Gaza. The 1990s marked a period of cooperation between Sunni groups such as al Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood and the Shiite revolution of Iran.[29] It organized and created Hezbollah al-Hejaz, based in Saudi Arabia, which in conjunction with al Qaeda staged the 1996 Khobar Towers attack killing 19 Americans and wounding another 372. The 9/11 Commission Report suggested[30] and a U.S. Federal judge ruled in December 2011[31] Iran was a material accomplice with al Qaeda in the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Walid Muhammad Ali [وليد محمد على], "Palestinian" Lebanese Researcher, said, "that Islamic Revolution in Iran led to a strategic development in the Palestinian issue".[32] (In 2014, Walid Muhammad Ali, on Iranian Al-Alam Network, he diminished the Holocaust a day after Holocaust Remembrance Day.[33]).

In 1989, Ayatollah Ruholla Khomeini ordered a fatwa[34] (Islamic decree) to murder Salman Rushdie, after publishing his book criticizing Islam 'Satanic Verses'. On Aug 12, 2022, an Arab-Muslim Hadi Matar, with sympathies toward Iranian government was arrested after stabbing Salman Rushdie.[35] Described by eyewitnesses as viciously stabbing, repeatedly.[36] Activists accused Iran of responsibility for attack.[37] Adding "that a bounty of over 3 million dollars for Rushdie's life offered by Iran's 15 Khordad Foundation remains on offer."

Iran's Ayatollah Khamenei praised the stabbing and said fatwa against Satanic Verses author was 'fired like a bullet that won't rest until it hits its target.'[38] Hadi Matar, the attacker, had contact With Iran's Revolutionary Guard (IRGC).[39]

Iranian Newspaper praised Salman Rushdie's attacker.[40]

Iran benefited greatly when the Sunni walls that had been erected around it - Afghanistan and Iraq - were torn down. Several analysts argue that since about 2005 Iran has evolved rapidly from a theocracy into a garrison state, in which the military dominates political, economic, and cultural life.[41]

Unlike Sunnis who emphasize sectarian differences with minority Shiites, the Iranian regime emphasizes the Israeli bogeyman because they estimate this gains them Arab street cred and diverts attention from the Shia rise to power. They ultimately believe they have earned the right to speak on behalf of the whole Muslim world.[42]

## Government[edit]

Ali Khamenei, second Supreme Leader for life of the Islamic Republic.

The December 1979 Iranian constitution defines the political, economic, and social order of the Islamic republic. The document establishes Shi'a Islam of the Twelver (Jaafari) sect as Iran's official religion. Sunni Islam, Zoroastrianism, Judaism and Christianity are the only other recognized, legal minority religions. But Iran is the eighth country on the World Watch List of Open Doors. The country is governed by secular and religious leaders through governing bodies, whose duties often overlap. (See also:Christians in Iran)

The Supreme Leader holds power for life unless removed by the Assembly of Experts. He has final say on all domestic, foreign, and security policies for Iran, though he establishes and supervises those policies in consultation with the Expediency Council. The Leader is the final arbiter on all differences or disputes among the various branches of government. He appoints officials to key positions including the head of judiciary and the 12 members of the Guardian Council (six directly, six indirectly). He has power to disqualify candidates or remove an elected official from office. The Supreme Leader and is also the commander-in-chief of the armed forces.

The constitution stipulates that the Assembly of Experts, which currently consists of the 86 popularly-elected clerics elected to 8-year terms, chooses the Supreme Leader based on jurisprudent qualifications and commitment to the principles of the revolution. The Assembly of Experts reviews his performance periodically and has the power to depose and replace him. Pragmatic conservative candidates generally polled better than their hardline conservative opponents during the December 15, 2006 elections to the Assembly of Experts. (Turnout for this vote, which coincided with municipal council elections, was quite high, topping 60%.) Citizens will not vote for representatives to the Assembly again until 2014.

The Council of Guardians consists of 12 persons. The Supreme Leader appoints the six religious members of the Council of Guardians while the Iranian parliament, the Majles, selects the six lay members from candidates recommended by the judiciary, which is in turn selected by the Supreme Leader. The non-clerics play a role only in determining whether legislation before the Majles conforms to Iran's constitution. The religious members, on the other hand, take part in all deliberations, considering all bills for conformity to Islamic principles. The Council of Guardians can veto any law. This body also certifies the competence of candidates for the presidency, the Assembly of Experts, and the Majles.

The president of the Islamic Republic of Iran is elected by universal suffrage to a 4-year term. The president supervises the affairs of the executive branch, appointing and supervising the Council of Ministers (members of the cabinet), coordinating government decisions, and selecting government policies to be placed before the National Assembly.

The Majles, or National Assembly, consists of 290 members elected to 4-year terms. The members of the legislature are elected by direct and secret ballot from among the candidates approved by the Council of Guardians.

In 1988, Ayatollah Khomeini created the Council for Expediency, which resolves legislative issues on which the Majles and the Council of Guardians fail to reach an agreement. Since 1989, it has been used to advise the national religious leader on matters of national policy as well. It is composed of the president, the speaker of the Majles, the judiciary chief, the clerical members of the Council of Guardians, and other members appointed by the Supreme Leader for 3-year terms. Cabinet members and Majles committee chairs also serve as temporary members when issues under their jurisdictions are considered. In 2005, it was announced that the Expediency Council, which now has over 40 members, would have responsibility for general supervision of the system, though that has not resulted in any noticeable change in this institution's day-to-day authority or operations.

Judicial authority is constitutionally vested in the Supreme Court and the four-member High Council of the Judiciary; these are two separate groups with overlapping responsibilities and have one head. Together, they are responsible for supervising the enforcement of all laws and for establishing judicial and legal policies.

Iran has two military forces. The national military is charged with defending Iran's borders, while the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is charged mainly with maintaining internal and external security. Iran also uses proxy militias and foreign terrorist organizations to execute its foreign policy designs throughout the world.

Iran has 30 provinces managed by an appointed governor general. The provinces are further divided into counties, districts, and villages. Sixty percent of eligible voters took part in the first ever municipal and local council elections in 1999, though a lower percentage went to the polls in the second round in 2003. Turnout during the December 15, 2006 elections, during which citizens also elected Assembly of Expert representatives, was over 60%. The local councils select mayors.

The March 2008 elections resulted in the conservatives getting a significant lead in the polls, with Conservative politician Shahabeddin Sadr saying that, during early counting, 70 per cent of winners were "principlists" - a label conservatives use to describe their loyalty to the Islamic Republic's ideals.[43]

Iranian brutality is infamous. A rare admission by Iranian authorities in Aug/2021came about only due to hackers exposing inages of brutal beating of political prisoners.[44]

### Principal Government Officials[edit]

* Supreme Lead and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces—Ali Hosseini-Khamenei
* President—Ebrahim Raisi
* First Vice President—Eshaq Jahangiri
* Foreign Minister—Mohammad Javad Zarif
* Ambassador to the United Nations—Majid Takht-Ravanchi

Ebrahim "the Butcher" Raisi became president in June 2021.[45]

#### The Butcher[edit]

In June, 2021, more radical (even amongst already radicals) Ebrahim Raisi, Butcher of Tehran responsible for some 30,000 deaths[46] was (so-called[47]) "elected" as head. Helped by the low turnout.[45][48] [49] There are hortific tales of tortured pregnant women and threw people off cliffs, among countless other brutal acts of violence.[50]

In 1980, at the age of just 20, Raisi was appointed prosecutor of the revolutionary court of Karaj, west of Tehran, and by 1988 he had been promoted deputy prosecutor of Tehran. Raisi was a member of the so-called “Death Commission”, which ordered thousands to be killed in the massacre of 1988. He then became one of four individuals selected to carry out the slaughter of imprisoned activists of the People’s Mojahedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI). Some 30,000 men, women and children held in prisons all over Iran were lined up against the wall and shot within just a few months, say those battling to oust the regime.[50]

On September 30, 2019, Raisi described his cruelty by saying:[51][52]

> “We will not cut the fingers of those who are corrupt; we will cut off their entire hand.”

##### Media's portrayal[edit]

Raisi was categorized as a "hardliner" Hinting of a supposed phenomenon of "moderate" existing anywhere in the cruel Mullahcracy.

Correctly clarified:[53]

"There are no moderates on the ballot in Iran. The ayatollah is a religious Nazi, he controls the place. Religious zealots run the place. Why in the world do you want to give massive enrichment capability to the largest state sponsor of terrorism in the world, I don’t know.”

There are no reformists in Iran.[47]

##### Butcher's cabinet[edit]

In Aug. 2021, the butcher of Tehran, Raisi, presented a cabinet dominated by hardliners on Wednesday, state TV reported, among them a foreign minister known for close ties to Hezbollah and an interior minister wanted by Interpol over his alleged role in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish cultural center in Buenos Aires.

New interior minister Ahmad Vahidi sought by Interpol; the president's pick for top diplomat, Hossein Amirabdollahian, is an avowed anti-Westerner with ties to IRGC, Hezbollah.

The 1994 bombing of Jewish center AMIA in Argentina killed 85 and wounded hundreds.[54]

In Oct 2021, The lawmakers in Iran --who are even more extreme than mainstream radicals -- submitted a formal complaint was appended by a public petition that, among other allegations, accuses Rouhani of betraying Iranians through signing the nuclear deal with the world powers. [55]

### Political conditions[edit]

Iran's post-revolution difficulties have included an 8-year war with Iraq, internal political struggles and unrest, and economic disorder. The early days of the regime were characterized by severe human rights violations and political turmoil, including the seizure of the U.S. Embassy compound and its occupants on 4 November 1979, by Iranian student militants. Iranian authorities released the 52 hostages only after 444 days of captivity, minutes after Ronald Reagan's inauguration as the 40th president of the United States.[56]

Ethnoreligious distribution

By mid-1982, the clergy had won a succession of post-Revolution power struggles that eliminated first the center of the political spectrum and then the leftists, including the communist Tudeh party and the cult-like Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MEK or MKO). Assassinations, throwing acid in the faces of women who refused to wear the veil, and other acts of violence punctuated this period. There has been some moderation of excesses since the early days of the revolution, and the country experienced a partial "thaw" in terms of political and social freedoms during the tenure of former president Khatami, but serious problems remained. The administration of former President Ahmadi-Nejad had witnessed a crackdown on Iranian civil society, continued human rights violations, and worsening constraints on press freedom and civil liberties. Current president Hassan Rouhani did not changed anything.

The Islamic Republican Party (IRP) was Iran's sole political party until its dissolution in 1987. Iran now has a variety of groups engaged in political activity; some are oriented along ideological lines or based on an identity group, others are more akin to professional political parties seeking members and recommending candidates for office. Some have been active participants in the Revolution's political life while others reject the state. Conservatives consistently thwarted the efforts of reformists during the Khatami era and have consolidated their control on power since the flawed elections for the seventh Majles in 2004 and president Ahmadi-Nejad's victory in 2005. The party of Khamenei is the Combatant Clergy Association. President Hassan Rouhani is a member of it.

The Iranian Government has faced armed opposition from a number of groups, including the MEK (which the U.S. Government added to its list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations in 1999), the People's Fedayeen, and the Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI).

Iranian ambitions to become a nuclear superpower.

### Genocidal[edit]

Threatening to nuke and/or wipe off Israel of the map has been made by Iran including in 1991,[57][58] in 2001,[59] 2002,[60] 2005,[61]

May 2012, [62][63][64] Sep 2012,[65] 2014,[66] 2019,[67] 2020.[68]

Promoting genocide online at Guardian of Walls, including via Hitler, his genocide praising hashtags: [69]

> Iranian state actors are intensifying their disinformation campaign on social media to spread discord and anti-Semitic tropes inside the U.S., two U.S. intelligence officials say.

> …But within days of the conflict beginning last month in Israel and Gaza Twitter accounts linked to Iran were amplifying anti-Semitic messages in English, including the phrases “hitler was [sic] right” and “kill all jews” at a rate of 175 times per minute, according to analysis by Network Contagion Research Institute.

In Nov 2021, Iranian Brig.-Gen. urges destruction of Israel prior to nuke talks.[70][71]

In March 2022, Iran (via mouthpiece): "Israel's nuclear weapons will not prevent its destruction (sic)."[72]

On Apr 29, 2022, what the Islamic Republic calls "Jerusalem Day", during which masses took to the streets and there were a series of demonstrations of rage and aggressive speeches, the head of the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), Hossein Salami, said: "Israel is creating the conditions for its destruction..."[73]

### Hate[edit]

* Iran has organized Holocaust cartoons events to belittle and deny the Holocaust - 2006, 2016.[74]

The Anti-Defamation League has long named Iran as a premier backer of global anti-Semitism.[75]

Khamenei uses his social media accounts to spread hatred, violence, and dangerous disinformation.[76][77]

* In May 2020, Khamenei uttered his much publicized genocidal threat, implying to carry out ‘The Final Solution.’[75] Twitter, at the time why it banned Trump but allowed -dangerous genocidal- Khamenei go on.[78]

* In 2021, Iranian Cartoonist Masoud Shojaei Tabatabaei on the Islamic Republic Holocaust denial event / Holocaust cartoon contests years earlier he organized:[79]

> "Our Contests Were Counterattacks for the P... Muhammad Cartoons."

* In Mar/2022, Iran unleashed an Antisemitic attack on Zelensky at its 'Fars News.'[80]

* On Apr 27, 2022:[81]

> On Holocaust Remembrance Day & QudsDay2022 eve, Iran paper KAYHAN affiliated to Khamenei attacks Jews in a very Antisemitic article: "Jews killed [sic] the Shiite leaders" & praises Hitler "because he was wise [sic] so he tried to get rid of them"!

As Iran's Mohammad Ali Geraei, the world wrestling champion, (in Aug/2022) expressed his admiration for "Hitler" as his legend among all the people in the world,[82] it was asked by Iran International Sports :

> how is the education system in Iran that Adolf Hitler, as one of the biggest criminals in history and the initiator of World War II, becomes a legend of a national hero?

#### Holocaust denial[edit]

There has been a flow of 'Antisemitism and Holocaust Denial in Iran: by the State Narratives Since 1979.'[83]

Iran has one of the worst records in malicious Holocaust denial.[84] Condemned already in 2007.[85]

In Jan 2022, the shamless Mullahcracy Islamic Relublic was alone, the only one, against 193 members at the UN passing the resolution against Holocaust Denial.[86][87][88]

Iran's president Raisi was blasted for questioning if Holocaust was real (in is CBS 60 Minutes interview, Sep 2022).[89]

Not only does the Islamic regime deny the Holocaust (as late as 2023),[90] it's also disseminating venom internationally. In 2023 for example, in advance of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Iran's TV presented series of interviews in English with Holocaust Deniers and Conspiracy Theorists.[91]

#### Racist terror[edit]

Examples:

The July 12, 1994, AMIA attack on Jewish center AMIA in Argentina by Islamic Republic of Iran's backed Hezbollah Ansar Allah: 85 civilians dead and over 300 injured of multiple nationalities. The attack is considered the worst antisemitic attack in the world since World War II.[92][93]

Targeting Jews in Panama shortly afterwards. The Alas Chiricanas Flight 901 murdering 12, mostly Jews July-19-1994.[94][95][96][97][98]

In 2023, it was reported that Iran has been "mapping" the Jewish diaspora for an assassination campaign that will be triggered if Israel attacks its nuclear facilities, a Jewish woman who met Ayatollah Khamenei has told... [99]

#### Racist defemation and inciting Arabs against Jews[edit]

Islamic Republic of Iran created a fake social network "Aduk", masquerading as if it was Ultra-religious Jewish and or "settler." The Islamic Republic posted anti-Arab racist posts in order to stoke violence and defame Jews.[100][101][102]

### Iran's role in persecution of Mideast Christians[edit]

Though mainstream Western media narrative is that "only jihadists," such as Al-Qaeda and ISIS, are behind the persecution of Christians in the region, the reality is much more complex than the simple image that jihadists came around and killed Christians. Including in: Lebanon (via Hezbollah), Syria, Yemen.[103]

Christians in Islamic-apartheid Iran have long been marginalized.[104][105]

### Anti-Arab racism while hypocritically using "Palestinians"[edit]

Though Iranian decades old anti-Arab racism,[106][107] oppression[108][109] is rampant, the Iran Gov't Mullahcracy has been using the "Palestinians" to achieve its aims.[110]

### World domination[edit]

Gradually since the 1980s, the Islamic Republic has been actively involved in its global spread.

In recent years it has become more emboldened.[111]

#### Iraq[edit]

###### Attacking the U.S[edit]

Pro-Iranian militants have been attacking U.S forces for years. Under Iranian general, Qasem Soleimani, use of IED's was common.

Recently, Iran has continued to attack U.S forces via missiles and drones.[112]

Following Iran's Mar 12, 2022, attacking Erbil,[113] via 12 missiles, reaching near US consulate and damaging Kurdish media offices, a journalist: 'I have not seen a united Iraq around anything for a long time... Condemnations all-over-the-map against Iran.'[114]

All the weak Biden administration had to say that it doesn't believe it was the target...[115]

It has then went back and forth, between cowardly appeasing the Iranians first then telling the truth.[116]

##### Persecuting pro peace, pro Israel Iraqis[edit]

On Friday, September 24, 2021, conference in the Kurdistan region, Iraqi participants called on their country’s leaders to end the state of war and join the so-called Abraham Accords. It was organised by US think-tank Center for Peace Communications in Erbil, the capital of northern Iraq’s Kurdistan autonomous region.[117]

Pro-Iran militia said that normalizers are 'legitimate targets.' After death threats, Iraqis who attended pro-Israel normalization summit recanted.[118]

##### Al-Kadhimi assassination attempt[edit]

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi addresses the nation following a drone strike that targeted his residence in Baghdad on November 7, 2021, amid Escalating Tensions With Iran-Backed Militias [119]

Iraqi Pundit:[120]

> The Middle East will never be cured until the #Iran regime is obliterated. All other analysis is just for crisis management.

It was later confirmed that Iran-backed militia was behind attack on Iraqi PM.[121]

#### Cyberattack on children hospital[edit]

The FBI thwarted an Iranian government-backed cyberattack against Boston Children’s Hospital in 2021.[122]

#### Secret Service plot[edit]

In March 2022, two Muslim men, (Iranian) Arian Taherzadeh, 40, and (Pakistani) Haider Ali, 35, were arrested[123] for impersonating federal agents and giving actual Secret Service agents gifts and free apartments in Washington. The two fake Homeland agents - one 'with ties to Pakistani intelligence[124] Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), and multiple Iranian visas' - spent 18 months 'infiltrating and buying gifts for Jill Biden's Secret Service detail' in luxury DC building where they all lived and partied. Aim was to compromise and accessing information.

#### Assassinations plots[edit]

In Feb 2022, an Iranian attempt to assassinate Israeli businessman Yair Geller in Turkey was thwarted. The attempt came as revenge and in response to the assassination of Iranian nuclear scientist Muhsin Fakhrizada in 2020.[73]

In Apr 2022, it was reported that the Mossad thwarted Iran's triple plot: to kill an Israeli diplomat in Turkey, a US general in the US and a French journalist.[125][126] Mansour Rassouli was interrogated by Mossad inside Iran.[127]

The Quds Force of Iran's Revolutionary Guards has invited one of its agents to assassinate an employee of the Israeli consulate in Istanbul, the agent belongs to Unit 840 of the Quds Force, which deals with opponents of the Islamic Republic. He admitted that he received $ 150,000 for the preparations for the assassination, and was supposed to receive $ 1 million after he managed to eliminate the 3 targets. He was arrested in Europe.[73]

In Aug 2022, Iranian, Quds force's Shahram Poursafi was charged in plot to murder John Bolton on behalf of the IRGC. He offered cash for the murder to whom he believed to be of the Mexican cartel.[128]

In Nov 2022, Georgia (country)’s security officials said Tuesday they have foiled an Iranian plot to assassinate an Israeli citizen on their soil. The murder had been planned by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Quds Force which conducts overseas operations of the IRGC. [129]

In Nov 2021, Iranian journalists (or of Iranian origin) stationed in the UK received warnings from the police regarding the danger to their lives. Israel had passed intelligence information to the British intelligence agencies to thwart an Iranian attack on London soil.[130]

In Jan 2023, [131]

> A federal court in New York today unsealed murder-for-hire and money laundering charges against three members of an Eastern European criminal organization for plotting the murder of a U.S. citizen who has been targeted by the Government of Iran for speaking out against the regime’s human rights abuses.

