Iran, North Korea, and the Bomb

Nuclear weapons for Iran and North Korea are tantamount to means of maintaining their regime in power

By Keyvan Salami

American Thinker, September 18, 2017-- North Korea’s latest nuclear test has caused a significant stir in regards to Iran and the heading of this regime’s nuclear program. There are those who believe the Iran nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), was a successful agreement and are suggesting a similar path vis-à-vis Pyongyang.

   Iran has continued to strive to obtain nuclear weapons and spent hundreds of millions of dollars to procure ballistic missiles as means of delivery for its nuclear warheads.

Others, however, believe Iran is in the same path as North Korea and the JCPOA is providing Tehran an opportunity to complete its research on nuclear weapons.

And there are also voices expressing grave concerns about Iran’s intentions being far more dangerous than North Korea's and considering Tehran having a nuclear bomb being gravely more lethal than Pyongyang.

Why is Iran’s nuclear program more dangerous than North Korea?

Nuclear weapons for Iran and North Korea are tantamount to means of maintaining their regime in power. However, the two states have adopted different strategies in seeking the bomb.

Pyongyang’s posture is of defensive nature to keep its rule intact. Tehran, on the other hand, has a strategy of aggressiveness. Iran has relied on exporting its “revolution” and meddling in other countries, in order to safeguard its regime back home.

Therefore, Tehran needs this ultimate weapon to continue its expansion and warmongering, whereas North Korea’s goal is preserving its power at home -- it doesn’t have eyes set abroad.

claimed its strategic depth lies in Seoul or Tokyo. Tehran, however, officially considers Damascus its strategic depth and has dispatched a conglomerate of troops and proxy forces to fight in Syria. This very strategy makes Iran far more dangerous than North Korea.

On the other hand, Iran lies in the Middle East and such a regime becoming a nuclear power will launch a nuclear arms race amongst neighbors, including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Turkey. As a reminder, Japan and South Korea do not seek nuclear weapons and enjoy the protection of the U.S. nuclear umbrella. This is why we are not witnessing Seoul and Tokyo taking measures to pursue nuclear arms in response to Pyongyang’s six nuclear detonations.

Iran, with massive oil and gas resources, enjoys enormous budgets to pursue its nuclear and ballistic missile ambitions. A lack of finances is a major dilemma for North Korea, leading to the latter selling nuclear and missile technology to the former.

Iran advancing nuclear objectives despite JCPOA

JCPOA advocates and opponents can put forward a variety of arguments regarding the nuclear deal and its role. What is obvious, however, is that the JCPOA has not only failed to halt Iran’s nuclear program, in fact it has provided significant support in this regard.

JCPOA advocates claim Tehran must not be further pressured or placed under new sanctions as such measures may push Tehran to abandon the deal altogether.

Tehran is the main party in need of this pact and no measures will lead to its exit. Ali Akbar Salehi, chief of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, specifically explained Tehran’s viewpoint.

“If the United States pulls out of the agreement, but the rest of the countries stay committed -- namely Britain, France, Germany, China, and Russia -- then Iran would most probably stick with the commitments to the agreement,” he said in an interview with Germany’s Der Spiegel.

Iran profiting from the JCPOA

In the JCPOA, Tehran finds an opportunity to continue its research without any major hindrance, and rest assured Iran will abandon the deal when its research leads to obtaining nuclear weapons.

The status quo is as Iran wishes, with no military sites inspected. On the other hand, by allowing inspectors into revealed sites Iran has become a country supported by the Obama administration and European states.

Crippling sanctions have been lifted and billions of dollars placed at Iran’s disposal. As a result, Iran is continuing its nuclear weapons ambitions and keeping a low profile in this regard.

The fact that Iran has maintained its nuclear capacity, and even improved it, has been emphasized time and again by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Atomic Energy Organization chief Ali Akbar Salehi.

Iran can enrich uranium within five days if the U.S. imposes more sanctions on Iran, Salehi warned on August 22. He claimed Iran could even achieve 20% enriched uranium in five days -- a level at which it could then quickly be processed further into weapons-grade nuclear material.

'If we make the determination, we are able to resume 20 percent-enrichment in at most five days,' Salehi told state broadcaster IRIB.

A week earlier Rouhani announced that Iran could abandon its nuclear agreement with world powers 'within hours' if Washington imposes any more new sanctions.

