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Iran News in Brief – June 6, 2023

Sedighe Shahrokhi

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THIS PAGE WILL BE UPDATED WITH THE LATEST NEWS

UPDATE: 10:00 PM CET

Imposing Sanctions on Network Supporting Iran’s Missile and Military Programs

Today, the United States is imposing sanctions on a procurement network of seven individuals and six entities in Iran and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) for supporting the activities of Iran’s Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics, Parchin Chemicals Industries, and P.B. Sadr, all of which are U.S.-designated entities as key actors in Iran’s ballistic missile program. Today’s actions include the designation of Iran’s Defense Attaché in Beijing, Davoud Damghani, who has coordinated defense-related procurements from the PRC for Iranian end-users. The United States remains firmly committed to using every tool at our disposal to disrupt Iran’s procurement networks, and we will work with allies and partners to hold Iran accountable for its actions.

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UPDATE: 8:30 PM CET

Iran Protests at a Glance

Based partially on reporting by PMOI (MEK) Network in Iran

Tuesday, June 6, 2023 – 8 PM GMT + 1

Retirees and pensioners from Iran’s telecom industry staged rallies on Tuesday, June 6, protesting against their meager pensions and challenging economic conditions. These demonstrations, following a recurring weekly pattern, were reported in various cities, including Ahvaz, Kermanshah, Zahedan, Shahrekord, Mashhad, Shiraz, Ilam, and Rasht. This ongoing trend builds upon previous gatherings held in recent weeks and months in Tehran and other locations nationwide.

Over the past few years, retired individuals across Iran have been voicing their concerns about deteriorating living conditions. The state’s refusal to adjust pensions in line with inflation rates and fluctuations in the national currency, the rial, has been a major point of contention.

In separate reports from inside Iran, residents of Taft, located in the central parts of Yazd Province, held a gathering outside the local governor’s office on Tuesday. They were protesting the severe shortage and, in some cases, the absence of drinking water in their town.

Meanwhile, workers on the morning shift at the Khorasan Steel Complex in Firouzeh, situated in Razavi Khorasan Province in northeast Iran, went on strike on Tuesday. They were protesting against low wages and inadequate pension benefits.

Residents of Abbas Abad, a town in Mazandaran Province in northern Iran, expressed their opposition to a verdict issued by a regime judge on Tuesday. The ruling authorized authorities to seize property belonging to locals. In the past two months, at least three young individuals were killed by regime security forces and operatives as they resisted authorities’ attempts to confiscate their real estate and lands.

In an act of defiance, courageous youths in Yasuj, the capital of Kohgiluyeh & Boyer Ahmad Province in southwest Iran, launched attacks targeting two bases belonging to the IRGC paramilitary Basij units.  These assaults were carried out in response to the recent increase in executions by the regime.

Similarly, brave youths in Bavi, located in Khuzestan Province in southwest Iran, staged an attack on a local State Security Forces site. The incident took place early Sunday morning. The attack was a direct response to the regime’s recent wave of executions.

UPDATE: 6:30 PM CET

Treasury Imposes Sanctions on 10 Individuals and 7 Entities Tied to Iran’s Ballistic Missile Program

In an announcement made on Tuesday, June 6, the US Treasury Department expanded its roster of sanctions pertaining to Iran’s ballistic missile program by incorporating 10 individuals and 7 entities. As per the official statement issued by the US Treasury Department, certain individuals and organizations subject to the sanctions are situated in Mexico and China. This revision entails the addition of the following individuals to the Office of Foreign Assets Control’s (OFAC) index of designated nationals:

UPDATE: 12:00 PM CET

Rep. Fallon Leads Introduction of Sanctions Enforcement and Financial Institutions Transparency Act (SEFITA)

Rep. Pat Fallon (TX-04) and Rep. Kevin Hern (OK-01) are proud to introduce today the Sanctions Enforcement and Financial Institutions Transparency Act, also known as “SEFITA.”

This bill seeks to prevent the Iranian regime from securing funding from international financial institutions, as well as ensure that sanctions are enforced. As previously reported by the Washington Free Beacon, this bill is part of a larger package from the Republican Study Committee aimed at preventing the Biden Administration from securing a second Iran Deal.

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U.S. Senator Katie Britt: China Must Stop Helping Iran Work Around American Sanctions

Washington, D.C., June 5, 2023 – U.S. Senator Katie Britt (R-Ala.) during a recent hearing of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs highlighted how current American sanctions against Iran have failed to stop its commerce with China, which continues to buy Iranian oil and aid the development of Iran’s nuclear missile program.

