All posts tagged: regime

Iran issues global threat as Israel’s regime kill list grows with help from the inside

Iran issues global threat as Israel’s regime kill list grows with help from the inside

Published by Sam Flores

Israel continued its intense strike campaign against the Iranian regime’s security forces on Friday by killing the spokesman of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Ali Mohammad Naini, the intelligence chief and deputy commander of the Basij forces, Esmail Ahmadi-Moghaddam as well as the commander of the IRGC Aerospace Force, Mehdi Ghorishi, the Iranian media and Israel’s Defence Forces (IDF) announced on Friday. Ali Mohammad Naini was known to be the IRGC’s main propagandist, while Esmail Ahmadi-Moghaddam was described as a main pillar of the Basij force, “with a central role in suppressing protests,” Israel said. Additionally, as Israel keeps pounding the regime forces across Iran, the IRGC in Iran’s East Azerbaijan Province announced that 12 Basij members were killed in a strike in Tabriz on Thursday. Shortly after these announcements, Iran’s top military spokesman, General Abolfazl Shekarchi warned that “parks, recreational areas and tourist destinations” worldwide won’t be safe for Tehran’s enemies, renewing concerns that Iran could stage attacks beyond the Middle East. “From now on, based on the information we have about you, …

Despite decapitation, Iran’s regime endures: Does Hormuz blockade give Tehran the upper hand?

Despite decapitation, Iran’s regime endures: Does Hormuz blockade give Tehran the upper hand?

Published by Sam Flores

William Hilderbrandt is pleased to welcome Paul Taylor, Senior Visiting Fellow in the Europe in the World Programme and a member of the Defence/Security EUrope project. He is also a freelance columnist for The Guardian. Amid the Strait of Hormuz blockade, Mr. Taylor argues that even overwhelming force cannot guarantee safety when asymmetric tools, such as drones and decentralised command structures, remain effective. At its core, he contends that reopening the Strait is not a technical or logistical challenge, but a political and diplomatic one.  Keywords for this article Source link

Why the Iranian regime fights on

Why the Iranian regime fights on

Published by Sam Flores

(RNS) — Questioning Tulsi Gabbard, the U.S. director of national intelligence, on Wednesday (March 18), Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., suggested that it might not have been such a good idea to assassinate Iran’s leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, at the outset of the U.S.-Israeli war on the Islamic Republic. Here’s the exchange: Reed: “The regime in Iran is now trying to promote the deceased ayatollah as a martyr who should be followed. Does that help them consolidate support?” Gabbard: “Senator, the Iranians are certainly using that as a call to action. The effects of that from an intelligence standpoint remain to be seen.” Reed: “There is a tradition in Shia, though, to honor martyrs. One of their greatest celebrations is the martyrdom of the grandson of Muhammad. Is that correct?”  Gabbard: “That’s right.” Reed: “So we might have played into their cultural biases, erroneously.” That understates what we’ve played into. Khamenei is not just another Shiite martyr. He was believed to be a direct descendant of Hussein ibn Ali, the grandson of Prophet Muhammad whose martyrdom …

‘Not a one-person regime’: Why Iran’s Islamic Republic is so hard to topple

‘Not a one-person regime’: Why Iran’s Islamic Republic is so hard to topple

Published by Sam Flores

Since February 28, Israel and the United States have pounded Iran with targeted air strikes, taking out one powerful Iranian official after another. The death toll among top regime officials has so far been confirmed at nine, but Israel claims it has reached 11. Both the United States and Israel have brandished the growing list of dead Iranian elites as evidence of their military success. On Tuesday, after the Israeli army announced it had “eliminated” Iran’s security chief, Ali Larijani, Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar declared that his country had “already won” the war against the Islamic Republic. Read moreWho was Ali Larijani, Iran’s security chief killed in an Israeli air strike? But behind the tough-talking rhetoric, even US President Donald Trump has hinted that Israeli and American bombs will not be enough to topple the regime – regardless of how many heads roll. Instead, he has appealed to the Iranian public to do the job, telling them that “when we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take”. FRANCE 24 …

