THIS PAGE WILL BE UPDATED WITH THE LATEST NEWS
UPDATE: 7:30 PM CEST
Former Belgian PM Verhofstadt Calls for Bold New EU Strategy on Iran
Addressing the President-Elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), Maryam Rajavi, Guy Verhofstadt said:
I will take this opportunity, Mrs Rajavi, to give a clear message today. A clear message to the new leadership of the European Union. As you know, after the European elections, on Thursday, last Thursday, a new leader of the European Union was appointed. There is also a new High Representative, Mrs Kaya Kallas. And I want to use this platform, this conference, together with you, to make a really urgent appeal to her and to the new leadership of Europe to drastically change the European Union’s strategy towards Iran and the mullahs in Iran.
UPDATE: 2:30 PM CEST
Iranian People Reject Sham Election: Global Support Surges for Democratic Iran
The recent Iranian presidential election has been widely denounced as a sham, with the people of Iran boycotting the process. According to reports from inside Iran by the social headquarters of the People’s Mojahedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI/MEK), an astounding 88% of eligible voters refused to participate, dealing a severe blow to the regime’s legitimacy.
This widespread boycott reflects the Iranian people’s deep-seated frustration with a political system they view as corrupt and criminal. The regime’s unelected Guardian Council vetted all candidates, and they are fully loyal to Supreme Leader Khamenei. The election has now entered a second phase with the two remaining candidates.
The death of Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash dealt a strategic blow to the regime’s Supreme Leader. Khamenei had appointed Raisi as president to consolidate his power. Known as the ‘Butcher of Tehran’, Raisi earned this notorious title for his role in the 1988 massacre of 30,000 political prisoners when he served on the death commission in Tehran. He was notably obedient to Khamenei.
Election in Iran: “The Population Wants to Bring Down the Regime”
Javad is active in an opposition movement in Iran. A conversation about the social changes in his country, brutal Revolutionary Guards, and a lack of support from the West.
Javad, you are a member of the resistance unit in Iran. What is this opposition movement about?
The resistance units are decentralized networks of activists rising up against the regime. They played a crucial role in the six nationwide uprisings from December 2017 to 2022. Through posters and graffiti campaigns, we spread anti-regime slogans, set fire to symbols of the theocratic regime, and try to encourage and mobilize citizens.
UPDATE: 1:30 PM CEST
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Should Be Outlawed as A Terrorist Organization
In recent years, Germany has been a target of espionage with terrorist intentions, supported by the Iranian regime. For instance, the planned attack on a synagogue in Bochum in 2022 is said to have been directed from Tehran. Reports by German intelligence services have repeatedly uncovered Iranian efforts to procure prohibited technology.
Such activities by Iran threaten Germany’s national security. This threat has recently intensified with Tehran’s involvement in two theaters of war. On one hand, the Islamic regime has brought its asymmetrical warfare close to the borders of the European Union by supplying drones for use in the Ukraine war. Tehran has thus helped Russia overcome setbacks and contributed to the aggression moving further westward.
UPDATE: 12:30 PM CEST
Belarus Starts Local Manufacturing of Iranian Shahed-136 Drones as Nomad
On July 3, 2024, the Belarusian army showcased for the first time the Iranian Shahed-136 kamikaze drone as part of its arsenal during the Independence Parade in Minsk. This event marked the 80th anniversary of Belarus’ liberation from Nazi occupation. These drones, referred to as Geran-2 in Russian nomenclature, were introduced as a “new domestic development” in Belarus, now named Nomad.
The Independence Day parade in Minsk featured over 6,000 participants, including servicemen from Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. The event displayed more than 300 units of military equipment, including the first appearance of Russian-origin Iskander-M systems. The presence of radiation hazard signs on the Iskander systems indicated Belarus’ potential possession of non-strategic nuclear weapons or the systems’ capability to use nuclear missiles.
Iran’s Runoff Election Doesn’t Matter, but the Boycott of the First Round Does
The people of Iran will have to wait for the conclusion of a two-person runoff before they know who will assume the country’s second-highest office following the May 19 death of President Ebrahim Raisi. But the people of Iran made it clear with the first-round election that they do not care about the outcome. According to poll watchers of the country’s leading pro-democracy opposition group, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran, only about 12% of the population took part in that election, while the rest embraced a boycott campaign that was meant to convey rejection of the entire ruling system.
The sentiment behind that boycott was summarized in its immediate aftermath by Resistance leader Maryam Rajavi, the president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI). Speaking to hundreds of politicians from dozens of countries during the Free Iran World Summit 2024 at the NCRI’s Paris headquarters, Rajavi explained that it is almost certain that the runoff will be engineered to guarantee victory for the candidate favored by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
UPDATE: 7:30 AM CEST
Iran’s Regime Faces Internal Crisis After Mass Election Boycott
The Iranian regime’s admission in official statistics that the sham presidential elections on June 28 witnessed the “lowest participation” in the regime’s history marked a catastrophic defeat for the entire regime and for Iranian regime supreme leader Ali Khamenei personally. This was because Khamenei had begged and insisted on “high participation” the most and even secured cooperation from previous regime presidents and disenchanted officials such as Hassan Rouhani, Mohammad Khatami, and Ali Larijani.
Three days before the elections, Khamenei said, “The high participation that we insist on is because the most important effect of high participation is the pride of the Islamic Republic. In any election where participation has been low, the tongues of the enemies and envy of the Islamic Republic have been unleashed. They have blamed us. When participation is high, the tongues of the slanderers are silenced. They cannot blame us. They cannot rejoice. We do not want to make the enemy happy. This is why I insist on high participation.”
Zeinab Jalalian in Dire Health and Continued Pressure from Intelligence Ministry
Kurdish political prisoner Zeinab Jalalian, who is currently serving her seventeenth year in Yazd Central Prison, has been facing severe health issues in recent weeks. Zeinab was transferred to the prison’s medical facility due to intense pain in her right side. However, after a general examination, she was returned to her cell without receiving specialized tests or definitive treatment. Despite her persistent health problems, including oral thrush, pterygium, asthma, and kidney and gastrointestinal issues, Zeinab’s requests for transfer to external medical facilities have been consistently denied by the Intelligence Ministry.
Zeinab’s health has been deteriorating, with her pain intensifying over the past weeks. Although she was taken to the prison infirmary, the attending general practitioner only performed a basic check-up. Her requests for specialized medical attention outside the prison were again rejected by the Intelligence Ministry. This denial of adequate medical care is further compounded by the pressure from the ministry.
A Memory from a Political Prisoner of the 1980s: The Story of the Radio
In the fall of 1982, I was in a prison near Lake Urmia (West of Iran). In this prison, we, the prisoners, collectively organized to solve our issues and problems. The members of the Revolutionary Guard Corps, who managed the prison, tried to isolate us and keep us uninformed about the outside world. Therefore, we were looking for a way to access outside news, especially the news about people’s resistance and those who have been arrested. At that time, there were no mobile phones or the internet like today, so we were after a small radio.
After some time, we communicated with ordinary prisoners near us. By talking to one of them, we smuggled in a small shortwave radio with an earphone into the ward. We hid the radio with the earphones inside a pillow and every day, one person would go under a blanket under the pretense of sleeping to listen to the radio news. This person would memorize the headlines and then, in short intervals, would come out to inform the others or write the news on a small piece of paper for everyone to see. At that time, the only available radio that broadcast news was Radio Mojahed, which provided firsthand information.
Also, read Iran News in Brief – July 3, 2024
