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Iran News in Brief – May 13, 2023

Sedighe Shahrokhi

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THIS PAGE WILL BE UPDATED WITH THE LATEST NEWS

UPDATE: 8:30 PM CET

Iran Protests at a Glance

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

Saturday, May 13, 2023 – 8 PM GMT + 1

According to reports by the Iranian opposition People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), Tehran University students held a rally on Saturday, protesting campus security measures imposing strict attire (hijab) rules on female students.

Retirees of the state oil company in Ahvaz, the provincial capital of Khuzestan, held a gathering on Saturday protesting for their rights to be respected and acknowledged.

MEK Resistance Units members portrayed a large image of Iranian Resistance Leader Massoud Rajavi and Iranian opposition coalition NCRI President-elect, Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, along Payam Avenue in Dezful, southwest Iran.

In Mashhad, northeast Iran, the brave MEK Resistance Units portrayed a large image of Iranian Resistance Leader Massoud Rajavi along Nasseri Avenue.

On Saturday, regime operatives launched a chemical gas attack against the all-girls Ommat School in the capital’s Tehranpars district. Several students were poisoned.

Freedom-loving Iranians and supporters of the PMOI/MEK rallied in several European cities in solidarity with the nationwide protests and condemned the regime’s surge in executions.

Syria Owes $50 Billion To Iran, Leaked Document Reveals

Syria owes Iran $50 billion according to leaked documents from Iran’s Foreign Ministry, with fears for Assad’s possible assassination creating fear in Tehran the money may never be recouped.

The revelations came after the hacktivist group ‘Uprising till Overthrow’, affiliated with the Albania-based opposition Mujahideen-e Khalq (MEK) group, hacked the Islamic Republic’s Foreign Ministry servers, disabling 210 sites and online services and leaked a large batch of documents.

Minutes from a meeting of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council show Syria’s debt goes back to a long-term agreement signed between the two countries in January 2019, under former president Hassan Rouhani. However, the debt has been building for much longer, with roughly $11bn worth of oil given to Damascus from 2012 to 2021.

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Iranian Revolutionary Guards Militia Opens Door of Recruitment in Deir Ezzor

Deir Ezzor province: SOHR activists have reported that Nasr Centre of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards militia in Deir Ezzor city within areas of the regime and Iranian militias, opened the door for recruitment for the militia, with monthly salaries of 70 USDs, and to provide the recruited members transit cards at military checkpoints of the regime forces, without being intercepted.

According to reliable SOHR sources, despite the advantages provided by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards militia, a significant weakness of the approach by people of the city for recruitment was noticed, in fear of the headquarters being targeted by the International Coalition and the Israeli air forces. In the same context, Deir Ezzor city witnessed significant activity of Iranian militias.

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UPDATE: 1:00 PM CET

G7 ‘Concerned’ About Risks Posed by Iran, N. Korea

The Group of Seven (G7) Finance Ministers and Central Banks’ Governors expressed concern over the risks posed by Iran and North Korea, particularly Pyongyang’s “illicit activities” related to the “proliferation of weapons of mass destruction” and recent ballistic missile launches.

“We are deeply concerned with illicit financing risk emanating from Iran,” the Group stressed in a joint statement published after their meeting in Niigata, Japan. In addition, the G7 emphasized that it “fully supports” the Financial Action Task Force (FATF)’s decision to suspend Russia’s membership this year given Moscow’s “irresponsible nuclear rhetoric.”

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G7 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting Communiqué

UPDATE: 9:30 AM CET

Senior Clerics Expose Fear of Revolutionary Society

Iran’s Friday prayer sermons on May 12, became another demonstration of the fear that occupies the regime’s mindsets.

During his speech at the Friday prayer sermon in Qom, Mohammad Saeedi warned against MEK’s influence inside the country and said: “The threats that come from the hypocrites (the regime’s pejorative expression to defame the MEK in Iran’s society) to the Islamic and human society cannot be compared to any other danger. These hypocrites are even worse and more dangerous than infidels. Today in our country, there are hypocrites who did not obey the rule of the Imam or the Islamic system for even one day. You see the existence, signs, and effects of these hypocrites in every sedition and corruption that happens in society.”

Warning against a surging wave of radicalization, Alireza Biniaz, the Friday prayer leader of Kish also said: “In recent months, these martyrdoms, these movements, and these assassinations show that the enemy is not giving up. It is still planning, it is still planning. They are looking for opportunities to strike the Islamic Republic. They want to hit the Islamic and Iranian religion, our values, and norms… Our people are complaining, our judicial surveillance security forces are complaining that there should be a more serious and faster follow-up and those who commit these crimes should be tried faster and their sentences should be announced and executed. People should be informed so that no one dares to commit these actions and destroy the safety of society.”

Iran Nuclear Monitors Express Concern After Inspections Plunge

Visibility into Iran’s nuclear program dimmed last year after the Persian Gulf nation removed cameras and surveillance equipment, raising international concern about the ability to carry out checks.

