What Does The Future Hold For Iran?

What Does The Future Hold For Iran?

A Shahab-3 long range missile (L) and Zolfaghar missiles (R) are displayed during a rally marking al-Quds (Jerusalem) Day in Tehran on June 23, 2017.

forbes, JUL 6, 2017 - With developments regarding Iran and the Middle East on fast forward recently, voices are heard speaking of winds of change in Iran. Iran’s society, described as a powder keg due to social discontent, is literally simmering.

And after far too many years, the international community is gradually but surely realizing how appeasement will only yield further destruction. Catapulting events further is Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s failure to engineer the recent presidential election to unify his regime for the tsunamis ahead.

Should IRGC Go on the Terror List?

London, 27 Jun - When the Iranian Regime launched its failed missile attacks on ISIS militants in Deir ez-Zour, Syria, supposedly in retaliation for the recent terror attacks in Tehran, but failed to notify the US-backed troops who were fighting ISIS on the ground, it sent a message.

What Is the Right Policy Towards Iran and the MEK?

 By Jubin Katiraie

It is sometimes now that many US officials have been talking about Iran and the actions that US must take towards Iran. In a hearing in the congress, the Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, in response to a question about the US policy towards Iran said: “Well our Iranian policy is under development. 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.”

INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY MUST SUPPORT MEK/PMOI IN THE HEART OF THE IRANIAN RESISTANCE

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.”

Despite nuclear deal, Iran's ballistic missile program continues unabated

Iran's missile program has accelerated since the signing of the nuclear agreement between Tehran and world powers in 2015, a new report by the National Council of Resistance of Iran revealed.

According to NCRI's findings, which were made public at a press conference held at the council's Washington office on Tuesday, the scope of Iran's missile program is much more extensive than was previously thought.

The report indicates that the Revolutionary Guards, which is in charge of Iran's ballistic missile program, has been carrying out operations at 42 locations, 12 of which were previously unknown. One of the reported missile complexes is tied to SPND, the organization in charge of pursuing the building of nuclear bombs.

The information disclosed by the NCRI were obtained by the People's Mojahedin of Iran (PMOI/MEK), the group that first revealed Iran's illicit nuclear program.

In an interview with Fox News, Alireza Jafarzadeh, deputy director of the NCRI's U.S. office, said, "The findings show the first full picture of the missile program of the Iranian regime, which is very extensive and costly. It also shows a close tie between the nuclear weapons program and the missile program."

This latest report comes against the backdrop of the Iranian regime facing setbacks at home, in the region and across the world.

"Tehran has accelerated its missile program to make up for its domestic impotence and increasing regional isolation," Jafarzadeh said. "The missile program of the regime is essential for its survival. Unfortunately the missile program of the Iranian regime has remained primarily unchecked."

The nuclear accord, also known as the JCPOA, failed to address a range of threats posed by the Iranian regime, including its terrorist meddling in countries of the region, its ballistic missile program and its abysmal human rights record.

The Obama administration, which spearheaded the negotiations that led to the hammering of the deal, believed the incentives provided by the JCPOA would dampen Iran's evil ambitions. Tuesday's revelations proved once again how wrong-placed those hopes were.

Iran has largely taken advantage of the appeasement policy and hands-off approachadopted by the previous administration to pursue its illicit agendas, marked by several ballistic missile tests and launches since signing the JCPOA.

Recent developments, however, show that the tide is shifting against the Iranian regime.

Last week, the U.S. Senate passed a bill that, if approved by the House and signed by President Trump, will slap new sanctions against the Iranian regime for its ballistic missile development, arms transfers, support for terrorism, and human rights violations.

Also, at a recent summit in Riyadh, leaders of major Arab nations underlined the dangerous nature of Iran's ballistic missile program and expressed their commitment to confront Tehran's subversive and destructive activities inside their countries.

The NCRI representatives reiterated that the Iranian people deeply oppose the regime's nuclear and missile program and its interference in the region, and called for the enactment of further sanctions against the Iranian regime's missile program and all entities that are affiliated to it. They also called for the expulsion of Iran's forces and proxies from Syria and Iraq, and the terrorist designation of the Revolutionary Guards, a measure that will be crucial to curbing Iran's nefarious deeds in the region.

Amir Basiri (@amir_bas) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner's Beltway Confidential blog. He is an Iranian human rights activist.

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Iran Has Accelerated Its Missile Activities

In a press conference in Washington DC on Tuesday, June 20, 2017, the US representative office of the National Council of Resistance of Iran revealed that on orders of Ali Khamenei, the Iran’s supreme leader, Tehran has accelerated its missile activities and tests After the Iran Nuclear Deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action of JCPOA.

Based on detailed intelligence obtained from inside the clerical establishment in Iran, specifically reports obtained from inside the Defense Ministry and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Coprs (IRGC), by the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), Khamenei has tasked the IRGC’s Aerospace Force with executing this mandate.

