#Iran Lobby's Attacks on #Bolton Are Completely False https://irannewsupdate.com/news/general/4796-iran-lobby-s-attacks-on-bolton-are-completely-false.html via @BowThemes

IRAN LOBBY'S ATTACKS ON BOLTON ARE COMPLETELY FALSE

INU - The Iranian Regime’s appeasement lobby in the US has gone into overdrive since the appointment of former ambassador to the UN John Bolton as the new National Security Adviser, in an attempt to smear Bolton as a warmonger who wants nothing more than to attack Iran.

These almost daily articles actually reveal that the Iranian Regime must be feeling weak if they are lashing out in such a way, but let’s get one thing straight: Bolton is not a warmonger.

He simply seeks rational discussions on strike first policies if Iran obtains nuclear weapons, a position which has bipartisan support in Congress. Also, it’s beyond hypocritical to accuse him of that when Iran is behind some of the biggest and most ongoing conflicts in the Middle East (i.e. Syria and Yemen).

It would be more apt to call Bolton a realist as he recognises that the West's appeasement policy has done nothing to reign in Iran’s malign behaviour. This appeasement policy, which includes the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal, has merely enriched the mullahs at the expense of their people and allowed Iran's malign behaviour to grow.

The nuclear deal lifted sanctions against the mullahs and released $150 billion of frozen assets into the hands of terrorists who used it to fund war and sectarian violence across the Middle East. None of this money went to the Iranian people, it was instead used to fund the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and Quds Force, both of which are listed terrorist organizations in the West, as well as the Bashar Assad Regime in Syria, Shi'ia militias in Iraq, the Houthi rebels in Yemen, and the terrorist Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Another reason that Bolton has come under attack from the Iran lobby is his open support for the democratic opposition movement, the People's Mojahedin of Iran (PMOI or MEK).

Bolton frequently advocates for the MEK and speaks at MEK events, including the 2017 Free Iran rally in Paris where he promised 100,000 attendees that the Iranian Regime would fall before its 40th birthday.

Bolton sees that the Iranian Regime is the most repressive government in the Middle East, with its mass executions, media censorship, bans on education, misogynistic laws, and constant attempts at indoctrination. That’s why he supports regime change as the only answer to the problems caused by Iran.

More importantly, the Iranian people support it too, as evidenced by their recent uprisings in which they explicitly called for regime change. In response to this, the mullahs arrested over 8,000 people and have tortured at least 14 of those to death.

That’s why it’s so important that the Trump administration not only vocally supported the protests, but also appointed more people willing to bring change to Iran.

Former MEP Struan Stevenson, who is the coordinator of Campaign for Iran Change, wrote: “Bolton has been advocating a firm policy with Tehran for the past two decades... He should now be supported in his efforts to adopt a resolute policy with Iran to prevent more wars and bloodshed in the region...There is only one way to stop the current wars and conflicts in the region: adopting a firm line with the Iranian regime and supporting the popular uprising for a democratic change in Iran.”

Thousands of Ahvaz Residents Demonstrated in Protest Against Iran Regime's Insulting Fellow Arab Countrymen

Suppressive forces attacked protesters and arrested some of them

thousands of Ahvaz residents rallied in protest against the insult of the ruling religious fascism television against fellow Arab countrymen, and chanted slogans against the mullahs’ regime’s brutal suppression and discrimination against the people of Ahvaz and Khuzestan. Yesterday, a large crowd of Ahvaz residents protested outside the state radio and television center.

In fear of spreading the protests, the mullahs’ regime sent Ali Sari, a member of the regime's parliament, to the scene to calm the people and speak to them. But the protesters booed and pushed him out of the scene.

 

The repressive forces attacked the people by shooting, throwing tear gas and with batons. The calsh between the people and repressive forces continued for long on the nearby streets. A number of protesters were arrested.

Iranian Resistance calls on the people of Khuzestan to show their solidarity and support for the demonstrators, and calls on the international human rights organizations to condemn the policy of suppression and discrimination of the medieval regime ruling Iran, and to take action for the immediate release of the arrested people.

Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran

Lindsey Graham after Trump meeting: 'Historic moments' regarding Iran, North Korea coming in May

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said to expect some historic moments coming in May in regards to Iran and North Korea

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said to expect some 'historic moments' coming in May in regards to Iran and North Korea.
Following a 90-minute meeting with President Trump on Wednesday, Graham told Fox News' Shannon Bream that despite some negative press, Trump is 'very focused' and 'very upbeat.'
'It feels like he's doing a good job,' Graham told Bream, before adding, 'We have some historic moments coming in May with North Korea and Iran.'
Earlier in the interview, speaking about Trump's prospective meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Graham said he thinks Trump is 'ready to go big' with Pyongyang in the hopes that he can end the nuclear threat in the Korean peninsula.
In recent Iran news, White House principal deputy press secretary Raj Shah told reporters Monday that Trump is “prepared to potentially withdraw” from the Iran nuclear deal if changes to the agreement aren’t made

Australian universities targets of Iran hack campaign, says FBI

The FBI and US Justice Department say nine Iranian citizens stole the login credentials of 8000 academics at 320 institutions across 22 countries between 2013 and 2017.

Australian universities are among the targets of a multi-billion dollar global scam which US authorities allege was funded by the Iranian government.
Australian National University, the University of Sydney, Monash University and the Queensland University of Technology were targeted by the spear-phishing and phishing email campaigns allegedly launched by the Iranian government-affiliated Mabna Institute. 
The FBI and US Justice Department say nine Iranian citizens stole the login credentials of 8000 academics at 320 institutions across 22 countries between 2013 and 2017.
They used the logins to steal research, academic journals, theses, dissertations and ebooks.
The stolen data was allegedly sold to two Iranian websites, which then provided cheap or free access to the research journals and other intellectual property to organisations in Iran.
US-based cyber security firm PhishLabs, which has been tracking Mabna since December, identified Australia as one of four key targets alongside the US, Canada and the UK.
It identified a third Iranian website which claimed to offer access to credentials from 13 Australian universities, including all those in the elite Group of Eight, which is made up of ANU, Monash University and the universities of Sydney, NSW, Melbourne, Queensland, Western Australia and Adelaide.
 
The FBI believes up to 26 Australian universities were targeted including QUT.
PhishLabs says 26 of Australia's 43 universities were sent lures, but is unsure about how many academics inadvertently handed over details.
'Because most of the universities targeted are prestigious research, technical, or medical institutions, it seemed like a logical possibility that the compromised credentials could be used to access some of the more sensitive research data that could only be accessed from an internal account,' PhishLabs Threat Intelligence director Crane Hassold said.
'Even though we didn't observe any evidence of this activity on our end directly, (the US) indictment indicates that the theft of university-specific data was indeed a goal for these actors.'
The FBI has issued international arrest warrants for the nine alleged hackers.
The US Justice Department says the cyber thieves also stole data from US companies and government agencies, as well as the United Nations .
In total, more than 31,000 gigabytes of data was taken - the equivalent of listening to a music streaming app in normal quality for the next 50 years.
FBI Assistant Director William F. Sweeney Jr estimated the stolen data was worth billions of dollars.

IRAN LOBBY IN US LOSES IT OVER BOLTON APPOINTMENT

The Iran Lobby in the US losing their minds over Trump’s appointment of John Bolton as the new national security advisor

