THIS PAGE WILL BE UPDATED WITH THE LATEST NEWS
UPDATE: 6:30 PM CET
Everyone Wants to Flee From the Clerical Dictatorship, Newspaper Acknowledges
In an article titled “Migration Tsunami, Why Does Everyone Want to Leave,” the state-run newspaper Faraz acknowledged the exodus of intellects from the corrupt rule of the clerical regime. The article stated on Thursday, August 17, “Leaving at any cost and returning at no price has subjected our human and social environment to an unprecedented crisis for years. According to statistics from the Iranian Migration Observatory, the number of Iranian student immigrants to the United States has increased by nearly 65% over the past decade.”
“In 2010, the number of Iranian student immigrants was 5,626, but in 2020, it reached 9,295,” the source added. “Unofficial reports suggest that in recent years, this number has even grown to 300,000 at an unprecedented rate. 53 percent of professors and researchers, 45 percent of doctors and nurses, 43 percent of startup entrepreneurs, and 40 percent of university students and graduates express a desire to immigrate from Iran.”
Biden and Blinken Capitulate to Iranian Blackmail
When it comes to Iran, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is the arch-appeaser. He has determinedly pursued a resurrection of the defunct nuclear deal, despite endless provocations from the theocratic regime. He has searched for ways to ease sanctions on the mullahs. Now he has surpassed himself by agreeing, in the words of former Vice president and presidential candidate Mike Pence, to authorize, presumably with President Biden’s backing: “the largest ransom payment in American history to the mullahs in Tehran.” In exchange for the release of around $6 billion in funds impounded by South Korea, Blinken has negotiated the release to house arrest in Tehran of five dual-nationality Iranian/American citizens, who have been held hostage by the mullahs for years. The five have not even been freed to return to the US. They are being held in a hotel in Tehran, ostensibly awaiting the implementation of all aspects of the deal, including the release from American jails of convicted Iranian criminals.
UPDATE: 3:00 PM CET
Raisi Government Contradictions with Bread Prices Exposed by State-run Outlet
By running an article entitled “Some Bakers in Tehran Increasing Bread Prices!”, the state-run website Ruydad24 exposed the Raisi government for playing with people’s livelihoods.
The website wrote on August 17, “For some time now, a new strategy by the government in the realm of “bread” has commenced, creating confusion among the public as the government contradicts itself regarding whether or not the price of this essential product should increase. Despite high-ranking government officials denying any increase in bread prices, adjustments to bread prices have indeed begun in Tehran and across other provinces.”
This source also highlights the cunning tactics of the Raisi government, aiming to indirectly cause bread price hikes through bakers. Rather than directly intervening, the government seems to be causing unrest among citizens.
Explaining how the government is increasing the cost of production for the bakers, the website added, “All of these are government strategies to increase bread prices. Instead of direct intervention, the government prefers to indirectly impact citizens. Bakers can sell bread to people at a higher price prior to the official announcement, reduce its weight, and force customers to purchase the expensive bread. This creates a chain reaction where the bakers subsequently raise the prices of other products or services they offer to other citizens.”
Hagerty, Ernst, Colleagues Push for Accountability on Iranian Aggression
NASHVILLE, TN—United States Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today joined Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) in sending a bipartisan, bicameral letter to President Joe Biden calling on him to respond to Iranian threats against Americans and American companies that have prevented the transfer of seized oil from the Suez Rajan tanker off the coast of Texas for months.
In the letter to Biden, the lawmakers argued for the importance of the counter-Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) petroleum sanctions enforcement program, which has seized over $200 million in illicit Iranian oil and deprived the IRGC of resources to engage in terrorism and target Americans. However, the months-long delay in transferring the oil on board the tanker has stalled the United States’ ability to complete this operation and support American victims of terrorism through the U.S. Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism (USVSST) Fund.
Inside the Russian Effort To Build 6,000 Attack Drones With Iran’s Help
The engineers at a once-bustling industrial hub deep inside Russia were busy planning. The team had been secretly tasked with building a production line that would operate around-the-clock churning out self-detonating drones, weapons that President Vladimir Putin’s forces could use to bombard Ukrainian cities.