#### On Azerbaijan[edit]

In Jan 2023, the Islamic Republic sent its terrorists to attack Azerbaijan for getting to closer to Israel.[132][133]

#### Threats[edit]

In July 2022, Iran, the IRGC, declares it can use nuclear missiles to turn 'New York into hellish ruins.'[134]

#### Lebanon[edit]

Iran's Hezbollah has been hijacking the Lebanese and terrorize all who voice a slight criticism. It engaged in multiple assassinations. In its operations it has used its civilians as cannon fodders. Including storing large quantities of weapons. It has threatened the judge who investigate the August 2020 large explosion in Beirut killing over 200.

#### Yemen[edit]

Iran's backed Houthis, who engaged in human shields methods, are foremost anti US and anti Jews.

On Jan 22, 2022, during Gaza rally in support of Houthis in Yemen, chants of 'Death ro the Saud clan!' And 'America is the Great Satan!'[135]

#### Syria[edit]

Iran's Hezbollah has been helping Assad regime and engaged in its brutal crimes against humanity in the Civil War.

#### Turkey[edit]

In 2022, especially in June-Aug Iranian agents, repeatedly, have been attempting to harm innocent Israelis in Turkey.[136][137][138]

#### Latin America[edit]

Iran's Hezbollah have been active in Latin America at least since 1984 AMIA bombing in Argentina that massacred 85.

It has conducted a large narco terror operation for decades especially along the Tri Border Area and in Maicao, Colombia.

Hugo Chavez has provided Iranian Islamists operatives with Venezuelan passports.

Venezuelan Vice–President Tareck El Aissami, a strong candidate to be the future leader of his country, facilitated the issue of hundreds of Venezuelan passports to suspected Hezbollah members.[139]

Venezuela's dictator Nicolas Maduro's chief dirty money man, Arab Hezbollah guy, Alex Saab was finally arrested in 2021.

Alex “[Saab] was a key figure in the pillaging of the national reserves, profiting off the suffering of the people and increasingly criminalizing and providing those international networks for the Maduro regime.”[140]

At the Maduro-Hezbollah Nexus: Iran-backed Networks Prop up the Venezuelan Regime. The minted oil minister, Tareck El Aissami, and the regime’s special envoy to Iran, Lebanese-Colombian businessman Alex Saab, seemingly worked out a gold-for-gas deal with Tehran. [141]

The detainment of the Venezuelan cargo plane in Argentina in June 2022,[142] could be linked to attempts by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) to attack Israelis abroad.[143]

Reported in 2022:[144]

> Despite what the U.S. State Dept. appears to believe, history has demonstrated that the Iranian leopard will not change its spots, only its tactics...

> Iran’s ayatollahs closely collaborate with Hezbollah, the proxy of Iran’s Quds Force, which is the arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps responsible for exporting the Islamic revolution. They have intensified their surge into South and Central America, from Chile (especially with the December election of President Gabriel Boric) to Mexico. They consider Latin America to be the soft underbelly of the United States.

Iranian cleric Mohsen Rabbani, on the run since 1997, as of 2022, still on Interpol's most-wanted list for his role in two Iranian bomb plots targeting Israeli and Jewish sites in Buenos Aires. The 1992 Israeli embassy and 1994 Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA) bombings killed 115 people. Nonetheless, the cleric's influence in the region is back in full force thanks to a new local network and an Iranian university that Canada targeted for sanctions last month.his Latin American comeback has been driving Iran's Operations. He has been called: "Iran's principal proselytizer in Latin America." His networks serve several purposes, including amplifying Iran's propaganda in friendly countries like Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua and facilitating travel for Iranian agents posing as meat inspectors, airline. His Latin American comeback has been driving Iran's operations.[145]

#### UK[edit]

Reported by UK police in Feb 2023, "15 plots had been foiled since the start of 2022 to either kidnap or kill UK-based individuals perceived as enemies of the Iranian regime."[146]

#### Apocalyptic motivation, goal in world domination[edit]

Their Islamic messianic creed is the raison d'être for the Islamic Republic of Iran according to its founders and leaders. [147]

They believe the Shia messiah known as the “Twelfth Imam” or the “Mahdi” will appear soon to establish a global Islamic kingdom. [148]

Shiite Iran (and its Hezbollah), and the Sunni ISIS, both believe that any moment now their "messiah", will appear. Iran and ISIS are both eager to hasten the coming of their Mahdi. [149]

#### Support for global terrorism[edit]

See also: Khobar Towers bombing and 2021 Gaza War

The Iranian government supports and funds Islamic terrorist organizations in various countries, doing so since the Islamic revolution in 1979.[150] The U.S. Department of State labels Iran as a leading state sponsor of terror.[151] The Islamic Republic works through its proxies: in the Middle East, [152][153][154] such as: Hezbollah, Houthis, "Palestinian" Islamic Jihad, it is strongly Hamas linked. Its bases of operations in South America works through Hezbollah network, via local Arab-Muslims in the community in: Venezuela, Maicao/ Colombian/Venzuelan border;[155] Tri-Border area[156][157] in Argentina/Brazil/Paraguay). In recent years it has even expanded its TV channel in Spanish.

According to a U.S. court record for the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings, Osama Bin Laden was living in Khartoum, Sudan when Sudanese religious scholar Ahmed Abdel Rahman Hamadabi brought Shekih Nomani an emissary of Iran to meet the Al-Qaeda leadership. Sheikh Nomani was described as having "had access to the highest echelons of power in Tehran.[158] This meeting resulted in an informal agreement between Iran and Al-Qaeda to cooperate, with Iran providing critical explosives, intelligence and security training to Bin Laden's organization.[159] Iran continued to provide support to Al-Qaeda even after they relocated to Afghanistan in 1996. Iranian officials helped Al-Qaeda members transit through Iran to Afghanistan. Iranian border guards were instructed not to stamp their passports, to prevent their home governments from suspecting that they had traveled to Afghanistan.[159] A section of the 9/11 commission states that shortly after the meetings between Iran and Al-Qaeda in Sudan in 1991,"senior Al-Qaeda operatives and trainers traveled to Iran to receive training in explosives. In the fall of 1993, another such delegation went to the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon for further training in explosives as well as in intelligence and security. Bin Laden reportedly showed particular interest in learning how to use truck bombs such as the one that had killed 241 U.S Marines in Lebanon in 1983. The relationship between Al-Qaeda and Iran demonstrated that Sunni-Shia divisions did not necessarily pose an insurmountable barrier to cooperation in terrorist operations."[160]

Iran and Al-Qaeda cooperation continues to this day. The State Department's Country Reports on terrorism has noted that, "Iran has allowed [Al-Qaeda] facilitators to operate a core facilitation pipeline through Iran since at least 2009, enabling [Al-Qaeda] to move funds and fighters to South Asia and Syria."[161]

Hezbollah welcomed the Umm El Fahm Arabs' ISIS[162][163] attack in Hadera Mar 27, 2022,[164] murdering two, injuring others, as well as its Iran bosses supported it.[165]

In Apr 2022, per Cairo sources: 'Islamic Jihad (PIJ), backed by Iran, is key to escalation,' - on the Israeli "Palestinian" front.[166]

See: Guardian of walls \- Iranian proxy war

Barack Obama addressing the United nations: "The future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam."

#### Iranian nuclear deal[edit]

See also: Iranian nuclear deal

The Iranian nuclear deal or the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) was a failed diplomatic agreement by the Obama administration negotiated by John Kerry to help Iran get 150 billion dollars of U.S. taxpayer money and American banks. Iran then used this money for terrorism.

Then-President Obama said the joint agreement put Iran on the path of having nuclear weapons in 13 years. Obama finalized the agreement on January 21, 2016 when he signed Executive Order 13716\.

The deal supposedly limited Iran's uranium enrichment, but it did not stop Iranian support of terrorist groups like the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas and Hezbollah. It also did not address Iran's expansionist ambitions in the Middle East. [167] President Donald J. Trump rescinded the executive order in May 2018.

In Jan 2022, 3 negotiators quit, over Biden's dangerous soft stand.[168]

### Foreign Relations[edit]

Khomeini's revolutionary regime initiated sharp changes from the foreign policy pursued by the Shah, particularly in reversing the country's orientation toward the West. In the Middle East, Iran's only significant ally has been Syria. Within the U.N framework of the "New World Order", as some Islamists refer to it, Iran pursues its foreign policy objectives under the kufr Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations as it covertly promotes terrorism. Western governments have labeled Iran as the leading state sponsor of terrorism.[169]

Iran's foreign policy and Shi'a brand of Islam promotes Muslim unity[170] whereas Sunni Salafi-jihadists consider Shi'ism not as a dissident sect, but rather as treasonous to the people of God (ulema) and worthy of the death penalty (takfir).

Iran's foreign relations are based on sometimes competing objectives. Iran's pragmatic foreign policy goals include, not surprisingly, protecting itself from external threats and building trade ties. Iran has additionally been accused, however, of trying to export its fundamentalist revolution to other countries, supporting terrorist organizations, and its vehement anti-U.S. and anti-Israel stances are well-known. Senior Iranian officials directed Hezbollah to carry out the bombing of the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina (AMIA, the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association) building in Buenos Aires on July 18, 1994, killing 85 people and wounding scores of others. Out of the eight individuals indicted by the Government of Argentina in October 2006, the Interpol Executive Committee has recommended the issuance of Red Notices (international arrest warrants) against six: five former or current Iranian officials and one Lebanese Hezbollah leader.

Project Cassandra discovered a global cocaine smuggling network run by Iran through its proxy, Hezbollah.

In September 1980, during the Carter-era Iranian hostage crisis, Iraq invaded Iran to take control of the waterway between the two countries, the Shatt al-Arab, although the conflict's underlying causes included each nation's overt desire for the overthrow of the other's government. Iran defended itself and demanded the withdrawal of Iraqi troops from Iranian territory and the return to the status quo ante for the Shatt al-Arab as established under the 1975 Algiers Agreement signed by Iraq and Iran. Khomeini's government turned down an Iraqi cease-fire proposal in 1982, making a new demand for Saddam Hussein's removal as well. After eight punishing years of war, in July 1988, Iran at last agreed to UN Security Council Resolution 598 and the cease-fire was implemented on August 20, 1988. Neither nation had made any real gains in the war.

Iran's relations with many of its Arab neighbors have been strained by Iranian attempts to spread its Islamic revolution, a strictly ideological goal. In 1981, Iran supported a plot to overthrow the Bahrain Government. In 1983, Iran expressed support for Shi'ites who bombed Western embassies in Kuwait, and in 1987, Iranian pilgrims rioted during the hajj (pilgrimage) in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Nations with strong fundamentalist movements, such as Egypt and Algeria, also mistrust Iran. Iran backs Hezbollah (in Lebanon), Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad,[171] and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, all of which are violently opposed to the Arab-Israeli peace process. In contrast, while relations with west European nations have been uneven, they have been driven primarily by pragmatic goals of trade and security. Iran has accepted stronger commercial ties but largely declined to deliver on key European political concerns such as human rights and weapons of mass destruction (WMD) acquisition efforts, particularly in the nuclear field, where the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has been strongly critical of Iran.

An IAEA report in November 2003 provided evidence that Iran, a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), had concealed secret nuclear activities for 18 years. Under international pressure, Iran signed the Additional Protocol to the Safeguards Agreement on December 18, 2003, agreeing to suspend all uranium-enrichment and reprocessing activities voluntarily, as well as cooperate fully with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in resolving questions regarding Iran's nuclear program. In June 2004, the IAEA rebuked Iran for failing to fully cooperate with an inquiry into its nuclear activities, and in November 2004, Iran agreed to suspend most of its uranium enrichment under a deal with the EU. That promise did not last, however, and since then concerns over Iran's nuclear activities have increased.

On June 6, 2006, the Peoples Republic of China, France, Germany, Russia, the United States, and United Kingdom offered Iran a substantial package of economic cooperation and assistance. Tehran, however, was first required to come into compliance with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) guidelines on its nuclear program, suspending its uranium enrichment program. On July 31, the UN Security Council adopted resolution 1696 on the Iranian nuclear question, requiring Iran to suspend all activities related to enrichment and reprocessing, including research and development, as demanded by the IAEA, or else face possible sanctions. Tehran defied the UN Security Council (UNSC) deadline of August 31, leading to the passage of UNSC Resolution 1636 in December 2006 and, as Iran continued to balk, Resolution 1747 in March 2007.

Iran sparked an international controversy when its forces seized and held hostage 15 British sailors and marines, conducting routine anti-smuggling operations in Iraqi territorial waters under UN mandate, on March 23, 2007. Tehran released the U.K. service members on April 6.

Iran maintains regular diplomatic and commercial relations with Russia and the former Soviet republics. Both Iran and Russia believe they have important national interests at stake in developments in Central Asia and the Transcaucasus, particularly regarding energy resources from the Caspian Sea. Russian and other sales of military equipment and technology to Iran concern Iran's neighbors and the United States. Prior to the Obama administration, the United States was concerned about Russian assistance in building at nuclear facility at Bushehr.

Iran spends about 3.3% of its GDP on its military. Iran's military consists of both a national military held over from the shah's government and the IRGC, each with its own ground, naval and air branches. The Iran-Iraq war took a heavy toll on these military forces. Iran has modernized its military, including ballistic missile programs, and weapons of mass destruction; it continues to seek nuclear capabilities. On November 7, 2007, Ahmadinejad announced that Iran had 3,000 centrifuges operating in its uranium enrichment program, which would be enough to produce a nuclear weapon.[172] However, a December, 2007 U.S. intelligence report stated that Iran halted its nuclear program in 2003, and remains on hold. According to the National Intelligence Estimate, "We do not know whether (Iran) currently intends to develop nuclear weapons."[173]

In early 2021 the Peoples Republic of China signed a massive 25-year, over $400-billion infrastructure-for-oil deal with Iran, boosting their military and defense cooperation.[174]

#### Relations with the United States[edit]

On November 9, 2019, Iran reported that Robert Levinson was still alive.[175] In 2009 FBI director Robert Mueller and Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska colluded in an operation to win Levinson's release.

The United States designated the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRCG) and Quds Force as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) in 2019 based on the IRGC’s “continued support to and engagement in terrorist activity around the world.”[176]

On November 4, 1979, militant Iranian students occupied the American Embassy in Tehran with the support of Ayatollah Khomeini. Fifty-two Americans were held hostage for 444 days, ending only with Ronald Reagan's first days in office.[177] On April 7, 1980, the United States broke diplomatic relations with Iran, and on April 24, 1981, the Swiss Government assumed representation of U.S. interests in Tehran. Iranian interests in the United States are represented by the Government of Pakistan. The Islamic Republic of Iran does not have its own embassy in Washington, though it does have a permanent mission to the United Nations in New York City.

In accordance with the Algiers declaration of January 20, 1981, the Iran-U.S. Claims Tribunal (located in The Hague, Netherlands) was established for the purpose of handling claims of U.S. nationals against Iran and of Iranian nationals against the United States. U.S. contact with Iran through The Hague covers only legal matters.

The U.S. Government, by Executive Orders issued by the President as well as by Congressional legislation, prohibits most trade with Iran. Some sanctions were imposed on Iran because Tehran is a state sponsor of terrorism, others because of the nuclear proliferation issues, and still more for human rights violations, including infringement of religious freedom. The commercial relations that do exist between the two countries consist mainly of Iranian purchases of food and medical products and U.S. imports of carpets and food. Some sanctions were temporarily waived in the wake of the devastating Bam earthquake of December 2003. U.S. officials and relief workers actively assisted in relief and reconstruction efforts.

There are serious obstacles to improved relations between the two countries. As a state sponsor of terrorism, Iran remains an impediment to international efforts to locate and prosecute terrorists. Recent attempts by Iran to form loose alliances with anti-U.S. governments in the Western Hemisphere, such as the Venezuelan Government, has further heightened concern about Iran's support for terrorism and nuclear ambitions. Operation Iraqi Freedom removed the Iranian Government's greatest security threat, but officially Iran remained neutral about U.S. policy, sometimes strongly condemning American policies and actions in Iraq. Iran has cultural ties to elements of the populations of both Iraq and Afghanistan. It has made some positive contributions to stability in both countries, but other actions have had the opposite effect. It remains to be seen whether Tehran will ultimately be a constructive force in the reconstruction of its two neighbors or not.

The U.S. Government defines its areas of objectionable Iranian behavior as the following:

* Iran's efforts to acquire nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction;
* Its support for and involvement in international terrorism;
* Its support for violent opposition to the Middle East peace process, as well as its harmful activities particularly in Lebanon, as well as in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere in the region; and
* Its dismal human rights record and lack of respect for its own people.

The United States has held discussions with Iranian representatives on particular issues of concern over the years. U.S. and Iranian envoys cooperated during operations to overthrow the Taliban in 2001 and during the Bonn Conference in 2002 that established a broad-based government for the Afghan people under President Karzai. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, her Iranian counterpart, and others met at talks on Iraq in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, on May 3, 2007. The American and Iranian ambassadors to Iraq took part in face-to-face discussions in Baghdad, with Iraqi officials in attendance, on May 28, 2007. The Bush administration believed, however, that normal relations were impossible until Iran's policies changed.

Nevertheless, the U.S. State Department continued then to support efforts to further the cause of democracy in Iran. In fiscal year (FY) 2006, the U.S. Congress allocated approximately $66 million to promote free media, personal freedom, and a better understanding of western values and culture. As part of those efforts, the Department supported efforts to develop civil society in Iran and exchange programs that would bring Iranian students, athletes, professionals and others to the United States.

Secretary Rice stated that Iranian agreement to abide by UNSC Resolutions 1696 and 1747, calling for Tehran to suspend uranium enrichment and comply with its international nuclear obligations, could lead to the direct negotiations between American and Iranian government officials, not only on Iran's nuclear case but on a wide range of issues.

In May 2007, the Iranian Government charged and in some cases imprisoned a handful of innocent Iranian-American scholars, civil society actors, and journalists, accused by the regime of jeopardizing the security of the state. The international community, academic institutions, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and private citizens joined the U.S. Government in calling for the release of the detained dual nationals, as well as Iranian cooperation in the case of missing retired FBI agent Robert Levinson, last reported on Kish Island, Iran, on March 8, 2007.

Iran is represented by the Pakistani embassy in the U.S. [178]

## Ethnic cleansing[edit]

Among the ethnic groups, targeted by Iran racist Ethnic cleansing are the Ahwazi Arabs.[179]

## People[edit]

Iran is not a pluralistic society, but does have some diversity. Persians are the largest predominant ethnic and cultural group in this country, though many are actually of mixed ancestry. The population of the country has important Turkic elements (e.g., Azeris) and Arabs predominate in the southwest. In addition, Iranian citizens include Kurds, Balochi, Bakhtyari, Lurs, and other smaller minorities, such as Armenians, Assyrians, Jews, and Brahuis (or Brohi).

Persian women from Shiraz.