The Iran Lobby in the US has been losing their minds over Donald Trump’s appointment of former UN ambassador John Bolton as the new national security advisor because of Bolton’s ardent and frequent criticism of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and the Iranian Regime in general.
Following the announcement, president of the National Iranian American Council Trita Parsi issued a statement lambasting the decision and accusing Bolton of trying to start World War III with Iran.
He wrote: “Bolton is an unhinged advocate for waging World War III. He has explicitly called for bombing Iran for the past ten years… Bolton’s first order of business will be to convince Trump to exit the Iran nuclear deal and lay the groundwork for the war he has urged over the past decade. Additionally, he has called for ending all visas for Iranians, shipping bunker-busting weapons to Israel, and supporting the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) terrorist organization and other separatist groups inside of Iran.”
That’s a lot of lies to pack into one paragraph, so let's unpack those a little bit.
First, it’s hypocritical to accuse Bolton of warmongering when the Iranian regime has launched three wars in Iraq, Syria and Yemen in the past three years. He has never called for nuking Iran, only for serious discussions about strike first policy options if Iran obtains nuclear weapons; a call that has bipartisan support in Congress.
Even his calls to exit the nuclear deal would not lead to war, unless the NIAC believe the Regime would immediately call for war. The deal is merely inadequate to protect the US or the rest of the world form the threat of a nuclear Iran.
Second, the MEK is not a terrorist group. They are part of the organised, democratic, resistance, which is seeking regime change by and for the people of Iran. The only terrorists are those sponsored by the Iranian Regime. Parsi is also attempting to smear the Iranian’s people popular protests by describing them as separatists, rather than an oppressed people rising up against their dictators.
Later on in his statement, Parsi attacks Bolton some more for his support of the MEK without seeming to realise that there is a massive coalition of groups and people opposed to the Regime, including Amnesty International, members of the Bah’ai faith and virtually all Iranian women.
This is merely indicative of how scared that Iran lobby is of the MEK and the people’s protests. The Regime and its apologists attempt to smear the MEK and discredit the information that the MEK gives to the West about the Regime’s malign activities.
But it is the end of the line for the Regime and their lobbyists and frankly few mainstream media outlets are listening to the NIAC anymore.

Multiple pages on this domain contain the same links and duplicate content.

The U.N. Security Council met Tuesday to go over how effective its existing resolutions on Syria had been.

 U.N. Security Council members vented frustrations and traded blame Tuesday over their unheeded demand for a 30-day cease-fire in Syria, with the U.S. envoy calling it 'a day of shame.'
With a unanimous Feb. 24 vote, the council called for a 30-day break in hostilities 'without delay' to enable humanitarian aid and medical evacuations as Syria enters its eighth year of civil war. But bombings didn't stop in the besieged Damascus suburbs known as eastern Ghouta.
'History will not be kind when it judges the effectiveness of this council in relieving the suffering of the Syrian people,' U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley said, adding that it 'should be a day of shame for every member.'
Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok, whose country holds the council presidency, called it 'a humiliation' for the U.N.'s most powerful body to be unable to enforce an order for humanitarian aid access.
Since the resolution passed, the U.N. and other groups have delivered aid to about 137,000 people around Syria — an improvement since earlier this year but still 'crumbs' compared to what is needed, U.N. humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock said.

And '5.6 million Syrians in acute need cannot live on crumbs,' he added.
More than 1,600 civilians have been killed in the recent government offensive, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Over 120,000 people have left eastern Ghouta.
Critics say the evacuations amount to forced displacement, and the U.N. and the International Committee of the Red Cross have refused to facilitate them.
Haley accused the Syrian government, Russia and Syrian ally Iran of making 'a mockery' of the cease-fire demand and said Russia had used its veto-wielding seat to stop the Security Council from doing more.
The cease-fire resolution's sponsors, Kuwait and Sweden, said they were disappointed in the outcome but determined to keep trying to achieve its goals.

Coalition releases findings of Houthi missile attack on Saudi Arabia

This aggressive and hostile action by the Iran-backed Houthi group proves that the Iranian regime continues to support the armed group with military capabilities

- A press conference is currently being held in the capital Riyadh where preliminary findings of the Houthi militia missiles attack on several Saudi cities will be made available to the public.

The spokesman of the Arab coalition, Col. Turki Al-Maliki, is expected to brief journalists and the public on Sunday night’s attack on several cities in Saudi Arabia, including Riyadh, Khamis Mushait, Najran and Jazan.

