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Iranian protesters scream in terror as security forces reportedly open fire in Tehran

The Sun — Mon, 13 Jan 2020 13:11:28 +0000

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Iranian security forces purportedly fire live ammunition to disperse protesters despite Trump’s warning

Edmund DeMarche | Fox News — Mon, 13 Jan 2020 12:47:25 +0000

Videos emerged online Monday that purportedly show Iranian police and security forces firing live ammunition to disperse demonstrators protesting against the Islamic Republic after the country mistakenly downed a Ukrainian airline plane shortly after takeoff from Tehran.

There was no immediate report in Iranian state-run media on the incident near Azadi, or Freedom, Square in Tehran, but, if true, could be seen as an act of defiance against President Trump who warned the regime against the use of deadly force.

Trump late Sunday tweeted in Farsi that a combination of protests and sanctions have “choked off” Iran and said Tehran will be forced to the negotiation table.

Trump insisted that he “couldn’t care less” if the regime negotiates, but he appeared to lay down non-negotiable issues that included the development of nuclear weapons and the use of deadly force against protesters.

Donald J. Trump@realDonaldTrump

National Security Adviser suggested today that sanctions & protests have Iran “choked off”, will force them to negotiate. Actually, I couldn’t care less if they negotiate. Will be totally up to them but, no nuclear weapons and “don’t kill your protesters.”

“Don’t kill your protesters,” he tweeted.

Videos were sent to the New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran and later verified by The Associated Press. They show a crowd of demonstrators fleeing as a tear gas canister landed among them. People cough and sputter while trying to escape the fumes, with one woman calling out in Farsi: “They fired tear gas at people! Azadi Square. Death to the dictator!”

Another video shows a woman being carried away in the aftermath as a blood trail can be seen on the ground. Those around her cry out that she has been shot by live ammunition in the leg.

“Oh my God, she’s bleeding nonstop!” one person shouts. Another shouts: “Bandage it!”

Photos and video after the incident show pools of blood on the sidewalk.

Hossein Rahimi, the head of the Tehran police, said in a statement seen by Reuters that police “absolutely did not shoot” due to orders to show restraint.

US TROOPS PRAISE GENERAL’S KILLING, COTTON SAYS

The tweet in Farsi appears to be an attempt by Trump to speak directly to the Iranian people. Tehran has experienced upheaval after the missile strike on a Ukrainian airline flight out of the country’s capital that the country called a mistake. Still, the mishap was seen as an international display of military ineptitude.

Many of the country’s protesters chanted “death to the Dictator,” referring to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Another group near a university in Tehran chanted, “They are lying that our enemy is America, our enemy is right here,” Reuters reported

Trump, who says he is not interested in ousting the Iranian regime, reinstated economic sanctions on Iran after withdrawing from the nuke deal. He said it gave Tehran too many economic benefits without doing enough to prevent Iran from eventually developing a nuclear weapon.

Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the head of the Revolutionary Guard’s aerospace division, said his unit accepts “full responsibility.” Iranian officials had earlier denied that it had shot down the jet.

General Hossein Salami, commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, apologized, according to CBS News, citing Iran’s state TV.

“I swear to almighty God that I wished I were in that plane and had crashed with them and had burned, and had not witnessed this tragic incident,” Salami said.

Alam Saleh, an Iran expert, told the Wall Street Journal that the state’s legitimacy has been “severely challenged by the people.”

Trump, hours earlier, again warned Tehran not to kill protesters, saying, “Thousands have already been killed or imprisoned by you, and the World is watching. More importantly, the USA is watching.”

Karen Pierce, the British ambassador to the United Nations, echoed Trump’s message to Iran.

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“The important thing is that… the Iranian government needs to listen to its people and it needs to de-escalate the current situation… that’s in their hands,” Pierce said Sunday on “America’s News HQ.”

