BEHIND THE IRAN HEADLINES Series, August 2, 2024, Alireza Jafarzadeh, NCRI-US Deputy Director
The Iranian regime’s conduct following the sham election of Masoud Pezeshkian as its president is a massive rebuke to those suggesting this could mark the beginning of a new era of positive change in Tehran’s domestic and foreign policies.
The regime’s regional warmongering and terrorism-by-proxy have flared up. The Tehran-backed Houthis in Yemen used a long-range one-way made-in-Iran drone to attack Israel, the IRGC continued to hijack ships in the Persian Gulf, and its Iraqi proxies attacked U.S. bases.
Meanwhile, in the streets of Iran, the regime’s thugs were back to harassing women to enforce compulsory hijab. Internet speeds were extremely low in many areas due to heavy filtering.
The most heinous aspect, however, has been the resumption of executions as Khamenei’s killing machine has gone into high gear. On July 25, Kamran Sheikheh, a 40-year-old Sunni political prisoner, was hanged after 15 years of imprisonment. In the week before that, 23 prisoners, including four women, were executed in prisons across Iran.
Protests over power and water shortages have met with violent crackdowns by the regime’s security forces. Other protests and strikes are taking place across Iran by retirees, teachers, and workers from various industries.
The mass execution of members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization (PMOI) in the 1980s, particularly during the 1981-1982 period and the 1988 massacre, has been recognized by the UN Special Rapporteur, Mr. Javaid Rehman, as fitting the criteria for genocide and crimes against humanity.
The Iranian Resistance once again calls on the United Nations and its member states, as well as the European Union and its member states, to take urgent action to stop the mullahs’ killing machine and save prisoners on death row, especially political prisoners.
As the people of Iran take to the streets every day, they are constantly reminded that there is no prospect of change toward a free and peaceful republic in Iran unless they end the clerical regime.
This is a reality that the West must also recognize.