The international community should end its silence and inaction over Iran ’s crimes

As we wind down the highly turbulent year of 2016, a look back at Iran’s record in these 12 months is quite necessary. And rest assured there is nothing to brag about. From a human rights perspective, 2016 was the stage where Iran resorted to some of the worst atrocities from 1979 to this day. Tehran, with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, increased group executions of minorities while imposing a much heavier crackdown against rights and political advocates, as reported by Human Rights Watch. Iran remains the world’s leading executioner per capita and tops the ranks in juvenile executions, according to Amnesty International.

As unveiled in a sound file of the late Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, in line to lead the regime following founder Ruhollah Khomeini, perpetrators behind the summer #1988Massacre of 30,000 political prisoners–mostly members and supporters of the opposition People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (#PMOI/#MEK)–are currently enjoying senior regime posts in the Rouhani cabinet. This rendered increasing meddling and lethal military intervention in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and beyond, including the recent horrific scenes of Aleppo. Tehran also supported the Bashar Assad regime through intensified advisory, financial, intelligence and weapons support to notorious Shiite militias and what was left of the crumbling Assad army. One can hardly argue against the fact that Iran enjoyed eight years of appeasement from the Obama administration, providing much needed financial relief for Tehran. Despite all this, the regime also needed to continue to portray an anti-American image for its dwindling domestic base.

The international community must end its silence and inaction over Iran’s crimes inside the country and throughout the Middle East, as advocated by Iranian opposition leader Maryam Rajavi, President of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, an umbrella group of numerous organizations seeking peaceful regime change in #Iran. The policies adopted in 2016 by the West, and especially Washington, provided Iran the money and opportunity to pursue its domestic and foreign policies. The international community should take the opportunity of a new U.S. administration in 2017 to launch a new and principled approach vis-à-vis Iran. 
This will pave the path to resolve humanitarian and political crises engulfing the Middle East, bring an end to Iran’s meddling and support the Iranian people.

Source:
http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/foreign-policy/313133-iran-in-2016-exploiting-obamas-appeasement-policy

Kia is a political analyst and member of the Iranian opposition, the People’s Mujahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI, also known as MEK). He graduated from North Texas University.

Iran - The political prisoner “Ali Moezzi” was abducted in prison

NCRI-“#Ali Moezzi” Pol prisoner of 1980s,& father of 2 #PMOI/#MEK members was abducted by unknown ppl in Gohardasht Prison in Karaj. This morning in an unusual and unprecedented way Ali Moezi, the political prisoner, was called to the clinic of the prison. After he met his family at 10:00 am and while he was returning to his cell, he was abducted by unknown people and it is not clear where he is now, and how is his condition. The mullah’s regime is responsible for the condition of this political prisoner and must be held totally accountable. The National Council of Resistance of Iran call for support him. 

What Is Iran’s Syria Policy After Donald Trump?

The election of Donald Trump as the new president of the United States came as an expected turn of events. The mullahs took full advantage of the appeasement policy adopted by U.S. President Barack Obama and his administration, especially to fuel the Syria war in support of ally Bashar Assad.
Yet with a new administration in Washington, Tehran is extremely disturbed over how to maintain its grip over the region, with a special focus on Syria. Considering Syria its 35th province, Iran deployed its Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) to take command of the troops fighting against Syrian opposition forces.

The rise of ISIS
The war in Syria, dragging for years due to Iran’s meddling, paved the grounds for the rise of Daesh (ISIS, ISIL).
“ISIS was created by Assad releasing 1,500 prisoners from jail and Maliki releasing 1,000 people in Iraq who were put together as a force of terror types,” said U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in a previous interview with Fox News. 
The role of Russia
Iran doubled the number of its forces in Syria to 60,000 and launched “Operation Moharram” aimed at retaking vast areas from opposition control, including the flashpoint strategic city of Aleppo. Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei also ordered the regular army’s 65th Division to Aleppo.
Extent of Iran’s meddling in Syria
The budget Iran has allocated to its Syria campaign ranges around $100 billion, most sent under the disguise of Khamenei’s office to facilitate the process.
Senior Iranian military commanders are regularly inspecting the situation on the ground and numerous high-ranking officers, including Hossein Hamedani, a senior IRGC commander, have been killed.
Blueprint of Iran forces in Syria
To exert greater control over the entire war front, the IRGC has structured all pro-Assad forces fighting in Syria into five different sectors, consisting of four fronts (north, south, middle and costal) under a central command post. Known as the “Glass Building,” the command center is strategically adjacent to Damascus International Airport to provide a fast escape route for Iranian commanders in case the Syrian capital shows signs of falling.
Talking in numbers
One can reach a more extensive image of Iran’s presence in Syria when referring to the number of troops, as were reported by the National Council of Resistance of Iran.
Looking ahead
It is quite obvious that President-elect Donald Trump will be inheriting a very complicated Syria dossier from his predecessor. Iraq and Yemen are also facing devastation due to Iran’s involvement and export of extremism and Islamic fundamentalism. As a result, the Middle East is truly on the brink of triggering a conflict of global proportions and consequences.
11 Arab states have recently issued an unprecedented letter to outgoing U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemning Iran’s meddling across the Middle East. This measure, followed by a House of Representatives resolution seeking sanctions against Syria, have sent strong signals to Tehran.