Fox News’ Yael Halon and the Associated Press contributed to this report

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-tweets-again-in-farsi-says-iran-has-been-choked-off-by-sanctions-protests

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Iranian militias in Iraq seek to shift Middle East features

Egypt Today staff — Mon, 18 Feb 2019 21:55:32 +0000

The militias have been accused of committing war crimes, which were motivated by sectarian revenge – Photo by Egypt Today/Mohamed Zain

CAIRO – 18 February 2019: The Iran Militia in Iraq and Syria (IMIS) has revealed plans to relocate most of the group’s offices outside the country’s main cities, including Baghdad.

The IMIS is composed of some 40 militias that are mostly Shiites; originally, the People’s Mobilization Forces, the umbrella organization was formed on June 15, 2014 after top Shiite cleric Ali al-Sistani issued a fatwa on June 2014 that called for defending Iraqi cities against Islamic State (IS) fighters, following the fall of Mosul on June 10.

Forces of the front brought together Shiite militias under direct support and control from Iran, which saw the perfect chance to interfere without any permission to execute its scheme to shift the balance of power in the Middle East.

The militias have been accused of committing war crimes, which were motivated by sectarian revenge. An Amnesty International report said Shiite militias have abducted and murdered scores of Sunni civilians in Iraq in crimes committed in retribution against the actions of IS.

The report, published in Oct. 2014, said the IMIS operate outside any legal framework and without official oversight, and had contributed to a deterioration in security and to the increasing lawlessness in Iraq, Amnesty said.

“Shiite militias are ruthlessly targeting Sunni civilians on a sectarian basis under the guise of fighting terrorism, in an apparent bid to punish Sunnis for the rise of IS and for its heinous crimes,” Donatella Rovera, Amnesty’s senior crisis response adviser, said.

“By failing to hold militias accountable for war crimes and other gross human rights abuses the Iraqi authorities have effectively granted them free rein to go on the rampage against Sunnis. The new Iraqi government of Prime Minister Haider al-Abbadi must act now to rein in the militias and establish the rule of law.”

The Amnesty document included evidence from relatives of those who had gone missing or were killed.

It reported that one family had paid $60,000 to have a family member released, only to find his body two weeks later in a Baghdad morgue, his head crushed and his hands cuffed.

Amnesty also accused Iraqi government forces of serious human rights violations, presenting what it said was evidence of torture and ill-treatment of prisoners, and deaths in custody of Sunni men held under the 2005 anti-terrorism law.

It cited one example of a 33-year-old lawyer who died in custody, his body showing open wounds and burns consistent with the application of electric shocks.

Another man was held for five months and tortured with electric shocks and threatened with rape before being released without charge.

“Successive Iraqi governments have displayed a callous disregard for fundamental human rights principles,” Rovera said.

“The new government must now change course and put in place effective mechanisms to investigate abuses by Shiite militias and Iraqi forces and hold accountable those responsible.”

Later in April 2015, the then Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said the IMIS will not take part in the battle for Mosul, adding that it is preferable if people in the city take on the task themselves.

He added that his government will prosecute members of the militia accused of violations, including the looting of people’s homes and business properties in Tikrit.

The IMIS has been often accused of acquiring power bases in Iraq and of being Iran’s instrument to dominate Iraq; as of the end of 2016, the organization includes around 142,000 fighters in fifty or so groups.

A report by the Carnegie Middle East Centre said The most powerful groups in the PMF are those that maintain strong links with Tehran and pledge spiritual allegiance to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. As such, they have been groomed by Iran as reliable political and military allies; they, therefore, benefit from greater funding and more supplies from Tehran than other groups in the IMIS.

This pro-Khamenei group includes a number of relatively small paramilitaries that Iran has created, which serve as proxies for Tehran. Their leaders publicly take pride in such affiliations, professing religious allegiance to Ayatollah Khamenei and his notion of vilayat al-faqih (the guardianship of the jurists), rather than to Grand Ayatollah Sistani of Najaf.