* Population (2020): 84 million.
* Population growth rate (2007 est.): 0.663%.
* Ethnic groups: Persians 51%, Azeri 24%, Gilaki and Mazandarani 8%, Kurd 7%, Arab 3%, Lur 2%, Baloch 2%, Turkmen 2%, other 1%.
* Religions: Shi'a Muslim 89%; Sunni Muslim 9%; Zoroastrian, Jewish, Christian, and Baha'i 2%.
* Languages: Persian and Persian dialects 58%, Turkic languages (besides Turkish) 26%, Kurdish 9%, Luri 2%, Balochi 1%, Arabic 1%, Turkish 1%, other 2%.
* Education: Literacy (total population age 15 and over who can read and write, 2003)--79% (male: 86%, female: 73%).
* Health (2007 est.): Infant mortality rate—38.2 deaths/1,000 live births. Life expectancy at birth (2007)--total population: 70.56 yrs.

The 1979 Islamic revolution and the 1980-88 war with Iraq transformed Iran's class structure politically, socially, and economically. During this period, Shia clerics took a more dominant position in politics and nearly all aspects of Iranian life, both urban and rural. After the fall of the Pahlavi regime in 1979, much of the urban upper class of prominent merchants, industrialists, and professionals, favored by the former monarch, the shah, lost standing and influence to the senior clergy and their supporters. Bazaar merchants, who were allied with the clergy against the Pahlavi shahs, also have gained political and economic power since the revolution. The urban working class has enjoyed somewhat enhanced status and economic mobility, spurred in part by opportunities provided by revolutionary organizations and the government bureaucracy. Though the number of clergy holding senior positions in the parliament and elsewhere in government has declined since the 1979 revolution, Iran has nevertheless witnessed the rise of a post-revolutionary elite among lay people who are strongly committed to the preservation of the Islamic Republic.

Most Iranians are Muslims; 89% belong to the Shi'a branch of Islam, the official state religion, and about 9% belong to the Sunni branch, which predominates in neighboring Muslim countries. Non-Muslim minorities include Zoroastrians, Jews, Baha'is, and Christians.

There's wide 'religious apartheid' in Iran, With Sunnis faring better than non-Muslims.[180]

## Economy[edit]

Pre-revolutionary Iran's economic development was rapid. Traditionally an agricultural society, by the 1970s Iran had achieved significant industrialization and economic modernization. However, the pace of growth had slowed dramatically by 1978, just before the Islamic revolution. Since the fall of the shah, economic recovery has proven elusive thanks to a combination of factors, including fluctuations in the global energy market. Economic activity was severely disrupted additionally by years of upheaval and uncertainty surrounding the revolution and the introduction of statist economic policies. These conditions were worsened by the war with Iraq and the decline in world oil prices beginning in late 1985. After the war with Iraq ended, the situation began to improve: Iran's GDP grew for two years running, partly from an oil windfall in 1990, and there was a substantial increase in imports. However, Iran had suffered a brain drain throughout the previous decade and wartime policies had resulted in a demographic explosion.

Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline.

A decrease in oil revenues in 1991 and growing external debt dampened optimism for recovery. In March 1989, the government instituted a new 5-year plan for economic development, which loosened state control and allowed Iran to seek greater latitude in accessing foreign capital. Mismanagement and inefficient bureaucracy, as well as political and ideological infighting, hampered the formulation and execution of a consolidated economic policy, and the Iran fell short of the plan's goals while economic inequality was aggravated. Today, Iran's economy is a mixture of central planning, state ownership of oil and other large enterprises, village agriculture, and small-scale private trading and service ventures. Former President Khatami followed the market reform plans of his predecessor, President Rafsanjani, and indicated that he would pursue diversification of Iran's oil-reliant economy, although he made little progress toward that goal. High inflation and expansive public transfer programs, as well as powerful economic-political vested interests created obstacles for rapid reform.

During the 2005 election campaign, President Ahmadi-Nejad promised to redistribute oil revenues to the impoverished, fund large infrastructure projects, and privatize Iranian state enterprises. He has been criticized within Iran for not carrying through on many of his promises. While establishment of the Imam Reza fund for cheap loans to youth has been popular, a law increasing the minimum was revoked because of the huge strain on employers. The "Shares of Justice" program—distributing shares of state-owned enterprises to the poor—faces a number of potential problems.

Unemployment was estimated to be 20% for 2007, according to the International Monetary Fund. Unemployment, a major problem even before the revolution, has many causes, including population growth, high minimum wage level and other restrictive labor policies. Farmers and peasants enjoyed a psychological boost from the attention given them by the Islamic regime but hardly appear to be better off in economic terms. The government has made progress on rural development, including electrification and road building, but Iran still faces inefficiencies related to agricultural land usage which are politically difficult to reconcile. Agriculture also has suffered from shortages of capital, raw materials, and equipment, problems dating back to the 1980-1988 war with Iraq. (See Foreign Relations above.)

Although Islam guarantees the right to private ownership, banks and some industries—including the petroleum, transportation, utilities, and mining sectors—were nationalized after the revolution under Marxist-influenced economic policies. Starting under President Rafsanjani, Iran has pursued some privatization through its nascent equities markets. However, the industrial sector remains plagued by low labor productivity and shortages of raw materials and spare parts, and is uncompetitive against foreign imports.

Increases in the price of oil starting in 2003 have increased state revenue enormously and permitted a much larger degree of spending on social programs than previously anticipated. However, this has not eased economic hardships such as high unemployment and inflation. The proportion of the economy devoted to the development of weapons of mass destruction and military spending overall remains a contentious issue with leading Western nations.

Earnings from Iranian oil exports, projected at $57-$87 billion for 2007–2008, are placed into the Oil Stabilization Fund (OSF), originally designed as a Treasury safety net if oil prices dropped below $20/barrel. In practice, the government has drawn upon the OSF to cover over expenditures. Iran relies on oil for 80% of its export revenue, and 40% of total revenues. (Note: Iran's refining capacity is limited, and Tehran is a net gasoline importer, spending $2.6 billion for foreign gas in 2005.)

Population density

* GDP (purchasing power parity, 2006 est.): $599.2 billion.
* GDP (official exchange rate, 2006 est.): $193.5 billion.
* GDP real growth rate (2007 est.): 4.6%.
* GDP composition by sector (2006): Agriculture 11.2%, industry 41.7%, services 47.1%.
* Per capita income (2006 est.): $8,700.
* Work force: 24.36 million.
* Work force - by occupation (2001 est.): Agriculture 30%, industry 25%, services 45%.
* Unemployment rate (2007 est.): 20%.
* Natural resources: Petroleum, natural gas, coal, chromium, copper, iron ore, lead manganese, zinc, sulfur.
* Agriculture: Principal products—wheat, rice, other grains, sugar beets, fruits, nuts, cotton, dairy products, wool, caviar. Note: Iran is not self-sufficient in terms of food.
* Industry: Types—petroleum, petrochemicals, textiles, cement and building materials, food processing (particularly sugar refining and vegetable oil production), metal fabricating (particularly steel and copper), armaments.
* Trade (2007 est.): Exports--$56.9 billion: petroleum 80%, chemical and petrochemical products, carpets, fruits, nuts. Major export partners (2006): Japan (17.3%), China (11.4%), Italy (6.2%), South Korea (5.2%), South Africa (5.5%), Turkey (5.7%), Netherlands (4.6%), France (4.1%), Taiwan (4.1%). Imports--$48.1 billion: industrial raw materials and intermediate goods, capital goods, foodstuffs and other consumer goods, technical services, military supplies. Major import partners: Germany (14.2%), U.A.E. (6.7%), China (8.3%), Italy (7.5%), France (6.2%), South Korea (5.4%), Russia (4.9%).

## Law[edit]

Because of its Shi'ite character, the Islamic Republic of Iran is referred to as Rafida, or rejectionist of the orthodox Salafi traditions handed down thru Ibn Taymiyyah, Abd al-Wahhab, and others. [181] Iran has been ruled under the Shi'a interpretation of Shariah since 1979. Homosexuals get the death penalty in Iran. [182] However, in a speech at Columbia University, the president of Iran stated that homosexuality does not exist in his nation.

In Iran, production and consumption of alcohol by Muslims is prohibited. However, Iranian law makes an exception for minority groups, such as the Christian Armenians, who are allowed to produce and consume wine and distilled spirits. Naturally, these communities produce far more alcohol than they consume, "illegally" selling it to Muslims who drink in contradiction of Sharia law.

Prostitution is also prohibited in Iran, but there are allegations that نكاح المتعة (temporary marriage, legal in Usuli Shia jurisprudence) is exploited to solemnize marriages of such short duration (hours or days) that the activities thus permitted more resemble dating (if money is not exchanged) or prostitution (if a fee is charged for the marriage).

## Military[edit]

Iranian industry and mining

Iran has it own weapons industry and also relies upon its Chinese communist and Russian allies to supply the latest weapons technology and equipment which can be easily and cheaply duplicated in Iranian factories. In addition, it holds sizable stockpiles purchased from the United States in the Cold War era prior to 1979.

The Quds Force (Jerusalem Force) is the organization tasked with Iran's external covert, paramilitary, terrorist and intelligence functions. Quds Force also carries out some diplomatic functions.[183] As the name implies, the Jerusalem Force was organized to capture Jerusalem from Israel. Its leader answers directly to the Iranian Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as of 2021.

### In Syria[edit]

Iran has for years sought to entrench itself militarily in Syria. It has active military bases in Syria and tenths of thousands of fighters. [184][185]

As part of Iran's ongoing policy O of deploying its Afghan Shi'ite Militia across the Middle East, IRGC is reportedly training Fatemiyoun Brigade[186][187] in drone use in Syria.[188]

## Disputed Territories[edit]

### South Azerbaijan[edit]

For a more detailed treatment, see South Azerbaijan Independence Movement.

### West Balochistan[edit]

For a more detailed treatment, see Balochistan(Country).

West Balochistan was invaded and annexed by Iran in 1928. [189]

## With Jihadi terror[edit]

In 2023, the US confirmed that Al Qaeda top man is in Iran,[190] shielded by the IRGC.

## Iran protests 2019-2020[edit]

Sparked by the Governments' annouced rising fuel prices, the protests spread to the wider grievances against the oppressive regime. The regime shut down the internet. [191]

Some 1,500 died and hundreds were injured after Iran's leader ordered crackdown on unrest - 'Do whatever it takes to end it.' [192][193]

## Sep-2022 - Jan 2023 protests[edit]

### Mahsa Amini[edit]

In Sep 2022, protests broke out across Iran, after a woman was arrested by the Sharia police, was beaten and murdered. Some shouting: "Death To The Islamic Republic! Death To The Dictator!"[194]

The tortured[195] woman was Kurdish. There is also wider racism by the Iranian regime, in general.[196]

The government crackedown on demonstrators and scores were killed.[197] As it spread to some 80 cities,[198] the IRGC warned the protesters.[199] The Mullahcracy employed its own "protesters" marches, who called to execute the demonstrators, which they called, "the enemy."[200]

A Saudi News Network reported that Hezbollah is sending 4,000 members to Iran "to help suppress the Iranian people and in stopping the protests."[201]

The Mullahcracy's state-run "Press TV" attempted to appeal to progressives by denouncing freedom protests as ‘Islamophobic riots.’[202]

From outrageous documentation: the Iranian regime forces small children to mobilize against the protests and dresses them in uniforms.[203]

In its typical blaming game play, attempt to shift focus, as well as taking advantage of the bloody events, Iran suddenly attacked Irbil with drones. The US scrambled F-15 jet "to shoot down Iranian drone that appeared to threaten US forces."[204]

Al Jazeera was slammed for toeing the Mullahcracy line. Arab intellectuals accuse it of Ignoring protests in Iran, abandoning protesters and promoting Iranian government narrative.[205]

The deafening silence of the UN was astounding.[206] Soon, civil rights protests spread worldwide.[207]

On Oct 2, 2022, students of Iran's Sharif University of Technology became under attack by military forces. Hundreds were arrested and injured.[208] Security forces or vigilantes began attacking the dormitories. They were firing guns at the windows while students were in the dorms.[209]

### Omar / Tlaib - hypocrisy[edit]

Hypocritical bigots: Linda Sarsour, Ilhan Omar, and Rashida Tlaib remained silent on Iran protests (end of Sep 2022 report).[210]

When finally, on Oct 8, Ilhan Omar had no choice but to write about it, she tried to falsely link it, confuse it with a totally unrelated issue - "abortion."[211]

### Christians[edit]

The long oppressed Christians in Iran[104] have been very much involved in the anti (apartheid) regime uprising.[105]

### Zehedan massacre[edit]

On Septembe 30th, racist Iran carried out a massacre of some 80 people in Zahedan of (mostly) ethnic Baluch minority.[212][213] "Some of the wounded tried to crawl away to escape the gunfire. Others bled to death on prayer mats as people tried to drag them to safety. But the snipers and officers kept pulling their triggers, firing bullet after bullet into men and young boys at a worship area where Friday Prayer had been underway." Two weeks later, protest renewed in that area.[214]

### Nika Shakrami / kids[edit]

A teenager, Nika Shakrami who was snatched and murdered by Iranian security as she protested, first the Mullahcracy regime said that she was simply arrested. At the end, after 10 days, Iranian officials suddenly switched the whole story around and said that she just "fell from a building. Her family was threatened into "confessions."[215][216][217]

The regime is pressing relatives of Amini, not to speak out, a cousin says, as protests sparked by her death continue.[218]

The regime uses ambulances to move repression forces.[219]

Protesters shot by police so afraid to go to hospitals they're asking U.S. doctors for help online.[220]

On Oct 10, 2022 it was reported that about 185 were killed and 19 among them children.[221]

The regime has been kidnapping’ 15-year-old child protestors.[222]

### Rape[edit]

In the Islamic Republic, young girls are forced to marry prison guards. Then executed the next day. The Rape-public culture intensified at waves of the protests.[223]

### Racist oppression[edit]

It showed also the double discrimination faced by Kurdish women in Iran.[224]

The regime has "targeted and killed a disproportionate number of minority protesters."[225] Ethnic groups were swept up in Iran's nationwide protests and it highlighted the long systematic[226] discrimination, oppression of its minorities.[227] Baluchi, Kurds, Arabs.

Indeed, the revolt is mainly pushed by the oppressed minorities.[228]

### Victims[edit]

By Nov 20, 2022, death toll exceeded 400, [229] and since the protests started, some 14,000 people, including children, have been detained by the regime.[230]

By the end of 2022, after 100 days, more than 500 protesters, including 69 children, have been killed. Hair raising torure tales before executions have been documented.[231]

### Qatar[edit]

Qatar in cahoots with Iran stifle voices of dissent during 2022 FIFA World Cup,[232] And IRGC man said, Qatar is helping Iran silence dissidents in World Cup.[233]

## Further reading[edit]

* Iran: Western Spy Networks Discovered, May 26, 2007.
* Iranian-American charged with spying, May 29, 2007.

## Related[edit]

* Texas Kids Promise To Be Soldiers Of Iranian Supreme Leader, Memri, August 1, 2022.

## See also[edit]

* Democracy in Iran
* Big government Welfare state leads to socialist Nanny state, leads to communist Police state \- Don't think Communism is incompatible with Islam.
* Gun control \- key element to create a police state
* Iranian nuke deal
* Press TV
* Hezbollah
* Islamic anti-Semitism
* Jihad
* Essay:Women's Rights in Iran
* Articles about Iran from previous "Breaking News"

## References[edit]

* http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/5314.htm

1. ↑ https://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/pressroom/2005/pages/iran%20president%20calls%20to%20annihilate%20israel%2027-oct-2005.aspx
2. ↑ https://www.cnn.com/2014/11/10/world/meast/iran-annihilate-israel/index.html
3. ↑ https://embassies.gov.il/SAN-FRANCISCO/ABOUTISRAEL/Pages/Iranian-Threat.aspx
4. ↑ https://www.timesofisrael.com/top-iranian-general-vows-to-wipe-out-annihilate-israel/amp/
5. ↑ https://iranintl.com/en/world/khamenei-once-again-insists-annihilation-israel
6. ↑ https://www.timesofisrael.com/irans-doomsday-clock-for-israels-end-halts-amid-power-cuts/amp/
7. ↑ https://m.jpost.com/middle-east/iran-news/israel-wont-heed-any-deal-that-doesnt-halt-iranian-threats-erdan-says-666056/amp
8. ↑ State Department Report 6: Iran's Human Rights Abuses The State Department, September 28, 2018
9. ↑ Iran prisons head apologises after leaked pictures show abuse, Reuters, Aug 24, 2021.
10. ↑ Iran's Apartheid – Keep Iran off the Human Rights Council, Apr 22, 2010.
11. ↑ E Karsh, The Middle East's real apartheid, JPost, Mar 5, 2012.
Muslims historically viewed themselves as distinct from, and superior to, all others living under Muslim rule, known as "dhimmis"... This historic legacy of intolerance extends well beyond the religious sphere. As longtime imperial masters, Arabs, Turks and Iranians continue to treat long-converted populations, notably Kurds and Berbers, that retained their language, culture and social customs, as inferior.
12. ↑ Danny Eisen, Op-Ed: Iran, Apartheid, and Canada, c-catcanada May 29, 2018
13. ↑ No country for minorities: The agony of Iran’s ethnic Arabs, Kurds, Balochis and Azeris, O. Shahbandar, Arab News, March 8, 2021. Since the Islamic Revolution of 1979, ethnic Kurds, Arabs and Balochis have faced particularly harsh crackdowns by regime security forces.
14. ↑ How Yasir Arafat Drove Christians from Bethlehem D. Weinberg, Mosaic Mag., Dec. 28, 2020.

> It also highlights how states, and state-sponsored social media, incite hatred and publish propaganda against Christians, especially in Iran, Iraq, and Turkey.

15. ↑ Persecution of Christians in Iran – Dr Sara Afshari – Article 18, Apr 8, 2019. In recent years, especially since 2010, the state has expanded their harassment and discrimination against Christians into the internet, social media, radio and television... Since October 2010 until December 2018 Rahpoyan produced 1,818 critical views and anti-Christian items, including hate speech and incitement.
16. ↑ Annu Kaushik, Exclusive: ‘Was forced to strip, govt uses sexual violence against female protesters,’ says Iranian Christian activist, Firstpost, October 17, 2022.

> In 2020, Mary Mohammadi was taken to a detention center near Iran’s capital Tehran. Officials told her that her hair was visible. In the basement of the all-female detention center, Mary was forced to strip. “If my hair is a problem, is it not a problem to force me to take off all my clothes? Is this Islamic?,” Mary told Firstpost in an exclusive conversation. The incident was part of the sexual violence that the regime has been using to suppress female protesters and activists, Mary said. “During protests, security personnel touch female demonstrators inappropriately. They want to make women fearful of stepping out,” she said. 24-year-old Mary has been on the radar of Iranian officials for several reasons. Born to a Muslim family, she converted to Christianity in 2017. Christian converts and other religious minorities like the Bahais are not recognised in Iran. Over the last few years, Mary has faced persecution from the authorities in the form of arrests and interrogations due to her faith as well as activism. The personnel who transferred her to the detention center in 2020 belonged to the morality police which is currently in the eye of the storm due to the death of Mahsa Amini which has triggered nationwide protests in Iran. But it’s not just the morality police who target women for not wearing the mandatory hijab or a head scarf or wearing it improperly. According to Mary “radical Muslims do it too.” In 2019, Mary was on a bus in Tehran. It was a hot day and she had taken off her hijab. Suddenly a fully veiled woman approached Mary and asked her to cover her hair. “When I refused, an argument ensued during which the woman attacked me & my face was left bloodied,” Mary said. The activist somehow managed to take the woman to the police station. According to Mary, the officers dissuaded her from filing a complaint and even threatened her with arrest. “They (police) were very kind to that woman. They let her go at 10 pm but kept me in custody till 3 am,” she added. “Radical Muslims can even attack minorities in public because the regime is behind them, “Islamic hijab is mandatory in Iran even for non-Muslims. I am a Christian but I must wear hijab,” she said. Mary’s activism and faith also took a personal toll. Without giving any reason, her university barred her from appearing in exams. But what was more hurtful for Mary was the treatment meted out to her by a former employer who was also a close friend. “The gymnast training center where I worked was shut down during the COVID lockdown. I kept asking my employers when I can return and they told me and they are still closed,” Mary said. One day, the activist turned up at the center unannounced and saw that it was fully operational. Mary was not given her job back and believes that her employer and the university faced pressure from the authorities.

