the Morning star

By  Shahriar Kia American Thinker, June 22, 2017 –  Less than a week after the U.S. Senate adopted sweeping new sanctions targeting Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) and two days after Tehran launched a series of missiles at territories inside Syria while claiming to target ISIS,  the Iranian opposition National Council of Resistance of Iran ( NCRI )  held a press conference in Washington on Tuesday, June 20, unveiling new information about dozens of IRGC missile sites. On the orders of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, the IRGC has accelerated its ballistic missile activities and tests following the Iran nuclear deal, representatives of the NCRI U.S. Office said. Sources associated with  the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) , the main NCRI coalition member, and inside Iran’s Defense Ministry and IRGC, confirmed Khamenei has specifically tasked the IRGC Aerospace Force to carry out this initiative. The locations of 42 sites...

Revolutionary Guard's Missiles Fired Into Syria Hit Hospitals and Residential Areas NCRI - “The six missiles launched into Deir ez-Zor by Iranian regime’s Revolutionary Guards have actually hit a hospital, residential areas, and a number of schools used to accommodate refugees”, says a Syrian writer and journalist in his interview with NRT TV. “I myself come from Deir ez-Zor”, said Amer Howeedy, adding “The six missiles fired by Iranian regime’s Revolutionary Guards into Syria have hit ‘Noorisaeid’ hospital, the ‘Badieh Maydan’ district, and another residential area. They’ve also targeted a number of schools which were used as a shelter for the refugees in the region.” “The missiles didn’t hit ISIS”, he added, “The images and the evidence related to the areas hit by the missiles are available. The question is, where the ISIS headquarters, which are said to be hit by six missiles launched by Iranian regime’s Revolutionary Guards into Deir ez-Zor province, are located?” A...

the Morning star: Citizen-journalists increasingly spied on, hounded... : Irans Press crackdown and censorship June 22, 2017  - Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemns the increase in Internet censorship and...

the Morning star: Citizen-journalists increasingly spied on, hounded... : Irans Press crackdown and censorship June 22, 2017  - Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemns the increase in Internet censorship and...

Irans Press crackdown and censorship June 22, 2017  - Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemns the increase in Internet censorship and harassment of citizen-journalists in Iran. According to RSF’s tally, 94 Internet users, mainly users of the instant messaging service Telegram, have been arrested since the start of the year. More and more journalists are falling victim to the war between different government factions. RSF has learned that, on 9 April, 12-year jail sentences were imposed on three citizen-journalists who were arrested in September 2016 in connections with content they had posted on Telegram. Users of Telegram, which is very popular in Iran, are increasingly being targeted. Telegram creator Pavel Durov has said that “Telegram has not entered into any agreements with any government on this planet,” and has “no plans to.” But statements by Iranian officials seem to belie this claim. Information and communications technology minister Mahmoud Vaezi told parliament o...

INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY MUST SUPPORT MEK/PMOI IN THE HEART OF THE IRANIAN RESISTANCE INU - There are many around the world who are pondering what the correct diplomatic response to the Iranian Regime should be and even those at those in charge of foreign policy aren’t entirely sure, given Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson’s recent comment that the US’s Iran policy is “under development.” Tillerson said: “It’s not yet been delivered to the president, but I would tell you that we certainly recognize Iran’s continued destabilizing presence in the region, their payment of foreign fighters, their export of militia forces in Syria, in Iraq, in Yemen, their support for Hezbollah. And we are taking action to respond to Iran’s hegemony. Additional sanctions actions have been put in place against individuals and others.” He continued: “We continually review the merits both from the standpoint of diplomatic but also international consequences of designating the Iranian Revolutionary...

President Emmanuel Macron visited French troops in northern Mali in May as Paris sought to overcome US reservations about backing an anti-jihadist force in the Sahel UNITED NATIONS, UNITED STATES, AFP, 20 June 2017  - France and the United States have reached agreement on a draft UN resolution that would pave the way for the deployment of a five-nation African military force to fight jihadists in the Sahel region, diplomats said Tuesday. A vote at the UN Security Council could take place as early as Wednesday on the draft resolution that welcomes the deployment but does not give it full UN authorization, according to the agreed text seen by AFP. Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger -- which make up the G5 -- agreed in March to set up a special counter-terrorism operation of 5,000 troops for the Sahel region. France had requested that the Security Council authorize the force in a first draft text circulated two weeks ago that would have given the G...

The current plan for sanctions against Iran leaves the regime between a proverbial rock and hard place, since its choices are comply or die. The adoption of “Countering Iran’s Destabilizing Activities Act of 2017” by the United States Senate has rendered a variety of reactions from Iran resembling the terrified status of the regime’s senior ranks. Iranian media have widely referred to this new bill and the resulting authorizations as the  “mother of all sanctions”  and the “sanctions black hole.” “Section 5 of this bill is related to new sanctions against the Revolutionary Guards ( IRGC ). This new bill is dubbed the ‘sanctions black hole’ considering the fact that based on Executive Order 13224, any individual providing services to an identified organization in this Executive Order, that individual or his/her entity will be placed on the US sanctions list or the SDN… with the adoption and implementation of this bill, we can forecast that a few thousand individuals wil...

   The election of Donald Trump last year set the stage for major changes in U.S. foreign policy and particularly American policy toward the Islamic Republic of Iran. It was clear on the campaign trail that Trump’s views on Iran could hardly be more different than those of his predecessor, Barack Obama. Almost six months into his first term the administration is now well positioned to lay the foundation for a lasting Middle East legacy by boldly embracing the goal of regime change in Tehran. Whereas the Obama administration took great pride in the Iran nuclear deal it helped to negotiate, then GOP candidate Trump repeatedly referred to the agreement as one of the worst deals ever negotiated and promised to overturn it upon assuming office. Although the Trump White House is technically upholding the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), it has also imposed tough new sanctions on the regime that are unrelated to the Iranian nuclear program. Iran policies now u...

USAF_F-16 missile launch_USA_(archives) Reuters, Jun 20, 2017  - The U.S.-led coalition said on Tuesday it had shot down an armed 'pro-Syrian regime' drone that had been bearing down on its forces near a garrison close to the border with Iraq in Syria's southeast. In a statement, U.S. forces said the drone was fired on after it 'displayed hostile intent and advanced on coalition forces', and a Western intelligence source said the so-called UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) was Iranian. The statement said the location was close to where another 'pro-regime' drone - which intelligence sources separately identified as Iranian - was shot down on June 8 after dropping bombs near coalition forces. In Syria's complicated multi-sided conflict, Washington backs a coalition of rebel forces fighting both President Bashar al-Assad and Islamist militants, while Assad is backed by Russia, Iran and Shi'ite militia. In an indirect reference to...

Iran Focus London, 14 Jun - The Hezbollah terror group, which is back financially by the Iranian Regime, has threated to launch strikes on US forces in Syria, which according to experts is yet another example of the Iranian Regime trying to take direct action against the US. Hezbollah announced this via an official statement, which experts say is further proof that Iran is willing to attack the US in order to support the Syrian dictator, Bashar Assad. The statement read: "America knows well … that the capacity to strike their [American-backed] gathering points in Syria and its neighbours are available any time the circumstances call for it, based on the availability of various rocket and military systems, in light of the deployment of American forces in the region. Tony Badran, a Syria expert at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, made clear that the US is aware that Iran is doing this on behalf of Syria. He  said : "That the DOD is negating any distin...