'If America wants to go back to the experience of imposing sanctions, Iran would certainly return in a short time -- not a week or a month but within hours -- to conditions more advanced than before the start of negotiations,' Rouhani told a session of parliament broadcast live on state television.

Rouhani is also scheduled to deliver a speech at the UN General Assembly this upcoming Tuesday and the Iranian community in the United States has annually staged a massive rally. Rallied by the Organization of Iranian American Community, the demonstrators have each year made their voice heard how Rouhani is not their president and the Iranian regime deserves no place in the world body.

And representing the UN and the international community, the path taken by the P5+1 with Iran is somewhat similar to that of North Korea from the 1990s. Although Pyongyang’s objective of obtaining nuclear weapons differs from Tehran, Kim Jong Un took advantage of the negotiations and the agreements made to buy time and produce the bomb he needed.

This mistake must not be repeated with the illusion that the JCPOA will rein in Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Iran has continued to strive to obtain nuclear weapons and spent hundreds of millions of dollars to procure ballistic missiles as means of delivery for its nuclear warheads.

Iran is an unstable regime with no social base and has remained in power thanks to crackdowns and exporting crises abroad. Obtaining nuclear weapons would complete its agenda of domestic crackdown and foreign crises.

To this end, viewing Iran’s nuclear program according to the JCPOA framework will lead to another case of the world being deceived, and the central banker of international terrorism obtaining nuclear weapons.

Therefore, a comprehensive policy is needed to restrain Iran while targeting this regime’s regional meddling, holding it accountable for human rights violations, and placing all military and non-military sites under inspection.

Sixteen Years After 9/11, Iran Remains A Threat To America

NEW YORK city September 11

by David Ibsen

Inside Secoutces, September 10, 2017 - After the tragic events of September 11, 2001, Americans collectively searched for answers about who was behind the terror attack and why it occurred.  While Osama bin Laden will forever be known as the mastermind of the tragedy, Iran’s role in the devastating attacks, and its collusion with al-Qaida and other terrorist organizations more generally, must not be overlooked.

An early 1990s meeting in Sudan between an emissary of Iran and al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, culminated in a decision to put aside Sunni-Shiadivisions in favor of an Iran-al-Qaeda pact to conspire against the U.S. As a report by the 9/11 Commission would state, “discussions in Sudan between al-Qaida and Iranian operatives led to an informal agreement to cooperate in … actions carried out primarily against Israel and the United States.”

With the help of Iran, al-Qaida developed a working relationship with Hezbollah, an Iranian terror proxy, supported both monetarily and operationally by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). In dealings facilitated by Iran, al-Qaida sent a cohort to Hezbollah’s base in Lebanon, where their operatives received training and propaganda instruction. It was even Hezbollah’s Imad Mughniyeh who inspired bin Laden’s signature calling card – coordinated, simultaneous attacks like those seen on September 11.

Iran’s influence on al-Qaeda was confirmed years after the attack. In 2011, Judge George Daniels, presiding over the case where the family members of 9/11 victims sued al-Qaida, the Taliban, and Iran over the 2001 attacks, found that Iran was liable for its involvement. 

A deciding factor was the testimony of two defectors from Iran’s intelligence service, who testified that Iran had “foreknowledge of the 9/11 attacks” and the regime was “involved in planning” them.

Furthermore, Judge Daniels ruled in 2016 that “Iran provided material support or resources … to al-Qaida generally.  Such material support or resources took the form of inter alia, planning, funding, facilitation of the hijackers’ travel and training, and logistics, and included the provision of services, money laundering, training, expert advice or assistance, safehouses, false documentation or identification and/or transportation.”

Lastly, a 2011 military raid unearthed letters written by Osama bin Laden stating that “Iran is our main artery for funds, personnel, and communication … There is no need to fight with Iran unless you are forced to.” His letters also revealed that the regime provided haven to al-Qaida after 9/11 writing, “Following the September 11 attacks … they entered Iran swiftly through various routes and not through the official gates.

A month later, other brothers joined with their families … it is known that the entry into Iran without a passport is not considered a crime.” These safe havens  turned terrorist facilitation hubs allowed for the continued proliferation of al-Qaida. From Iran, al-Qaida operative Abu Musab al-Zarqawi rebuilt the network necessary to later establish the terrorist organization in Iraq.  Others still were provided the security to plan and implement terrorist operations as they saw fit.