> Constant threats that Mary said were from the authorities forced her to flee Iran in February 2022. The activist who is currently living in the US told Firstpost that in her home country security forces “continue to use sexual violence in the ongoing protests.”…

17. ↑ Rudam Azad, An Independent Balochistan Is A Natural Ally Of The West, January 9, 2023.
18. ↑ Iran Chamber Society: When "Persia" became "Iran", Iran Chamber
19. ↑ JUDEO-PERSIAN COMMUNITIES vi. THE PAHLAVI ERA – Encyclopaedia Iranica
20. ↑ Reza Shah and Adolf Hitler: Iran’s History with the Third Reich, Howard Blum, Feb. 6, 2020
21. ↑ https://jewishrefugees.blogspot.com/2015/04/iranian-shah-flirted-with-nazis-in-1930s.html
22. ↑ Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988), Iraqi Retreats, 1982-84, Globalsecruity.org, retrieved 20 March 2007.
23. ↑ Ahmadinejad's Demons: A Child of the Revolution Takes Over, Matthias Küntzel, The New Republic, 24 April 2006 .
24. ↑ 60% of college enrollees are female, as contrasted with the Sunni Pakistan Taliban where Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai was shot in the head for advocating education for adolescent girls.
25. ↑ Covert Terror Iran's Parallel Intelligence Apparatus (PDF)
26. ↑ http://www.globalsecurity.org/intell/world/iran/qods.htm
27. ↑ By 1970, Iran was the United States largest customer for weapons. Earnings from the oil boom after the 1953 coup were funneled into defense. Huge bases were built in the north to monitor the Soviets and along the southern coast to police the Persian Gulf. Higher paid technicians to operate the oil industry and maintain military hardware were mostly foreigners, leading to an obvious income disparity between the Shah's foreign allies and the indigenous population. This provided an opening for Soviet and Eastern bloc agitation amongst the Shi'a for revolutionary Marxist anti-Imperialist propaganda with a religious fervor. [1][2]
28. ↑ The Sudanese regime harbored Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri in the early 1990s
29. ↑ Bin Laden shared with Iran a desire to depose the House of Saud, and Zawahiri shared with Iran his contempt of the Egyptian regime which made peace with Israel.
30. ↑ 9/11 COMMISSION REPORT at pp. 240-41.
31. ↑ http://iran911case.com/
32. ↑ The Iranian Journal of International Affairs, 2008, Vol. 20, p. 150.

> Also speaking at the general session, prominent Lebanese scholar Walid Muhammad Ali said: I am of the opinion that Islamic Revolution in Iran led to a strategic development in the Palestinian issue.

33. ↑ "Palestinian-Lebanese Researcher...", Memri, Apr 28, 2014.

> Source: Al-Alam Network (Iran)

> Interviewer: Are you referring to the doubts over the extent of what occurred?

> Walid Muhammad Ali: Indeed, this is a matter of research, yet it is considered taboo in the West, because, obviously, the figures are inflated...

34. ↑ Jennifer Schuessler, Stabbing of Salman Rushdie Renews Free Speech Debates, The New York Times, August 15, 2022.

> Two years ago Salman Rushdie joined prominent cultural figures signing an open letter decrying an increasingly "intolerant climate" and warning that the "free exchange of information and ideas, the lifeblood of a liberal society, is daily becoming more constricted." It was a declaration of principles Mr. Rushdie had embodied since 1989, when a fatwa by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the Supreme Leader of Iran, calling for his murder, made him a reluctant symbol of free speech…. In the West, the defense of Mr. Rushdie was hardly universally robust. Former president Jimmy Carter, writing in The New York Times in 1989, denounced the fatwa but charged Rushdie with "vilifying" the Prophet Muhammad and "defaming" the Quran.

> "While Rushdie’s First Amendment freedoms are important," he wrote, "we have tended to promote him and his book with little acknowledgment that it is a direct insult to those millions of Moslems whose sacred beliefs have been violated and are suffering in restrained silence the added embarrassment of the Ayatollah's irresponsibility."… Some who weighed in said the stakes are simply too high — and too personal. After the attack, Roya Hakakian, an Iranian American writer who in 2019 was warned by the Federal Bureau of Investigation that she had been targeted by Iran, took to Twitter on Saturday to assail what she said was a lack of swift condemnation from U.S. government officials…. In an interview on Sunday, Ms. Hakakian, who came to the United States as a refugee in 1984, said that the heart of the Rushdie case is "being able to say that we, as writers, as novelists, as thinkers, can absolutely take on any issue we want in our works — and that includes Islam." But "nobody is saying that," she said. Instead, "people are paying lip service to free speech." In his recent autobiographical novel "Homeland Elegies," the American writer Ayad Akhtar reflects on the complex meanings of the “Satanic Verses” controversy for Muslim readers and writers, including himself. In an email on Sunday, Mr. Akhtar, who is PEN America’s current president, said the attack on Mr. Rushdie is "a reminder that ‘harms’ of speech and the freedom of speech do not, cannot, hold equal claims on us." "While we may rightly acknowledge that speech can harm," he said, "it’s in the terrible culmination of Salman's dilemma that we see the paramount value, the absolute centrality of freedom of thought and the freedom to express that thought.” For many, defending Mr. Rushdie and "The Satanic Verses" against his would-be assassins may be easy, Mr. Akhtar said. But the defense also "has to apply where we have less unanimity, where we are more implicated."

> "That’s what it means," he said, "for it to be a principle."

35. ↑ Joe Marino and Evan Simko-Bednarski, NJ man, Hadi Matar, with sympathies toward Iranian government ID’d as suspect in Salman Rushdie stabbing, NYPost, August 12, 2022.

> Hadi Matar, 24, was arrested after he stormed the stage at the Chautauqua Institution in Western New York and allegedly stabbed the author in the neck.

36. ↑ Salman Rushdie in surgery after being stabbed onstage; suspect arrested, AFP, Aug 13, 2022.

> Carl LeVan, an American University politics professor attending the event, told AFP he saw the suspect run onto the stage where Rushdie was seated and "stabbed him repeatedly and viciously."

37. ↑ Activists accused Iran of responsibility for Rushdie attack, AFP, France 24. Aug 13, 2023.

> While the fatwa issued by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini over Rushdie's novel "The Satanic Verses" has for some time not been part of daily discourse in Iran, the clerical leadership under his successor Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also did nothing to indicate it no longer stood and on occasions underlined the decree was still valid. The multiple stabbing of Rushdie at an event in New York comes at an intensely sensitive time for Iran, as it considers an offer by world powers to revive the 2015 deal on its nuclear programme which would ease sanctions that have battered the economy. During a period of relative thaw between Tehran and the West under former president Mohammad Khatami, ex-foreign minister Kamal Kharazi had in 1998 pledged that Iran would not take steps to endanger the life of Rushdie, who for years was in hiding.

> But an answer posted to a question on Khamenei's website Khamenei.ir in February 2017 said that the fatwa was still valid. "Answer: The decree is as Imam Khomeini issued," it said. The @khamenei_ir Twitter account, which repeats Khamenei's views and activists have repeatedly said should be suspended, in 2019 posted that the fatwa was "solid and irrevocable". Activists also insist that a bounty of over 3 million dollars for Rushdie's life offered by Iran's 15 Khordad Foundation remains on offer.

> 'Real Islamic republic'

> “Whether today's assassination attempt was ordered directly by Tehran or not, it is almost certainly the result of 30 years of the regime's incitement to violence against this celebrated author," said the Washington-based National Union for Democracy in Iran (NUFDI).

> The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), an opposition group outlawed in Iran, said that the attack had taken place at the "instigation" of Khomeini's fatwa.

38. ↑ Iran's Ayatollah Khamenei praises stabbing of Salman Rushdie and says fatwa against Satanic Verses author was 'fired like a bullet that won't rest until it hits its target' as Islamic hardliners celebrate, Daily Mail, Aug 13, 2022.
39. ↑ Mitchell Prothero, Salman Rushdie Stabbing Suspect 'Had Contact With Iran's Revolutionary Guard'], Vice, Aug 14, 2022.

> Intel officials told VICE World News Hadi Matar had been in contact with members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. ..

> The 24-year-old man accused of stabbing author Salman Rushdie had been in direct contact with members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on social media, European and Middle Eastern intelligence officials told VICE World News. Hadi Matar has been charged with attempted murder after Rushdie, 75, was repeatedly stabbed on stage ahead of a speaking event in Chautauqua, New York, on Friday. On Sunday, Rushdie’s son Zafar Rushdie said his father was in a critical condition and had sustained “life-changing” injuries but had been taken off a ventilator and had been able to speak.

> A NATO counterterrorism official from a European country said the stabbing had all the hallmarks of a “guided” attack, where an intelligence service talks a supporter into action, without direct support or involvement in the attack itself.

> “Close scrutiny needs to be paid to his communications,” said the NATO official, who was not authorised to speak on the record. “More investigation will reveal more information on the exact nature of the links.”... Security officials who confirmed the social media contact would not elaborate on the nature of the communications because investigations are ongoing. They would not disclose who initiated the contact, when it took place, or what was discussed.

> A Middle Eastern intelligence official said it was “clear” that at some point prior to the attack, Matar had been in contact with “people either directly involved with or adjacent to the Quds Force,” referring to the Revolutionary Guard’s external operations force...

40. ↑ Iranian Newspaper Praises Salman Rushdie's Attacker, The Daily Beast, Aug 13, 2022.
41. ↑ Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps, Inc. Washington Institute, Mehdi Khalaji, Aug 17, 2007
42. ↑ The Shia Revival: How Conflicts within Islam Will Shape the Future, Carnegie Council, October 18, 2006
43. ↑ Conservatives forge ahead in Iran parliament vote, ABC Online, 15 March 2008
44. ↑ Iran prisons head apologises after leaked pictures show abuse, Reuters, Aug 24, 2021.
45. ↑ 45.0 45.1 Ultraconservative 'Butcher' Ebrahim Raisi who ordered thousands killed in mass executions and tortured pregnant women wins Iranian presidential election, Gemma Parry for MailOnLine
46. ↑ Butcher' linked to 30000 deaths set to become new President of Iran, Express, UK, May 23, 2021. THE mastermind behind the massacre of 30000 dissidents has emerged as the regime's favourite to win next month's presidential .
47. ↑ 47.0 47.1 Iran's next president, set to be ruthless executioner Ebrahim Raisi after sham elections, could be the clerical regime's last – Struan Stevenson The presidential elections scheduled for June 18 in Iran will, as usual, be a sham. By Struan Stevenson, The Scotsman, May 30, 2021.
48. ↑ The Times view on Ebrahim Raisi: The Butcher of Tehran The Times, June 21, 2021
49. ↑ Low voter turnout sees 'Butcher of Tehran' named next Iranian president Amnesty International decries results in Iranian elections, says ultraconservative Chief Justice Ebrahim Raisi should be investigated for alleged crimes against humanity. FM Lapid: Raisi's election should prompt renewed determination to immediately halt Iran's nuclear program and put an end to its destructive regional ambitions. By Daniel Siryoti , Dean Shmuel Elmas and News Agencies, Israel Hayom, 06-20-2021
50. ↑ 50.0 50.1 Horror acts of Iran’s ‘next president’ Ebrahim ‘The Butcher’ Raisi J. Lockett, The Sun, June 19, 2021
51. ↑ https://www.wsj.com/articles/irans-conservative-judicial-chief-leads-probe-into-downing-of-jet-11579209163
52. ↑ https://www.ncr-iran.org
53. ↑ Sen. Graham slams Biden for wanting to rejoin Iran nuclear deal Mark Moore, NYPost, June 20, 2021
54. ↑ Iran’s Raisi taps minister wanted for role in Buenos Aires Jewish Center bombing, AP and TOI Staff,11 August 2021. New interior minister Ahmad Vahidi sought by Interpol; the president's pick for top diplomat, Hossein Amirabdollahian, is an avowed anti-Westerner with ties to IRGC, Hezbollah.
55. ↑ Iran's hard-liners push to prosecute Rouhani, Al-Monitor Staff, October 12, 2021
56. ↑ Iran Hostage Crisis Ends, History.com
57. ↑ COLUMN ONE: Hezbollah: The Latin Connection : Bombings in Argentina and Panama prompt concern over the radical group's growing presence in the region. Experts say lax security and porous borders create a prime base for terrorists, by Tracy Wilkinson, Times Staff Writer, Los Angeles Times, August 04, 1994.

> The embassy's cultural affairs officer, Imam Mohsen Rabbani, rose. "Israel," he intoned in accented Spanish, "must disappear from the face of the Earth." He and a dozen speakers who followed quoted Iran's late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and called for unity in the fight against Zionism and the satanism of the West

58. ↑ Iran's Strategic Penetration of Latin America. United States: Lexington Books, 2014. 15.

> Mohsen Rabbani, who in 1991 stood before a group of Shi'ite Muslims and radical right-wing Argentine activists and stated openly, “Israel must disappear from the face of the Earth,” to universal applause.

59. ↑ "Iran's Rafsanjani Suggests Nuclear Attack on Israel," World Tribune (London), December 17, 2001.

> One of Iran’s most influential ruling clerics called on the Muslim states to use nuclear weapon against Israel, assuring them that while such an attack would annihilate Israel, it would cost them "damages only". The speech by former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani failed to catch the attention of the western press but made waves in the Middle East. "If a day comes when the world of Islam is duly equipped with the arms Israel has in its possession, the strategy of colonialism would face a stalemate because application of an atomic bomb would not leave anything in Israel but the same thing would just produce damages in the Muslim world", Former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani told the crowd at the traditional Friday prayers in Tehran. In Washington Sunday, administration officials said the United States does not plan to target Iran in the war against terrorism. "Iran is a situation where there are clearly some pressures from young people, there are pressures from women in that country," U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said. "Iran had a different history than Iraq. I don't know, if nothing else happened and one looked at those two countries, I would say the likelihood of Iraq reforming itself is zero. The possibility, the remote possibility of Iran reforming itself is considerably above zero." Dr. Assad Homayou, president of the Azadegan Foundation in Washington, D.C. agreed. "To me the issue is not nuclear weapons but the responsibility of the regime," he said. "This regime is not responsible and that is why I have always emphasized that the removal of this regime is imperative. As the U.S. secretary of defense said the situation with Iran is different from that of Iraq. People only need the moral support of the United States." Analysts told the Iranian Press Service that Rafsanjani's speech marks the first time a prominent leader of the Islamic Republic had openly suggested the use of nuclear weapon against the Jewish State. Rafsanjani advised Western states not to pin their hopes on Israel's violence because it will be "very dangerous". "We are not willing to see security in the world is harmed", he said, warning that a war "of the pious and martyrdom seeking forces against peaks of colonialism will be highly dangerous and might fan flames of World War III." Rafsanjani, who, as the Chairman of the Assembly to Discern the Interests of the State, is the Islamic Republic’s number two man after Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. He was speaking on "International Qods (Jerusalem) Day" which is celebrated in Iran only. The Pentagon, which has pressed for a second stage in the U.S. war against terrorism, does not support any military campaign against Iran. Instead, officials have urged that Washington target the regime of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. On Monday, Iranian President Mohammed Khatami said the stifling of dissent in the country could spark a new wave of student protests, Middle East Newsline reported. Over the last 20 months, officials said, 56 publications have been closed. This includes 24 daily newspapers.

> U.S. officials acknowledge that Iran is more advanced than Iraq in both missile development and weapons of mass destruction. They said that Iran, with Russian help, has succeeded in advancing its nuclear project and they could arrive at weapons capability as early as 2005.

60. ↑ Rubenstein, R. L. (2010). Jihad and Genocide. United Kingdom: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. 122.

> An even more ominous threat was anuttered on January 31, 2002, by Ahmadinejad's superior, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who called for continued terrorism against the “cancerous tumor of Zionism . .,” a biological metaphor often used by political leaders to express genocidal intend.

61. ↑ Ewen MacAskill and Chris McGreal, Israel should be wiped off map, says Iran's president, The Guardian, 26 Oct 2005.
62. ↑ Top Commander Reiterates Iran's Commitment to Full Annihilation of Israel, FARS News Agency, May 20, 2012.
63. ↑ Margaret Wente, Opinion: Cut off Iran? It’s about time, The Globe and Mail, Sep 11, 2012.
64. ↑ Reza Kahlili, Iran committed to 'full annihilation of Israel,' says top Iranian military commander, The Daily Caller, via Yahoo News, May 20, 2012.

> “The Iranian nation is standing for its cause and that is the full annihilation of Israel,” Maj. Gen. Hassan Firouzabadi said in a speech...

65. ↑ Yoel Goldman, War with ‘cancerous tumor Israel’ will eventually happen, says Iranian general, TOI, 22 September 2012.

> Commander of Revolutionary Guard Mohammad Ali Jafari claims Iran will ‘destroy the Jewish state’

66. ↑ Iran’s Khamenei: We Will Arm Palestinians Until Israel is Wiped Off Map, Algemeiner July 25, 2014.
67. ↑ ISRAEL MUST BE 'WIPED OFF MAP' AND IRAN HAS 'THE CAPACITY' - Iran Guards chief: Destroying Israel now not a dream but an ‘achievable goal’,

> In claim prominently reported in Iran, Major General Hossein Salami declares Tehran able to annihilate 'the impostor Zionist regime'

By AFP and TOI STAFF, 30 September, 2019.

68. ↑ Asher Stockler, Iran's Supreme Leader 'Echoing Hitler's Call for Genocide' With Palestine 'Resistance' Post, Mike Pompeo Says, Newsweek, 5/22/20.

> “Khamenei's threats to carry out ‘The Final Solution’ against Israel bring to mind the Nazi 'Final Solution' plan to annihilate the Jewish People,” the Israeli prime minister's office wrote on Twitter.

69. ↑ Brian Bennet, "Exclusive: Iran Steps up Efforts to Sow Discord Inside the U.S., Time Magazine, June 7, 2021.
70. ↑ Benjamin Weinthal, Iranian Brig.-Gen. urges destruction of Israel prior to nuke talks, JPost, Nov 28, 2021.

> "We will not back off from the annihilation of Israel, even one millimeter..."

71. ↑ Iran Rep. Urges Israel's 'annihilation' Before Nuclear Talks, i24news, Nov 28, 2021.

> Brigadier General Abolfazl Shekarchi, a top-level spokesperson for Iran's armed forces, called for the destruction of Israel on Saturday.

72. ↑ Lt. Col. M. Segal, (Iran:) "Israel's nuclear weapons will not prevent its destruction (sic)", JCPA, March 11, 2022.

> Iran threatens retaliation for killing IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps) men in attack on Syria ...

> The Iranian leader's mouthpiece, 'Kayhan', wrote in its editorial (March 10) that "the time has come to teach an unforgettable lesson to the Zionist entity during the few years left until its eventual eradication from Palestinian land. Israel is wrong if it thinks it has nuclear weapons, from which the International Atomic Energy Agency has hidden an eye, will save it from destruction." At the funeral, the words of the Iranian leader in 2015 were mentioned, according to which Israel will cease to exist for another 25 years, and it was emphasized that the action in Syria is approaching this date.

