Let's talk Iran - September 24, 2021
Giving a Platform to Ebrahim Raisi Is a Dark Stain on the UN
Democracies should take the lead and launch a formal international investigation into the 1988 massacre in Iran. And the UN must heed its experts' calls and do its part to ensure that genocidal criminals are deprived of impunity. It can start by joining the international movement that is demanding Raisi's prompt prosecution. LINK
EDITORIAL: Raisi’s Address a Disgraceful Stain on UN Reputation
As cruel as Iran's 1988 massacre of thousands of political prisoners was, offering a forum to those who committed crimes against humanity and genocide to spew their venomous vitriol, as was the case with Ebrahim Raisi’s address to the UN General Assembly, is a disgrace. LINK
Iranian President’s UN Speech Sparks Renewed Calls for His Investigation, Arrest
Iranian expatriates in Sweden held a conference earlier this week discussing the criminal background of Iran’s new president and to condemn his participation at the UN General Assembly. LINK
Another Death in the Afkari Case in Iran
As Iranian diplomats attend the UN General Assembly and the Biden administration seeks to get back to the nuclear negotiating table with Iran, the Iranian regime has just reminded us again of its fundamental nature.
Afkari’s cellmate Shahin Naseri, who testified that Afkari had been tortured, has now died in prison. Radio Farda, a U.S. government radio station in Farsi, said it possessed an audio message from Naseri referring to “medieval torture” of Afkari. Messages like that from Naseri appear to have been a death sentence for him. LINK
Teachers across Iran held nationwide protests
Half of the teachers were women who actively participated in the protests on Thursday held outside the Education Department of many cities. LINK
Security forces arrest Bahai man and woman, sentence two others to prison for following banned faith in SW Iran
Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran, Iranian Bahais have been systematically persecuted as a matter of government policy. During the first decade of this persecution, more than 200 of Iran’s Bahais were killed or executed. Hundreds more were tortured or imprisoned, and tens of thousands lost jobs, access to education, and other rights – all solely because of their religious belief.
The persecution of Iran’s Bahais is still ongoing with dozens of Bahais languishing in prisons throughout Iran. LINK
Warning signs of a sixth corona peak in Iran
Reports from Iran on Wednesday show a 6.7 percent increase in deaths from Covid-19 and a 36.7 percent increase in the number of people infected by the virus since the beginning of this week. A state company has received $1 billion to produce 120 million vaccine doses. They've only provided five million doses to this day. LINK
GOP Moves To Block Cash to Iran Through Defense Authorization Bill
Provisions would prevent sanctions relief and expose Iran's malign activities
The sprawling annual defense bill includes several provisions that would block the Biden administration from providing Iran with cash and would require the administration to come clean about any economic sanctions relief it provides to the Islamic Republic.
The Republican Study Committee (RSC), the largest GOP caucus in Congress, is codifying its anti-Iran platform in the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act, which funds U.S. defense efforts and is expected to pass through the House this week. LINK
Iran says nuclear talks to resume 'very soon,' gives no date
Iran will return to negotiations on resuming compliance with the 2015 Iran nuclear deal “very soon,” Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian told reporters on Friday.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran will return to the table of negotiations. We are reviewing the Vienna negotiations files currently and, very soon, Iran’s negotiations with the ‘four plus one’ countries will recommence,” Amirabdollahian said. LINK
Inside US-GCC meeting: Iran nuclear stalemate and regional behavior dominate
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken held a 90-minute meeting with his Gulf counterparts in New York on Thursday, during which they primarily discussed Iran and its nuclear program.
A US return to the Iran nuclear deal was also discussed along with Tehran’s regional behavior and contingency plans should Iran fail to rein in any renegade actions.
The sources said there was no consensus on the concessions Tehran should receive if such a return occurs.
One source said that Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan asked Mr Blinken about contingency plans if efforts to return both parties to the JCPOA falter and if Iran’s regional behaviour deteriorates. "What is the plan?", Prince Faisal asked.
Mr Blinken assured the foreign ministers that the US is committed to the security of the Gulf, but gave no clear answer, the source said. LINK
US says it is working on contingency plans in case Iran continues nuclear advances and refuses to return to talks
Iranian President Ebrahim “Raisi's defiant stance is one reason European diplomats say they are concerned that Iran may be less flexible about negotiations, thinking it can take advantage of the Biden administration's diminished standing on the world stage after the foreign policy crises of Afghanistan, a diplomatic spat with France and condemnation of its treatment of Haitian refugees.” LINK
Iran Nuclear Talks Most Likely To Resume By March, Says Lawmaker
A hardliner lawmaker close to Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi says nuclear negotiations with the United States and other world powers are most likely to resume by late March 2022 before the Iranian New Year Nowruz.
Jalil Rahimi Jahanabadi, who is a member of the Iranian parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, said in an interview with the Iranian Labour News Agency (ILNA) on Thursday that the 2015 nuclear deal is a framework for international cooperation based on rationality. LINK
America Was Right to Reject a ‘Deal with the Devil’ with Iran
Iran apologist/lobbyist Barbara Slavin’s callous suggestion of human barter trade with the terrorist regime in Iran is morally reprehensible.
Even now, with the ascent of a mass murderer as Iran’s president, the international community has remained silent on Ebrahim Raisi’s role in the heinous massacre of 30,000 political prisoners in 1988. This has emboldened the regime to commit more human rights atrocities against innocent civilians and dissidents. LINK
Who is replacing Mohsen Rezaei as Secretary of Iran 's Expediency Council?
Prior to Iran's 1979 revolution, Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr and Rezaei were involved in the assassinations of an American engineer and oil company manager. LINK
Britain must repay £400m debt and lift sanctions, Tehran tells Liz Truss
Truss’s meeting with Hossein Amir-Abdollahian came in the week that the British-Iranian dual national Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe marked her 2,000th day in detention in Iran. She is now staying with her mother in Iran, pending an appeal on her additional sentence of one year.
Talks on a prisoner swap involving detainees not just in the UK have for the moment stalled partly over one of the prisoners Iran wishes to have released from the US. LINK
The Taliban is bringing back executions and cutting off hands as punishment after retaking control of Afghanistan
"Everyone criticized us for the punishments in the stadium, but we have never said anything about their laws and their punishments," one of the militant group's founders Mullah Nooruddin Turabi told the AP. "No one will tell us what our laws should be."
Turabi is an enforcer of the Taliban's brutal interpretation of Islamic law, the report said, and was the militant group's justice minister in their 1996-2001 regime. LINK