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Mohaddesin and Terzis online news conference (CNSNews.com) May 8, 2017  – The May 19 election in Iran will make very little difference to Tehran’s major policies of repression and terror-sponsorship, two critics of the regime said during a press conference discussion in Paris on the upcoming vote. But it will likely add to a process of weakening the regime, they said, particularly if the Trump administration’s Iran policy review now underway results in policy shifts and greater economic difficulties. Giulio Terzi,  a former Italian foreign minister, and Mohammad Mohaddessin, who chairs the foreign affairs committee of the National Council of Resistance on Iran (  NCRI  ), both argued that whether the “moderate” incumbent Hasan Rouhani or the “hardline” cleric Ebrahim Raisi wins, key policies won’t change. There may be tactical differences between various candidates, the Italian said, but not on the essential issues, including keeping the regime in power. “The immi

By Hassan Mahmoudi Officials in the Iranian regime have, from time to time, defined their regime as, "if the whole Iranian populace have one position and the Supreme Leader has another, it is the word of the Supreme Leader that will be taken as the fact, and not that of the people.” This attitude describes a dictatorial system of rule, a relic of the Dark Ages that rule Iran today. In the ayatollahs’ dictionary, people are defined as without rights or voice.So it is preposterous that, next month, this regime is about to hold presidential “elections.” Holding elections in any country, normally, signifies the rulers’ determination to go by the people’s vote. In today's Iran, it does not go this way. The religious dictatorship uses a sham election rather escape the inevitable consequences of the people’s vote. The regime of ayatollahs is the most detested government in Iran’s history.  Anti-government protests happen every day, on each corner of Iran, and are a sharp ind

As the Trump administration is undergoing a major Iran policy overhaul, senior American officials should comprehend the fact that the upcoming May 19  presidential election  will not result in any fundamental — or nonfundamental, for that matter — change in the Iranian regime's behavior, according to an op-ed in the Washington Examiner on Monday. The so-called election to be held in Iran will be neither free nor fair,  writes  human rights activist Amir Basiri. However, this development bears major significance due to a series of political, economic and social crises this regime is facing internationally and domestically, the op-ed adds. Certain is the fact that, after the elections, the regime in Tehran will surface far weaker and more fragmented than before, as two major Iran experts explained recently. Basiri added: The Iranian opposition National Council of Resistance of Iran Foreign Affairs Committee hosted an  online conference  last week with former Italian forei

London, 5 May - An agreement calling for the creation of four “safe zones” in Syria was signed by Turkey, Iran and  Russia , but rejected by opposition fighters, who walked out of a press conference where the deal was announced, in the Kazakh capital, Astana. The opposition delegation said they would never accept  Iran  as a guarantor of a peace process, and criticized Russia, claiming that there was a huge gap between its promises and actions. They suggested that the plan may lead to the disintegration of Syria. Aimed at reducing the violence in  Syria , where six-years of conflict has killed more than 400,000 people, the Astana talks are negotiations held under the auspices of the UN, and involve the Syrian political opposition. The use of weapons would be forbidden in the safe zones, where the restoration of infrastructure and essential services and the return of refugees would begin, according to a three-page memorandum from the Astana talks  seen  by the Russian Kommersan

Iran Focus:  London, 4 May - Tehran's Revolutionary Guard Corps have combined ideology and practicality in an effective way, producing results in Syria, Lebanon and Gaza, says Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) expert Afshon Ostavar, who added that Iran’s clandestine regional interference is a much bigger issue than the nuclear file. Ostavar is a professor at the US Naval Postgraduate School and author of “Vanguard of the Imam”, about the IRGC, made these comments at a Foreign Policy Research Institute conference in Philadelphia. He explained, “When it comes to the Middle East, the Revolutionary Guards are basically the decision-makers if not the shapers of that policy... when it comes to what is going on in Iraq, or Syria, or Lebanon... [it is] their activity or their literally lobbying the supreme leader that seems to dictate policy more than anything else.” Regarding Hezbollah and Hamas, he claimed the IRGC controls Iranian policy because “basically they have do