US Conducts Air Strikes After Drone Attack By Iran-Linked Forces

The party emerged in Iran under populist President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (2005-2013) but it also left its impact on political life under presidents Hassan Rouhani (2013-2021) and Ebrahim Raisi (2021 onward).

A report in the moderate conservative Khabar Online website on March 22 characterized Paydari as a party that has adversely affected "Iran's progress" by standing against the people's wishes. The party has an opaque leadership, but its fingers can be seen pulling the strings everywhere.

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According to Khabar Online, during the past year, Paydari prioritized its own factional interests over the country's national interests and as a result, Iran lagged other countries on the route to development. Most of what the party has been doing at the parliament were about restricting people's access to the Internet, promoting the idea of use of force against dissidents and invading Iranians' private lives by backing forced hijab and other religious rules.

Some of these fundamentalist approaches led to recent nationwide protests. The party's intervention in every aspect of life has often annoyed the populace. Many reacted with frustration and anger when the party's mouthpiece Raja News website demanded persecution and harsh punishment for a female stand-up comedian who makes fun of regime politicians.

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Khabar Online charged that while the people's welfare and livelihood is the country's most important problem, Paydari members, who constitute the majority in the Iranian parliament are concerned about Iranian women's defiance to compulsory hijab.

Although not all the party's members are known to the public, views expressed by politicians in the past two decades have revealed to keen Iran watchers that even some high-ranking IRGC generals also subscribe to Paydari's fundamentalist ideology. Some of these generals are now members of the parliament with or without their uniforms.

On the other hand, many Raisi's cabinet members, including most of those on his economic team are said to be the leading members of Paydari. The party's link to Raisi became evident during his Presidential election campaign when its leading members such as former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili were active. However, like many other areas in Iranian politics, it is never clear who is the cart and who is the horse. Is Raisi using Paydari or is the party using the president?

Paydari is also known for its ruthless opposition to the revival of nuclear deal (JCPOA) with world powers, which some argue aligns with the murky role Russia has been playing in the nuclear issue.

During 2014 and 2015 when the agreement was being negotiated, opposition to the deal at the parliament came mainly from Paydari lawmakers or those who were close to the party.

On the economic front, although a minority at the Majles worked hard to impeach Raisi's economic ministers, Paydari members obstructed all the motions in collaboration with their allies at the presidium, Khabar Online wrote, echoing other media in Iran.

In the cultural sphere, Paydari has always defended the most hard-line policies over hijab and restricting civil liberties, while virtually doing nothing to help revive the economy.

The most damaging policies followed by Paydari have been the attack on the Saudi Embassy in Tehran in 2016 by "rouge elements" and the party's explicit opposition to a nuclear deal that could have saved the nation from economic misery, the moderate-conservative website said.

The Belgian capital hosted the European foreign ministers at the Council of Europe on Thursday, a good opportunity for Iranian activists who want European countries to designate the IRGC as a first step, followed by the expulsion of the Islamic Republic’s envoys, towards the fall of the regime. 

Several European politicians, including Danial Ilkhanipour and Alireza Akhondi, were among the speakers of the events that were held during the demonstrations. 

Ilkhanipour, a German-Iranian member of the Hamburg city parliament, told the crowd that in the past few months, Iranians have shown they can achieve what they want if they unite, referring to several rounds of sanctions by EU and a resolution by the European Parliament asking the EU to list the IRGC as a terrorist entity for its role in the repression of popular protests and the supply of drones to Russia.

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Akhondi, a Swedish-Iranian member of the Swedish Parliament, said that “The Islamic Republic has killed people in Europe and kidnapped people such as Iranian-German national Jamshid Sharmahd,” who faces a death sentence in Iran on charge of "corruption on earth". Sharmahd, who is also a US resident, is held by Tehran for allegedly heading a pro-monarchist group accused of a deadly 2008 bombing and planning other attacks in the country. Akhondi claimed that a large number of agents of the Islamic Republic are here in Brussels. 

Vahid Beheshti, the British-Iranian activist who is on hunger strike outside the UK Foreign Office for the same cause, also sent a video message to the gathering, telling the European foreign ministers that as Lebanon’s Hezbollah is blacklisted as a terror group, Iran’s Guards should also be designated.

Most of the speakers of the event asked EU members how they can ignore such a large amount of evidence on human rights violations and terrorist acts perpetrated by the IRGC. 

Earlier in the day, the block's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell tweeted that “Ukraine has been attacked again by Russia with Iranian drones, targeting educational facilities and a missile attack on a residential building in Zaporizhzhia. Just when Putin expressed need for peaceful settlement to President Xi, Russian again commits war crimes.”