The report further added that These groups include, for example, Saraya Khurasani, KH, and Kata’ib Abu Fadhl al-Abbas, among many others. In fact, they are arms of Iran’s IRGC and the Iranian foreign intelligence agency, Itilaat. This faction serves to advance Iranian interests in Syria as well as to protect Iran’s border areas.

“It also wishes to build a corridor for Iran to extend its influence into the Levant. Mostly drawn from Iraq’s outlying Arab provinces extending from Basra in the south to Diyala in the north, these groups serve as a kind of border guard—a sort of Iranian insurance policy against threats on its immediate border.

“But the better known elements of the pro-Khamenei faction consist of local right-wing Iraqi militant wings that have also become political actors. Their military resources—including heavy armor, drones, and military advisers—all come from Tehran.”

Those same militias now want to remain a permanent, independent armed force and are resisting attempts to integrate them into the military or police, the AP found in March 2016.

“Those who sacrificed more are entitled to more,” said Hamed al-Jazaeery, head of the al-Khorasani Brigades militia. “What is written with blood cannot be removed. It is not ink on paper.”

“We want to be a third power in Iraq,” alongside the army and police, al-Jazaeery said. “Why can’t the Hashd be like the Revolutionary Guard in Iran?”

The model of the Revolutionary Guard, often cited by militia leaders, would be a dramatic change for Iraq’s militias. In Iran, the Guard is an elite force independent of — and better armed than — the military, tasked with “protecting” the Shiite cleric-led power structure, AP reported.

Source: http://www.egypttoday.com/Article/2/64855/Iranian-militias-in-Iraq-seek-to-shift-Middle-East-features

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Iran sanctions cycle set to repeat

Robin M. Mills — Tue, 18 Dec 2018 04:40:56 +0000

The country is no stranger to its energy industry blowing in the political wind

Politics has bedevilled Iran’s energy sector ever since the Iranian Revolution of 1978-9, but even as far back as the premiership of Mohammad Mossadegh in the 1950s.

Development of the country’s vast oil, and especially gas, reserves has progressed during periods of détente, but been set back when political tensions heighten. The full re-imposition of US sanctions from 4 ^thNovember 2018 is set to usher in another such period of turmoil.

Iran faces political challenges on four fronts-within different factions of the regime; between the regime and ordinary Iranians; with its Arab neighbours; and with the US and the other leading international powers.

The reputation of the Rouhani administration, mostly a mix of moderates and reformists, has been badly damaged by the US withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the nuclear deal on which it had staked so much political capital. Opposed by hardliners, it had not really drawn economic advantage from the brief period of sanctions’ relaxation, and is now faced with a collapsing currency, worsening unemployment and shortages of imported goods such as medicines.

But American hostility has, as usual, caused something of a closing of the ranks within the ruling regime. Rouhani has been working with prominent pragmatic conservative Ali Larijani, the speaker of parliament, who could be a presidential candidate in 2021. And the eventual departure from the scene of supreme leader Ali Khamenei, now 79, casts a shadow over all political manoeuvrings.

Popular protest

Iran is seeing widespread protests over poor economic conditions and lack of political and human rights. These demonstrations cover many more towns than the 2009 “green movement”, which was focused mainly in Tehran, and apparently attract a wider range of social classes.

But the Islamic Republic is no stranger to phases of mass protest, and, so far, the regime appears under no serious threat. A major uprising would anyway likely be met by deadly force and perhaps a more overt takeover of the government by the leadership of the hard-line Revolutionary Guard.

Neighbourly disputes

Iran’s alleged malign regional activities have been a favourite target of the US, and the subject of much lobbying by Saudi Arabia and its regional allies. Tehran props up the genocidal regime of Bashar Al Assad in Syria and also supports Houthi forces in Yemen in their deadlocked war against Saudi Arabia, the UAE and their Yemeni allies.

