THIS PAGE WILL BE UPDATED WITH THE LATEST NEWS
UPDATE: 9:30 PM CEST
Moskowitz, Baumgartner Bill to Sanction the Taking of American Hostages Passes House Foreign Affairs Committee
WASHINGTON, DC — Congressmen Jared Moskowitz (D-FL-23) and Michael Baumgartner (R-WA-05) announced that their bipartisan No Paydays for Hostage-Takers Act recently cleared the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee on a 45-6 vote, overcoming a key hurdle that gets it one step closer to becoming law. The bill strengthens U.S. deterrence of state-sponsored hostage-taking and the wrongful detention of U.S. nationals, particularly against the government of Iran.
Moskowitz previously introduced the No Paydays for Hostage-Takers Act during the 118th Congress.
“Foreign adversaries like Iran can’t be allowed to take Americans hostage and get away with it. My bipartisan No Paydays for Hostage-Takers Act sends that message loud and clear,” said Congressman Moskowitz. “I applaud my colleagues on the House Foreign Affairs Committee for joining Congressman Baumgartner and me to advance this bill, and I encourage the rest of the House to pass it and ensure that bad actors, hostile governments, and terrorist groups will face action from the United States if they wrongfully detain one of our own.”
UN Watchdog Chief Says Iran ‘Not Far’ from Nuclear Bomb
Tehran (AFP) – The United Nations nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi warned on Wednesday that Iran was “not far” from possessing a nuclear bomb, shortly before he arrived in Tehran for talks.
Western countries including the United States have long accused Iran of seeking to acquire nuclear weapons, an allegation Tehran has consistently denied, insisting that its programme is for peaceful civilian purposes.
“It’s like a puzzle. They have the pieces, and one day they could eventually put them together,” Grossi told French newspaper Le Monde in an interview published on Wednesday.
“There’s still a way to go before they get there. But they’re not far off, that has to be acknowledged,” he said.
It’s a Mistake to Think the Biggest Problem With Iran Is Nuclear Weapons
President Trump said on Monday that he will “solve the Iran problem” and that “it’s almost an easy one.” Almost.
What is “the Iran problem”? Trump seems to think it’s Iran’s efforts to obtain nuclear weapons, which, he has said, “they can’t have.” Iran has enriched uranium to 60 percent purity — close to weapons grade — and “might be able to enrich enough uranium for five fission weapons within about one week and enough for eight weapons in less than two weeks,” according to the Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control. It would take additional time to make the parts needed to turn this fissile material into a bomb, but this could be done in small, secret facilities.
UK Adds Two New Designations to Its Iran Sanctions List
LONDON, April 14 (Reuters) – The British government on Monday imposed sanctions on an organization and an individual under its Iran sanctions regime, citing involvement in hostile activity backed by the Iranian government.
An update to the government website showed new sanctions, including asset freezes and director disqualifications, against the Foxtrot Network and Rawa Majid over “activity which aids or facilitates serious organized crime in the United Kingdom or any other country.”
The move comes a month after US sanctions on Foxtrot and Majid. The US government statement from March referred to the group as a criminal gang based in Sweden and called Majid its “fugitive leader.”
US Issues New Sanctions Targeting Chinese Importers of Iranian Oil
WASHINGTON, April 16 (Reuters) – The United States on Wednesday issued new sanctions targeting Iran’s oil exports, including against a China-based “teapot” oil refinery, as President Donald Trump’s administration seeks to ramp up pressure on Tehran.
“Teapot” is an industry term for small independent oil refiners.
The U.S. Treasury Department said in a statement the action would increase pressure on Chinese importers of Iranian oil as Trump seeks to restore his “maximum pressure” campaign on Iran, which includes efforts to drive its oil exports down to zero.
How To Denuclearize Iran
An emerging view is that the outcome of the Iran negotiations should be the same as that achieved with Libya: the complete, irreversible dismantlement of Iran’s nuclear program. In December 2003, Libya agreed to the total elimination and removal of all associated equipment and materials, as well as its longer-range SCUD missiles. Within four months, everything had been taken to the United States.
Iran is not Libya. Iran is a much larger country in almost every way. Iran’s nuclear program is far more advanced to the point of being a virtual nuclear weapons state, and the negotiation history could not be more different. The U.S. has been in on-and-off public negotiations with Iran for more than 15 years across four administrations. With Libya, it was one day of secret talks in London, preceded by several months of U.S.-British-Libyan intelligence contacts, that produced what can serve as perhaps the only meaningful outcome with Iran.