Saudi forces intercepted seven Yemeni rebel missiles on Sunday, including over the capital Riyadh.

“This aggressive and hostile action by the Iran-backed Houthi group proves that the Iranian regime continues to support the armed group with military capabilities,” Arab Coalition spokesman Turki al-Malki said.

Iran Regime Panicked Over New U.S. National Security Advisor

We will celebrate with you in Tehran in 2019 John Bolton said

Abdulrahman al-Rashed a veteran and internationally acclaimed journalist, and former General Manager of Al Arabiya News Channel and editor-in-chief of the London-based leading Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat, wrote an article titled: Trump administration in war against who? In Al Arabiya on Mar. 24, 2018, the following is an excerpt of this article.

'We will celebrate with you in Tehran in 2019,' John Bolton said at the Iranian opposition ceremony. 'A sentence echoed in the hall but did not get any attention outside, because its lecturer was just a former ambassador. His serious expression was not merely an interaction with the Iranian opposition, but his convictions, as also was clearly expressed three years ago in the New York Times. Written in an article that sparked a storm of responses 'to bomb Tehran!'

This is the national security adviser appointed by US President Donald Trump as McMaster's successor. By joining the White House team, Trump's opponents have been called a 'war government' because they are mostly generals and conservatives. The post is important, developed with the start of the Cold War and chaired for important issues in meetings attended by secretaries, such as the State Department and the Defense Department, and his office located in the President's pavilion of the White House, who provides summaries of cases to the president.

Bolton himself is a well-known figure of hard-line positions, a school that believes in a strong America, at a time when Russia and China are at its expense. Small powers such as Iran and North Korea have threatened its security, interests and allies.

Bolton's opponents do not want to discuss issues like Iran and North Korea because they can not win the argument, and therefore they resort to targeting him with personal charges, he is racist, and he is against Muslims. In fact, these descriptions are used informally in the assassination of characters.

He wants to overthrow a regime that wears Islamism - the mandate of the Islamic jurisprudent in Iran, against Hezbollah and against the North Korean government led by Kim Jong-un.

That is why my Muslim readers, who disagree with Bolton's opinion on these issues, should raise their hands! In my opinion, the majority of three hundred and fifty million Arabs and Iranians are like Bolton They see the same thing. Even if my estimation is wrong, Mr. Bolton's positions are that of a broad segment of the Middle East population, all of us are against extremism and extremists, both Muslim and non-Muslim. Those who accuse Bolton of racism and Islamophobia are the Khomeinists, the Brotherhood and the Western Left.

For Bolton's promise to celebrate in Tehran in 2019, it is likely that Bolton will not be celebrating on time, that is, to overthrow the regime of the Wilayat al-Faqih. But the government of Tehran, since the first day, when Trump announced the appointment of Bolton as the national security adviser is in a state of anxiety and distrust. Now Iran sees that its trick to flex the Europeans with small concessions will not succeed in stopping the 'bulldozer' President Trump in his march on Tehran.

For us in the Middle East region, despite chaos and destruction, the orderly overthrow of the Iranian regime is an ideal solution to ending the era of chaos that Khomeini had cut its ribbon in 1979. He, together with radical Islamist groups, and other regional regimes collaborating with him led the region to a series of crises, lasting almost forty years, and brought the whole world into fear and uncertainty.

However, not even successful in raising expectations, my article is not misunderstood, the possibility that Trump and the government of hawks which he is leading, engage in a direct war on Iran is unlikely according to current crisis measures.

But the administration would be shocked by it if Tehran's regime erred and dared to do what it did against the former US administration when the American sailors were seized and humiliated on television before the world. A foolish step like this could lead to war, and we know that the foxes of Tehran despite their many adventures, fear the mighty.

Germany and France will not succeed in softening Trump's head, nor the rest of his hard-liner heads of ministries; his adviser Bolton, his new foreign minister, the director of his new intelligence agency, or his defense minister.
Trump's enormous pressure will increase on Iran, and its allied forces and organizations in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Sudan and Yemen. The administration is likely to push its efforts to rid the Iraqi government of Iranian infiltration into its institutions, forces and security and financial apparatuses.