A retired official of Russia’s Federal Security Service was put in charge of security for the program. The passports of highly skilled employees were seized so they could not leave the country. In correspondence and other documents, engineers used coded language: Drones were “boats,” their explosives were “bumpers,” and Iran — the country covertly providing technical assistance — was “Ireland” or “Belarus.”
This was Russia’s billion-dollar weapons deal with Iran coming to life in November, 500 miles east of Moscow in the Tatarstan region. Its aim is to domestically build 6,000 drones by the summer of 2025 — enough to reverse the Russian army’s chronic shortages of unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, on the front line.
UPDATE: 7:00 AM CET
How Systemic Corruption Is Backfiring Against Iran’s Regime
In its August 12 editorial, the state-run Resalat newspaper admitted to the defection of the regime’s forces and the escalating disputes and wrote: “What is the cause behind these losses and disputes? Why do those who fully supported the government, today become critics of the regime?”
Describing the strategy of regime supreme leader Ali Khamenei for the unification of power, Resalat wrote, “The corruption of this crude and immature idea of unification was revealed very soon, and today we are seeing its consequences.”
It is not a specific group of media outlets that are admitting to the failure of Khamenei’s consolidated rule, the defection of its forces, and the regime’s current deadlock. Many insiders of the regime denounce the unification theory.
Detention of Over 15 Citizens in Mahabad, Oshnavieh, and Piranshahr
The detention of citizens and political and civil activists continues on the eve of the anniversary of Mahsa Amini’s murder and the start of nationwide protests. Similar situations are unfolding in other cities in Iran, and in the past two days alone, 11 people have been arrested in Gilan. In Kurdistan, arbitrary detentions also persist on a wider scale. An informed source, speaking to Iran Human Rights Monitor, stated that at 2 a.m. on Wednesday, August 16, 2023, Shirko Nasiri, a father of two, Ashkan Rasouli, Hedayat Khasteh, and Hiva Shabnag, four citizens from Mahabad, were detained during a raid by agents of the local intelligence department. On the same day, Shirvan Khodaverdi and Ayoub Mirzaei, both from the village of “Bimzarati” on the outskirts of Oshnavieh, were also detained by government forces.
Iran’s Struggle Against Economic Decay: An Examination of 44 Years of Systemic Corruption and Failure
Since the rise of the mullahs’ regime to power in Iran after the 1979 revolution, the nation’s trajectory has been marked by stagnation and economic deterioration. The regime has systematically exploited the country’s wealth and resources, undermining industrial growth and progress to serve its own interests. The regime’s fiscal insolvency has now reached a juncture where even its media and economic experts acknowledge the formidable economic obstacles facing both the government and the populace as outlined in the new budget. Unrestrained poverty, widespread hunger, an alarming inflation rate nearing 50%, elevated unemployment rates, a surge in suicides, arbitrary detentions and imprisonments, instances of torture and executions, and an array of additional social and economic predicaments stand as the outcomes of the corrupt mullahs’ regime since its inception. From the outset, the mullahs have been steering the nation into a morass of financial corruption and insolvency, with each passing day and week exacerbating the situation.
Iran: Medical Shortages Have Killed At Least 170 Spinal Cord Patients
According to a report by the Iranian regime’s Etemad newspaper, citing officials from the Iran Spinal Cord Injury Support Center, “Over the past two years, amid rising prices, at least 170 individuals with spinal cord injuries have lost their lives due to pressure ulcers and infections resulting from the lack of hygiene supplies.”
On August 15 the newspaper quoted Mahnaz Kazemi, one of the directors of the Iran Spinal Cord Injury Support Center, as saying, “The situation of individuals with spinal cord injuries, especially after multiple price hikes in the country, is dire.”
Stockholm, Sweden—August 12, 2023: MEK Supporters Held a Rally and Exhibition, Commemorating the 1988 Massacre Martyrs
Stockholm, Sweden—August 12, 2023: Freedom-loving Iranians and supporters of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) held a rally and exhibition in front of the Swedish parliament, and commemorated the 1988 massacre martyrs.
Iranian community in Stockholm supported the MEK Leadership, demanding the trial of the mullahs’ regime leaders, especially Ali Khamenei (Supreme leader of the mullahs’ regime) and the mass murderer Ebrahim Raisi for crimes against humanity, in an international court.
Also, read Iran News in Brief – August 17, 2023