And Iran exerts strong, although often overstated, influence in Iraq. Iranian-aligned parties performed strongly in Iraq’s May elections, while still coming in second to Moqtada Al-Sadr’s alliance, which has espoused a more nationalist, populist line. But new prime minister Adel Abdel Mehdi and president Barham Salih are acceptable to both Washington and Tehran, and must do their best to balance both sides’ competing interests. Iraq has so far been awarded a US waiver to continue purchasing Iranian gas and electricity, although the US has sought to divert Iraq’s oil swap with Iran towards Turkey instead.

Oman, which helped mediate the 2015 nuclear deal, Qatar, which shares with Iran the super-giant North Field/South Pars gas reserve, the world’s largest, and, to an extent, Kuwait, have stayed more amicable. To some extent, the Gulf Cooperation Council dispute, which led to an embargo on Qatar by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and others, helped open up Qatar to Iran, although Doha has overall moved closer to Ankara than Tehran.

In August, Iran did improve one set of regional relations by settling some questions of the legal status of the Caspian Sea. Iran had to make concessions, particularly to Russia, but the arrangement has reduced the chance that the Americans or Israelis could look to use Azeri or Kazakh bases in any military action against it. It also modestly boosts the chance of some cross-border oil and gas field developments and pipelines in Caspian waters.

The art of the deal?

Iran’s relationship with the US remains key. After withdrawing from the JCPOA in May, the Trump administration has expressed unremitting hostility to the Iranian regime and sought to ramp up economic pressure. It has so far, though, not departed much from the Obama administration’s policies in the various regional conflicts involving Iran. Given Donald Trump’s liking for headlines and disdain for conventional wisdom, a deus ex machina involving a deal with Tehran, like his meeting with Kim Jong Un of North Korea, cannot be totally ruled out.

But such an accord would be bitterly opposed by hardliners both in Tehran and Washington, and Iran’s hawks in particular believe they have been proved right in their contention that the US cannot be trusted. For now, Iran probably hopes to wait out the Trump administration and hope to deal with a new president after 2020, particularly if the effectiveness of sanctions wanes over time.

The EU joins in with the valid criticism of Iran over its human rights and terrorism record. Relations have not been improved by the revelation of an apparent Iranian plot to kill a Denmark-based opposition leader, in retaliation for a September terrorist attack on a military parade in its Ahvaz oil hub. But the Europeans, wary of yet another conflict on their doorstep, have sought to preserve the economic benefits of the JCPOA and stall an Iranian return to large-scale enrichment.

Their plans to set up a special-purpose vehicle (SPV) for trade will probably not help to maintain large-scale oil trading, but may keep some small and medium businesses engaged, facilitate humanitarian supplies, and perhaps be picked up by Russia and China.

Cosying up to the bear

Given its problems with the US, Tehran’s relations with the other great powers are crucial. It has forged a close partnership with Moscow, despite historic suspicions of its giant northern neighbour. As noted, the two have worked together in Syria. Russia has proffered a grand but vague $50 billion “goods for oil” swap to help Iran avoid sanctions, and it has a strong interest in undermining the efficacy of such American-led measures.

On the other hand, Russia has also cooperated deeply with Saudi Arabia in delivering the “OPEC+” deal on oil production cuts, which Iran joined only reluctantly and now feels cheated by. Russia is glad to see a potential oil and gas-exporting competitor hampered. And Moscow has accepted investment from Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar.

China seeks not to take sides in the Middle East, and is the most important single market for Iranian as well as Saudi crude oil. It is vital for Iran that Beijing continues at least to maintain its level of purchases.

While not wishing to defy the US outright, China is also not in the mood to do it any favours, particularly given the intensifying trade war which has led it to advance tariffs on American oil and gas. China also sees an opportunity to boost oil trade in its own yuan currency, a long-term objective to diminish dependence on the dollar.

Turkey is a regional peer of Iran’s, seeing itself as a leader in the Sunni Muslim world. Its relations with Tehran are complicated, but it continues to buy Iranian oil and gas, and was granted a temporary waiver to continue in November.