The pressure will reach Lebanon, to dwarf Hezbollah, and even more to ideological groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood and to end the actions of adolescent Qatar, Its clumsy policy with the four countries and its alliance with Iran and Turkey against it. I am seeing closer, what I thought was far away.

Iran Regime Panicked Over New U.S. National Security Advisor

We will celebrate with you in Tehran in 2019 John Bolton said

Abdulrahman al-Rashed a veteran and internationally acclaimed journalist, and former General Manager of Al Arabiya News Channel and editor-in-chief of the London-based leading Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat, wrote an article titled: Trump administration in war against who? In Al Arabiya on Mar. 24, 2018, the following is an excerpt of this article.

'We will celebrate with you in Tehran in 2019,' John Bolton said at the Iranian opposition ceremony. 'A sentence echoed in the hall but did not get any attention outside, because its lecturer was just a former ambassador. His serious expression was not merely an interaction with the Iranian opposition, but his convictions, as also was clearly expressed three years ago in the New York Times. Written in an article that sparked a storm of responses 'to bomb Tehran!'

This is the national security adviser appointed by US President Donald Trump as McMaster's successor. By joining the White House team, Trump's opponents have been called a 'war government' because they are mostly generals and conservatives. The post is important, developed with the start of the Cold War and chaired for important issues in meetings attended by secretaries, such as the State Department and the Defense Department, and his office located in the President's pavilion of the White House, who provides summaries of cases to the president.

Bolton himself is a well-known figure of hard-line positions, a school that believes in a strong America, at a time when Russia and China are at its expense. Small powers such as Iran and North Korea have threatened its security, interests and allies.

Bolton's opponents do not want to discuss issues like Iran and North Korea because they can not win the argument, and therefore they resort to targeting him with personal charges, he is racist, and he is against Muslims. In fact, these descriptions are used informally in the assassination of characters.

He wants to overthrow a regime that wears Islamism - the mandate of the Islamic jurisprudent in Iran, against Hezbollah and against the North Korean government led by Kim Jong-un.

That is why my Muslim readers, who disagree with Bolton's opinion on these issues, should raise their hands! In my opinion, the majority of three hundred and fifty million Arabs and Iranians are like Bolton They see the same thing. Even if my estimation is wrong, Mr. Bolton's positions are that of a broad segment of the Middle East population, all of us are against extremism and extremists, both Muslim and non-Muslim. Those who accuse Bolton of racism and Islamophobia are the Khomeinists, the Brotherhood and the Western Left.

For Bolton's promise to celebrate in Tehran in 2019, it is likely that Bolton will not be celebrating on time, that is, to overthrow the regime of the Wilayat al-Faqih. But the government of Tehran, since the first day, when Trump announced the appointment of Bolton as the national security adviser is in a state of anxiety and distrust. Now Iran sees that its trick to flex the Europeans with small concessions will not succeed in stopping the 'bulldozer' President Trump in his march on Tehran.

For us in the Middle East region, despite chaos and destruction, the orderly overthrow of the Iranian regime is an ideal solution to ending the era of chaos that Khomeini had cut its ribbon in 1979. He, together with radical Islamist groups, and other regional regimes collaborating with him led the region to a series of crises, lasting almost forty years, and brought the whole world into fear and uncertainty.

However, not even successful in raising expectations, my article is not misunderstood, the possibility that Trump and the government of hawks which he is leading, engage in a direct war on Iran is unlikely according to current crisis measures.

But the administration would be shocked by it if Tehran's regime erred and dared to do what it did against the former US administration when the American sailors were seized and humiliated on television before the world. A foolish step like this could lead to war, and we know that the foxes of Tehran despite their many adventures, fear the mighty.