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In January, Borrell said that the European Union cannot list the IRGC as a terrorist entity until an European court has determined that they are, noting "Ministers adopted a new package of sanctions against Iran, targeting those driving the repression.” “The EU strongly condemns the brutal and disproportionate use of force by the Iranian authorities against peaceful protesters," he said but no action was taken to designate the IRGC. 

The IRGC was set up shortly after the 1979 Islamic Revolution to protect the Shiite clerical ruling establishment and provide a counterweight to the regular armed forces. It has an estimated 125,000-strong military with army, navy and air units. It also commands the Basij religious militia, a volunteer paramilitary force loyal to the clerical establishment which is often used to crack down on anti-government protests.

There have been numerous Iranian terror acts in Europe, where courts have indicted top officials. In addition, IRGC’s record in organizing attacks elsewhere are well-documented. Critics say that Borrell and many of the European diplomats are focused on re-starting nuclear talks with Iran after the previous long round of negotiations in 2021-2022 ended last September without success.

The current round of antiregime protests engulfed the country in September when 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman Mahsa Amini was on a trip to capital Tehran where she was beaten to death by the ‘morality police’ for “improper hijab.” 

The arrests come after Iran International and others published secret documents of a meeting of IRGC commanders with Khamenei in which the top officials expressed serious concerns about loss of loyalty among the ranks of the Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) amid the recent protests.

Reports by Vaght-e Azadi Telegram channel say security agents in other intelligence agencies are also looking for people who played a role in leaking the document.

Iran International on Monday published a copy of a 44-page document that contains citations of the remarks made by 45 IRGC commanders and clerics at the January 3 meeting.

The meeting was held more than three months into the anti-regime protests following the death of the 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in the custody of ‘morality police’ and quickly spread across the country.

Participants in the meeting included top IRGC officers such as Major General Gholam-Ali Rashid, commander of IRGC’s Khatam Al-Anbiya Central Headquarters.

Rashid told Khamenei that there had been several cases of major insubordination since the protests started including aborted plans to use artillery to shell certain targets in Tehran, including Khamenei’s residence.

Based on the revealed document, a large number of IRGC commanders stated in the meeting that the country is suffering from severe economic problems and that it is beyond the power of President Ebrahim Raisi to resolve them.

According to them, the family members of many IRGC forces were among those arrested during the nationwide protests.

Ehsan Khandouzi stated in an interview with The Financial Times that non-oil exports of $53bn were also 12 per cent higher in the first 11 months of the past Iranian year than the same period the last year.

Iran keeps its oil export destinations and revenues a secret because of US third-party sanctions on buyers

He further claimed that imports over the same period were $60bn showing that “Iran’s economy cannot be isolated”.

Khandouzi also noted that Russia had invested $2.76bn in Iran’s industrial, mining and transport sectors during the current financial year that ended Monday.

His comments come as Tehran does not reveal how much it earns from crude oil exports, but 1.3 million barrels per day with an average price of $60 p/b, revenues should total over $28 billion a year.

The oil products Iran exports in addition to crude also generate roughly the same rate of income as crude oil.

However, Iran offers discounts to its main buyer, China, and it is not clear how much hard currency it recoups from the sales. Many observers believe Tehran might be bartering some of its oil to get food and other necessities.

The critical financial situation in Iran is perhaps an indication that Tehran is offering deep discounts and does not receive hard currency for all the exports.

The rial has dropped two-fold since President Ebrahim Raisi took office in August 2021 as one US dollar currently is worth 500,000 rials.

Reuters quoted three unnamed sources Thursday saying that the two countries will reopen embassies in one month, although they have not made any official announcements yet.

The re-establishment of ties between Riyadh and Damascus would mark the most significant development yet in moves by Arab states to normalize ties with Assad, who was shunned by many Western and Arab states after Syria's civil war began in 2011.

The decision was the result of talks in Saudi Arabia with a senior Syrian intelligence official, according to one of the regional sources and a diplomat in the Gulf.

The re-establishment of ties between Riyadh and Damascus would mark the most significant development yet in moves by Arab states to normalize ties with Assad, who was shunned by many Western and Arab states after Syria's civil war began in 2011.

The United States has opposed moves by regional countries to normalize ties with Assad, citing his government's brutality during the conflict and the need to see progress towards a political solution.

The re-establishment of ties could pave the way for Syria’s return to the Arab league. Syria was suspended from the Arab League in 2011 in response to Assad's brutal crackdown on protests.

While Assad has basked in renewed contacts with Arab states that once shunned him, US sanctions remain a major complicating factor for countries seeking to expand commercial ties.