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UPDATE: 9:00 PM CEST
Khamenei Repeated His Support for Terrorism, Circumventing Sanctions and His Negotiating Team
In his speech today, the Iranian regime’s Supreme Leader discussed several topics, repeating his support for terrorism and nuclear advancements.
Praising what he called ‘the awakening of the Palestinian youth in the occupied territories’, Khamenei said: “Despite the efforts of the United States and its followers, these movements showed that Palestine is alive and by the grace of God, the final victory will be for the Palestinian people.”
Warning the regime’s officials not to bow under the pressure, he added: “Passivity creates a sense of impasse in everything. It is the opposite of pride and it is a danger that the enemies are trying to induce in society and among the officials in various ways… Today, disappointing the people and instilling a sense of deadlock in society is acting against the people, the country, and the revolution.”
Trying to dodge the responsibility of the current economic crises, he said: “Indeed, there are problems and problems can be solved, and the basis for evaluating and judging the situation of the country and its successes should not only be based on economic indicators but also other indicators should be considered and weighed. Despite the negative aspects of the economy, there are signs of success in this area, one example of which is the resilience of the country’s economy to unprecedented sanctions.”
“These achievements and others, such as the expansion of Iran’s strategic depth and spiritual influence in the region, have made the Islamic Republic an attractive example,” he abruptly said, referring to the proxy wars Tehran is waging throughout the Middle East.
The regime’s Supreme Leader also talked at length about the nuclear talks. He said: “While planning your agenda, do not hold up anything for the nuclear talks. Do your job, look at the current situation of the country, and plan according to the current situation. Negotiations may bear some results, perhaps positive ones or semi-positive or maybe negative ones. Whatever you do, do not stop your work.”
Khamenei expressed his support for the negotiating team and added: “Fortunately, the foreign minister and the negotiating team are providing detailed reports to the president, and to the Supreme National Security Council. They are in the process of making decisions they will weigh the aspects of this case. There is nothing wrong with criticizing the work of these officials, and there is nothing wrong with commenting. I have said before that while those on the front lines are busy, one should not be pessimistic about them.”
UPDATE: 6:30 PM CEST
Was the Infiltration of the Secret Service Part of an Iranian Plot to Kill John Bolton?
Recently released court filings and press reports suggest that the two men apprehended for impersonating federal agents last week in Washington, D.C., might have been part of an Iranian assassination team whose mission was to kill former high-ranking U.S. officials. Yet even as the Biden administration became aware of a possible Iranian plot to kill Americans on American soil—an act of war—White House aides continued to negotiate the restoration of the Iran nuclear deal while seeking to accommodate the clerical regime’s thirst for revenge against former Trump administration officials: U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Special Envoy for Iran Brian Hook, and National Security Advisor John Bolton.
Financial Accounts of the Regime’s Football Federation Were Blocked
State-run Mehr news agency reported today that the bank accounts of the Iranian regime’s Football Federation were blocked from any financial transaction “due to the accumulated debt of 80 billion tomans.”
According to this report, the IFF is facing many problems after making it to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, which partially have led to the temporary removal of Shahaboddin Azizi Khadem from the presidency of the federation. The IFF has still not been able to provide the necessary financial resources to settle current disputes.
According to this report, the freezing of the federation’s accounts took place while the group has not yet been able to settle its debts with the employees it fired in March of last year, and the demands of a number of national team coaches such as Karim Bagheri, Vahid Hashemian and Mehrdad Khanban have not been met either.
Raisi Is Our Last Chance, An State-affiliated Analyst Warns
“Ebrahim Raisi’s administration is the last chance for everyone, even those who wish for its failure,” wrote the so-called ‘reformist’ analyst Ahmad Zeidabadi in the state-run newspaper Etemad today. “The foundations of Iran’s economy are very weak and in some cases destroyed. The economy is Iran’s most political issue. The economy is our fate now.”
Zeidabadi added: “Without reorganizing the economy, the country loses its stability and tranquility, but restructuring the economy has become extremely difficult given the country’s political and cultural characteristics.”
“In any case, the presidency does not have many opportunities left,” he said. “Unfortunately, once he has failed or defeated, there is no opportunity for others either. Therefore, it is sad to say that his government is the last chance for everyone, even all those who wish for its failure!”
Biden’s Iran Deal Would Create a Foreign Policy Disaster for Us and Hand XI, Putin, Khamenei a Major Victory
Imagine a deal cut with the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism, Iran, co-brokered by Vladimir Putin’s Russia and the Chinese Communist Party. One that would pave the way for Tehran to develop nuclear weapons and also supercharge its violence across the Middle East.
America would be foolish to take it. But if President Joe Biden doesn’t have a change of heart, he may try to sell just such a deal to the American people.
UPDATE: 1:00 PM CEST
Iranian Regime Threatens Turkey and Armenia
According to Euronews, a video posted by the Iranian regime’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) shows images with special effects of a missile attack on Turkey and the Republic of Azerbaijan on what is described as a “plot to encroach on the international borders of Iran and Armenia.” The video suggests that the IRGC will “confront any threat with power”.
The video, which was first posted on the IRGC’s Twitter account, begins with footage of a lion attacking a herd of hyenas, showing part of the regime’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s remarks about the need to respect international borders and the eliminating of “terrorists” nearby. The speech continues while simultaneously showing the maps of Turkey, the Republic of Azerbaijan, and the disputed region on the border between Iran and Armenia.