Germany and France will not succeed in softening Trump's head, nor the rest of his hard-liner heads of ministries; his adviser Bolton, his new foreign minister, the director of his new intelligence agency, or his defense minister.
Trump's enormous pressure will increase on Iran, and its allied forces and organizations in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Sudan and Yemen. The administration is likely to push its efforts to rid the Iraqi government of Iranian infiltration into its institutions, forces and security and financial apparatuses.

The pressure will reach Lebanon, to dwarf Hezbollah, and even more to ideological groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood and to end the actions of adolescent Qatar, Its clumsy policy with the four countries and its alliance with Iran and Turkey against it. I am seeing closer, what I thought was far away.

Report: Iran supplies sophisticated IEDs to Houthi militias

Armed Houthi followers rally in Sanaa on June 14, 2015.

 Sophisticated improvised explosive devices camouflaged as rocks are Iran’s latest contribution to Houthi forces in Yemen, according to a report by a weapons-tracking group.
Based on six missions to Yemen over the last year, and comparisons with similar devices documented elsewhere in the Middle East, Conflict Armament Research (CAR) said the radio-controlled bombs were evidence of a “recent influx of technology.”
“Improvised weapons used by Yemen’s Houthi forces have been manufactured using the same, identically configured components as those recovered from Iranian-backed groups in Bahrain,” said James Bevan, executive director of the group. “CAR’s latest findings confirm consistencies in Iran’s military support, not only to Houthi forces but also to its proxies across the wider region.”
The Saudi-led coalition intervened in Yemen in 2015 against Iran-aligned Houthis after they seized control of the capital and other provinces, forcing the government to flee. The civil war has killed an estimated 10,000 people and displaced more than 2 million people.

CAR, based in the UK, said most IEDs found in Yemen were rudimentary in design but there was an increase in more sophisticated devices. Its report presented comparative findings on explosively formed projectiles (EFPs) documented by CAR in Yemen and similar devices documented by field investigation teams elsewhere in the Middle East.
The IEDs recovered in Yemen featured EFPs, which were camouflaged to resemble natural rocks. These devices were armed by radio control and initiated using passive infrared switches, so they could be classed as RCIEDs.
CAR also found that the EFPs concealed in synthetic rocks resembled in design and construction other devices recovered in Iraq and Lebanon and which had been forensically linked to Iran.
“Multiple strands of evidence suggest that Iran orchestrated the transfer of technology and materiel to Houthi forces in Yemen to assist in the manufacture of RCIEDs,” the report, published today, said.
CAR said material it seized in Yemen was identical to components previously taken from the Jihan 1, an Iranian ship laden with arms and seized by Yemeni authorities in 2013. US and Yemeni officials said it carried a large cache of weapons, including surface-to-air missiles being smuggled from Iran to insurgents in Yemen.
“This confirms widespread assertions that the vessel was destined for Houthi forces in Yemen and would suggest that Iranian support to Houthi forces began as early as January 2013,” the report said.
CAR also pointed to large-scale production, saying that “identical construction, and the use of hand-annotated, serialized components, suggest that the electronics kits used in the Yemen RCIEDs were constructed in bulk and potentially in the same workshop.”
Tim Michetti, CAR’s head of regional operations for the Gulf, said the presence of these EFPs should not be a surprise given they had been found in other conflict areas. “The underlying thread connecting them is Hezbollah or other Iranian proxy groups,” he said.
The supply of weapons from Iran to Yemen has escalated tensions between Arab countries and Tehran.
Saudi Arabia and the US accuse Iran of exporting ballistic missiles to the Houthis, which are then fired at the Kingdom. In December, the US presented fragments from missiles fired at Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport in November, which it says came from Iran in violation of UN resolutions.
Previous research by CAR has provided evidence of shipments of weapons on dhows from Iran to the Houthi militias.

Mike Pence: President Trump will no longer certify the disastrous Iran nuclear deal

Mike Pence says Trump will no longer certify the disastrous Iran nuclear deal

Vice President Mike Pence speaks in Manchester, N.H., March 22, 2018.