Thus, Iran is not as politically isolated as it was under President Obama, but its relations even with some of its closer partners and allies are complicated. It is striking that Iran, unlike Saudi Arabia and Russia, does not gain much geopolitical leverage from its hydrocarbon resources. But, then again, it needs less distractions, as it has to combine its economic and political clout as best it can to survive discontent within, and sanctions without.

Robin M. Mills is CEO of Qamar Energy

Source: http://www.petroleum-economist.com/articles/politics-economics/middle-east/2018/iran-sanctions-cycle-set-to-repeat

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Iran protests broaden as U.S. sanctions takes toll on the economy

NBC News — Mon, 25 Jun 2018 18:50:29 +0000

The unrest signaled widespread unease after the U.S. decision to withdraw from Tehran’s nuclear deal and restore sanctions on the country.

Protesters chant slogans at the old grand bazaar in Tehran, Iran, on Monday.Iranian Labor News Agency / AP

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Protesters angered by Iran’s cratering economy confronted police in front of Parliament on Monday, with security forces firing tear gas, according to online videos, the first such confrontation after similar demonstrations rocked the country at the start of the year.

The unplanned demonstration came a day after protests forced two major shopping centers for mobile phones and electonics to close in Tehran and after demonstrators earlier closed its Grand Bazaar.

It signaled widespread unease in the wake of President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw the United States from Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers and to restore sanctions on the country.

It wasn’t immediately clear who led the protests. Iran’s semi-official news agencies, Fars, ISNA and Tasnim, described the protests at the Grand Bazaar as having erupted after the Iranian rial dropped to 90,000 to the U.S. dollar on the country’s black market, despite government attempts to control the currency rate.

Videos posted to social media showed protesters at the bazaar heckling shopkeepers who refused to close, shouting in Farsi: “Coward!”

A short time later, videos shared by Iranians on social media appeared to show a crowd confronting police at Parliament, about a mile from the Grand Bazaar. The videos show what appears to be tear gas in the air and protesters screaming, “They attacked us with tear gas!” Another man is heard shouting: “Come back!”

Other videos appeared to show police charging into the crowd.

State media in Iran didn’t immediately report the Grand Bazaar demonstration. Only Fars reported on the Parliament protest, which it described only as an incident in which shopkeepers asked lawmakers to “stop rising prices.”

Tasnim later quoted the head of Iran’s Chamber of Guilds, Ali Fazeli, as saying the situation at the bazaar was calm.

“Their demands are delivered through the chamber to the government, and these are being pursued by us,” he said.

Tehran’s sprawling Grand Bazaar has long been a center of conservatism in Iranian politics, and it remains an economic force within the country — despite the construction of massive malls around the city. Bazaar families opposed the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and supported the 1979 Islamic Revolution that replaced him with a Shiite theocracy and elected officials.

At the end of last year, similar economic protests roiled Iran and spread to about 75 cities and towns, becoming the largest demonstrations in the country since its 009 disputed presidential election. At least 25 people were killed and nearly 5,000 others were arrested in the protests in late December and early January.

However, those protests largely struck Iran’s provinces, as opposed to Tehran itself. Analysts said hard-liners likely encouraged the first protest, which took place in Mashhad, to try to weaken President Hassan Rouhani, a relative moderate. The protests then spiraled out of control, with people openly criticizing Rouhani and Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Some hard-liners have called for new elections or for a military-led government to replace Rouhani’s government. The Fars news agency, which is believed to be close to Iran’s hard-line paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, made a point Monday of publishing an article from the daily newspaper Sobh-e No describing the government as being ready to “bow down to foreign threats and sit at the negotiation table.”

Eshaq Jahangiri, Iran’s first vice president, was quoted Monday as saying “we’re on the verge of an economic war by an economic terrorist,” referring to the United States.

“Conditions will get worse in future,” Jahangiri said, according to the pro-reform daily newspaper Etemad. “Even our friends and neighbors, like Russia, China and Europeans, can’t help us today.”

Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/iran-protests-broaden-u-s-sanctions-takes-toll-economy-n886461

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