Why We Shouldn’t Worry About Giuliani’s Ties to an Iranian Resistance Group

By ROBERT G. TORRICELLI November 28, 2016

First, I want to be clear about one thing: This isn’t about Rudy Giuliani. Arguably the broadest and most impressive bipartisan coalition in a generation has supported the MEK in its campaign for regime change in Iran. This includes two former chairmen of the joint chiefs, two former CIA directors, a former attorney general and the former chairs of both political parties. The ideological range includes everyone from Howard Dean and Patrick Kennedy to Newt Gingrich and John Bolton. 

The annual gathering of Iranians in Paris in the presence of President-elect of the Iranian Resistance and a group of their supporters 

From this perspective, the outlier isn’t Rudy Giuliani; it’s Daniel Benjamin. Let’s review a little history: The MEK was part of the coalition opposing the shah of Iran in the late 1970s, where it resisted the regime through political and military action. Its leadership was devastated by the shah’s secret police both by execution and imprisonment. The vacuum of leadership was briefly filled by a Marxist group that was rejected by the incarcerated MEK leaders. Many of these Marxist leaders were killed by the shah or by the mullahs after their ascent to power in 1979, and the MEK eventually regained its original leadership. As soon as it became clear that the mullah’s ambition for Iran was a theocracy, the MEK became an opposition group and fled into exile in Paris and Iraq. Some current and former State Department employees, including Mr. Benjamin, have a different concept. 

They remain committed to the idea that the MEK was a terrorist organization—a notion, I believe, which stems from an illusion of American reconciliation with the mullahs. In 1997, a group at State succeeded in convincing President Bill Clinton to place the MEK on the State Department list of terrorist organizations. Some claimed at the time that this decision was mainly intended as a goodwill gesture to Iran. The State Department gave as its reasons the MEK’s long record of violence, but I can tell you that as a member of the Foreign Relation Committee, I reviewed the State Department file on the MEK and found no evidence, no testimony and no reason for the designation except placating Tehran. Mr. Benjamin may quarrel with his efforts but it's important to note that voices in the American foreign policy establishment as diverse as Senator McCain, Secretary Clinton, Deputy Secretary Blinken and John Kerry’s own personal representative on the MEK, Jonathan Weiner disagree. Each has thanked Rudy Giuliani and the other Americans involved in these efforts.The president-elect may or may not choose Mr. Giuliani as secretary of state. What shouldn’t happen is for countering Tehran and assisting our country to be seen as anything other than a valuable contribution to his consideration.

Iran - Ahmad Montazeri Receives Jail Sentence without a lawyer on charges of "acting national security"

NCRI - Trial of Ahmad Montazeri without a lawyer in the Special Clerical Court on charges of “acting against national security”
Today November 27, late Ayatollah Montazeri’s son Ahmad Montazeri was sentenced to imprisonment and defrocking, according to an announcement by the Montazeri’s official website. Due to publishing his father's audio files on the 1988 massacre of political prisoners in Iran, on charges of "acting against national security and propaganda against the publication of secret documents" Ahmad Montazeri has been sentenced to 21 years in prison and defrocking by the Special Clerical Court.
Iran sentences son of dissident cleric to 6 years in prison
Iran Ahmad Montazeri Sunday Special Clerical Court to six years in prison for carrying a tape recorded voice of her father's release thousands of prisoners sentenced to death in 1988 at the end of its war with Iraq condemned.
For years, Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, who died in 2009, the country's ruling Islamic establishment of imposing dictatorship in the name of Islam was accused, and with his criticism following the disputed presidential election in June of the same year.

Tancredo: Left Targets Giuliani for Fighting Terrorism too Energetically

MayorRudy Giuliani for fighting Iran-sponsored terrorism too aggressively. Well,duh!

In a week that saw “Fake News” become the number one topic of debate among mainstream journalists, Politico decided to double down on stupidity and serve up a prime example of fake news. The Washington post dutifully echoed the false accusations to give the lie a cloak of respectability not bestowed by Politico.