The Iranian opposition has been one of the main sources of exposing secret aspects of Iran’s nuclear activities as well as the clerical establishment’s Weapons of Mass Destruction program.

The revelation coincides with rising sensitivity and concern regarding Iran’s missile program. The US Senate imposed wide ranging new sanctions on Iran, partly for 

continuing and expanding its ballistic missile program last week.

The IRGC’s Aerospace Force is responsible for the regime’s missiles program and the scope of the program is much more extensive than what it was previously perceived,” said NCRI-US Deputy Director Alireza Jafarzadeh.

The Iranian opposition verified the locations of 42 centers involved in the production, testing and launching of missiles by the IRGC. A dozen of these sites were revealed for the very first time. Among the 42 sites, 15 are part of the regime’s missile manufacturing network. These 15 centers include several factories related to a missile industry group and together form a web of dozens of missile production facilities.

The MEK identified four of the most important missile centers of Iran in Semnan, Lar (in Fars Province), Khorramabad, and in the vicinity of Bidgeneh Village near Karaj city. Two of these centers are among the facilities that the ruling clerics of Iran describe as missile cities.

According to the MEK revelation, the missile center in Semnan, has been actively collaborating with SPND, the organization tasked with building a nuclear bomb. Some of the tests related to SPND organization are conducted at this site.

SPND is the Persian acronym of the engineering unit for nuclear weapons program inside the Iranian government, called the Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research. The National Council of Resistance of Iran first revealed the existence of SPND in July 2011 in Washington, DC. Three years later, SPND was placed in the sanctions list.

The IRGC’s missile sites have been created based on North Korean models and blueprints. North Korean experts have helped IRGC leaders to build.

Jafarzadeh stressed that the Iranian regime has remained in power in Iran by relying on two pillars: internal repression and external export of Islamic fundamentalism and terrorism; Its illicit nuclear weapons program and its continued expansion of ballistic missiles serve its policy of export of Islamic fundamentalism and terrorism.

https://youtu.be/rSlXSIhKxUI

He added that as the regime becomes more isolated domestically and its grip on Iranian society weakens, it resorts more frantically to the second pillar of its bid to keep power. The ruling cleric in Iran has neither the capacity nor the will to set aside its policy of ballistic missile expansion. Khamenei expressly stated on May 10, 2017, “there is no difference between change of behavior and change of regime.”

Iranian leaders are united in investing in the ballistic missile program because all the factions realize the survival of their political establishment is at stake. On May 23, 2017, president Hassan Rouhani emphasized that the missile activities will continue unabated.

Jafarzadeh noted that the Iranian people, on the other hand, deeply oppose the regime’s nuclear and missile programs and its interference in the region.

He also referred to the major gathering of Iranians in Paris on July 1, during which Iranians and their international supporters including hundreds of luminaries from the world over, will declare their unequivocal opposition to the policies of export of Islamic fundamentalism and terrorism and the ruling cleric’s expansionist interventions in the region, and to its nuclear and missile programs. “The July 1, #FreeIran rally is a referendum against the religious fascism ruling Iran and its warmongering policies in the region, as well as against its nuclear and missile programs.” Jafarzadej said.

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Finally, the conference underscored the need for

https://youtu.be/iVBHOzG2m9g

1. The enactment and enforcement of effective and broad sanctions against Iran’s missile program and all related entities, institutions, and individuals.

2. Designation of the IRGC as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) for its role as the force responsible for terrorism as well as the missile program.

3. Expulsion of the IRGC and its affiliated militias and proxies from the region, particularly from Syria and Iraq.

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Harvard-educated, Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a world-renowned businessman, a leading Iranian-American political scientist, president of the International American Council on the Middle East, and best-selling author. He serves on the advisory board of Harvard International Review.

Dr. Rafizadeh is frequently invited to brief governmental and non-governmental organizations as well as speak, as a featured speaker, at security, business, diplomatic, and social events. He has been recipient of several fellowships and scholarships including from Oxford University, Annenberg, University of California Santa Barbara, Fulbright program, to name few He is regularly quoted and invited to speak on national and international outlets including CNN, BBC World TV and Radio, ABC, Aljazeera English, Fox News, CTV, RT, CCTV America, Skynews, CTV, and France 24 International, to name a few. . He analyses have appeared on academic and non-academic publications including New York Times International, Los Angeles Times, CNN, Fareed zakaria GPS, The Atlantic, Foreign Policy, The Nation, The National. Aljazeera, The Daily Beast, The Nation, Jerusalem Post, The Economic Times, USA Today Yale Journal of International Affairs, Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, and Harvard International Review. He is a board member of several significant and influential international and governmental institutions, and he is native speaker of couple of languages including Persian, English, and Arabic. He also speaks Dari, and can converse in French, Hebrew. More at Harvard. And You can learn more about Dr. Rafizadeh on HERE. The post was originally published on the Arab News.