جمهوری اسلامی ایران در برابر هر نقشهای که با هدف تغییر مرزهای بینالمللی طراحی شده باشد با قدرت مقابله خواهد کرد.#خط_قرمز pic.twitter.com/u9uhaToDag
— کانال سپاه پاسداران | IRGC (@Sepah_FA) April 10, 2022
Iran: Ailing Prisoners Left To Die Amid Crisis of Impunity for Fatal Denial of Medical Care
Iranian prison officials are committing shocking violations of the right to life by deliberately denying ailing prisoners lifesaving healthcare and refusing to investigate and ensure accountability for unlawful deaths in custody, Amnesty International said today. In a news briefing, In death’s waiting room: Deaths in custody following deliberate denial of medical care in Iran’s prisons, the organization documents how prison authorities routinely cause or contribute to deaths in custody, including by blocking or delaying prisoners’ access to emergency hospitalization.
Consistent with entrenched patterns of systematic impunity in Iran, to date, the authorities have refused to conduct any independent and transparent investigations into deaths in custody involving reports of denial of medical care and have failed to ensure that those suspected of criminal responsibility are prosecuted and punished.
UPDATE: 9:00 AM CEST
Defiance in the Heart of Tehran
On Monday night, April 11, at 9:30 PM local time, a 12-meter large image of the leaders of the Iranian Resistance was displayed on a building at the intersection of Iranshahr-Kourosh Sharghi streets in Tehran, Iran’s capital.
April 11 – Tehran, #Iran
9:30 pm local time
Large image of Iranian Resistance leader Massoud Rajavi and NCRI President-elect @Maryam_Rajavi on display in the intersection of Iranshahr-East Kurosh streets.#FreeIran2022pic.twitter.com/JgirUk8jBJ— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) April 12, 2022
Iranian Regime Suspended Consular Activities in Afghanistan
According to the state-run Entekhab website, following the attack on the Iranian regime’s embassy in Kabul and the consulate in Herat, the Afghan Chargé d’Affaires was summoned to the regime’s Foreign Ministry today and faced strong criticism by the ministry’s Director-General of South Asia. According to the source, the regime’s foreign ministry announced that all consular sections of its embassy in Afghanistan have ceased their activities until further notice.
UPDATE: 12:00 AM CEST
Iran’s Regime Is Faced With Tough Choices in Nuclear Talks
On April 10, some 250 members of the Majlis (Parliament) wrote an open letter to Iranian regime president Ebrahim Raisi, in which they set conditions for the ongoing negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear program and the revival of the 2015 nuclear agreement.
The requirements include legal guarantees approved by the U.S. Congress that Washington will not quit the agreement. The lawmakers are also demanding the rescinding of the snapback mechanism, the removal of existing sanctions, and guarantees that previous sanctions will not be reimposed. The Majlis members are also demanding access to all the regime’s frozen assets.
The Dismal State of Iran’s Internet
Today, the internet has become a necessity in our daily life. Appropriate use of the internet makes our life easy, fast, and simple. The internet helps us with facts and figures, information and knowledge for personal, social, and economic development. The internet has become an integral part of our daily life that even imagining life without it is unimaginable. The internet represents one of the most successful examples of the benefits of sustained investment and commitment to research and information infrastructure development. Beginning with the early research in packet switching, the government, industry, and academia have been partners in evolving and deploying this exciting new technology.
Iran’s Silence About the Disclosure of Bank Debtors’ List
Banks play an extremely crucial role in any country’s relatively healthy economic system. Monetary intermediation, creating income and investment opportunities, providing extended loans, and aggregating deposits are among the banks’ major functions. Banks turn their clients’ relatively short-term deposits into long-term loans by extending credits. By aggregating deposits, they accumulate depositors’ relatively small savings into huge loans, capable of creating economic capacities. In short, banks could significantly improve economic growth and facilitate economic and production progress. In most democratic countries, the banks are held accountable for their obligations towards their clients, and a very strong system of transparency is in place.
The Message of ‘Mass Graves’ From Iran in 1988 to Bucha in 2022
The people of Ukraine have suffered through more than six grueling, agonizing weeks of the war, during which dozens of towns and villages were bombed, thousands of civilians were murdered, and millions of Ukrainians were forced to flee their homes and their country. These days, one looks stunned at the pictures from Bucha and other Ukrainian cities and questions how is it that humans are capable of such atrocities?
The effects of the attack, initiated by a merciless government, have caused untold suffering and irreparable damage, not only in Ukraine but in all nations around the world. Unfortunately, this is not the first time. The 11 years of war in Syria and the world powers appeasing the main perpetrators and supporters of this war had the same effects.
Halimeh Parhiz Set on Fire by Her Husband
Halimeh Parhiz, a 27-year-old woman from Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province, was set on fire by her husband. He wanted to force her to abort their 5-month-old fetus. Not a day or week goes by in Iran, under the mullahs’ misogynistic rule, that we do not hear news of femicides and honor killings. This young woman was a resident of Zilaei village in this province and a mother of three children. She was pregnant with her fourth child but murdered by her husband for refusing to abort her baby and insisting on keeping it.
Afghans Protest After Videos Allegedly Show Iranians Beating Refugees
But on Monday, angry Afghans staged protests in Herat and some other cities against Tehran after videos showing alleged Iranian border guards and Iranian mobs beating Afghan refugees in Iran circulated on social media networks over the weekend, though it was unclear when the images were filmed.
Kennedy, Senators Urge Biden Not To Remove Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps From Terrorist List
MADISONVILLE, La. – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) today led 13 other senators in urging President Joe Biden not to remove the Foreign Terrorist Organization designation from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, an Iranian terrorist group responsible for hundreds of American deaths.
“Not only would this removal be wildly misguided, but it would betray our partners and allies in the region—particularly Israel and the Gulf states. These allies and partners already hold concerns that the United States is reducing its regional presence. The enactment of such a deal would provide the Iranian regime access to funds that it would use to destabilize the region through terrorist proxies,” wrote the senators.
Read more: Iran News in Brief – April 11, 2022