THIS PAGE WILL BE UPDATED WITH THE LATEST NEWS
UPDATE: 7:30 PM CET
Arab Coalition Destroyed Two Bombed Boats of the Tehran-backed Houthi Militants
Today, the Arab Coalition announced the destruction of two boats and the thwarting of an imminent hostile attack by Houthi militants in the southern Red Sea.
According to Al-Arabiya, the Arab Coalition Information Office said in a statement on Wednesday, March 23 that it had destroyed two boats loaded with bombs by the Houthis that were supposed to launch an imminent attack on a shipping route in the Red Sea.
The source said the two boats had been bombed and directed by Houthi militants from al-Hudaidah province to attack giant tankers in the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, adding that the Iranian regime-backed militant group has intensified its attacks targeting the energy resources and arteries of the world economy.
MP Admits Systemic Corruption Is Hurting Iranian Academia
“Today, many of our university professors have applied for retirement or want to leave the country,” said Massoud Pezeshkian, a member of the regime’s parliament from Tabriz. “This happened because there is this (negative) view toward universities. This problem is even worse in medical universities. The law states that students of a university were supposed to stay in the system, not to go out for work, and not to take money from the people. But thanks to the parliamentary bills and the work they did, no one is willing to stay in the university. The parliament, the government, and the judiciary also went and signed contracts with the private sector, and then they went to the government system, and now they’re dictating the terms.”
UPDATE: 3:30 PM CET
Iran Is Becoming Inhabitable, NASA Warns
Some parts of the world, including Iran, will not be inhabitable in the course of the next 30 years, NASA said in a report published on Tuesday, March 22, and seen by the AFP.
According to the report, scientists point out that the Persian Gulf region (including Iran, Oman, and Kuwait), as well as countries bordering the Red Sea such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, and Yemen, will not be inhabitable after 13 years. Also, South Asian countries, Brazil, some US states such as Arkansas, Missouri, and Iowa will face a similar fate by the year 2070.
A similar report released last February warned of the catastrophic consequences of global warming, including drought, wildfires, floods and melting polar ice caps, and added that absence of emergency measures, between 35 to 132 million people will fall into extreme poverty by 2030.
A New Iran Deal Leaves Us Meeker and Weaker
What does President Biden think he will get out of a new nuclear deal with Iran?
A year ago, the answer seemed reasonably clear to the administration: Tehran had responded to Donald Trump’s decision to walk away from the original 2015 deal — known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or J.C.P.O.A. — by enriching uranium to ever-higher levels of purity, bringing it increasingly close to a nuclear bomb, or at least the capability to build one quickly. Barring a new deal that put limits on enrichment, Iran seemed destined to cross the nuclear finish line sooner rather than later. Hence the urgency of a deal.
Public Torture Will Be Institutionalized, Iranian Regime Police Deputy Chief Says
Formalizing public torture, Qassem Rezaei, the deputy chief of the Iranian regime’s police force, said: “Dealing with thugs is a red line for the police force, and therefore, the sentence of punishing the thugs will be carried out in public.”
“Moral security is another issue that the police force has paid attention to this year,” the state-run Khabar Online quoted Rezaei as saying. “According to the jurisprudence and culture in each province, our officers will be stationed on the streets and crossroads, and they will remind and prohibit people from bad behavior.”
87 US Congress Members Urge Blinken to Keep IRGC on Terror List
U.S. Congressman Scott Franklin, along with 86 other American lawmakers, wrote a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken urging him to keep the Iranian regime’s Revolutionary Guards on the list of foreign terrorist organizations.
The letter from Scott Franklin and 86 other US Congress members was published in response to news reports that the Biden administration was considering removing the Revolutionary Guards from the State Department’s FTO list as part of a nuclear deal with Tehran.
“The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is one of the most dangerous terrorist groups in the world today,” Franklin stated. “Through its sponsorship of terrorism, the IRGC is responsible for the deaths of countless innocent people and at least 600 U.S. troops. It has consistently sought the destruction of our partners and allies in the region, most notably Israel, and has been an obstacle to peace in the Middle East for decades. The Biden administration simply cannot reward this terrorist regime with any sort of legitimacy from the U.S. government.”
Tehran’s Missiles Are Designed to Carry Nuclear Warheads, IISS Warns
“The Iranian ballistic missiles are a threat to the entire world, and its development of long-range missiles has global consequences,” the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a British think tank, wrote in a new report.
“If Iran builds long-range missiles with a range of more than 2,000 kilometers, it is unlikely that it will use them only to carry ordinary explosive payloads,” the UAE-based National News reported on Tuesday, March 22, quoting the IISS. “Rather, such missiles are likely to be designed to carry nuclear warheads, which would have a much higher deterrent effect.”
According to the think tank, the Iranian regime is likely to design such missiles to carry “nuclear warheads,” which would have a much higher deterrent effect. Therefore, the concern that Iran’s long-range missiles will eventually strike Europe or the United States is justified.