Fast forward to today and Iran continues to be the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism. Contrary to the Iranian leadership’s rhetoric portraying itself as a responsible partner in combatting terrorism, just this month, its client Hezbollah cut a reckless deal with ISIS which offered them safe passage to the Iraqi border in eastern Syria.  And recently, U.N. Ambassador Nikki Hale accused Iran of illegally smuggling arms to Hezbollah over the course of a decade. Most disturbing against the backdrop of current international affairs are Iran’s persistent nuclear ambitions...

Next month, President Donald Trump will decide whether to recertify the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as the Iran deal.  With his decision, he will lend greater clarity to our nation’s approach to a regime that was involved in the most devastating terror attack in American history and is also seeking a nuclear weapons capability. As it scrutinizes the JCPOA and grapples with the prospect of a nuclear armed Iran, U.S. policymakers would be well-served to keep the memory of that dark day sixteen years ago – and Iran’s role – at the forefront of their minds.

David Ibsen
David Ibsen is the president of United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI).

Sixteen Years After 9/11, Iran Remains A Threat To America

NEW YORK city September 11

Inside Secoutces, September 10, 2017 - After the tragic events of September 11, 2001, Americans collectively searched for answers about who was behind the terror attack and why it occurred.  While Osama bin Laden will forever be known as the mastermind of the tragedy, Iran’s role in the devastating attacks, and its collusion with al-Qaida and other terrorist organizations more generally, must not be overlooked.

An early 1990s meeting in Sudan between an emissary of Iran and al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, culminated in a decision to put aside Sunni-Shiadivisions in favor of an Iran-al-Qaeda pact to conspire against the U.S. As a report by the 9/11 Commission would state, “discussions in Sudan between al-Qaida and Iranian operatives led to an informal agreement to cooperate in … actions carried out primarily against Israel and the United States.”

With the help of Iran, al-Qaida developed a working relationship with Hezbollah, an Iranian terror proxy, supported both monetarily and operationally by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). In dealings facilitated by Iran, al-Qaida sent a cohort to Hezbollah’s base in Lebanon, where their operatives received training and propaganda instruction. It was even Hezbollah’s Imad Mughniyeh who inspired bin Laden’s signature calling card – coordinated, simultaneous attacks like those seen on September 11.

Iran’s influence on al-Qaeda was confirmed years after the attack. In 2011, Judge George Daniels, presiding over the case where the family members of 9/11 victims sued al-Qaida, the Taliban, and Iran over the 2001 attacks, found that Iran was liable for its involvement. 

A deciding factor was the testimony of two defectors from Iran’s intelligence service, who testified that Iran had “foreknowledge of the 9/11 attacks” and the regime was “involved in planning” them.

Furthermore, Judge Daniels ruled in 2016 that “Iran provided material support or resources … to al-Qaida generally.  Such material support or resources took the form of inter alia, planning, funding, facilitation of the hijackers’ travel and training, and logistics, and included the provision of services, money laundering, training, expert advice or assistance, safehouses, false documentation or identification and/or transportation.”

Lastly, a 2011 military raid unearthed letters written by Osama bin Laden stating that “Iran is our main artery for funds, personnel, and communication … There is no need to fight with Iran unless you are forced to.” His letters also revealed that the regime provided haven to al-Qaida after 9/11 writing, “Following the September 11 attacks … they entered Iran swiftly through various routes and not through the official gates.

A month later, other brothers joined with their families … it is known that the entry into Iran without a passport is not considered a crime.” These safe havens  turned terrorist facilitation hubs allowed for the continued proliferation of al-Qaida. From Iran, al-Qaida operative Abu Musab al-Zarqawi rebuilt the network necessary to later establish the terrorist organization in Iraq.  Others still were provided the security to plan and implement terrorist operations as they saw fit.

Fast forward to today and Iran continues to be the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism. Contrary to the Iranian leadership’s rhetoric portraying itself as a responsible partner in combatting terrorism, just this month, its client Hezbollah cut a reckless deal with ISIS which offered them safe passage to the Iraqi border in eastern Syria.  And recently, U.N. Ambassador Nikki Hale accused Iran of illegally smuggling arms to Hezbollah over the course of a decade. Most disturbing against the backdrop of current international affairs are Iran’s persistent nuclear ambitions...