73. ↑ 73.0 73.1 73.2 Nir Dvori, The Mossad thwarted Iran's attempt to harm Israeli diplomats in Istanbul, N12, 30/04/22

> The suspect in the assassination attempt is a member of the Revolutionary Guards. • He was arrested and taken for questioning in a European country.

> The Quds Force of Iran's Revolutionary Guards has invited one of its agents to assassinate an employee of the Israeli consulate in Istanbul, according to a report by a US general and French diplomatic sources.

> According to the report, the agent is currently under arrest in Europe. He belongs to Unit 840 of the Quds Force, which deals with opponents of the Islamic Republic. He admitted that he received $ 150,000 for the preparations for the assassination, and was supposed to receive $ 1 million after he managed to eliminate the 3 targets. Yesterday marked "Jerusalem Day" in Iran, during which masses took to the streets and there were a series of demonstrations of rage and aggressive speeches. The head of the Revolutionary Guards, Hossein Salami, said: "Israel is creating the conditions for its destruction..."

> Last February, an attempt to assassinate Israeli businessman Yair Geller in Turkey was thwarted. Israeli and Turkish intelligence forces worked together to thwart the assassination attempt, which came as revenge and in response to the assassination of Iranian nuclear scientist Muhsin Fakhrizada in 2020.

74. ↑ Iran’s Second International Holocaust Cartoon Exhibition Opens On May 14 ADL, May 11, 2016
75. ↑ 75.0 75.1 Asher Stockler, Iran's Supreme Leader 'Echoing Hitler's Call for Genocide' With Palestine 'Resistance' Post, Mike Pompeo Says, Newsweek, 5/22/20.

> “Khamenei's threats to carry out ‘The Final Solution’ against Israel bring to mind the Nazi 'Final Solution' plan to annihilate the Jewish People,” the Israeli prime minister's office wrote on Twitter.

76. ↑ Twitter Must De-Platform Iran's Supreme Leader | Anti-Defamation League, ADL, Mar 19, 2021.

> Ayatollah Ali Khamenei uses his social media accounts to spread hatred, violence, and dangerous disinformation.

77. ↑ "Why won't Twitter ban Khamenei when it permanently suspended Trump?," Arab News, Mar 21, 2021.

> DUBAI: Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is notorious for using his Twitter accounts to incite hate, violence and disinformation.

78. ↑ Benjamin Kerstein, Top Twitter Exec Declines to Tell Knesset Why Ayatollah’s Calls for Genocide Are Not Banned, Algemeiner, July 29, 2020.

> A top Twitter executive who took part in a Knesset hearing on Wednesday declined to say why her company had not taken action against genocidal incitement by Iranian Ayatollah Ali Khamenei...

> Arsen Ostrovsky @Ostrov_A:

> I kid you not! At Knesset hearing on Antisemitism, @Twitter rep tells me they flag @realDonaldTrump because it serves ‘public conversation’, but not Iran's @khamenei_ir call for GENOCIDE, which passes for acceptable 'commentary on political issues of the day'.

79. ↑ Iranian Cartoonist Masoud Shojaei Tabatabaei on the Holocaust Cartoon Contests He Organized: Our Contests Were Counterattacks for the P... Muhammad Cartoons, Memri, Sep 9, 2021
80. ↑ Seth J. Frantzman, Iranian media slanders Zelensky with antisemitic article,” Jerusalem Post, March 10, 2022.
81. ↑ BenSabti @BeniSabti Tweeted (Apr 27, 2022):

> On Holocaust Remembrance Day & QudsDay2022 eve, Iran paper KAYHAN affiliated to Khamenei attacks Jews in a very Antisemitic article: "Jews killed [sic] the Shiite leaders" & praises Hitler "because he was wise [sic] so he tried to get rid of them"!

82. ↑ Iran International Sports @iranintlsport Tweeted (Aug 28, 2022): (1):

> Yesterday, in an interview with the Khabar Sports newspaper, Mohammad Ali Geraei, the world wrestling champion, talked about his love for Zlatan, Muhammad Ali, the legend of boxing and Esteghlal Club, and in a part of his speech, he mentioned "Hitler" as his legend among all the people in the world. He introduced the title of someone who had "great thoughts" in his head!

(2):

> But the question is, how is the education system in Iran that Adolf #Hitler, as one of the biggest criminals in history and the initiator of World War II, becomes a legend of a national hero?

83. ↑ Antisemitism and Holocaust Denial in Iran: A Review of State Narratives Since 1979. Iran Wire.
84. ↑ Press Guide to Holocaust Denial in Iran, USHMM
85. ↑ UN Assembly condemns Holocaust denial by consensus; Iran disassociates itself, UN, Jan 26, 2007
86. ↑ Itamar Eichner, History in the United Nations: A decision has passed a Holocaust denial, Ynet, Jan 20, 2022.

> A week before the International Holocaust Day, the UN rally adopted in consensus and despite Iran resistance, decision against Holocaust denial. The decision sets for the first time and gives practical tools - but it is only symbolic. Ambassador at UN Erdan: "The Internet becomes an increase of forgery and fraud. No one will distort our history."

> Gilad Erdan at the General Rally of the United Nations Before the decision against Holocaust Holocaust President Historical Achievement to Israel a week before the International Holocaust Day and the 80th day to the conference The decision joined 112 countries. Iran opposed the offer ... But there was no voting, since the understanding that would lose in most overwhelming and the proposal would pass.

> In the end the proposal went through a full consensus without voting. This is the second time in history that the UN efforts to decide that Israel initiated. The previous decision received 17 years ago, the international Holocaust stipulated today. The decision presents the definition for the Holocaust denial and assimilates responsibility for Internet companies to operate to remove contaminants or distort the Holocaust and reading to the United Nations Companies and the UN institutions to act against Holocaust denial and maintain programs The decision to first give practical tools to war in denial of the Holocaust and distorted.

> ... "When Adolf Eichmann, the "final solution" architect, was on trial in Israel, the Attorney General Open the prosecution in these moving words: 'At this place, where I stand before you - I do not stand alone; with me are here at this time six million prosecutors. But they can not get up on their feet or point a finger.' I'm here too with six million prosecutors today. But while this decision preserves the memory of six million victims of the past, its purpose is to protect the countless victims of the future."

> Following the decision, Arden met with the UN Secretary-General, along with the German Ambassador and Holocaust survivors invited to the UN by the Ambassador. Arden said at the meeting that "this is a historic day and the decision we made today on our own initiative is of great importance.

> The fact that over 100 countries have joined us that have determined that Holocaust deniers and perversions must be fought - will give us real tools to act against them and also demand responsibility from Internet companies. I thank the UN Secretary-General for his commitment to the fight against anti-Semitism and the war on Holocaust denial, and I thank the German ambassador for joining our initiative and helping to pass it on."

87. ↑ Udi Evental @UEvental Tweeted: (Feb 5, 2022):

> Holocaust denial in which the Iranian regime is involved up to the neck is also related to the vision of the destruction of Israel, since the Holocaust provides legitimacy for its establishment and existence. Tehran supports Holocaust deniers (the best known of whom was Roger Garaudy) and organizes "academic" conferences on the subject. In January this year, Iran was the only country to oppose the UN resolution against Holocaust denial.

88. ↑ Iran Alone Among 193 UN Members To Oppose Holocaust Resolution, Iran Intl, Jan 20, 2022.

> The UN General Assembly on Thursday agreed on a definition of denial of the Holocaust and urged social media companies "to take active measures" to combat antisemitism.

> "The General Assembly is sending a strong and unambiguous message against the denial or the distortion of these historical facts," said Germany's UN Ambassador Antje Leendertse. "Ignoring historical facts increases the risk that they will be repeated."

> While the 193-member General Assembly adopted the resolution - drafted by Israel and Germany - without a vote, Iran disassociated itself from the text over Israel's "occupation of Palestine and parts of Syria and Lebanon."

> Israel's UN mission did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Iran's statement.

> The General Assembly resolution spelled out that distortion and denial of the Holocaust refers to Intentional efforts to excuse or minimize the impact of the Holocaust, gross minimization of the number of the victims in contradiction to reliable sources and attempts to blame the Jews for causing their own genocide.

> The resolution also said statements that cast the Holocaust as a positive historical event constitute denial, and "urges member states and social media companies to take active measures to combat antisemitism and Holocaust denial or distortion by means of information and communications technologies and to facilitate reporting of such content."

89. ↑ Zoe Strozewski, Iranian President Blasted for Questioning if Holocaust Was Real, Newsweek, Sep 19, 2022.
90. ↑ International Holocaust Remembrance Day In Iran: Iran's Islamic Regime Denies The Holocaust, Memri, January 27, 2023.
91. ↑ "In Advance Of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Iran's Channel 4 TV Presents Series Of Interviews In English With U.S., British Holocaust Deniers And Conspiracy Theorists," Memri, January 27, 2023.
92. ↑ Dina Siegel Vann, 25 Years since the AMIA Bombing: Hezbollah and Antisemitism, AJC, July 17, 2019

> This piece originally appeared in El País [3]. This year marks 25 years of impunity following the terrible terrorist attack against the headquarters of the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina (AMIA) in Buenos Aires. On July 18, 1994, following multiple warnings about the possibility of a new attack at the hands of Iran and its Hezbollah henchmen, and after the bombing in 1992 of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires, a van loaded with explosives detonated in front of the building that represented the institutional heart of Judaism in Argentina. The attack left 85 civilians dead and over 300 injured of multiple nationalities. The attack is considered the worst antisemitic attack in the world since World War II. It shook Argentine society to its core and created a deep sense of vulnerability in the Jewish world at large. Beyond the many surprising twists and turns in a case that is yet to be deciphered, and despite continuous declarations of commitment from governments that pledge to carry the investigation to its final conclusion, the Argentine government still comes up short. There have been low points, such as the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding with Iran by president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, which resulted in condemnation by the Jewish communities in Argentina and around the world, and more importantly, by the relatives of the victims. However, from the outset, evidence tampering, the slow pace with which evidence was processed, and extreme politicization have been obstacles to bringing the culprits to justice. There have been, however, some glimmers of light on a road marked mostly by darkness. One of the few concrete steps toward explaining the motives behind the attack,which singled out the international perpetrators of what is now known as a crime against humanity, was the investigation by Special Prosecutor Alberto Nisman. Nisman’s premature and regrettable death remains a mystery.

> Nisman concluded for the first time and beyond doubt that Iranian authorities at the highest levels were the masterminds behind the attack. In 2007, during an Interpol meeting in Morocco, Nisman presented his report. After months of debate and repeated attempts by the Iranian government to sabotage the process, “red notices” were issued against five Iranian government officials.

93. ↑ 25 Years Since the AMIA Bombing, Wilson Center, Jul. 12, 2019.

> It has been 25 years since the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center in Buenos Aires. Eighty-five people were killed and hundreds wounded. Despite evidence of Iran and Hezbollah's roles in the attack, to date, no one has been held accountable. The Latin American Program's Argentina Project, in partnership with The Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), hosted a public seminar discussing the anniversary of the bombing and implications for counterterrorism challenges globally.

94. ↑ Bombing of Alas Chiricanas Airlines Flight 00901, FBI.

> July 19, 1994, Panama.

> Ali Hawa Jamal. He is suspected of carrying the bomb aboard the aircraft.

> According to reports, an unidentified Middle Eastern male used the stolen credit card of a US citizen to rent a Mazda 4x4 at a Vantage Rent-a-Car located in Panama City, Panama, on May 27, 1994...

95. ↑ Joanna Paraszczuk, Palestinian jihadist group splits from Hezbollah, JPost, Dec 6, 2012.

> Sources tell Lebanese paper that Iran-backed Ansar Allah is cultivating ties with al-Qaida affiliates.

> Ansar Allah was unknown until July 1994, when it issued a statement expressing support for the deadly bombing of the AMIA Jewish center in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Hezbollah and Iran are widely suspected to have been behind that attack, which killed 85 people.

> Ansar Allah and Hezbollah are also suspected of involvement in another terror attack, the bombing of a commuter aircraft, Alas Chiricanas Flight 00901, in Panama on the night of July 19, 1994 – a day after the AMIA bombing. A semtex plastic explosive charge, carried by a man calling himself Lya Jamal, went off killing 21 passengers, 12 of them Jewish.

96. ↑ PATTERNS OF GLOBAL TERRORISM, 1994: LATIN AMERICAN OVERVIEW.

> Panama

> On 19 July a bomb aboard a commuter plane flying between Colon and Panama City detonated, killing all 21 persons aboard, including three American citizens. Twelve of the passengers were Jews. According to media reports, an organization using the name Ansar Allah, or Followers of God, issued a statement expressing support for the bombing, which appeared to be a suicide operation by a person with a Middle Eastern name. Panama has made no arrests in connection with the bombing, but it is cooperating closely with a US law enforcement investigation.

97. ↑ Panama says new evidence shows 1994 plane crash 'terrorist' incident, BBC, May 22, 2018

> [Image caption, The bombing of the Israeli-Argentine Mutual Association (Amia) Jewish community in Buenos Aires shocked the world].

> A plane crash in Panama in 1994 that killed 21 people, many of them Jews, was the result of a terrorist incident, Panama's president has said.

> Juan Carlos Varela said the evidence came from Israeli intelligence and he had asked for the case to be reopened.

> Prominent Jewish businessmen were among those on board the plane that crashed shortly after take off on 19 July 1994.

> The crash happened the day after a bombing at a Jewish centre in the Argentine capital, killing 85 people.

> Speaking to reporters in Panama on Monday, President Varela said he would ask local and international authorities to reopen the investigation into the plane crash, "given intelligence reports that clearly show it was a terrorist attack".

> He has just returned from Israel, where he met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. At a joint news conference there, he referred to a letter he received from Mr Netanyahu last November "confirming that I lost my roommate and a senior member of the Panamanian Jewish community to a terrorist attack conducted by Hezbollah in Panama some years ago".

> Nineteen passengers and three crew members were on board Alas Chiricanas Airlines Flight 901 to Panama City when it exploded shortly after take off from Enrique Jimenez airport in Colon. Twelve of the passengers were Jews.

> At the time, the country's President-elect Ernesto Perez Balladares said it appeared that a bomb had exploded inside the cabin, but this was never confirmed.

> The FBI has previously said that a man named Ali Hawa Jamal was believed to have carried the bomb on to the plane and died in the explosion. He was described as being around 25-28 years old, of Middle Eastern appearance, and had previously travelled to Lebanon, Venezuela and Colombia.

98. ↑ Juan José Rodríguez,Relatives In Panama Still Seek Justice For 1994 'Terror' Attack, Baarons, July 19, 2020

> ... In Panama, investigations have centered on a passenger named Ali Hawa Jamal, who is believed to have detonated a bomb concealed in a radio. An FBI statement said Jamal was the only person aboard whose body was never claimed.

> The FBI suspects Jamal belonged to the same Shiite Hezbollah group that, one day earlier, had detonated a car-bomb that killed 85 people and injured hundreds of people at the headquarters of a Jewish charity in Buenos Aires, the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association.

99. ↑ David Rose, Iran ‘mapping’ Jews in diaspora for kill squads, The JC, Feb 16, 2023.
The hit squads would be deployed if Israel ever attacked Iran.
100. ↑ "Iran set up fake social media network to stoke violence, tensions in Israel – report", TOI STAFF, 3 Feb 2022.

> ‘Aduk’ group, masquerading as a nationalist and ultra-Orthodox news outlet, redistributed extremist and anti-Muslim material to encourage attacks on Arab Israelis, BBC says.

> Iran is suspected of setting up a social media network targeting Israeli nationalist and ultra-Orthodox Jews in order to encourage violence against Arab Israelis and stoke tensions in the country, according to a Thursday report by the BBC. According to the Israeli disinformation watchdog FakeReporter, which uncovered the group’s suspected Iranian origin, its goal was to help fuel “religious war” by amplifying “fear, hatred and chaos.”

> According to the report, the “Aduk” or “strictly religious” group presented itself as a “virtual religious union for the religious public.”

101. ↑ Damian Pachter and ILH Staff, "Report: Iran behind on-line propaganda campaign to foment 'religious war' in Israel", ILH, Feb 4, 2022.

> According to watchdog group FakeReporter, the on-line ultra-Orthodox group "Aduk" was, in fact, an Iranian unit that sought to amplify "fear, hatred, and chaos" in Israeli society.

102. ↑ "Iran Tried To Incite Chareidim Against Arabs," YWN, February 6, 2022
103. ↑ David Isaac, Iran's role in persecution of Mideast Christians is overlooked, expert says, JNS, Mar 1, 2022.

> According to York University's Farhad Rezaei, what distinguishes Iran when it comes to persecution of Christians is that it is pursuing a "strategy of eliminationism" – an organized, unrelenting, Nazi-like campaign to reduce the Christian presence in the Middle East.

> The West is missing a critical component of the story when it comes to the persecution of Middle East Christians, said Farhad Rezaei, a visiting lecturer at Toronto-based York University, during a Zoom presentation on Feb. 22. And that missing element is Iran.

> In the presentation – sponsored by The Philos Project, a Christian group advocating for pluralism in the Near East – Rezaei explained that Iran plays a central role in the destruction of Christian communities, specifically in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen. The mainstream Western media narrative is that "only jihadists," such as Al-Qaeda and ISIS, are behind the persecution of Christians in the region, said Rezaei, who is also a senior fellow at the Philos Project.

> "The reality is much more complex than the simple image that jihadists came around and killed Christians," he said.

> According to Rezaei, what distinguishes Iran when it comes to persecution of Christians is that it is pursuing a "strategy of eliminationism" – an organized, unrelenting, Nazi-like campaign to reduce the Christian presence in the Middle East. "Eliminationism" means shrinking the Christian communities by making life for them unbearable, including through confiscation of private property, arbitrary detention, torture, public incitement, abduction and killing, explained Rezaei, who spent seven months researching this subject and will be releasing a report with his findings in the coming weeks. Rezaei provided an overview of the dramatic decline in the Christian population in the aforementioned countries. In Iraq, before 2003, the Christian population stood at 1.5 million. It is currently between 141,000-171,000, or 0.3% of the population. He noted that most of the Christians were pushed out by Shi'ite militias. He described the Christians in Iraq as "the undisputed losers of the sectarian conflict."

> In Syria, before 2011, the Christian population was 2.3 million. It's now 677,000. Before Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was forced to rely on Iranian help during the Syrian Civil War, he left his Christian minorities alone. Rezaei said it was the Iranians acting as military advisors to the Syrian army who introduced the eliminationist strategy into Syria. "In some cases, the Iranians and the Lebanese Hezbollah wore the uniform of the Assad regime army [to hide their identity], but the local people understood that they were from Hezbollah and Iranians by their accent," he said.

> Rezaei noted that in Yemen, where the Iranian-supported Shi'ite Houthis have taken over large swaths of the country, the Christian population has dropped from 40,000 to 3,000. In Lebanon, where the Iranian-supported Hezbollah dominate, the Christian population has been reduced from 54% to 34% of the total population.

> Rezaei cites two main reasons why the Iranians are implementing their eliminationist plan. One is strategic. Iran wants to build a land bridge to the Mediterranean, and Christian communities sit squarely along that route. The second is ideological – Khomeinism or "new Shi'ism" views Christians and Jews as "pollution," Rezaei said. While he said it is true that Shi'ism contains anti-Christian and anti-Jewish elements, it was "quietist" and minorities were largely left alone if they paid a jizyah tax, a yearly per capita levy on non-Muslims. This changed with Khomeini's rise. Khomeini and another important cleric, Ayatollah Mohammad-Taqi Mesbah-Yazdi, were strongly influenced by Egypt's Sayyid Qutb, the leading member of the Muslim brotherhood and "father of Salafi Jihadism, or global terrorism," Rezaei said.

