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UPDATE: 3:00 PM CET
18 Million Iranians Pushed Below Poverty Line During Raisi’s Term
Since Ebrahim Raisi took office as the president of the regime, the number of people living below the poverty line in the country increased by 18 million, a state-run website has reported.
According to Modara on July 26, the parliamentary research center had previously reported that between the years 2011 and 2021, around 11 million people were added to Iran’s impoverished population. The report highlighted that the poverty rate in Iran has been steadily rising since 2006 and surpassed 30% after 2018, which means that nearly one-third of the country’s population was living below the poverty line.
The source also added that the devaluation of the currency, coupled with soaring inflation rates and a series of government economic policies, resulted in a significant increase in povertyization, pushing more and more people below the poverty line in the country.
According to the report, these statistics were covered by the media and the Mehr News Agency reported at the beginning of the Raisi government term, in July 2021, that 10 million Iranian households were below the poverty line. In conclusion, during Ebrahim Raisi’s two-year tenure, at least 18 million individuals have been added to the people living below the poverty line.
Rubio, Padilla Introduce Bill to Impose Economic Sanctions on Iranian Regime
Under the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010, anti-terrorism executive orders, the Global Magnitsky executive order, and other laws permitting sanctions on corrupt foreign officials, the top leaders of the Islamic regime, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Ebrahim Raisi, and their respective offices are subjected to U.S. sanctions. This is due to their sponsorship of terrorism that threatens Americans and ongoing efforts to actively repress and brutally assault Iranian protestors.
U.S. Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Alex Padilla (D-CA) introduced the Mahsa Amini Human Rights and Security Accountability (MAHSA) Act. This bipartisan legislation would require an assessment of whether or not sanctions should be imposed on top leaders of the oppressive Islamic regime, the Supreme Leader of Iran, and the President of Iran, due to human rights violations in Iran.
Access Now – Internet Shutdowns in 2022
Iran has a long history of brutal repression, and the government is known for imposing increasingly sophisticated internet shutdowns to crack down on protests. In 2022, Iranian authorities imposed unprecedented shutdowns across the country, part of an escalating wave of digital repression responding to protests sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa (Jina) Amini on September 16, 2022, while she was in the custody of Iran’s “morality police.”
After the news broke, dozens of people gathered in the streets of Amini’s hometown, Saqqez, in the Kurdistan Province, to mourn her death. Authorities quickly shut down the internet in Kurdistan and disrupted access to Instagram and WhatsApp nationwide.
UPDATE: 9:00 AM CET
The Value of the Rial Is a Symbol of the State of the Mullah’s Rule
In 1929, one gram of pure gold was valued at three Iranian rials. Ninety-two years later, the value of the rial had declined by 6 million times and reached 18 million rials to one gram of gold in February 2022. In comparison to the U.S. dollar, it has declined as much as 16,000 times. These figures were reported by the Majlis Research Center this July. Today, in the uproar of economic and political crises of the regime, the regrets of the past years have turned into the regrets of the past days, and every day, the situation grows worse for the people of Iran. Mehdi Pazuki, an economic expert, has recounted the devaluation of the rial in economic terms, and how it turned from a high value to one of the least valuable currencies in the world.
Stand With Iranian Women and Girls, Grant Them Refuge – Amnesty International
Amnesty International’s report focuses on the clerical regime’s stepped-up efforts since mid-April to double-down on “oppressive methods of policing and severely oppressing Iranian women and girls for defying degrading compulsory veiling laws.” The AI detailed report exposes the Iranian authorities’ “intensified nationwide crackdown on women and girls who choose not to wear headscarves in public.” Amnesty International also cited official announcements since April 15, 2023, indicating that “more than a million women have received text messages warning that their vehicles could be confiscated after they were captured on camera without their headscarves.”
Iran’s Oil and Gas Struggle: Impacts of the Arash Field Dispute
Ever since the dispute over the Arash-Anem joint oil-gas field reignited after the Saudi Foreign Minister’s visit to Tehran, questions have arisen about whether this field was included in the reconciliation efforts between Iran’s regime and Saudi Arabia. The gas-oil field, known as ‘Al-Durra’ in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, was originally discovered by the Japanese in 1965. It is believed that approximately 40% of the Arash or Al-Durra field falls within Iran’s territorial waters, while the remainder lies within the territorial waters of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. However, no clear boundaries have been established regarding ownership of this valuable resource. In 2003, Tehran authorities halted development operations in the field, and ever since, fruitless disputes over its ownership have arisen every few years, leading to no resolution.
Five Kurdish Citizens Stage Hunger Strike on 5th Day in Detention
Five Kurdish citizens started a hunger strike in the Central Prison of Ilam five days ago. They are Mehrdad Qaisarbaigi, 34 and married, Ayoub Geravand, 36 and married, Younes Geravand, 26, Navid Mohammad Nejad, 26 and a Wushu martial arts instructor, and Shahriar Faryadian all of whom come from the city of Sarableh, in the western province of Ilam. These individuals were transferred to the detention facility after spending a week in the custody of the Department of Intelligence in Ilam. The city’s prosecutor has refrained from addressing their case, despite numerous requests from the detainees’ families.
Negative Growth In The Exports Of The Iranian Regime
Iranian regime President Ebrahim Raisi claimed that the regime’s exports had increased by 30-40 percent in the past year and reached $53 billion in 2022. However, in the spring of this year, the regime’s customs office announced that it had $14 billion in imports against $12.5 billion in exports. According to Saeedi, a member of the regime’s Majlis (parliament), “Raisi only presents statistics in such a way that many suspect these statistics are being made up in another country. Is this statistic related to our economic situation or are they creating them from elsewhere?” according to a report by the state-run Etemad newspaper on June 27, 2023. Ebtakar, another state-run newspaper, wrote on June 6 that according to statistics from the World Bank, which was estimated by doctored data provided by the regime, the real economic growth of Iran in 2022 was 2.9% and this figure would decrease to 2.2% for 2023.
Global Echoes: Demanding Justice for the Victims of Iran’s 1988 Massacre
In 1988, the founder of the mullahs’ regime, Ruhollah Khomeini, orchestrated a brutal massacre of political prisoners associated with the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK). His intention was to eliminate his main opposition and any potential alternative once and for all. Little did he anticipate that this heinous crime against humanity would ignite a justice-seeking movement that would endure for decades and extend across the globe. Under Khomeini’s fatwa, anyone expressing support for the MEK was to be annihilated, and the names of these freedom fighters were to be erased from history everywhere. During July and August 1988, thousands of political prisoners were executed daily in Iranian prisons, known as the 1988 massacre. This atrocity led to the death of over 30,000 political prisoners, primarily comprising MEK members and supporters.
Also, read Iran News in Brief – July 27, 2023