New Hampshire Journal-23 March 20 18- In a speech in Manchester, Pence rolled through the numbers on the U.S. economy in the first year of the Trump administration and, by any measure, they added up to good news for the GOP.
“If you’ve been listening to President Trump, he keeps saying it comes down to the simple words: Jobs, jobs, jobs,” the vice president told a crowd of several hundred at the Manchester Downtown Hotel. He urged the gathered faithful to spread the word of good economic news “neighbor to neighbor.”
“Tell them we’re putting Washington back to work for them, not the other way around,” Pence said.
The event was sponsored by a pro-Trump advocacy group, America First Policies, as part of a national tour promoting the GOP-backed tax cuts in swing states like Iowa, Michigan, and Pennsylvania.
Among the numbers crunched by the vice president:
• Nearly 3 million new jobs created since Trump’s election.
• Unemployment at a 17-year low.
• 313,000 new jobs in February alone.
“The only sector that lost jobs in February,” Pence asked? “The federal government,” he said, to cheers from the crowd.
Other items of note from Pence’s speech:
IRAN: President Trump “will no longer certify the disastrous Iran nuclear deal.”

Jubeir: We cooperate with the United States in containing Iran

Saudi Foreign Minister said his country and the United States are working on containing Iran’s militia activities in the region

Speaking from the Brookings Institute Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said military cooperation between his country and the United States goes back decades and that both countries are working on containing Iran’s militia activities in the region.

He also discussed the importance of maintaining key bilateral relationships to promote the restoration of security and stability in the Middle East.

His talk at the Brookings Institute comes as Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman visited Washington DC on Tuesday and met with US President Donald Turmp.

Iran’s ambition is to destroy the Saudi state, says Prince Turki Al-Faisal

Prince Turki Al-Faisal, former Saudi ambassador and chief of the General Intelligence Directorate.

Iran is a “threat” and aims to destroy the Saudi state, the Kingdom’s former intelligence chief has warned.

Prince Turki Al-Faisal, former Saudi ambassador and chief of the General Intelligence Directorate, said that Iran had boasted about its interference in regional states.

“I don't think they threaten our existence. But definitely, their ambition is to destroy the Saudi state. And this is not new. This is from the time of (the former Supreme Leader of Iran) Khomeini,” Prince Turki told NPR.

Prince Turki pointed to Iran’s alleged interference in regional countries including Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen.

“Iran has not hesitated to interfere in all of these countries, and they boast about it. It's not something that they hide or that they shy from mentioning ... Their leadership has boasted about controlling four Arab capitals,” he said.

Prince Turki also said that the Iran-backed Houthi militias had tried to take over Yemen by military force.

“The Kingdom responded to the appeal of the legitimate government in Yemen to provide military support to help them push back on this Houthi-cum-Iranian interference in trying to take over in Yemen,” he said.

“Yemen is bordering Saudi Arabia. Imagine if Mexico or Canada had started interfering in the affairs of the United States. What would the reaction of America be? It would be to defend itself. Yes, it is complicated. And yes, we are paying a price for that. But I think it is a justifiable defense of our interests.”

Mojahedin celebrate the Iranian New Year in Tirana, Rudy Giuliani invited in it

Giuliani described MEK’s members as heroes, as they have fought against a regime of clerics for decades in a row.

 Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York and advisor to the US president on cyber security, has participated in a party hosted by mujahedeen in Tirana on the occasion of the Iranian New Year .
Giuliani described MEK’s members as heroes, as they have fought against a regime of clerics for decades in a row.
“This year will bring great changes as far as Iran is concerned. The corrupt regime of the Ayatollah is on the verge of collapse. In contrast to the previous US administration, which tried to please the Mullahs, this administration holds them accountable for crimes in the country and abroad and it supports the legitimate right of the Iranian people for a change of regime and the introduction of democracy and human rights”, Giuliani said.
Meanwhile, according to Maryam Rajavi , the critical situation in which the Mullah regime finds itself in is a product of the historical resistance of the Iranian people.