> Mesbah-Yazdi opened the Haghani seminary. "Most of the senior members of the IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps) are disciples of Ayatollah Mesbah-Yazidi. They are all graduates of the Haghani school," he said. Mesbah-Yazdi rejected the concept of universal human rights, considering it a product of the Judeo-Christian tradition. "He developed his own version of Islamic human rights and obligations. And according to this version of human rights, Muslims basically have the right to kill their religious enemies," Rezaei said. He said the Iranians learned from the Nazis. "Although they deny the Holocaust, they have learned a lot from the Holocaust. However, they understood that they cannot destroy Christians and Jews by the same methods that the Nazis implemented in Germany, like using gas chambers and genocide, so they came up with a different scheme. And that was the strategy of eliminationism."

> Raymond Ibrahim, a distinguished senior fellow at the Gatestone Institute and author of Sword and Scimitar: Fourteen Centuries of War between Islam and the West, agreed that "we shouldn't focus too much on ISIS and the radical groups because they're just the tip of the iceberg," and that Iran is one of the worst actors. But he noted that when looking at the global picture, the lion's share of Muslim persecution goes on in Sunni countries, if for no other reason than that there are more of them.

> Citing the recently released report "2022 World Watch List," by the pro-Christian NGO Open Doors, which ranks the top 50 worst countries for Christian persecution, Ibrahim noted that Iran ranks ninth. Most of those ranking higher are either Sunni countries or countries with large Sunni populations. Rezaei said the purpose of his report isn't to deny the persecution committed in Sunni countries. "What I'm trying to say is that the Iranians persecute Christian minorities in an organized way, just like the Nazi Germans persecuted Jews," he said, noting that in Sunni countries like Pakistan, for example, the persecution may be intense, but it's not a top-down, nationally organized effort.

> Both Ibrahim and Rezaei agree that the larger, mainstream human rights groups fail to address the problem. Ibrahim suggested that one possible reason for this failure is that they're eager to prove that they're not "tribalistic," leading them to shy away from helping fellow Christians. "Also, I think a lot of it is their internal animosity for their own heritage, upon which has been heaped all sorts of sins, both real and imagined. There's an animosity for Christianity amongst descendants of Christians," Ibrahim said.

> Rezaei said there's still hope for the Christian communities plagued by Iran and its proxies, but a united effort by Western nations is essential. He expects that little headway can be made in the current climate, in which the Biden administration seeks to appease Iran, but "that said, it doesn't mean we should stay silent."

104. ↑ 104.0 104.1 Iran's forgotten persecuted Christian minority, Aug 27, 2018.
105. ↑ 105.0 105.1 Lela Gilbert, Women, Christians and Their Powerful Resistance to Iran's Fanatical Regime, Newsweek, Sep 30, 2022.
106. ↑ Peter Tatchell, Iran's anti-Arab racism, The Guardian, Oct 26, 2007.
107. ↑ Iran's Minorities Face Double Discrimination, FairObserver, Dec 6, 2021 — Ahwazi Arabs face state-sponsored suppression of any expression of their ethnic identity and culture as well as open anti-Arab racism.</blockquote>
108. ↑ Tony Duheaume, ANALYSIS: ‘Ethnic restructuring’ behind Iranian oppression of Ahwazi Arabs alArabiya, Published: 14 April ,2017. Updated: 20 May ,2020.
109. ↑ PERSECUTION OF AHWAZI ARABS IN IRAN - Early Day Motions, UK Parliament, Jun 12, 2012.
110. ↑ Iran Gov't Uses Palestinians To Achieve Its Aims, Memri, Sep 16, 2022.
111. ↑ Iran Takes on the World Jamsheed K. Choksy, The Hudson inst.
112. ↑ https://www.timesofisrael.com/new-rocket-attack-targets-iraq-base-housing-us-troops/
113. ↑ Missiles fired from Iran fall near US consulate in Erbil, Iraq - report, Jerusalem Post, Mar 12, 2022.

> Some 12 missiles were fired from Iranian territory and fell near the US consulate in Erbil in northwestern Iraq on Saturday night.

> The Kurdistan Counter-Terrorism Service announced that 12 ballistic missiles were fired from "outside the borders of Iraq and the Kurdistan region, specifically from the east," according to the Iraqi News Agency (INA).

> Independent open-source intelligence (OSINT) accounts shared videos reportedly shared by Iranian civilians showing missiles being fired from Iran at the time of the attack, with at least one of the videos being geolocated to a site in Khasabad in the East Azerbaijan province of Iran.

114. ↑ roi kais • روعي كايس • רועי קייס (@kaisos1987) Tweeted (March 13, 2022):

> Indeed, I have not seen a united Iraq around anything for a long time. Condemnations all-over-the-map [in Iraq] against Iran following the missile attack, from Erbil to Baghdad, including the "crowner" of kings Shiite preacher Muqtada al-Sadr. Why is this interesting? Because the shooting of the Iranians takes place on days when there is some breakthrough in the contacts for the formation of the government with the participation of factions affiliated with Iran.

115. ↑ Fox News Sunday, Mar 13, 2022
116. ↑ Farnaz Fassihi (@farnazfassihi) Tweeted (Mar 14, 2022):

> Update from @EricSchmittNYT: A senior Biden administration official refuted the earlier comment by a US official, saying the administration believes that the building that was hit was a civilian residence only and did not also serve as an Israeli training site.

-IntelOmarion (@IntelOmarion) Tweeted (Mar 14, 2022):

> @farnazfassihi @EricSchmittNYT Seriously? This is extremely unprofessional and dangerous reporting. Your previous claims have only fuelled Iranian propaganda & will enable further attacks on Iraq.

117. ↑ Bennett on Iraqis’ call for normalization: ‘Israel extends its hand in peace’ By TOI Staff, 25 September 2021.
PM praises gathering of hundreds of Sunni and Shiite notables, says 'recognition of the historical injustice done to the Jews of Iraq is especially important'.

> Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said Saturday night that “Israel extends its hand back in peace” in response to a Friday meeting of over 300 prominent Iraqis calling for their country to normalize ties with the Jewish state.

> “Hundreds of Iraqi public figures, Sunnis and Shiites, gathered yesterday to call for peace with Israel,” Bennett said in a tweet.

> “This is a call that comes from below and not from above, from the people and not from the government, and the recognition of the historical injustice done to the Jews of Iraq is especially important.”

> “The State of Israel extends its hand back in peace,” the prime minister added...

> At Friday’s conference in the Kurdistan region, Iraqi participants called on their country’s leaders to end the state of war and join the so-called Abraham Accords.

> The agreements, formulated by the administration of former United States president Donald Trump, were signed on the White House lawn in September 2020 between Israel, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. Morocco and Sudan signed normalization agreements with Israel in the ensuing months.

> “We demand full diplomatic relations with the State of Israel… and a new policy of normalization based on people-to-people relations with the citizens of that country,” said Wisam al-Hardan, who commanded Sunni tribal militias that aligned with the US to fight al-Qaeda in 2005, in response to the power vacuum that followed the 2003 American invasion...

> The gathering, which included Sunni and Shiite Muslim tribal leaders, social activists and former military commanders, took place in Iraqi Kurdistan’s capital of Erbil. It was organized by the Center for Peace Communications, a New York-based nonprofit that seeks to advance closer ties between Israelis and the Arab world.

> Other attendees from around the region spoke virtually to the participants, including former UAE official Ali al-Na’imi and Chemi Peres, the son of former Israeli president Shimon Peres.

> Calling the expulsion of Iraq’s Jews “the most infamous act” in the country’s decline, al-Hardan said that Iraq “must reconnect with the whole of our diaspora, including these Jews.”

> Other Iraqis who participated in the conference urged their country to rebuild ties with those who arrived in Israel fleeing persecution, as well as their descendants..

> A flourishing Iraqi Jewish community lived in the country for centuries, mostly in the central city of Baghdad. But as British colonial rule ended in Iraq and the State of Israel was born in Mandatory Palestine, everything began to change.

> A vicious 1941 pogrom, known in Arabic as the Farhud, saw the deaths of hundreds of Iraqi Jews at the hands of their compatriots in Baghdad. The attacks were sparked by rumors that Jews had helped the British retake power in Iraq following a coup by pro-Nazi Iraqi generals.

> After Israel was founded in 1948, Iraq began persecuting those Jews who remained. The government made Zionism a criminal offense and began firing Iraqi Jews from the civil service en masse. Other Jewish Iraqis were arrested and executed as suspected spies.

> Between 1950 and 1952, over 100,000 Iraqi Jews emigrated to Israel as part of Operation Ezra and Nehemiah. With others driven to emigrate by further decades of repression and war, only a handful of Jews remain.

118. ↑ Aaron Boxerman, "After death threats, Iraqis who attended pro-Israel normalization summit recant", TOI, 30 September 2021.
Speaker says he didn’t mean to call for peace with Israel, others say they were misled about conference’s content; pro-Iran militia says normalizers are 'legitimate targets.'
119. ↑ Iraqi PM Unharmed After Drone Attack Amid Escalating Tensions With Iran-Backed Militias RFE/RL, Nov 7, 2021.

> Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi addresses the nation following a drone strike that targeted his residence in Baghdad on November 7. Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi addresses the nation following a drone strike that targeted his residence in Baghdad on November 7.

> Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi survived an attack by an armed drone on his residence on November 7 amid escalating tensions over the refusal of Iran-backed militias to accept last month's parliamentary election results.

> The Baghdad residence inside the city's fortified Green Zone was hit by a rocket attack early on November 7, the prime minister’s office said in a statement.

> Kadhimi was unharmed in the attack, which the statement said was a “failed assassination attempt.”

120. ↑ Hussain Abdul-Hussain @hahussain Tweeted (Nov 6, 2021):
The Middle East will never be cured until the #Iran regime is obliterated. All other analysis is just for crisis management.
121. ↑ Iran-backed militia behind attack on Iraqi PM - security officials, sources, Reuters, JPost, Nov 8, 2021
122. ↑ Jill McKeon, FBI Blocked Iranian-Backed Cyberattack on Boston Children’s Hospital Last Year, Healthitsecurity.com, June 02, 2022.

> FBI Director Christopher Wray said the bureau thwarted an Iranian government-backed cyberattack against Boston Children’s Hospital in 2021.

123. ↑ Katelyn Caralle, How 'fake' DHS agents spent 18 MONTHS trying to 'infiltrate Secret Service and Jill Biden's detail', Daily Mail Online, Apr 7, 2022.

> Two fake Homeland agents - one 'with ties to Pakistani intelligence and multiple Iranian visas' - spent 18 months 'infiltrating and buying gifts for Jill Biden's Secret Service detail' in luxury DC building where they all lived and partied.

124. ↑ Michael Balsamo, "US: Man impersonated agent, claimed ties to Pakistani intel," AP, via WaPo, April 7, 2022.

> WASHINGTON — One of two men accused of impersonating federal agents and giving actual Secret Service agents gifts and free apartments in Washington has claimed to have ties to Pakistani intelligence and had visas showing travel to Pakistan and Iran, federal prosecutors said Thursday.

> The men, Arian Taherzadeh, 40, and Haider Ali, 35, were arrested Wednesday. The FBI raided a luxury apartment building in Southeast Washington, where the men were staying and had been offering free apartments and other gifts to U.S. Secret Service agents and officers.

> During a court appearance Thursday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Joshua Rothstein said Ali had told witnesses that he was affiliated with the Inter-Services Intelligence agency in Pakistan and that he had multiple visas from Pakistan and Iran in the months before prosecutors believe the men began impersonating U.S. law enforcement officials. Rothstein said the U.S. has not yet been able to verify the veracity of Ali’s claims to the witnesses.

125. ↑ Mossad reportedly interrogated IRGC member in Iran over triple assassination plot, TOI, Apr 30, 2022.
126. ↑ Staff, Mossad operates in Iran, foils IRGC plot to kill Israeli diplomat, US general, Jerusalem Post, April 30, 2022.

> Iran's Quds Force reportedly also planned to assassinate a senior American military general in Germany and a journalist in France.

> The Mossad – operating in Iran – apprehended and interrogated an Iranian national who was leading a plot to kill an Israeli diplomat and a US general, sources have confirmed.

127. ↑ Tal lev Ram @tallevram Tweeted: (Apr 30, 2022):

> No less interesting than the operation of the Mossad that arrested and released a few months ago after an investigation in Iran the Quds Force man Mansour Rassouli in connection with the planning of the assassination of one of the employees of the Israeli consulate in Turkey, is the decision to reveal the information and video. It is no coincidence that the guy probably survived. The battle for consciousness against the Iranians is part of the event.

128. ↑ Callie Patteson, Iranian Shahram Poursafi charged in plot to murder John Bolton, NYPost, Aug 10, 2022.
Bolton said: It tells you that they "really threaten American citizens on US soil."
PBS NewsHour, Aug 10, 2022.
129. ↑ Georgia Says Plot To Kill Israeli Citizen By IRGC Foiled, Iran Intl, 11/15/2022.

> Georgia’s security officials said Tuesday they have foiled an Iranian plot to assassinate an Israeli citizen on their soil.

> The murder had been planned by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Quds Force which conducts overseas operations of the IRGC.

130. ↑ [Diplomatic Correspondent, Israeli Public Broadcaster @kann_news] Gili Cohen:

> First publication on @kann_news: It was Israel that passed intelligence information to the British intelligence agencies to thwart an Iranian attack on London soil. Last week, Iranian journalists (or of Iranian origin) stationed in the UK received warnings from the police regarding the danger to their lives .

> The Iran International channel reported in an official statement on its behalf that two of its journalists received a notification on the subject from the local authorities that they feared for their lives. The ones who passed on the information that led to the thwarting were the Israeli intelligence agencies. This is not the first time (and probably not the last) that Israel helps thwart an Iranian attack on foreign soil, in Europe and in general.

(Nov 21, 2022).

131. ↑ Jstice Department Announces Charges and New Arrest in Connection with Assassination Plot Directed from Iran, DOJJan 27, 2023.
132. ↑ Azerbaijan Evacuating Embassy In Iran Following Armed Attack, Iran Intl, 01/29/2023.
133. ↑ Nadeem Shad, Security guard killed in attack on Azeri embassy in Iran, BBC, 27 January 2023
134. ↑ Benjamin Weinthal, Iran declares it can use nuclear missiles to turn 'New York into hellish ruins', Fox News, Aug 1, 2022

> Iran boasts about its nuke program: 'When Will Iran’s Sleeping Warheads Awaken'.

> The Iranian regime’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on Saturday said that it can develop a nuclear weapon within a rapid-fire amount of time and obliterate New York with ballistic missiles.

> The London-based Iran International news organization reported that the Bisimchi Media (Radioman Media) Telegram Channel aired a short video titled, "When Will Iran’s Sleeping Warheads Awaken." The video said the Islamic Republic of Iran is capable of building nuclear bombs in a compressed period of time "if the US or the Zionist regime make any stupid mistakes."

135. ↑ Chants Of 'Death To The Saud Clan!' And 'America Is The Great Satan!' During Gaza Rally In Support Of Houthis In Yemen, Memri, Jan 22, 2022. [4]

> On January 22, 2022, videos were uploaded to several YouTube channels of demonstrations in Gaza in support of the Houthis in Yemen. The demonstrators waved Palestinian and Yemeni flags and posters with the images of IRGC Qods Force Commander General Qasem Soleimani, of Hizbullah Chief of Staff Imad Mughniyah, and Hizbullah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah. The demonstrators chanted: "Death to the Saud clan!... America is the Great Satan!" Leader: "Salutations from Gaza!"

> Crowd: "Salutations from Gaza!"

136. ↑ Turkey brings down Iranian intelligent cell for planning attacks on Israelis in Istanbul, (Xinhua), Jun 22, 2022.
137. ↑ Turkish Paper Reveals More Details Of Iranian Plot In Turkey, Iranintl, Jul 11, 2022.

> Turkey was aware that a team of Iranian agents had entered the country in June to assassinate Israelis, before they were arrested...

138. ↑ New CCTV images show Iranian kill squad tracking Israelis in Istanbul, Ynetnews, Aug 2, 2022.
139. ↑ Iran’s Strategic Penetration of Latin America: Consequences for U.S. Foreign Policy and National Security. By Magdalena Defort and William Preston McLaughlin. SWJ, Jan 20, 2020.

> The Contemporary Islamic Threat

> Two centuries later, history has come full circle. In 2017, Senator Marco Rubio spoke to the U.S. Senate about the threat to national and regional security posed by the extra–hemispheric power called the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI). According to Rubio, between 2008 and 2012, fraudulent passports, national IDs and birth certificates were issued by the Venezuelan Embassy in Baghdad to foreign nationals with ties to terrorist group, including 173 people from Iran, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Jordan. The individual who uncovered this information was Misael López Soto (lawyer and legal attaché in the Venezuelan Embassy in Baghdad), a Venezuelan national assigned to the Venezuelan Embassy in Iraq in 2015. Soto became a whistleblower and revealed the identity of several of these potential terrorists. He also discovered that Venezuelan Vice–President Tareck El Aissami, a strong candidate to be the future leader of his country, facilitated the issue of hundreds of Venezuelan passports to suspected Hezbollah members.

> Despite the fact that these activities were revealed in a CNN documentary and a handful of Iranians using the fraudulent passports were arrested, there is no substantial evidence that the Venezuelan government intended to stop its Baghdad embassy’s wrongdoing. Senator Rubio’s exposure of how a Latin American country could facilitate the movement of terrorist groups throughout the Middle East and Latin America, and how these groups have allegedly interfered in Venezuela’s democratic process by influencing its elections, show how effectively Iran and its proxy forces have gained the cooperation of some Latin America governments.

> Although the Middle East presence in Latin America dates back to the early 1900s, the 1979 Iranian revolution that brought the Ayatollah Khomeini to power firmly established the Islamic Republic’s presence in the region. Since then, Iran has used every agency within its borders to help extend Iranian tentacles into the political, cultural, economic, and military life of Latin America. Iranian operatives have even infiltrated existing Latin American criminal networks and now operate freely within them. All of this activity follows the “Pattern of Penetration” model put forth by Ilan Berman and Joseph M. Humire.

140. ↑ Corruption in Venezuela: The Alex Saab Case, CSIS, June 24, 2020
141. ↑ Joseph M. Humire, The Maduro-Hezbollah Nexus: How Iran-backed Networks Prop up the Venezuelan Regime, Atlantic Council, October 7, 2020.

>     * Too often, Hezbollah in Venezuela is characterized as only a potential terrorist threat. In reality, the Lebanese terrorist group has helped to turn Venezuela into a hub for the convergence of transnational organized crime and international terrorism.
>     * Hezbollah's crime-terror network in Venezuela has facilitated Iran's cooperation with the Maduro regime.
>     * The United States, allies, and international institutions must ramp up regional counterterrorism collaboration, crack down on illicit financial networks, and build stronger ties with Lebanese and other Arab communities in Latin America.

142. ↑ U.S. asks Argentina to seize mysterious Venezuelan plane linked to Iran, CBS News, Aug 3, 2022.
143. ↑ How is a Venezuelan plane linked to Iran's attempts to attack Israelis?, JPost, Jun 28, 2022.

> A Venezuelan cargo plane bought from Iran is the latest piece in the IRGC's smuggling enterprise. The recent detainment of a Venezuelan cargo plane in Argentina could be linked to attempts by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) to attack Israelis abroad...

144. ↑ Y. Ettinger, Iran’s ayatollahs threaten the US in Latin America, JNS, Jan 10, 2022.

