Iran’s Regime ‘Wants More Afghans’ As Base Of Support

The drill comes as the US announced deployment of additional fighter planes to the region to deter any attempts by the Islamic Republic to seize commercial vessels in the Persian Gulf area.

More than 90 fighter planes, bombers, and drones are set to take part in the drill, named Devotees of the Supreme Leader-11), according to local media.

Air Force Chief Hamid Vahedi claimed the drill’s message is “friendship, peace, and regional security”. He said: "Sustainable security, improving and fostering regional ties, peaceful coexistence, and defending air borders are on the agenda."

Iran, facing long-running sanctions and arms embargoes, relies primarily on missiles and drones, rather than having a viable modern air force.

In response to previous Iranian attempts to seize commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz and Gulf of Oman, the US is reinforcing its presence in the area. The Pentagon announced earlier that the USS Thomas Hudner, a destroyer, along with a number of F-35 fighter jets, will be deployed to enhance security in the region.

Tensions have escalated due to recent incidents involving Iranian actions towards commercial vessels. Last month, Iran attempted to seize two oil tankers, the Marshall Islands-flagged TRF Moss, and the Bahamian-flagged Richmond Voyager, with one of the ships coming under fire.

The US Navy has accused Iran of seizing at least five commercial vessels over the past two years and harassing several others.

Iran denies these allegations, claiming that the seizures occurred after the vessels collided with local ships and polluted the waterway.

The Meteorological Organization of Iran issued a warning for 14 provinces, cautioning about yellow weather conditions characterized by strong winds, rising dust, and declining air quality.

Sahar Tajbakhsh, the head of Iran's meteorological organization, expressed concern over the escalating sandstorms, attributing them to "the impact of climate change and powerful winds".

The situation has prompted authorities to advise respiratory patients, elderly individuals, children, and desert hikers in the affected provinces to avoid unnecessary travel.

In Markazi province, air pollution caused by dust has persisted for several days. The emergency working group of Qom province has also taken measures by reducing working hours due to worsening conditions.

While offices and schools in Tehran province remain open, environmental authorities have warned about the escalation of dust levels, reports state.

Desertification is considered a significant contributing factor to the problem. Approximately one million hectares of Iran's wetlands are transformed into fine dust centers each year, driven by the drying of wetlands.

Earlier, Iran's health ministry revealed that approximately half of the country’s population is currently facing hazardous dust storms, posing serious risks to people's health.

The series of terrifying incidents took place in December, leaving the 28-year-old activist fearing for her safety and demanding recognition and protection from the Australian government.

The distressing ordeal began when Tina Kordrostami noticed a heavily tattooed man following her through Drummoyne on her way home to Dee Why. The situation escalated further when the man brazenly climbed into her car while she briefly stopped at a Sydney petrol station late at night.

Consequently, Kordrostami's father started receiving threats against her life, and she found herself under surveillance, with unidentified men taking photographs of her during rallies and public events.

In response to such alarming reports, several Australian-Iranians have broken their silence, highlighting how the Iranian regime monitors their activities in Australia. This has raised concerns among the community, who are now demanding protection from the Australian government.

Senator Chandler, who led a Senate inquiry into human rights abuses late last year, expressed her concern over the harassment of Australian citizens and the lack of action taken by relevant authorities.

“There are individuals in the community that are concerned they're being targeted. And they're reporting that to the relevant authorities, but they're worried those concerns aren't being taken seriously,” Senator Chandler stated.

The Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has conducted operations across a wide range of countries beyond the Middle East including the UK, where it targeted the Iran International staff and forced the offices to relocate to the US after British authorities failed to protect the team.

Speaking on CNN’s Fareed Zakaria GPS program, Blinken announced that “We’re now in a place where we’re not talking about a nuclear agreement. We are very clearly making it known to them that they need to take actions to de-escalate, not escalate, the tensions that exist in our relationship across a whole variety of fronts.”

Iranian officials and government media have yet to react to Blinken’s statement. Official and semi-official government media were silent on Monday but a ‘reformist’ website in Tehran, not directly controlled by the government, published the news about his remarks with a clear distortion.

Speaking about long negotiations in 2021 and 2022 that came to a deadlock last September, Blinken told CNN that “An agreement was on the table. Iran either couldn’t or wouldn’t say yes.” However, Etemad Online translated the sentence to, “Iran has not made a decision yet.”

Blinken did not explain what de-escalation means from the Biden administration viewpoint. Clearly, high levels of uranium enrichment and stockpiling fissile material for nuclear bombs is the most provocative policy Tehran currently pursues. But is the administration also telling the Islamic Republic they have to also de-escalate in their provocations in the region, such as attacks on US forces and open incitement of terror attacks on Israel?