International Atomic Energy Agency data shows the number of examinations fell by 10% in 2022 after Iran ended monitoring arrangements specified under the now-collapsed agreement with world powers. Inspectors “were seriously affected by Iran’s decision,” IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi wrote in a restricted document circulated among diplomats this week, a copy of which was seen by Bloomberg News.

Iran began to progressively restrict IAEA access after the Trump administration tore up an international agreement aimed at preventing the country’s ability to build a bomb five years ago. The deal had restricted the country’s nuclear work and allowed for expanded monitoring in exchange for sanctions relief, and negotiations to revive it remain in limbo. Meanwhile, Tehran’s atomic activities have advanced and knowledge about past developments have become more opaque.

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U.S. Boosts Military Presence in the Middle East After Iran Seizes Tankers

The U.S. military is working with allies to send more ships and aircraft to the Middle East as Iran escalates its seizures of merchant tankers, the National Security Council announced Friday. “Today, the Department of Defense will be making a series of moves to bolster our defensive posture in the Arabian Gulf,” NSC spokesperson John Kirby told reporters.

The announcement comes after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps seized a Panama-flagged oil tanker called Niovi on May 3, as the ship was traveling through the Strait of Hormuz. The tanker left Dubai, and moved toward a UAE port when a dozen boats from the IRGC navy forced the tanker to head into Iranian waters.

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UPDATE: 7:30 AM CET

Baluchis in Iran Renew Protests as Regime Continues Execution Surge

Iran’s nationwide uprising is witnessing its 239th day on Friday as the country’s Baluchi community is protesting in the streets yet again and voicing their utter hatred of the mullahs’ regime. Brave locals in Zahedan rallied and launched a large demonstration in a continuation of the country’s anti-regime protests despite hollow promises from regime officials recently to have launched judicial cases against individuals involved in the killing of Baluchi protesters. These demonstrations are continuing while the regime has been attempting to quell the Iranian people’s protests with a new surge of executions, sending nearly 70 people to the gallows in the past two weeks alone.

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MEK Spox Denies IRGC Lies Over Mek “Attacking Ahvaz School”

The Iranian regime’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and its terrorist Quds Force have published false reports in their media outlets claiming the Iranian opposition People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) has attacked a school in the city of Ahvaz in southwest Iran using homemade mortars.

“Based on incoming news reports and information, during the past few days in efforts by dissident groups focused on extending the crisis in the country’s schools, the [MEK] has launched its homemade mortars targeting a school in Ahvaz. Due to the fact that these mortar rounds lack necessary precision, they did not land on the school grounds and hit a nearby home,” according to a piece published by the Quds Force-associated Tasnim news agency on Thursday night.

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Evin Security Court Summons Lawyers, Including 4 Women

In recent days, the 7th branch of Evin Security Court has summoned several lawyers, the names of 11 of whom have been obtained so far. Among this 11 attorneys-at-law, four female lawyers stand out: Mitra Izadifar, Marjan Esfahanian, Samin Cheraghi, and Sara Hamzezadeh. The common factor among most of these lawyers is their involvement during the protests and criticism of the adopted procedures. The cases filed for the summoned attorneys-at-law date back to the year 2022. (The state-run Sharq newspaper, May 12, 2023). Marjan Esfahanian is an attorney-at-law and a member of the Central Bar Association.

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The IRGC: Iran’s Military Force and a State Within a State

In 1979 when the Islamic revolution swept through Iran, the new regime established a paramilitary force called the Revolutionary Guard Corps, formed on the orders of Ruhollah Khomeini, the first supreme leader of the regime. The aim was to defend his Islamic regime from both internal and external threats but today this force has outsized its role and outstretched its purpose.  It has a say in almost everything the regime does. It executes the regime’s foreign policy, wields control over society, runs vast segments of the economy, looks after military operations, and even dictates the country’s politics.

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The Iranian Regime’s Propaganda Machine Against the MEK Exposed

The Iranian regime has a long history of targeting the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) with disinformation campaigns aimed at discrediting and demonizing the group. The regime has used various tactics, including spreading false information and propaganda through state-controlled media, paid social media trolls, and using front organizations to launch smear campaigns against the PMOI. On May 11, the regime’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and its terrorist Quds Force disseminated false information via their media outlets, alleging that the PMOI, has carried out an attack on a school in Ahvaz, located in southwest Iran, using makeshift homemade.

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Hamburg—May 8, 2023: MEK Supporters Rally to Support the Iran Revolution

Hamburg—May 8, 2023: Supporters of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) and freedom-loving Iranians gathered to show solidarity with the ongoing Iranian Revolution. They commemorated the Iranian uprising martyrs with a photo exhibition.

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Cologne, Germany—May 10, 2023: Freedom-Loving Iranians and MEK Supporters Rally to Support the Iran Revolution

Cologne, Germany—May 10, 2023: Supporters of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) and freedom-loving Iranians gathered to show their solidarity with the ongoing Iranian Revolution.

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Also, read Iran News in Brief – May 12, 2023

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