Giuliani’s alleged violation was participating in events sponsored by an anti-Iran exile group, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI-MEK), a group that has widespread bipartisan support in Congress and that even John Kerry’s State Department admits has provided valuable intelligence on Iran’s nuclear weapons program.The PMOI/MEK is the largest and most influential member of the coalition of anti-Mullah groups, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), which acts as a government in exile while aiding pro-democracy forcesinside Iran.Many members of Congress in both political parties have supported the work of the PMOI/MEK, including Democrat Sen. Robert Menendez, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, Rep. Ed Royce, and Sen. John McCain. Other prominent supporters include Newt Gingrich, John Bolton, former CIA Director James Woolsey, and Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz. I, too, while a member of Congress and also more recently, have participated in PMOI/MEK-sponsored conferences and can personally bear witness to the group’s anti-terrorism credentials.The fallacious, unproven charges repeated by Politico‘s headline that the PMOI “killed Americans” is based largely on an incident inside Iran back in the 1970’s, before the Mullahs came to power and 25 years before the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States.There has never been a shred of evidence that any members of the current PMOI were involved in those events, yet the American left is now using those discredited allegations to smear one of our nation’s fiercest anti-terrorism warriors, Rudy Giuliani.The charges against PMOI-MEK dredged up by Politico have been refuted by multiple investigations and are no longer given credence even by Obama’s State Department. For nearly two decades, those allegations arising from events in the 1970’s were used as a basis for listing the PMOI/MEK as a terrorist organization.

• However, secret cables later revealed that the reason for that State Department listing in 1997 was Iran’s insistence on the listing as a condition for “normalizing” diplomatic relations.
• In 2012, the State Department removed the group from that list because of the lack of evidence to justify it– and after a federal court agreed there was no basis under federal law for the erroneous listing.

So, why is the political left suddenly so interested in smearing Rudy Giuliani?Could it have anything to do with Giuliani being one of two or three individuals on Donald Trump’s short list for Secretary of State? Do Democrats fear that the former NYC mayor might take the U.S. State Department in a new direction in opposing Iran’s vast network of financing for terrorist groups worldwide?If the American news media establishment had an ounce of integrity, this Politico smear campaign against Giuliani would be laughed out of town. Instead, in  an act of sheer desperation, prominent parts of the establishment media have joined the lynch mob. Obviously, this tells us more about the left’s motives and goals than it does about Giuliani.The establishment media have run interference for Obama’s Iran policy for eight years, and apparently prefer Mitt Romney over Rudy Giuliani as President Trump’s Secretary of State. Hopefully, that might be enough to tip the scales on that imminent decision in Trump Tower.

Iran Lobby’s Yellow and Biased Smear Campaign Against MEK

IranFreedom - Tehran has taken nearly full control over Baghdad thanks to the Obama Middle East Doctrine. One victim of such a failed policy has been the country of Iraq, as Iran gained enormous influence over it under President Barack Obama’s watch.
“Iran is taking over Iraq,” U.S. President-elect Donald Trump emphasized during the campaign back in October.
Iran has continuously meddled in all aspects of Iraqi life, be it political, social, economicand military issues. After Obama rushed to pull all U.S. troops out of the country, Tehran jumped to the occasion and took full advantage.
Baghdad has been influenced heavily by Tehran through a long list of Shiite political parties and ruthless militia groups.

Iran was also able to launch numerous deadly attacks against its legitimate and democratic opposition, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), stationed in Iraq at the time. The MEK is known to have first blown the whistle on Iran’s clandestine nuclear weapons program and provided accurate intelligence on Iran’s meddling in Iraq and the entire Middle East.
In its effort, the MEK has unprecedentedly gained the support of thousands of prominent politicians on both sides of the Atlantic, and amazingly both sides of the aisle in Washington politics. Following the recent U.S. presidential election results, the regime in Tehran is currently terrified over the various candidates weighed by Trump for his administration.
Congress support for Iran opposition.

Iran’s lobbyists like Dan Benjamin launching a yellow and biased smear campaign, due to serious concern about the likes of former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, former House speaker Newt Gingrich, Ambassador John Bolton and others having such close relations with the President-elect.
As a result of Obama’s failed foreign policy in the Middle East the nations of Iraq, Iran, Syria and beyond have endured enormously harsh conditions. The U.S. administration and Congress have the opportunity to correctly reverse these mistakes.
Evicting Iran from Iraq is the accurate policy that will provide the interests of all nations across the region, and the United States as well. This is the prelude for change in Iran and allowing the Iranian people decide their own fate.