Women of the Rosenstrasse protest challenged the Nazi regime for their detained Jewish husbands’ freedom – and won

Women of the Rosenstrasse protest challenged the Nazi regime for their detained Jewish husbands’ freedom – and won

Published by Sam Flores

(The Conversation) — On the cold evening of Feb. 27, 1943, Charlotte Israel gathered with a small crowd of women on the Rosenstrasse, a narrow street in central Berlin. They were not Jewish, but their husbands were, and the men had just been arrested in a sweeping roundup of more than 9,000 Berlin Jews. Heinrich Himmler, leader of the SS and an architect of the Holocaust’s murder of 6 million Jews, called this arrest a “de-judaization of the Reich.” Nearly 2,000 of those arrested had non-Jewish wives and were crammed together in a building on the Rosenstrasse. Israel and the other women who had gathered outside resolved to return the next day. Early the next morning, as she approached Rosenstrasse in search of her husband, Annie Radlauer heard a chorus of voices growing louder as she drew nearer: “Give us our husbands back!” The vigil, which sometimes grew into collective protests, continued off and on until March 6. This protest still raises questions about how Hitler ruled and about attempts to rescue German Jews. Families …

The Iranian Regime Doubles Down

The Iranian Regime Doubles Down

Published by José Betancourt

Less than two weeks into the American and Israeli bombardment of Iran, the war is both a success and a failure. Militarily, the campaign has effectively degraded the Islamic Republic’s warmaking capacities. But politically, thus far, it has only strengthened the regime’s cohesion. President Trump may have hoped the elimination of the Islamic Republic’s longtime supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, would produce an Iranian Delcy Rodríguez—a pragmatic insider who would capitulate to American pressure—but it has instead spawned a budding Iranian Kim Jong Un. Mojtaba Khamenei, 56, will succeed his father, making the Islamic Republic a hereditary dictatorship poised to double down on ideology and repression. Mojtaba inherits one of the most difficult jobs in the world. Reportedly injured and in hiding, he will lead a government that is simultaneously fighting full-blown wars against the United States and Israel and against much of its own population. He survived the missile strike that killed his father, wife, and mother only because he was in an adjacent room. The attack that nearly killed him catapulted him to …

‘Real fear’ among ordinary Iranians at prospect of Trump deal with regime

‘Real fear’ among ordinary Iranians at prospect of Trump deal with regime

Published by Sam Flores

There is “real fear” among many ordinary Iranians that Donald Trump, who said this week the US war on Iran could be over “soon”, may strike some sort of deal with the country’s new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei, a man many see as behind some of the harshest internal repression seen in the country in recent years. That is according to France 24 Observers journalist Ershad Alijani, who has been speaking with people inside Iran as part of a report published this week. Source link

Top EU officials say no tears shed over fall of Iranian regime, but warn of ‘chaos’ ahead – POLITICO

Top EU officials say no tears shed over fall of Iranian regime, but warn of ‘chaos’ ahead – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

“You will hear different views about whether the conflict in Iran is a war of choice or a war of necessity,” she said. “But I believe this debate partly misses the point because Europe must focus on the reality of the situation, to see the world as it actually is today.” “I want to be clear,” she went on. “There should be no tears shed for the Iranian regime that has inflicted death and imposed repression on its own people.” Von der Leyen further said that the Iranian people should have the right to determine their own future “even if we know this will be fraught with danger and instability during and after the war.” Her comments highlight a difference between the Commission and capitals such as Madrid and Paris, which have emphasized international law while criticizing what they call a “war of choice” by the United States and Israel. They also coincide with criticism from national envoys who argue the Commission president is overstepping her role by engaging in diplomacy. Kallas, the bloc’s top …