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There is also the issue of Iran supplying kamikaze drones to Russia that the administration has said is one of its pre-conditions for resumption of full nuclear talks. So far, Iran has shown no inclination to de-escalate in any of these areas.

Blinken also did not say what the United States is promising Iran in return for de-escalatory steps. Certainly, Tehran would demand the lifting of at least some sanctions. Already, the Biden administration has not been rigorously enforcing existing oil export sanctions that has allowed Iran to increase its exports to as high as 1.5 million barrels a day. Before former President Donald Trump withdrew from the 2015 JCPOA nuclear agreement, Iran was shipping around two million barrels. One can argue that Iran has almost overcome the oil sanctions, although US banking sanctions are still deterring most banks in other countries from doing business with Iran.

But if we assume that de-escalation applies only to less enrichment or a cap of 60-percent uranium purity in exchange for lifting some critical sanctions, then that was Iran’s plan all along. In December 2020, the Iranian parliament passed legislation to enrich at higher levels to force the US to lift sanctions. In fact, the bill was called the ‘Strategic Action to Eliminate Sanctions and Defend Iranian Nation's Interests.’

That negotiating tactic was initiated a month earlier in November by parliament, when Joe Biden won the presidential election and Tehran was certain that his administration was determined to reverse Trump’s decision and revive the JCPOA.

Now, the administration just hopes for de-escalation while it knows that Iran will use every means of pressure to project power.

“We are continuing to work out, to develop, to flesh out every possible option for dealing with the problem if it asserts itself,” Blinken said.

Earlier this month Iran tried to seize to commercial vessels in the Persian Gulf and the US Navy intervened to prevent it. Immediately plans were put in motion to reinforce the US naval presence in the region, dispatching more warplanes and warships.

Iran will not confront the United States where a clear deterrent signal has been issued. It most probably will hit back elsewhere or use new tactics.

In a letter sent out from Tehran’s Evin prison, she noted that the compulsory hijab is a ploy devised by the religious and anti-women government to exert "control over women" and "remove" them from the public life. 

Her remarks came in reaction to the return of the notorious hijab or ‘morality’ police, which had vanished from the streets following nationwide protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini in the custody of hijab patrols last September. 

Mohammadi stated that the world now witnesses the power of women's resistance, which has elevated them in Iranian society to a position never seen since the establishment of the Islamic Republic in 1979. “

“Iranian women have achieved power and a historical position in their struggle to create revolutionary and peaceful changes,” Mohammadi said.

The fight against compulsory hijab is “a matter of freedom and liberation from tyranny, an issue of justice against oppression, a means to achieve peace, democracy, and human rights, and breaking free from violence and discrimination."

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Highlighting the regime’s "inability" to confront Iranian women who are fighting for their basic rights, she said, "The terrified regime is engaged in a fierce struggle to prevent its collapse, but it is clear that it has no hope of succeeding."

A lawyer often defending dissidents, Mohammadi has been imprisoned several times over the past two decades for her work fighting for human rights. She is the vice-president of the Defenders of Human Rights Association, the Chair of the executive board of the Peace Council of Iran, and a member of "Step-by-Step Abolition of Execution" campaign.

She was freed from Evin Prison in September 2020 after serving more than five years on trumped up charges, without due process of law. She was arrested again on November 16, 2021, released for a short time and one year later was detained again. Currently, she is serving a total sentence of 9 years and 8 months, along with 154 lashes and additional penalties in Evin Prison. She has also been denied access to medical care amid deteriorating health and was deprived for long periods of any contact with her husband and children who live abroad.

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The return of morality police patrols’ has immediately led to online uproar as well as a few bouts of street protests, the biggest of which broke out in the northern city of Rasht.

As the anniversary of the Mahsa Movement in September approaches, the regime is worried about the possibility of unrest in universities spilling over to the streets.

“The enemy has not given up. They’ve said that universities are the first place where new riots should begin,” the official in charge of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s representatives in universities across the country, Mostafa Rostami, said at a gathering. 

People on social media have reacted to the resurgence of hijab patrols, saying if Iranians do not pour into the streets on Amini's death anniversary, the regime will further tighten the noose. 

Iran’s former president Mohammad Khatami also warned that the return of morality police may lead to the regime's overthrow by itself and social collapse. “It seems that the danger of self-overthrow, which has been talked about many times, stands out more than ever with the return of morality police."

Top officials of the regime refuse to take responsibility due to “concern over the upcoming elections," according to Tehran's leading reformist daily, Etemad. President Ebrahim Raisi's aides have advised him against implementing any plan that could provoke people until after the next presidential election in 2025 to secure his re-election.