Next month, President Donald Trump will decide whether to recertify the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as the Iran deal.  With his decision, he will lend greater clarity to our nation’s approach to a regime that was involved in the most devastating terror attack in American history and is also seeking a nuclear weapons capability. As it scrutinizes the JCPOA and grapples with the prospect of a nuclear armed Iran, U.S. policymakers would be well-served to keep the memory of that dark day sixteen years ago – and Iran’s role – at the forefront of their minds.

CEO of International Metallurgical Company Sentenced to 57 Months in Prison for Conspiring to Export Specialty Metals to Iran

According to court documents, Kuyumcu, a U.S. citizen, conspired to export from the United States to Iran a metallic powder primarily composed of cobalt and nickel

September 7, 2017-- At the federal courthouse in Brooklyn, New York, Erdal Kuyumcu, the chief executive officer of Global Metallurgy, LLC, based in Woodside, New York, was sentenced to 57 months in prison following his June 14, 2016 guilty plea to conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act by exporting specialty metals from the United States to Iran.  The sentencing proceeding was held before Chief United States District Judge Dora L. Irizarry.

“This Office, together with our law enforcement partners, will continue to use every tool available, including U.S. export laws, to prevent goods with potentially dangerous uses from falling into the wrong hands and jeopardizing our national security,” stated Acting United States Attorney Rohde. “Here, the defendant exported a metallic powder that has potential military and nuclear applications to Iran, a state sponsor of terrorism.”
“With this sentence, the defendant is being held accountable for conspiring with others to send specialized U.S. technology – over a thousand pounds of metallic powder with nuclear and missile applications – to Iran via Turkey,” stated Acting Assistant Attorney General Boente.  “The National Security Division will aggressively prosecute those who seek to unlawfully provide dangerous material and technology to Iran, a state sponsor of terrorism.” 
“Laws exist to keep groups and governments from buying materials in support of doing harm.  Iran has demonstrated in this case it is willing to use whatever means necessary to hide the end user of the materials, to include utilizing a U.S. citizen to carry out their proliferating activities,” stated Assistant Director-in-Charge Sweeney.  “The FBI New York and its foreign and domestic partners work every day to investigate and interdict adversaries from procuring these items and materials to build nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction, which could end up in dangerous hands.”
“Today's sentencing is the result of outstanding collaborative work by the Justice Department, the Commerce Department and the FBI to break up a network whose aim was to illegally ship sophisticated U.S.-origin technology to Iran,” said Special Agent-in-Charge Carson.  “We will continue to pursue violators wherever they may be.”
According to court documents, Kuyumcu, a U.S. citizen, conspired to export from the United States to Iran a metallic powder primarily composed of cobalt and nickel, without having obtained the required license from the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).  As established during a two-day presentencing evidentiary hearing, the metallic powder has potential military and nuclear applications.  Such specialized metals are regulated by the U.S. Department of Commerce to combat nuclear proliferation and terrorism, and exporting them without the required license is illegal.
In furtherance of the illegal scheme, Kuyumcu and others plotted to obtain more than 1,000 pounds of the metallic powder from a U.S.-based supplier.  To hide the true destination of the goods from the supplier, Kuyumcu arranged for the metallic powder to be shipped first to Turkey and then to Iran.  Kuyumcu used coded language when discussing shipment of the powder with a Turkey-based co-conspirator, such as referring to Iran as the “neighbor.”  Shortly after one of the shipments was sent from Turkey to Iran, a steel company in Iran sent a letter-sized package to Kuyumcu’s Turkey-based co-conspirator.  The Iranian steel company had the same address as an OFAC-designated Iranian entity under the Weapons of Mass Destruction proliferators sanctions program that was associated with Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

Iran: A regime with no future

Ali Khamenei

Alriadh Daily, 04 September 2017 - The cabinet ministers of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani received a confidence vote recently in this regime’s parliament. 16 out of 17 ministers were approved after many reports indicated Rouhani reviewed the list extensively with Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

However, an evaluation of this slate of names proves this cabinet will render no alternations and represents the very impasse the entire regime is facing. The next four years will, in fact, be worse than the previous.

Foreign Affairs

Mohammad Javad Zarif has retained his post as foreign minister, considering his role in negotiating the nuclear agreement with the P5+1, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Despite Iran’s threats of relaunching its nuclear drive in the case of US President Donald Trump finding the regime in non-compliance with the JCPOA, Rouhani himself has gone the limits to explain the importance of this pact for Tehran.