Iranian Kurds Defy The Regime, Even By Celebrating Nowruz
By enforcing restrictions and dispatching security forces into cities and villages, the Iranian regime is harassing the people in Kurdistan province, preventing them to celebrate Nowruz festivities, and has so far arrested a number of Kurdish compatriots.
On Monday, the regime’s counter-insurgency agents raided the Nowruz ceremony in the village of Ney in the Mariwan region and prevented the event from taking place. Facing local resistance, security agents clashed with the people and opened fire on them, wounding several people.
According to Kurdistan-based news websites, more than 30 citizens were detained by security forces during the Nowruz celebrations in Sanandaj Children’s Park. At least three of them were teenagers and underage, the sources suggest.
In Piranshahr, on Tuesday morning, two compatriots were arrested by regime agents and taken to an unknown location.
Despite widespread propaganda and pressure, the people of Kurdistan have collectively boycotted the state-organized Nowruz festivals and the people have defiantly insisted on organizing their own traditional ceremonies with pride and glory.
UPDATE: 10:00 AM CET
Pompeo: Removing Iran’s IRGC From Terror List Would Be “Dangerous Capitulation”
Removing the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) from a U.S. terror list would be “a dangerous capitulation,” three former senior Trump administration officials, including former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, said in a joint statement exclusively shared with Axios.
Why it matters: The status of the IRGC is one of the last remaining sticking points in talks to revive the 2015 nuclear agreement.
Dems Start Questioning Biden Admin’s Iran Nuclear Talks
Bipartisan skepticism of President Joe Biden’s efforts to revive the Iran nuclear deal is emerging on Capitol Hill as his administration races to put the finishing touches on a pact that was left in tatters by Donald Trump.
While Republicans have an airing their concerns more loudly, some top Democrats are beginning to openly express reservations about public reports outlining details of the new agreement, which would include lifting some sanctions on Tehran. Their doubts follow warnings from administration officials in a closed-door briefing Tuesday that Iran is closer than ever to producing enough material for a nuclear weapon.
Iran: MEK Resistance Units Celebrate Nowruz With Anti-regime Activities
As Iranians mark the beginning of the new Persian calendar year and century, the mullahs’ regime has left very little for Iran’s people to celebrate and be joyful about. From skyrocketing prices and rising inflation to the growing number of executions and the persecution of protesters and dissidents, the regime has done everything to wipe off the smiles from the faces of Iranians and hopes from their hearts.
Iran With Two Conflicting Histories
Since the start of the mullahs’ rule in Iran, two different interpretations of the country’s history have emerged. One introduced by the regime and its propaganda apparatus, and the other an unofficial version that has been widely accepted among the people. These two interpretations are at opposite ends of the spectrum. The first, propagated by the mullahs, presents them as the country’s true saviors who fought the dark dynasty of the Shah. They liberated the people, institute a pious religion, and brought ‘freedom’ for the country without the help of anyone else except divine intervention.
Media Activist Yasamin Azan, Mother Taken to Sepidar Prison
Media activist Yasamin Azan and her mother, Leila Salemzadeh, were arrested at the Intelligence Department of Khorramshahr. Security forces subsequently transferred them to their detention center in Ahvaz and finally to Sepidar Prison in Ahvaz, the capital of Khuzestan Province. On Wednesday, March 9, 2022, Leila Salemzadeh and her daughter Yasamin Azan reported to the Intelligence Department of Khorramshahr. They were arraigned on their charges of “propaganda against the state.”
Sweden, March 22, 2022: Freedom-loving Iranians, Mek Supporters Rally in Front of Stockholm Court
Sweden, March 22, 2022: Freedom-loving Iranians, supporters of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), rally in front of Stockholm court. They are seeking justice for 30,000 political prisoners executed by the mullahs’ regime in the 1988 massacre.
Australian Man, 83, Dies in Iranian Prison After Being Denied Healthcare
An Australian-Iranian man in his eighties jailed over a financial dispute has died in prison in Iran, Amnesty International said, accusing Tehran of subjecting him to torture by denying urgent medical care.
Shokrollah Jebeli,83, who had been incarcerated in Tehran’s Evin prison since January 2020, died on Sunday after being taken from prison to hospital the previous day, Amnesty said.
Removing Iran’s IRGC From Terror List Would Be ‘Colossal Mistake,’ Former Us Counterterror Official Says
A former counterterrorism official is warning that removing Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) from the Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) list would be a “colossal mistake” — just as the Biden administration is considering such a move as it works to restore the Iran nuclear deal.
“Removing the IRGC from the list of designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) would be a colossal mistake, Nathan Sales, a former State Dept. counterterrorism coordinator who was part of the effort to list the IRGC in 2019, told Fox News.
Read more: Iran News in Brief – March 22, 2022