UPDATE: 6:30 AM CEST
Khamenei Deflects Blame as Economic Crisis and Warnings of Social Unrest Grip Iran
At the beginning of the new Persian year (March 20, 2025), amidst escalating social tensions and a deepening livelihood crisis, Iranian regime supreme leader Ali Khamenei shamelessly deflected responsibility, stating, “The leadership does not interfere in economic planning; meaning, it doesn’t even have the right to interfere. This is part of the government’s duties; the government must do this.”
In the few weeks that have passed since the new year began, not a day has gone by without the regime’s media, officials, and experts warning about the consequences of the people’s economic hardships and the danger of social protest eruptions for the crisis-ridden clerical regime.
Referring to the consequences of “chronic and prolonged inflation” for the regime, the state-affiliated Ham-Mihan newspaper wrote on April 9, 2025, “The country’s situation is not good at all, and sanctions are not just pieces of paper. People are dissatisfied, the ruling system is worried, and chronic, long-term inflation persists.
Nuclear Talks Expose Deep Crisis Within Iran’s Regime
The announcement of a new round of nuclear negotiations between the Iranian regime and the United States has plunged the clerical establishment in Tehran into a maelstrom of internal and external crises. This turmoil is not confined to any single faction but has engulfed the entire regime, with every indication that the crisis will only intensify over time. Clear signs of this escalating instability can be found in the sermons of Friday prayer leaders, statements by parliamentarians, and the increasingly contradictory remarks of regime officials.
From its inception, the Islamic Republic has anchored its identity in revolutionary rhetoric, the formation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and the export of extremism and conflict. Anti-Western slogans—branding the United States as the “Great Satan” and calling for its destruction—have long served to legitimize the regime’s external hostilities. Yet, the act of negotiating with such a sworn enemy poses a fundamental challenge to the ideological foundations upon which the regime stands.
Iran Faces New Surge in Medical Costs as Preferential Currency Policy Ends
April 15, 2025 — As Iran grapples with rising inflation and economic hardship, a new wave of price hikes in the medical sector is compounding the public’s burden. The elimination of the preferential exchange rate for importing medical equipment has triggered concern among officials and healthcare providers alike, with many warning that the cost of essential medicines and devices is becoming unaffordable. Mehdi Pirsalehi, head of the Food and Drug Administration, announced that the government has officially discontinued the 4,200 tomans exchange rate previously used for importing medical equipment. Speaking to the Revolutionary Guard-affiliated Tasnim News Agency on Sunday, April 13, Pirsalehi stated that the rate will now be adjusted to 28,500 tomans — a sevenfold increase.
According to Pirsalehi, the Central Bank will allocate $3.5 billion at the new preferential rate of 28,500 tomans, along with an additional $1.5 billion at a negotiated rate, for the import of medicine and medical equipment this year. However, this shift in policy is already being felt in the healthcare system.
Iran: New Tape Exposes Shocking Crimes Against Women in the 1988 Massacre
In a powerful new statement issued on April 15, 2025, the Judiciary Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) responded to the release of a previously unheard audio recording from Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri—Khomeini’s former designated successor—shedding further light on the 1988 massacre of political prisoners in Iran. The newly released tape (BBC – Monday night, April 14, 2025), a partial and edited recording of Montazeri’s second meeting with members of the infamous “Death Committee,” reveals even more damning evidence of the Iranian regime’s mass executions—especially its shocking treatment of female prisoners, including supporters of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK).
The recording confirms the depth of planning and ideological cruelty behind one of the worst atrocities of the clerical regime in Iran, revealing how even women and foreign nationals were targeted in the systematic extermination.
Paris Exhibition Reveals Iran Regime’s Brutality, Calls for Global Response
Paris, France – April 12, 2025: Supporters of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) held a compelling exhibition in Paris to draw attention to the Iranian regime’s escalating human rights abuses. The event functioned both as a tribute to the victims of state violence and a show of solidarity with the Iranian people’s ongoing struggle for freedom.
MEK Supporters in Hamburg Held an Exhibition to Condemn Iran’s Regime Executions
Hamburg, Germany – April 12, 2025 – Freedom-Loving Iranians and supporters of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) organized a rally and exhibition to highlight the escalating human rights crisis in Iran, with a particular focus on the alarming rise in executions of political prisoners. The event drew special attention to the recent execution of five political prisoners at Vakilabad Prison in Mashhad.
MEK Supporters in Stuttgart Held a Rally to Condemn Iran’s Regime Executions
Stuttgart, Germany – April 12, 2025 – Supporters of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) organized a rally to highlight the escalating human rights crisis in Iran, with a particular focus on the alarming rise in executions of political prisoners. The event drew special attention to the recent execution of five political prisoners at Vakilabad Prison in Mashhad.