“My first priority is to safeguard the JCPOA. The main role of our foreign minister is to stand alongside this deal,” he explained.

Although the deal is rightfully criticized for its loopholes and shortages, Iran understands very well how the current circumstances would be far worse.

While claiming the ability to kick-start 20% uranium enrichment in a matter of days, Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization chief Ali Akbar Salehi made a complete U-turn in emphasizing Tehran’s willingness to stick to the deal in the case of Washington deciding to leave come October.

Such desperate remarks from Iran are made despite the US increasing the heat with new comprehensive sanctions specifically targeting the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC). Further measures are seen following the Vienna visit by Nikki Haley, the US Ambassador to the UN, demanding Iran open its military sites to inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Pressures escalated on Iran as international experts such as former IAEA deputy Olli Heinonen and former IAEA inspector David Albright, alongside three other specialists issued a report explaining how the UN nuclear watchdog lacks the necessary tools to probe possible JCPOA violations by Iran.

These experts specifically referred to the highly controversial Parchin military complex located 30 kilometers southeast of Tehran. Iran only agreed to provide samples extracted by its own experts and continues to refuse access to foreign individuals.

Defense

The new Iranian defense minister is Amir Hatami. Rumors indicate Rouhani and Khamenei have chosen this member of Iran’s classic army due to their fear the IRGC being blacklisted as a terrorist entity.

It is worth noting, however, that Hatami joined the IRGC Basij paramilitary force at the age of 13 and has announced his utter loyalty to the IRGC Quds Force and its ringleader, Qassem Suleimani.

The solution Hatami provides to confront the regime’s slate of crises is focused mainly on developing Iran’s ballistic missile program.

“During this period we will expand our missile capabilities, especially ballistic and cruise missiles,” he explained recently.

This is another indication of a policy based on developing missile power, dispatching IRGC and Basij members abroad, and fueling foreign wars. This is a continuation of Tehran’s four-decade long policy of spilling its own turmoil abroad through lethal meddling.

Hatami also enjoys Rouhani’s complete blessing in providing full support for the IRGC.

“He is fully informed of the Defense Ministry and its agenda. My particular request is for an increase in developing particular weapons, especially missiles, considering their importance,” Rouhani explained in recent remarks.

Again, more of the same.

Economics

Iran’s regime is heavily dependent on oil exports revenues. Bijan Namdar Zangeneh has been called upon to continue his role as oil minister, remaining the longest running individual in this post.

A minister for 26 years there are questions over any meaningful development and changes for the better in the country’s oil and gas sector. Iran is now riddled with mismanaged oil wells, uncontrolled extractions and contracts with foreign companies that literally sell-off the Iranian people’s interests.

According to Rouhani’s own remarks, this regime is in desperate need of $200 billion of foreign investment for its oil and gas industry. Two years into the JCPOA, Iran has received only $12 billion in such deals.

The deal signed with France’s Total, valued at $4.8 billion, comes with numerous strings attached and is under the continued risk of US sanctions.

What needs comprehension is the fact that investing in Iran is an economic issue at a first glance, with countless political reservations. No foreign investor is willing to risk money in a country ruled by a regime known for its ongoing warmongering, exporting terrorism, and provoking confrontations throughout the Middle East and across the globe, such as its nuclear/ballistic missile collaboration with North Korea. 

Conclusion

All those having their fingers crossed in Rouhani, being provided a second term by Khamenei, are already being disappointed. July witnessed over 100 executions and over 50 others have been sent to the gallows in August. This includes a 20-year-old man arrested at the age of 15 for his alleged crime. Another recent case involved a hanging on August 28th in a prison west of Tehran.

All foreign correspondents are realizing no change is foreseeable from within this regime. The main message of Rouhani’s new cabinet is this regime’s lack of any capacity for any meaningful modification or amendment.

Any entity lacking the ability to change and adapt has no future.

New Light On Iran's Human Rights Violations

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres addressing UN delegates at the General Assembly December 12, 2016 at the United Nations in New York.

Forbes, September 4, 2017 - Two of the major crises the international community is currently engaged with are terrorism and nuclear proliferation. Iran, in particular, is negatively involved in both fields, being known as the central banker of international terrorism, and suspicious for its own controversial nuclear program at home parallel to its nuclear/missile collaboration with North Korea.

