•Iran Leader Backs Suggestion to Block Gulf Oil Exports If Own Sales Stopped
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday backed President Hassan Rouhani’s suggestion that Iran may block Gulf oil exports if its own exports are stopped and said negotiations with the United States would be an “obvious mistake”.
Rouhani’s apparent threat earlier this month to disrupt oil shipments from neighbouring countries came in reaction to looming U.S. sanctions and efforts by Washington to force all countries to stop buying Iranian oil.
“(Khamenei) said remarks by the president … that ‘if Iran’s oil is not exported, no regional country’s oil will be exported,’ were important remarks that reflect the policy and the approach of (Iran’s) system,” Khamenei’s official website said.
•Pompeo Assails Iranian Leaders as ‘Hypocritical Holy Men’
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo blasted Iran’s ruling elite and its religious leaders for using their positons to “line their pockets” with riches while the average person “cries out for jobs, reform, and opportunity.”
Pompeo on July 22 called Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other Islamic religious leaders in the theocratic government “hypocritical holy men” and pointed out officials who had amassed hundreds of millions of dollars of wealth from their positions.
He said the accumulation of wealth among leaders and the corruption of the “violent” government indicated that Iran is “something that resembles the mafia more than a government.”
He added that the “regime in Iran has been a nightmare for the Iranian people.”
•Mass Protests by Retirees in Front of Majlis; Chants of “Imprisoned Teachers Must Be Freed”
Sunday, July 22, a large crowd of retired educators and other retirees who came from different cities to Tehran rallied in front of the regime’s parliament to protest for their demands. In addition to retirees, educators from the Literacy Movement attended this gathering to protest their low salaries and dire livelihood status. Hundreds of agricultural insurance experts who are barred from employment after 14 years of service were also among the protesters.
•People of Borazjan Protest against Power Failure and Lack of Drinking Water
Sunday, July 22, the brave people of Borazjan (southern Iran) protested against lack of drinking water and clashed with the repressive forces that were trying to disperse them. They expressed their outrage by setting tires on fire on the Borazjan-Bushehr road.
In the extreme heat of the region, the people of Borazjan are deprived of drinking water, and they live under very dire conditions due to power failure.
•Iran Hit By Series Of Earthquakes, 150 People Injured
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake has hit western Iran, injuring about 150 people, hours after two quakes struck Hormozgan province in the south, Iranian media reported on July 22.
Pirhossein Kolivand, the head of Iran’s emergencies and natural disasters agency, told state television that at least 146 people were injured in the larger quake in western Iran near the border with Iraq in Kermanshah Province.