On Iran, European diplomats should listen to their parliament

“The people of Iran, especially the younger generation, have made it clear that they are fed up with Islamic fundamentalist rule and want democratic change.”

 Last month, when the French foreign minister visited Tehran, the most important event unfolding in Iran was strikingly missing from his agenda. While the country was still in the aftershocks of a nationwide  uprising that started in the final days of 2017, Jean-Yves Le Drian, France’s top diplomat, preferred to focus on the nuclear accord struck between Iran and five world powers in 2015. He ignored the grievances of hundreds of thousands of protesters across Iran who poured into the streets weeks earlier.

Le Drian’s lack of interest in the latest round of protests in Iran pretty much epitomizes European governments’ tendency to put their economic interests before their moral obligation to support freedom and democracy in Iran. But the same can’t be said about the European Parliament, whose members recently issued a statement that raised concern about the deterioration of the human rights situation in Iran and called for international support for the Iranian people’s uprising.

“We are deeply concerned about the suppression of anti-government protests in Iran that began on 28 December 2017. The backlash by the ‘Islamic Republic’ has been violent,” reads the statement, which was co-signed by 197 of the 751 MEPs.

According to a statement by the opposition coalition National Council of Resistance of Iran, in the first two weeks of the nationwide uprisings, the regime’s notorious Revolutionary Guards and other suppressive forces arrested at least 8,000 protesters, most of whom are under the age of 25. A large number of them have disappeared, and a number have been killed under torture, which the regime dubiously claims the prisoners have committed suicide.

The families of the detained protesters gathered in front of various prisons to demand the release of their loved ones. Their response has so far been more violence by regime forces and denial of access to information about the fate of the detainees.

The Iranian regime has a track record of violently clamping down on dissent when it feels an existential threat. In 1988, as Iranian authorities prepared themselves for the repercussions of a ceasefire that would suspend eight years of fighting with their western neighbor, Iraq, Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic, ordered the execution of all political dissidents in Iran’s prisons. The measure was meant to prevent opposition forces from flourishing at a time that the regime was at its weakest. More than 30,000 prisoners were executed in the span of a few months.

With the emergence of online services and social media networks, the Iranian regime learned that directly unleashing its violence in the streets will backfire by providing the people with a chance to document its crimes and spread it across the world, as it happened in 2009, when footage and images of repressive forces cracking down on protestors were distributed on social media. That’s why the regime’s security forces quickly changed tactics, arresting protesters and taking them to clandestine prisons, where they subjected them to horrific tortures.

The same thing is bound to happen again after the 2018 uprisings. “The shroud of secrecy and lack of transparency over what happened to these detainees is alarming,” said Magdalena Mughrabi, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa.

Mughrabi also called on the Iranian regime to investigate the events that have happened in its prisons and to punish any authorities involved in human rights abuses. But that’s not going to happen. It is up to the international community to step up for the rights of the protesters who linger in the Iranian regime’s prisons, a responsibility it has not yet fulfilled.

At a recent European Council meeting, NCRI President Maryam Rajavi said, “I urge the Council of Europe, the European Union and its member states, and the United Nations to stand beside the people of Iran and not the mullahs’ theocratic regime. The regime must understand that it has to pay a high price for opening fire on demonstrators and killing them under torture.”

This can be fulfilled by preventing the Iranian regime from concealing its crimes, as it has in the past. Rajavi called for the formation of an international inquiry delegation to investigate the deaths, detention, and disappearances of Iranian protesters and those murdered in prison.

And the international community can compel the Iranian regime to accept this delegation. “All diplomatic and economic relations with the Iranian regime must be put to halt. Iran’s rulers must face comprehensive sanctions for decades of crimes against humanity,” Rajavi said. “Iran’s economy is concentrated at Khamenei’s headquarters and in the hands of the IRGC. Doing business with this regime will only fuel its killing machine and its export of war and terrorism.”

Amir Basiri (@amir_bas) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner's Beltway Confidential blog. He is an Iranian human rights activist.