As these subjects are of significant importance and deserve even more attributed attention, what must not go neglected is the fact that Iran is taking advantage of such circumstances to continue an equally important campaign of belligerence against its own people. The scope of human rights violations carried out by Tehran is continuously on the rise, with the ruling regime interpreting the mentioned international crises as windows of opportunity to extend its domestic crackdown.

And yet, a promising report issued from the United Nations has shed very necessary light on a specific dossier Iran has gone the limits throughout the past three decades to cloak. In 1988 the Iranian regime carried out an atrocious massacre sending tens of thousands of political prisoners to the gallows. Unfortunately, the world has until recently remained silent in this regard.

Twenty nine years after the atrocious carnage, Asma Jahangir, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, issued a report on September 2nd for the first time referring to the massacre of over 30,000 political prisoners, mostly members and supporters of the Iranian opposition People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK).

This document, coupled with a note by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and presented to the UN General Assembly, has for the first time specifically attributed a number of articles to the 1988 massacre. Thousands of men, women, and juveniles were sent to the gallows and buried in mass, unmarked graves, all according to a fatwa, or decree, issued by the deceased Iranian regime founder Ayatollah Khomeini.

Raising the stakes to a level Tehran has sought to avoid through the years, this damning UN report has called for an independent and thorough inquiry into these crimes to unearth the truth of the atrocities carried out in the summer of 1988.

Activists and the Iranian Diaspora have for 29 years focused their measures on presenting evidence of the killings. This has finally been acknowledged in this UN report.

“Between July and August 1988, thousands of political prisoners, men, women, and teenagers, were reportedly executed pursuant to a fatwa issued by the then Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khomeini. A three-man commission was reportedly created with a view to determining who should be executed. The bodies of the victims were reportedly buried in unmarked graves and their families never informed of their whereabouts. These events, known as the 1988 massacres, have never been officially acknowledged. In January 1989, the Special Representative of the Commission on Human Rights on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, Reynaldo Galindo Pohl, expressed concern over the “global denial” of the executions and called on Iranian authorities to conduct an investigation. Such an investigation has yet to be undertaken.”

The atrocities, of such grave nature, rendered a major rift amongst the regime’s leadership and highest authorities. The late Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri, then Khomeini’s designated successor, expressed his opposition to the killings and the massacre came back to haunt a presidential hopeful in the most recent such election held back in May.

“In August 2016, an audio recording of a meeting held in 1988 between high-level State officials and clerics was published. The recording revealed the names of the officials who had carried out and defended the executions, including the current Minister of Justice, a current high court judge, and the head of one of the largest religious foundations in the country and candidate in the May presidential elections. Following the publication of the audio recording, some clerical authorities and the chief of the judiciary admitted that the executions had taken place and, in some instances, defended them.” 

The mentioned “head of one of the largest religious foundations” is none other than conservative cleric Ebrahim Raisi, said to be groomed by Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to replace the incumbent Hassan Rouhani as president. Khamenei, battling with cancer, sought this as a launching pad in Raisi’s rise to succeed him as the regime’s leadership.

However, a nationwide campaign led by the network of PMOI/MEK-associated activists inside Iran exposed Raisi’s past and raised immense emotions and opposition amongst the Iranian population. This development left Khamenei no choice but to place his blueprints aside and allow another term for Rouhani as his regime’s president.

The UN report also refers to Raisi’s candidacy in May’s election.

Mullah Ebrahim Raisi

“During the period of candidate registration, a total of 1,636 individuals, including 137 women, submitted their names as candidates for president. However, in April, the Guardian Council, a body of six clerics appointed by the Supreme Leader that oversees the electoral process and vets the candidates, announced that the candidatures of only six men (0.37 per cent of the applicants) had been approved. Among them was Ebrahim Raisi, who reportedly had served on a committee that had ordered the extrajudicial executions of thousands of political prisoners in 1988.”

The 1988 massacre victims’ families have throughout these years desperately sought to find the final resting places of their loved ones. All have been provided next to no information by the regime’s authorities and left to search and grieve amongst the dozens of mass graves sites checkered across the country.