> Despite what the U.S. State Dept. appears to believe, history has demonstrated that the Iranian leopard will not change its spots, only its tactics...

> Iran’s ayatollahs closely collaborate with Hezbollah, the proxy of Iran’s Quds Force, which is the arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps responsible for exporting the Islamic revolution. They have intensified their surge into South and Central America, from Chile (especially with the December election of President Gabriel Boric) to Mexico. They consider Latin America to be the soft underbelly of the United States.

145. ↑ Maria Zuppello, Mohsen Rabbani's Latin American Comeback Drives Iran's Operations, IPT News, November 9, 2022.

> On the run since 1997, Iranian cleric Mohsen Rabbani remains on Interpol's most-wanted list for his role in two Iranian bomb plots targeting Israeli and Jewish sites in Buenos Aires. The 1992 Israeli embassy and 1994 Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA) bombings killed 115 people. Nonetheless, the cleric's influence in the region is back in full force thanks to a new local network and an Iranian university that Canada targeted for sanctions last month. Rabbani has been called "Iran's principal proselytizer in Latin America." His networks serve several purposes, including amplifying Iran's propaganda in friendly countries like Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua and facilitating travel for Iranian agents posing as meat inspectors, airline crews, and clerics...

> [5].

146. ↑ Iran International: Channel leaves UK after regime threats, BBC, Jan 18, 2023.
147. ↑ The fall of Qasem Soleimani and the Mahdi Doctrine, Jpost, Jan 29, 2020
148. ↑ Why Iran's Top Leaders Believe That the End of Days Has Come, Fox News, Nov 7, 2011.
149. ↑ Radical Islam? Apocalyptic Islam Poses the Greater Threat, NRO, Sep 11, 2015
150. ↑ Nazarian, Adelle (October 13, 2017). A Brief Timeline of Iran-Sponsored Terrorism Since 1979. Breitbart News. Retrieved October 13, 2017.
151. ↑ Lee, Matthew (July 19, 2017). Iran still top state sponsor of terrorism, U.S. report says. PBS (from the Associated Press). Retrieved October 13, 2017.
152. ↑ Iran's Proxies Are More Powerful Than Ever, RAND, Oct. 16, 2019.
153. ↑ War by Proxy: Iran’s Growing Footprint in the Middle East, CSIS Briefs, March 11, 2019
154. ↑ Hezbollah: Revolutionary Iran's most successful export, Brookings Institution, Jan 17, 2019
155. ↑ Designating Hezbollah As A Terrorist Group Is A Legal Tool, Joseph M. Humire. SFS, Jan 21, 2020
156. ↑ Fighting Terror in the Tri-Border Area, Wilson Center, Dec 9, 2019
157. ↑ Iran and Hezbollah's Presence Around the World, Lawfare, Jan 8, 2020
158. ↑ Rohan Gunaratna, "Inside Al Qaeda: Global Network of Terror," (Columbia University Press, 2002), p.146
159. ↑ 159.0 159.1 https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/the-iran-al-qaeda-conundrum
160. ↑ The 9/11 Commission Report Page 257 (PDF)
161. ↑ Iran’s Support for al-Qaeda is Incompatible with FATF Standards, FDD, Feb 6, 2019
162. ↑ Elliot Gotkine, ISIS attack kills two and injures six in Israel, CNN, March 28, 2022.

> (CNN) ISIS operatives killed two people and injured six in a shooting attack Sunday in the Israeli city of Hadera, some 31 miles north of Tel Aviv, Israeli officials said. The attack — the second of its kind in a week — coincided with a landmark regional summit in Israel's Negev desert, where top diplomats from the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco, Egypt, Israel and the United States are meeting to discuss security issues.

> "We condemn today's terrorist attack in Hadera, Israel," US Secretary of State Antony Blinken tweeted on Sunday from Israel. "Such senseless acts of violence and murder have no place in society. We stand with our Israeli partners and send our condolences to the families of the victims."

163. ↑ roi kais • روعي كايس • רועי קייס (@kaisos1987) Tweeted: (March 27, 2022):

> ISIS also issued an official proclamation accepting responsibility for the attack in Hadera: "The "infidel" Jews must know that the promises (to harm them) will come to them sooner or later. With the help of Allah."

164. ↑ roi kais • روعي كايس • רועי קייס @kaisos1987 Tweeted Mar 28, 2022):

> Hezbollah welcomes the attack in Hadera yesterday. A statement from the organization said that the attack underscores the desire of the Palestinian people to fight ...and that it is a practical response to the normalization meetings held by some Arab regimes with the enemy entity.

165. ↑ Seth J. Frantznam, Hezbollah praises Hadera terrorist attack as ‘response’ to Negev Summit - analysis, JPost, March 28, 2022.

> The statement called this a heroic “confrontation” with Israel. The article noted that the perpetrators were from Umm el-Fahm, a large Arab-Israeli city.

> Iran’s Fars News Agency also highlighted the attack. Fars is considered close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The IRGC and Iran generally back Hezbollah. The statement at Fars called this a “martyrdom operation” and said Hezbollah had congratulated the perpetrators...

> The context here is that the operation appears to be linked to ISIS, which is a jihadist group that generally is opposed to Shi’ites and Iran. That means that in this case, even though the perpetrators are apparently Islamist extremists, pro-Iranian groups nevertheless back the attack...

> Iran backs Hamas, which is a Sunni group linked to the Muslim Brotherhood.

> This complexity of Sunni, Shi’ite, Hezbollah, Hamas, Iran and other countries sometimes being against each other, and sometimes on the same side, is one of the features of the region. In general, ISIS has not targeted Israel in recent years, and jihadist groups have focused their energies elsewhere. But Iranian-backed groups have focused their energies on fighting Israel.

166. ↑ Kan News (@kann_news) Tweeted (Apr 10, 2022):

> Sources in Cairo here News: Islamic Jihad, backed by Iran, is key to escalation - Jihad spokesman in Gaza: 'If Israeli "aggression" [sic] continues - all fronts will explode."'

167. ↑ (Ghoraba, Hany). Why Egypt Supports U.S. Withdrawal From Iran Nuclear Deal. The Investigative Project On Terrorism. Retrieved September 2, 2018.
168. ↑ "GOP lawmaker slams Biden after three of his team negotiating," Daily Mail, Jan 25, 2022.
169. ↑ State Sponsors: Iran, Greg Bruno, Council on Foreign Relations, Updated: October 13, 2011. cfr.org
170. ↑ Imams call People to Islamic Unity, Muhammad Rida al-Muzaffar. imamalinet.net
171. ↑ IRGC General Gholamali Rashid: Hizbullah In Lebanon, Hamas And PIJ In Palestine, PMU In Iraq, And The Houthis In Yemen Are All Armies Ready To Defend The Iranian Regime, Memri, Sep 30, 2021.
172. ↑ Ahmadinejad Announces Iran Uranium Enrichment Milestone Associated Press, Fox News, November 07, 2007
173. ↑ Report contradicts Bush on Iran nuclean program
174. ↑ https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/iran-china-sign-25-year-deal-will-see-400bn-chinese-infrastructure-investment-oil
175. ↑ Iran Acknowledges That FBI Agent Gone Missing Since 2007 Involved In Ongoing Court Case Ryan Saavedra, Nov 9, 2019, DailyWire.com
176. ↑ "Country Reports on Terrorism 2019".
177. ↑ Reagan deserves credit for 1981 hostage release, AEI, Jan 27, 2016
178. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20190521002714/http://daftar.org/Eng/default.asp?lang=eng
179. ↑ Ahwazi: Ethnic Cleansing in Full Force in Iran - UNPO, Feb 28, 2006.
180. ↑ Religious Apartheid in Iran, H.E. Chehabi, Mei, January 29, 2009
181. ↑ Sunnis speak of the "Prophet and his companions" as the source of divine inspiration, whereas the Shi'a reject the companions (the first 3 "Rightly-Guided Caliphs") and follow the Prophet's bloodline (the "First Imam").
182. ↑ Iran Does Far Worse Than Ignore Gays, Critics Say Fox News, September 25, 2007
183. ↑ http://citizenship.typepad.com/isebrandcom/2013/10/perhaps-the-most-important-military-leader-opposing-the-us-who-youve-never-heard-of.html
184. ↑ Iran has 10 military bases in Syria, two near Israel border, TOI, Feb 19, 2018. Up to 20,000 fighters from various militias throughout the war-torn country have been trained by Iranian military personnel, giving Tehran its “true muscle” in Syria, according to the Monday report in The New York Times...
185. ↑ Iran Strengthens Military Presence in Eastern Syria, Voice of America, Nov 23, 2020.

> Iranian forces continue to expand their military presence in parts of eastern Syria, a move, analysts say, that could undermine U.S.-led efforts in the fight against the remnants of the Islamic State (IS) terror group.

> Iran, a major backer of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime, controls parts of the eastern Syrian province of Deir el-Zour, particularly areas along the border with Iraq. With the help of thousands of foreign and local militiamen, Iran's elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) has consolidated its hold over a large territory in Syria since the beginning of the country's civil war in 2011.

> The United States in 2019 designated the IRGC as a foreign terrorist organization for its destabilizing role in the Middle East.

186. ↑ The Fatemiyoun Army: Iran's Afghan Crusaders in Syria, thediplomat.com, Apr 23, 2021.
187. ↑ What Is the Fatemiyoun Brigade and Why Does It Make the Taliban Nervous?, PBS, Jul 20, 2021
188. ↑ As Part Of Iran's Ongoing Policy Of Deploying Its Afghan Shi'ite Militia Across Middle East, IRGC Reportedly Training Fatemiyoun Brigade In Drone Use In Syria, Memri, Sep 22, 2022.
189. ↑ The Baluch insurgency: linking Iran to Pakistan, The Sistan and Baluchistan Province of Iran has long been associated with instability and armed conflict. NOREF (PDF)
190. ↑ US Confirms That Al Qaeda Top Man Is In Iran, IranIntl, 02/15/2023.

> Seif al-Adel, the apparent new leader of al Qaeda is in Iran, a United Nations report has said and the United States confirmed the information on Wednesday.

> State Department spokesperson Ned Price was asked during his daily press briefing to comment on the UN report. He said: “Our assessment aligns with that of the UN…offering safe haven to al Qaeda is another example of Iran’s wide-ranging support for terrorism, its destabilizing activities in the Middle East and beyond.”

> Asked by a reporter what the United States is ready to do if Adel is in Iran, Price said that the Biden administration is determined not to allow threats to emerge. “We have taken action against Iran for its support for terrorist group throughout the region,” he said and added that Washington will closely coordinate with European allies to confront “all the challenges Iran poses.”

> Seif al-Adel, a former Egyptian special forces officer who is a high-ranking member of al Qaeda with a $10 million US bounty on his head, is now the "uncontested" leader of the militant group, according to a new U.N. report on the organization.

191. ↑ Tamara Qiblawi, Iran's 'largest internet shutdown ever' is happening now. Here's what you need to know, CNN, November 18, 2019.
192. ↑ Special Report: Iran's leader ordered crackdown on unrest - 'Do whatever it takes to end it', Reuters, Dec 23, 2019.

> About 1,500 people were killed during less than two weeks of unrest...

193. ↑ Confirms Report Citing Iran Officials as Saying 1,500 Killed in Protests, VOA, Dec 23, 2019.

> The United States has confirmed a news report citing unnamed Iranian officials as saying about 1,500 people were killed in a crackdown...

194. ↑ Violent Clashes, Protests Continue In Iran After Death Of Woman At Hands Of Morality Police For 'Improperly' Wearing Her Headscarf: Be Wary Of The Day When We Have Weapons! Khamenei, We Will Bury You! Death To The Islamic Republic! Death To The Dictator!
Memri, Sep 19, 2022
195. ↑ "She was tortured": Mahsa Amini's family speaks out amid Iran protests, CBS News, Sep 26, 2022.

> "She was tortured in the van after her arrest, then tortured at the police station for half an hour, then hit on her head and she collapsed."

196. ↑ Zhina Mahsa Amini: The Story of a Kurdish Woman in Iran DCKurd, Sep 23, 2022.

> A 22-year-old Kurdish woman from Saqqez named Zhina Mahsa Amini died on ... The Iranian regime has had the same racist attitude as its predecessors towards its Kurdish population. There is little information about the regime’s harsh policies toward minorities. Why is that? I think someone needs to take the time to look more closely to understand this point, because the official rhetoric of the regime starting in 1979 was that there is no place for ethnicity or nations and Islam, these are foreign impositions from this was Ayatollah Khomeini’s’ rhetoric. These are foreign inventions from those who would like to divide Muslims, and we are all one, but this was really his excuse for not letting the Azeri region, the Kurdish region, the Baluchis, Khuzestan, all have some measures of self-determination and autonomy within Iran. That was just an excuse to install a very oppressive, not only Islamist, but Persian nationalist regime where the government in the center controlled everything. So, he said there’s no place for divisions and nationalism, but then why do they enforce rules where only Persian is permitted? They’re choosing one ethnicity’s language and imposing it on all of them, where really, if you take his rhetoric at face value, everyone should just be able to speak their own language. Since they’re all brothers and sisters and so forth. As soon as you start to peel back the layers of the onion, you start to recognize the hypocrisy that occurs in this regime, but a lot of outside observers don’t have the time or the inclination to understand this complexity.

197. ↑ Nilo Tabrizy, Nailah Morgan and Axel Boada, Protests Surge in Iran as Crackdown Escalates, NYTimes, September 24, 2022.

> Dozens have reportedly been killed by security forces as demonstrations continue to spread across Iran. Protests began after Mahsa Amini died in the custody of the morality police.

198. ↑ Iran police battle protesters in Tehran as unrest over woman's death spirals, BBC, Sep 22, 2022.
199. ↑ Iran’s Guards Break Their Silence, Warn Protesters, Sep 22, 2022
200. ↑ Iranian state-organised marchers call for execution of protesters, Reuters, Sep 23, 2022. [6]

> Summary

> Calls for execution of rioters. Death of woman sparks mass protests. Army issues tough warning.

> DUBAI, Sept 23 (Reuters) - State-organised rallies took place in several Iranian cities on Friday to counter nationwide anti-government unrest triggered by the death of a woman in police custody, with marchers calling for the execution of "rioters".

> The pro-government marches followed the strongest warning yet from authorities when the army said it would confront "the enemies" behind the unrest - a move that could signal the kind of crackdown that has crushed protests in the past.

201. ↑

> Saudi News Network: "Hezbollah is sending 4,000 soldiers to Iran to help suppress the Iranian people and in stopping the protests."

Rotter, Sep 25, 2022.
202. ↑ Omar Ahmed, "Response to Mahsa Amini’s death: Peaceful protests or Islamophobic riots?," by , Press TV, September 27, 2022.
203. ↑ [7][8][9][10]. Out Of Context Twitter-e-Farsi @OutFarsi (Sep 28, 2022):

> The Islamic Republic use of children in the interest of suppressing people.

204. ↑ Barbara Starr and Ellie Kaufman, US scrambles F-15 jet to shoot down Iranian drone that appeared to threaten US forces in Iraq, CNN, September 28, 2022.
205. ↑ Arab Intellectuals Accuse Al-Jazeera Of Ignoring Protests In Iran, Abandoning Protesters And Promoting Iranian Government Narrative, Memri, September 29, 2022.

> After the death of 22-year-old Iranian woman Mahsa "Zhina" Amini, on September 16, 2022, after Iran's morality police beat her because she was not wearing a head covering correctly, Iranian protestors took to the streets throughout the country. Footage showing thousands of protestors clashing with security forces have quickly made it to social media platforms under multiple hashtags. As the protests expanded and gained momentum, Arab intellectuals on social media expressed their disappointment in coverage of the protest by the Qatar-based and funded TV channel Al-Jazeera, which they accused of ignoring the protests, abandoning the protesters, and focusing on promoting the Iranian government's official narrative.

206. ↑ Hillel Neuer @HillelNeuer (Sep 30, 2022):

> History will record that the official account of the United Nations in Iran—and Stefan Priesner, UN Resident Coordinator for Iran—have tweeted NOTHING since #Mahsa_Amini was killed on September 16. They were silent about the Iran regime's slaughtering of women's rights heroes.

207. ↑ Patrick Wintour, 'Women, life, liberty’: Iranian civil rights protests spread worldwide, The Guardian, Oct 1, 2022.

> Demonstrations in string of major cities in solidarity with protests sparked by death of Mahsa Amini in police custody.

208. ↑ [Morty est @OpIran_2022 (Oct 2, 2022):

> Students of Sharif University of Technology (most prestigious university in #Iran) are under attack by military forces. Hundreds have been arrested and injured. BE THEIR VOICE!!! #مهسا_امینی #MahsaAmini

209. ↑

> UPDATE on Sharif University - Crowds hearing the news about students being surrounded and in danger on campus gathered outside the main gate of the university at around 22:00 local time. But reports say that security forces or vigilantes began attacking the dormitories. They were firing guns at the windows while students were in the dorms.

Iran Intl., Oct 2, 2022.

210. ↑ Phyllis Chesler, Why Haven’t Linda Sarsour, Ilhan Omar, and Rashida Tlaib Even Mentioned Iran’s Hijab Protests?, The Algemeiner, September 28, 2022.

> As of this writing, heartbreakingly brave Iranian women have been protesting for 10 days and nights in the streets of at least 80 cities [now 90]. They are risking death for the right not to wear the hijab. Women have been burning their hijabs and cutting their hair. They’ve been heard chanting “Women, Life, and Freedom,” and “Death to the dictator.” The Iranian mullahs have unleashed the Revolutionary Guard and paramilitary (Basij) forces against the protestors. They have been dragging women by their hair, banging their heads on the ground, tear-gassing, beating, shooting, arresting, and murdering them. Fatality estimates range from 50-400 protesters and bystanders.

> These protests were sparked by the Sept. 16 death — in morality police custody — of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman. She was apprehended while in a car with her family because she was, allegedly, wearing her hijab incorrectly. While the police denied beating or torturing her to death, a photo of Amini in a hospital bed reveals her bloodied face. She was in a coma.

211. ↑ Lenny Ben-David, The secret history of Ilhan Omar
Do her voters know about her slavish collaboration with countries where abortion is banned, women tortured and terrorism supported? Op-ed.
212. ↑ ‘Bloody Friday’: Witnesses describe the deadliest crackdown in Iran protests, Washington Post, Oct 14, 2022.
213. ↑ ‘It Was a Massacre’: How Security Forces Cracked Down in Southeastern Iran, NYTimes, Oct 14, 2022.
214. ↑ Tzvi Joffre, Protests renew in Zahedan in southeast Iran two weeks after massacre, JPost, Oct 15, 2022.
215. ↑ Maryam Sinaee, Iranian Protest Victim’s Family Forced Into Televised Confessions, Iran Intl., Oct 6, 2022.
Nika Shakrami disappeared during protests in Iran on Sept. 20 while being chased by security forces .
216. ↑ Parham Ghobadi Nika Shakarami: Iran protester's family forced to lie about death - source, BBC Persian, 6 October 2022.
217. ↑ Miriam Berger, Death of 16-year-old protester adds new fuel to Iran uprising, Washington Post, October 6, 2022.
218. ↑ Iran protests: Mahsa Amini's family receiving death threats, cousin says, '"BBC News, Oct 10, 2022.

> Iran is pressing relatives not to speak out, a cousin says, as protests sparked by her death continue.

219. ↑ atiabii @atiabii: Oct 9, 2022.