Questioning Biden Administration officials from the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the U.S. Department of Commerce, Senator Britt pointed to evidence that clearly shows that despite American sanctions, Iranian oil is being exported to China at record levels, Chinese firms are providing critical assistance in Iran’s efforts to develop nuclear weapons, and Chinese companies are providing surveillance technology as Iran monitors and censors its own people.

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Iran’s Presence in Syria in May 2023

Iran and its proxy militias have unprecedented influence in most areas under the “symbolic” regime control, as neither attacks by Israel and the International Coalition, nor the “cold war” with Russia could hinder the alarming entrenchment and expansion of these forces across Syria. Strengthening their presence and promoting their ideology, the Iranians are still carrying on with their systematic plan to change the demography of different areas throughout Syria’s geography.

On May 1, members of the Lebanese Hezbollah from Hatla, Al-Bokamal, and Al-Mayadin headed to a camp in the vicinity of Deir Ezzor City to undergo extensive military courses. According to reliable SOHR sources, the military course is led by “Al-Haj Siraj” and it lasts for 45 days, where it aims to teach combatants several weapons, engineering, and first aid. It is worth noting that the course was delayed a few days ago due to disputes between the militias over the right to lead the course.

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UPDATE: 9:30 AM CET

Ukraine Parliament Proposes Designation of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards as Terrorist Organization

The Ukrainian Parliament submitted a bill urging Kyiv to designate Iran’s Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organization. Supported by numerous lawmakers, including Oleksandr Merezhko, head of the Verkhovna Rada’s Foreign Affairs Committee, the bill aligns with members of the US Congress and the European Parliament, who are urging their allies to classify the IRGC as terrorists.

On March 16, 2023, the European Parliament approved a resolution condemning the poisoning of thousands of schoolgirls in Iran. The resolution called for the Council of Europe to proscribe the Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organization and to add Iranian regime Supreme Leader Khamenei, President Ebrahim Raisi, and Attorney General Mohammad Jaafar Montazeri to the EU sanctions list.

In May, several members of the US Congress called on the UK, Australia, Canada, and India to join the US in labeling the entire IRGC. Sweden’s parliament also recently voted to designate the IRGC, coinciding with the execution of Swedish-Iranian Habib Chaab (Asyud).

UPDATE: 7:00 AM CET

Anti-Regime Attacks Continue in Iran as International Support Grows

Brave youths in different cities across Iran have been involved in an expanding campaign of attacks against various regime sites. These attacks, targeting security bases and buildings of the regime’s so-called judiciary, are being coordinated in response to the mullahs’ crackdown on widespread protests and the horrific recent surge in executions. And across the globe, the Iranian Diaspora has been active in voicing their solidarity with their compatriots inside the country and redoubling their efforts in obtaining global political support for their compatriots’ ongoing struggle against the mullahs’ regime. People throughout Iran continue to precisely hold the mullahs’ Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei responsible for their miseries, while also condemning the oppressive Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and paramilitary Basij units, alongside other security units that are on the ground suppressing the peaceful demonstrators.

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Iran’s Regime Increases Repression of Universities To Quell Future Uprisings

Top security and intelligence officials of the Iranian regime have held secret meetings to devise new strategies to suppress universities and students, according to documents published by “GhyamSarnegouni,” a dissident group that recently infiltrated the servers of the Iranian regime’s presidency. The documents contain the transcript of confidential and highly classified meetings held by the committees of the Thar-Allah Headquarters and offer a rare glimpse into the decision-making processes within the regime’s most important security and intelligence institutions, highlighting the regime’s deep-seated apprehension and fear of the student population. One of the revealed meetings documented the decision to compile a list of prominent dissident students and determine appropriate measures to handle them.

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IRGC Seeks to Evade Sanctions

Courageous resistance operatives embedded within the Iranian regime’s armed forces and other key state institutions have revealed an elaborate scheme by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) – the regime’s Gestapo, to evade Western sanctions. Supporters of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) have risked their lives to uncover how an oil company that was set up in 2000 with the specific remit to defy sanctions, has sold vast quantities of oil and petrochemical products to Bashar al Assad in Syria and the Houthi rebels in Yemen. It has also sold Venezuelan oil and urea to the Houthis. Urea nitrate is a fertilizer-based high explosive that is used in improvised explosive devices.

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Ottawa, Toronto, & Vancouver—June 3, 2023: MEK Supporters Held Rallies in Support of the Iran Revolution

Ottawa, Toronto, & Vancouver—June 3, 2023: Freedom-loving Iranians and supporters of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) held rallies and expressed their solidarity with the Iranian Revolution.

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Also, read Iran News in Brief – June 5, 2023

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