“In March, families who visited a mass grave located in the city of Mashhad, Razavi Khorasan Province, where up to 170 political prisoners are believed to be buried, reportedly discovered that the previously flat area had been covered with soil to create a raised mound over the grave. In mid-May, bulldozers were reportedly seen working on a construction project directly alongside the mass grave site at Ahvaz, located on a barren piece of land 3 km east of Behesht Abad Cemetery, where the remains of at least 44 people killed during the summer of 1988 are believed to be located. The plan is reportedly to ultimately raze the concrete block marking the grave site and build a “green space” or commercial development over the site.”

Khavaran cemetery, Iran

After decades of endless efforts by Tehran to keep a lid on the 1988 massacre, this UN reports demands dignity for the victims and their families.

“Over the years, a high number of reports have been issued about the [1988] massacres. If the number of persons who disappeared and were executed can be disputed, overwhelming evidence shows that thousands of persons were summarily killed. Recently, these killings have been acknowledged by some at the highest levels of the State. The families of the victims have a right to know the truth about these events and the fate of their loved ones without risking reprisal. They have the right to a remedy, which includes the right to an effective investigation of the facts and public disclosure of the truth; and the right to reparation. The Special Rapporteur, therefore, calls on the Government to ensure that a thorough and independent investigation into these events is carried out.”

The Iranian regime has considered the international community turning its back on this crime against humanity as a green light to continue its rampage of domestic crackdown and human rights violations.

The so-called “moderate” Rouhani has a dismal report card of over 3,000 executions during his first tenure, over 100 executions in July and at least 55 such cases in the month of August, according to reports.

The regime also has no tolerance for even the slightest protest by political prisoners in its own jails. Nearly two dozen such inmates in Raja’i Shahr (Gohardasht) prison of Karaj, a town west of Tehran, are continuing their hunger strike for well over a month. They are protesting their illegal transfer to a section of the facility placed under 24/7 audio and visual surveillance, even in bathrooms and showers.

As Iran’s other bellicosities have rightfully raised international concerns in recent years, it is vital to understand that human rights violations are this regime’s chink in the armor.   No matter what their position, all ranks and files of the Iranian regime involved in the 1988 massacre must be held accountable in an international tribunal and face justice.

Assad Has to Go, us Lawmakers Say

We have to have the removal of Assad

CBNNEWS, Sept. 1, 2017 - With ISIS largely defeated in Syria, Israel is sounding the alarm about Iran's intentions to fill the vacuum in that country on its border.
From his recent meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin to the visit of U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has one message.
'Iran is busy turning Syria into a base of military entrenchment and it wants to use Syria and Lebanon as warfronts against its declared goal to eradicate Israel,' Netanyahu said. 'It is also building sites to produce precision-guided missiles toward that end in both Syria and in Lebanon. This is something Israel cannot accept.'
A senior Israeli official was even quoted recently as warning Russia that Israel would bomb Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's palace in Damascus if Russia allowed Iran to make military advances in Syria.
'Iran is a scorpion that will bite you eventually. You can't cozy up to them,'

   Sen. James Lankford, R-OK, told CBN News.

 'So you see a growing concern in the United States about where Iran is headed and what their intentions are,' Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-TX, said.
Visiting U.S. lawmakers voiced their support for a strong U.S. position.
'So that means, yes, sanctions, but it also means beefing up our military so that we can deal with this growing threat,' said Thornberry, chairman of the House Armed Services committee.
Oklahoma Republican Congressman Steve Russell said, 'It's very important that we have a serious discussion of 'OK' now that the US military has once again achieved a pause: What will we do politically with that, what will we (do) diplomatically, what will we do economically? These are all questions that have to be answered for the Sunni Arab in both Syria and Iraq and because if there is no future for them, no accommodation then it's just going to be some new black flag group, round 14 of whatever other conflict you want to try to spin it off from.'

   Lankford says the U.S. hasn't been clear on Syrian policy.

'Iran is currently propping up Bashar Assad and if we leave Assad in place there, then that means Bashar Assad owes his position to Iran, and Iran is going to do whatever they want in Syria. That's a threat to Israel,' Lankford said.

It's clear, he said, Assad has to go.
'We have to have the removal of Assad.  We have to be very clear to the Russians, to the Iranians and to the people of Syria that there has to be a transition,' he continued. 'Ten million refugees cannot return to Syria if Assad is still there. The reason they fled was because of Assad. If we're going to have any kind of normalcy back in Syria, Assad has to leave.'
That, Lankford said, is in the best interest of Israel and the refugees.