> Here is #Iran They use an ambulance to move repression forces. Protesters are taken in ambulances to unnamed prisons and tortured! #Mahsa_Amini‌ #مهسا_امینی

220. ↑ Iran protesters shot by police so afraid to go to hospitals they're asking U.S. doctors for help online CBS News, Oct 10, 2022.
221. ↑ 19 children among 185 killed during protest unrest in Iran, rights group says, Axios, Oct 10, 2022.
222. ↑ Benjamin Weinthal, Iranian regime is ‘kidnapping’ 15-year-old child protestors JPost, Oct 15, 2022.
223. ↑ Gemma Bath, In Iran, young girls are forced to marry prison guards. Then executed the next day, MSN, Nov 14, 2022.

> Protests began in Iran on September 16, prompted by the death of a 22-year-old woman who was dragged away and allegedly beaten by the morality police for wearing her hijab improperly. Now, a new horror is being forced on the protesters of Iran who've spent weeks continuing their fight amidst brutal oppression by Islamic forces. More than 14,000 Iranians have been arrested in connection with the demonstrations being held around the country, with the country's parliament voting overwhelmingly last week in favour of the death penalty.

> Lawmakers think it'll teach those arrested a "good lesson" and deter others from joining. The protests have included women ditching their mandated headscarves and publicly burning them, cutting their hair, and holding signs demanding their human rights.

> Among those arrested are hundreds of children - young girls fighting for their futures. Iran is one of the world's last countries to execute "juvenile offenders," with nine the age of criminal responsibility for girls, compared to 15 for boys. But under Iranian law, you can't execute a minor if they're a virgin.

> That roadblock has been solved in the past by marrying the girls off to prison guards to be raped the night before their murders - a practice that's been documented over the decades by journalists, families, activists and even a former leader. In 2014 Justice For Iran published a report on the organised rape of virgin girls awaiting execution in the country's prisons, specifically focusing on the 1980s. It detailed that the practice was systemic, and likely approved of by higher officials within the government.

> Islamic Republic leader, Hussein-Ali Montazeri, tried to speak out against the executions, conversations he detailed in his 2000 memoir.

> "I told judges not to write death sentences for girls. This is what I said. But they perverted my words and quoted me as saying: 'Don’t execute girls. First married them for one night and then execute them,'" he wrote.

> In 2009, a serving member of the paramilitary Basiji militia told The Jerusalem Post, he was forced to take part in such rapes.

> "At 18, I was given the 'honour' to temporarily marry young girls before they were sentenced to death... I regret that, even though the marriages were legal. I could tell that the girls were more afraid of their wedding night than of the execution that awaited them in the morning," he said. "By morning the girls would have an empty expression; it seemed like they were ready or wanted to die."

> Activists and family members are reporting that it's happening now, in 2022, alongside torture, beatings and horrific sexual abuse.

224. ↑ Alessandra Bajec, The double discrimination faced by Kurdish women in Iran, Al Araby, 06 October, 2022.

> In-depth: The death of Jina 'Mahsa' Amini at the hands of the Islamic Republic's morality police sparked nationwide protests and has put a spotlight on the plight of Iran's long-oppressed Kurdish minority...

> With the protest movement following the lead of Kurdistan, the Kurdish cause has rapidly become intertwined with that of other oppressed communities in Iran.

225. ↑ Brenda Shaffer, How Iran’s Ethnic Divisions Are Fueling the Revolt, FP, Oct 19, 2022.
Non-Persian minorities, often overlooked in the West, may hold the key to the uprising’s course.
226. ↑ Factbox: Ethnic groups swept up in Iran's nationwide protests, Reuters, Oct 17, 2022.

> Iran, with a population of 87 million, is home to seven ethnic minorities alongside majority Persians. Rights groups say minorities have long faced discrimination...

> Here is some background on some of the ethnic groups:

> BALUCHIS

> Some of the deadliest unrest so far was on Sept. 30 in the Sistan-Baluchistan province of southeastern Iran at the Pakistani border, home to the Baluch minority...

> Amnesty International has said security forces killed at least 66 people in a violent crackdown after Friday prayers in Zahedan, the provincial capital...

> The Baluchi minority, estimated to number up to 2 million, follow Sunni Islam rather than the Shi'ite Islam of Iran's clerical rulers. Amnesty said in a report earlier this year that 26% of people executed by the authorities since 2022 were members of the Baluch minority, saying this epitomized "entrenched discrimination and repression they have faced for decades". Jaish al-Adl has said previous attacks it carried out on Iranian forces were in retaliation for oppression of Sunnis in Sistan-Baluchistan. Iranian authorities say the group operates from safe havens in Pakistan and have repeatedly called on the neighbouring country to crack down on them.

> KURDS

> The unrest has been particularly intense in Kurdish regions where the latest wave of protests first began on Sept. 17 during the funeral of Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old woman who died in morality police custody. Rights group Hengaw says it has recorded the deaths of at least 32 civilians killed by government forces during protests. Estimated to number some 10 million, Iranian Kurds are also Sunnis and mostly live in northwestern regions bordering Turkey and Iraq - which also have large Kurdish minorities. Amnesty says Kurds have suffered deep-rooted discrimination in Iran, with their social, political and cultural rights repressed and the region facing economic neglect.

> Kurdish human rights organisation Hengaw has identified 23 Kurdish people killed in the latest protests. The Revolutionary Guards, which have put down unrest in the Kurdish region for decades, have accused armed Iranian Kurdish dissidents of involvement in the protests. The Guards have mounted drone and missile attacks against what they have described as terrorist targets in Iraq, killing 14 people on Sept. 28 including at least one child - according to Iraqi Kurdish authorities.

> ARABS

> Iran's Arabs, estimated to number 1.6 million, reside mainly along the border with Iraq in the southwestern, oil-rich province of Khuzestan. They have long complained of inequity in employment and political rights. Protesters have taken to the streets of the provincial capital Ahvaz during the latest demonstrations.

> In 2021, protests over water shortages were particularly intense in the Khuzestan region - where drought has been a major problem - and were met by a crackdown by the security forces.

227. ↑ Lucas Chapman, Iran’s Ethnic Minorities Are Bearing Brunt Of Violent Regime Crackdown On Protests, Eurasia Review, October 18, 2022.

> Mahsa Amini, or Jina Amini, the name of a Kurdish woman killed by the Iranian morality police on Sept. 16, has echoed across social media in support of the protest movement that is posing the biggest challenge to the clerical rulers in years. To Iranian law enforcement, Amini was just a nameless member of an ethnic minority that has been oppressed for decades...

> Despite supposed constitutional protection and the fact that non-Persian ethnic and linguistic groups make up nearly 40 percent of Iran’s population, minorities have been subjected to mistreatment, from political discrimination to oppression, by means of arbitrary arrest and execution. Kurds are the third-largest ethnic group in Iran, making up approximately 10 percent of the population. Various estimates place their numbers at around 40 million, spread across Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey. “The situation is so bad in Kurdistan that I don’t know where to start,” the activist said. “Our people suffer the worst things that are beyond imagination for people from other countries. Kurds are considered third-class citizens in Iran. First, because we are Kurds; second, because we are non-Shiite Muslims or practice other Kurdish religions; and, third, because of our opposition to the central government.” The activist continued: “We are deprived of our very basic rights as human beings. Kurdish language and Kurdish parties are banned from the system. Kurdish cities suffer from extreme poverty and unemployment which is the result of Iran’s discriminatory policies against Kurds. “Kurdistan enjoys the least amount of development, and Kurdish society has paid a high price for the official marginalization.” Iran’s Kurds have suffered since 1979; Kurdish parties in Iran boycotted the March 1979 referendum to create the Islamic Republic of Iran, and have been paying the price for it ever since. Iranian intelligence has persecuted Kurds even outside its jurisdiction. In 1989, a Kurdish politician and leader of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan was assassinated in Germany. His successor and three other Kurdish opposition figures were also killed three years later, and no fewer than 10 Iranian Kurdish dissidents have been assassinated outside Iran since 1989. Though the current wave of unrest began in Kurdistan with the death of a Kurdish woman, the Iranian regime’s persecution of minority groups has spread beyond the Kurdish minority. In May 2022, a wave of protests against deteriorating economic conditions swept Iran, and a spike in executions came in its wake. However, minority groups were disproportionately targeted by security forces, according to the human rights organization Iran Human Rights, or IHRNGO. The Baloch people, a primarily Sunni Muslim group that inhabits the southern region of Baluchistan in Iran, make up only two percent of the population. It has long suffered from economic underdevelopment, having both the lowest Human Development Index and gross national income per capita of all of Iran’s provinces, according to 2019 statistics from Netherlands-based Global Data Lab. Despite this, they have been subjected to egregious human rights violations. A June report by IHRNGO stated that executions reached their five-year peak in Iran this year. The number has jumped from 110 in all of 2021 to 168 in the first six months of 2022 alone. Arab, Kurdish, and Baloch minorities made up the majority of executions, with Baloch prisoners accounting for 22 percent of executed people. Arabs, too, comprise around two percent of Iran’s people, and have faced oppression and discrimination. Most of them reside in the Khuzestan province, which is rich in oil resources and a major industrial hub. Despite this, the province suffers from widespread poverty and unemployment, according to Arab MP Mohammad Saeed Ansari, who claimed that around half of oil workers are brought in from outside the province and that Arabs are often denied employment opportunities there. The UK-based Minority Rights Group International reported that nearly a quarter of a million Arabs in Khuzestan have been displaced by large government infrastructure projects. The leader of an Arab separatist movement in Iran, Ahmed Molla Nissi, was assassinated in front of his home in The Hague in 2017, adding to the long list of foreign assassinations of minority dissidents by Iran. In July 2021, at least nine people were killed in Khuzestan as they protested, demanding access to clean water, according to Human Rights Watch. Amid the current unrest, protests have broken out in Khuzestan, with many oil and petrochemical facilities on strike and their workers taking to the streets. On Oct. 12, a video shared on Twitter reportedly showed a giant banner depicting Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s picture being set ablaze in Ahvaz, the provincial capital. “Arab citizens live as the poorest people on the richest land — Khuzestan. This is the official name that it was given, but this place is Arabistan or Ahwaz,” Youssef Yaseen Azizi, an Arab Iranian former administrator at Tehran University and a member of the Iranian Writers’ Union, told Arab News. “During the time of the Shah and the Islamic Republic, they brought non-Arabs to the region and settled them in the Arab cities and villages.” Azizi believes the regime has deliberately forced Arabs and other minorities out of public life in Iran. “Arabs only occupy around 5 percent of positions in public institutions,” he told Arab News. “The Arabic language is forbidden in schools. Many Arabs cannot find employment in the petrochemical factories simply because their name is Arabic. “It has reached the level that they can openly say, ‘I will not employ you because you are Arab.’ Ali Khameini’s oil company in Ahwaz has hired 4,000 workers in the last ten years, and only seven of them were Arabs.” Such attitudes might suggest Arab lives in Iran are considered cheap. “Arabs have rebelled many times, and often ended up in prison, or were killed,” Azizi told Arab News. “We were always oppressed by the brutality of the authorities. Just 10 days ago, Emad Heydari was tortured to death in prison in Ahvaz.” According to the website of the Ahwazi Democratic Popular Front, 31-year-old Heydari — a newly married activist from the Malashieh region — was arrested on Sept. 27 and died in prison on Oct. 6. Iranian authorities said he had suffered a stroke. Activists are unconvinced by the official narrative. “During the 2019 protests against the increasing price of fuel, which started from the Ahwaz Arabs and spread from there, 200 Arabs were killed. They didn’t show Arabs any mercy,” Azizi told Arab News. “The Arab press and civil society must know what is happening to us and cover it daily. They must speak on all channels and in all of their books and meetings, and support us, because we are alone. Until now, there is no channel which has covered our pain and showed it to everyone. But our resistance will continue.” The disproportionate targeting of minority communities during the current civil unrest in Iran mirrors its past treatment of minorities. Kurdistan and Sistan and Balochistan have been subjected to the most outstanding amount of violence, according to the Critical Threats Project, an intelligence analysis project created by the American Enterprise Institute in 2009. Two weeks after Amini’s death, a group of protestors gathered after Friday prayers in the Baloch-majority city of Zahedan to show their support for the nationwide protests and demand justice for the alleged sexual assault of a 15-year-old Baloch girl by an Iranian police commander. Amnesty International reported that Iranian security forces opened fire on the crowd with tear gas and live ammunition, with footage showing shooters on roofs aiming at demonstrators. Between 66 and 96 people were killed and hundreds more injured in the course of just hours of what has come to be known as “Bloody Friday.” The New York Times has since spoken with 10 residents from Zahedan, including witnesses and activists; family members of the victims; and a medic who helped treat more than 150 people for wounds. All made the accusation that security forces fired indiscriminately on unarmed protesters and civilians with bullets and tear gas. Helicopters were also deployed, according to witnesses. “According to residents, the violence on Sept. 30 was preceded by a smaller demonstration two days earlier, in another city in the same province, Chabahar,” the US newspaper said in a report on Oct. 14. The Iranian regime’s heavy-handed treatment of ethnic-minority areas has only intensified as the protest movement has expanded to include broader calls for an end to conservative theocratic rule. “I call on the international community to put more effort on recognizing our issues and help us solve them,” the Kurdistan-based activist told ...

> “Today the people of Kurdistan and Iran need full support to overthrow this regime.”

228. ↑ H. Mustafa, Revolt In Iran Is An Ethnic Minorities-Led Uprising, MEMRI, Oct 25, 2022
229. ↑ Activists say death toll exceeds 400 as protesters defy regime in Iran, bne IntelIiNews ,November 20, 2022.

> (Any outward signs of support for the anti-regime protesters in Iran from the Iranian football team during their match with England would unsettle the country's clerical rulers. ) Anti-regime protests raged on at Iranian universities and in various cities at the weekend, gaining a momentum in some areas that ran counter to the argument of officials that the protests would soon fizzle out. With the Iranian football team due to take on England in the second match of the FIFA World Cup finals in Qatar on November 21, the authorities will be nervous about any televised unmissable signs of solidarity with the protesters from squad members that could further fuel the unrest. And some declarations of support have already been carefully phrased and delivered in the full glare of the global media. Germany, meanwhile, is reportedly irritated with FIFA for failing to take a position on events in Iran.

> Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on November 19 turned his attention to the threat of further disruptive labour action, warning that the country's "enemies" may try to mobilise workers after failing to bring down the Islamic government in more than two months of protests.

230. ↑ Radha Basnet, Kurdish Rapper Faces Execution In Iran For Supporting Protests Against Mahsa Amini’s Death, English Jagran, November 11, 2022
231. ↑ Parham Ghobadi, Iran protests: 'No going back' as unrest hits 100 days, BBC News, 26 December 2022
232. ↑ Qatar In Cahoots With Iran To Stifle Voices Of Dissent During World Cup, Iran Intl, 11/25/2022.

> Iran’s soccer team blanked 10-man Wales Friday as World Cup host Qatar prevented Iranian fans from expressing their support for the ongoing protests in their the country.

> Iranian fans, who wanted to take flags other than the official one approved by the Islamic Republic to the Al Rayyan’s Ahmad bin Ali Stadium, were stopped by security officers. Many people were barred from carrying or waving Iran’s ancient flag with the Lion and Sun emblem or a simple three-color flag with the main motto of the current wave of protests – Woman, Life, Liberty.

233. ↑ IRGC Man Says Qatar Helping Iran Silence Dissidents In World Cup, IranIntl, Nov 27, 2022.

> Documents obtained by Iran International show Iran was coordinating secret efforts with Qatar to control who attends the World Cup and restrict any signs of dissent.

> Black Reward, a hactivist group that found access to Fars News Agency files this week provided an audio tape of a meeting between a Revolutionary Guard general and a group of media managers or representatives from outfits affiliated with the IRGC about plans to use the sporting event to the benefit of the regime in Tehran. A six-minute audio segment of a tape features General Ghasem Ghoreyshi (Qasem Qoreyshi), deputy commander of the paramilitary Basij and a group of reporters including the one from Fars News who met with him possible in the presence of other trusted reporters to discuss the latest developments including plans for the World Cup. The meeting took place on Tuesday 15th of November. Ghoreyshi starts by saying that “anti-revolutionaries” have bought “5,330 tickets” to the tournament and adds that “our boys have checked the list of the ticket holders and at least 500 people” are known opponents of the Iranian regime.

> This is the first piece of evidence of collaboration with Qatar, showing that Iran obtained the list of ticket buyers most probably from Qatari authorities.

## External links[edit]

* Iran leader calls for alliance against West.
* Purim, Haddasah Hospital in Jerusalem, and Iran's Nuclear Bomb

* Official website of the President of Iran
* The blog of the President of Iran
* Encyclopædia Iranica

v • d • e

Asian Countries

Far East|

Asian part of Russia

Central Asia|

Kazakhstan \-- Kyrgyzstan \-- Tajikistan \-- Turkmenistan \-- Uzbekistan

Eastern Asia|

China \-- Japan \-- Mongolia \-- North Korea \-- South Korea \-- Taiwan

Southern Asia|

Afghanistan \-- Bangladesh \-- Bhutan \-- India \-- Iran \-- Maldives \-- Nepal \-- Pakistan \-- Sri Lanka

South-Eastern Asia|

Brunei \-- Burma \-- Cambodia \-- Indonesia \-- Laos \-- Malaysia \-- Philippines \-- Singapore \-- Thailand \-- Timor-Leste \-- Vietnam

Western Asia|

Armenia \-- Azerbaijan \-- Bahrain \-- Cyprus \-- Georgia \-- Iraq \-- Israel \-- Jordan \-- Kuwait \-- Lebanon \-- Palestine \-- Oman \-- Qatar \-- Saudi Arabia \-- Syria \-- Turkey \-- United Arab Emirates \-- Yemen

v • d • e

Terrorism

Terrorism|

Assassination • Biden Junta • Druze vs Hezbollah (2021) • Islamofascism • Fatah • Genocide of Christians by ISIS • Human shields by terrorists • Suicide Bombing • Rape jihad • Terrorism •

Major Terrorist Attacks|

Benghazi massacre • Beslan school siege of 2004 • Charlie Hebdo • Khobar Towers bombing • List of Islamist terrorist attacks • July 2005 London Bombings • Manchester Arena Bombing • Munich massacre • Oklahoma City Bombing • Omar Alkattoul • Paris Police Prefecture Massacre • September 11, 2001 attacks •  1993 World Trade Center bombing • 2004 Madrid Bombings • 2005 Andijon Uprisings • 2020 Leftist Insurrection

Terrorist Organizations|

Abu Nidal Organization • Abu Sayyaf • Akromiya • Al-Nusra Front • Al Saaka • Al Qaeda • Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb • Al-Shabab • Animal Liberation Front • Ansar al-Dine • Antifa • Army of Islam • AUC • Aum Shinrikyo • Black Lives Matter • Black September • Boko Haram • Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine • Egyptian Islamic Jihad • ETA • Fatah • FLQ • Gama’a al-Islamiyya • Hamas • Haqqani network • Hezbollah • Hizb ut-Tahrir • Houthi • Irish Republican Army • Irish National Liberation Army • Islamic State • Ku Klux Klan • Lashkar-e-Toiba • Libyan Islamic Fighting Group • Lord's Resistance Army • M19CO • National Liberation Army • National Liberation Army (Macedonia) • Naxalites • Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists • Palestine Liberation Front • Palestine Liberation Organization • Palestinian Lion Cubs • Palestinian Islamic Jihad • Palestinian Lion Cubs  PKK • Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine • Quds Force • Red Army Faction • Red Brigades • Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia • Revolutionary Organization 17 November • Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party/Front • Symbionese Liberation Army • Taliban • Tamil Tigers • Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan • Tupamaros • Vietcong • Weather Underground

Copyright Details

License:  |  This work is in the Public Domain in the United States because it is a work of the United States Federal Government under the terms of Title 17, Chapter 1, Section 105 of the U.S. Code
Source:  |  File available from the United States Federal Government.