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UPDATE: 7:30 PM CET
Sen. Marsha Blackburn Calls on NSA Jake Sullivan To Resign
Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., called on National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan to resign and said the U.S. government needs to re-freeze the $6 billion in Iranian assets.
When asked about Sullivan, Blackburn said: “He has not served this country or the president well, and I think it is time for him to go.”
“When you look at what happened with the first Iran deal, when you look at what has happened with the second Iran deal when you look at the easing of sanctions that has allowed Iran to up their oil sales… the advice that he has given the president has not served the American people or our security well,” she continued.
She advised freezing the money that was to be given to Iran as part of a prisoner swap, to withhold funding from the country that is the world’s preeminent state sponsor of terror, which has Israel as its “number one target.”
UPDATE: 12:30 PM CET
Sunday Protests in Iran
On Sunday, October 15, a group of retirees from Kermanshah, West Alborz, Isfahan, and Shush protested the lack of attention to their demands, including the implementation of salary synchronization to inflation, high prices, and addressing issues related to health and supplementary insurance.
October 15—Kermanshah, western #Iran
Pensioners of the Social Security Organization hold protest rally, demanding higher pensions and other basic rights.#IranProtestspic.twitter.com/eIVimMUugu— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) October 15, 2023
October 15—Shush, southwest #Iran
Pensioners of the Social Security Organization hold protest rally, demanding higher pensions and other basic rights.
"The bankrupt government is the enemy of retirees," the protesters chant.#IranProtestspic.twitter.com/9hKH5EtgrC— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) October 15, 2023
October 15—Ahvaz, southwest #Iran
Pensioners of the Social Security Organization hold protest rally, demanding higher pensions and other basic rights.#IranProtestspic.twitter.com/HaEM6DTs3E— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) October 15, 2023
France Warns Iran, Hezbollah to Stay out of Israel-Hamas Conflict
Hezbollah and Lebanon must “exercise restraint to avoid opening a second front in the region”, of which “the first victim will be Lebanon”, the French presidency said in a statement on Saturday.
“No pretext should be given for Lebanon to slide once again into war,” it said, “especially since Lebanon is extremely weakened by the absence of functional authorities”.
Hezbollah and other Palestinian factions in Lebanon have exchanged cross-border fire with Israel since Hamas’s surprise attack on Israel killed more than 1,300 people. Palestinian gunmen also seized an estimated 150 hostages.
UPDATE: 9:30 AM CET
The Link Between Anti-Regime Protests and Child Labor in Iran’s Baluchestan
In Iran’s 2022 of Iran, Sistan and Baluchestan province was one of the leading provinces. After a year of demonstrations on Fridays, it is still among the torchbearers of resistance to the mullahs’ dictatorship. On Friday, October 13, the slogans “Death to Khamenei, death to the dictator, my martyred brother, I will avenge your blood” echoed in Zahedan. We have not forgotten that on September 29, on the anniversary of the uprising, there were demonstrations in the province that dealt a major blow to the regime’s apparatus of repression and terror across the country.
The remarkable point in examining this spirit of rebellion against the regime is to see the other side of the coin, which is the economic basis of these motives and sacrifices that the Baluch people have made on the streets.
Iran’s Education System and the Regime’s Battle for Young Minds
In Iran, the regime’s influence on its young citizens reaches deep into the heart of their education. Asghar Bagherzadeh, Deputy Minister of Education and Culture, recently announced a mass ‘mental screening’ initiative that has raised concerns far beyond its stated intention of evaluating students’ mental health. In this article, we delve into the intricacies of this screening process, revealing how it is intertwined with ideological and political agendas, as well as its implications for the future of Iran’s youth.
Asghar Bagherzadeh, the Deputy Minister of Education and Culture of the Iranian regime, announced the ‘mental screening’ of four million students in the five months ending in October. He stated that the purpose of these screenings was to assess the ‘mental health’ of millions of children and teenagers.
10,000 Iranian Healthcare Professionals Migrate Every Year
Evaz Heydarpour, a physician and former member of the Iranian regime’s Majlis (parliament), stated that every day we hear about “a professor or associate professor of medical schools” migrating. He told the regime’s “Khabar Online” website: “Every year, 10,000 individuals from the Iranian medical workforce (physicians, nurses, midwives) migrate.”
He declared that the “best geriatric specialists” are leaving the country due to the wave of migrating doctors. Heydarpour added, “If I were the Minister of Health and witnessed this number of doctors migrating every day, I would resign.”
An advisor to the Minister of Health and Medical Education of the Iranian regime, citing the “Youth, Population, and Family Support Law,” announced that the country’s healthcare system is facing a shortage of 20,000 midwives.
Iran: Government Debt Reaching Three Years’ Worth of General Budget
In its latest quarterly report on the economic situation in the Middle East and Central Asia, published on October 12, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has predicted that Ebrahim Raisi’s government’s debt this year will reach 30.6 percent of the country’s gross domestic product.
Iran’s gross domestic product this year, according to the assessment of this international institution, will be approximately $366.4 billion. Therefore, the government’s debt exceeds $112 billion, which is equivalent to more than three years’ worth of the government’s general budget.
According to the IMF’s forecast, Ebrahim Raisi’s government’s debt will increase by approximately another $6 billion next year.
Bern—October 12, 2023: MEK Supporters Held an Exhibition in Solidarity With the Iran Revolution
Sydney—October 12, 2023: MEK Supporters Held a Rally in Solidarity With the Iran Revolution
Copenhagen, Denmark—Oct 12, 2023: MEK Supporters Held a Rally in Solidarity With the Iran Revolution
Also, read Iran News in Brief – October 14, 2023