Basij

Mohammad Mokhber: Khamenei’s Confidant

On May 19, 2024, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi died in a helicopter crash. Mohammad Mokhber, the first deputy president, will serve as interim president until Iran holds elections for a new president. Iran...

Reading the Tea Leaves on Iran’s Other “Election”

The newly “re-elected” Assembly of Experts will play a large part in determining Iran’s post-Khamenei leadership.

Khamenei promises ‘de-Americanization’ of Mideast

All eyes are on Iran in terms of the next moves it may make.

Remarks by Behnam Ben Taleblu at FDD Event Promoting Maximum Support for the People of Iran One Year After Mahsa Amini’s Murder

We all have a song. A song whose lyrics resonate not just with us. But beyond us. That’s what “Baraye” or “For” in Persian, by Shervin Hajipour, became just over one year ago to Iranian protestors....

Iran Executes Three Protesters Despite International Outcry

Latest Developments Iran’s regime executed three innocent men on May 19 whom security forces arrested last year during anti-government protests. In a brief trial devoid of due process, Tehran falsely...

Canada must put Iran’s Revolutionary Guard on terrorist list under Criminal Code

“Excuses.” That’s how Hamed Esmaeilion, the former spokesperson for the Association of Families of Flight PS752 Victims, recently described Ottawa’s rationales for refusing to sanction Iran’s...

Iran’s Slow Boil

The clerical regime in Tehran has held the streets. It remains to be seen, however, if the strategies employed to keep the ayatollahs afloat will prevail. When Mahsa Amini, a young Sunni Kurdish-Iranian girl, died on September 16 in the custody of the morality police, nationwide demonstrations erupted, often with young women and girls on the frontlines.

EU and UK Impose Human Rights Sanction on Iran, but Not on Its President and Supreme Leader

Latest Developments  The European Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States rolled out coordinated sanctions against elements of the Islamic Republic’s security apparatus on Monday, citing the...

Security Challenges Facing the New Israeli Government

The State of Israel is not required by law to adopt a national security strategy. But the need for such a document has been often raised, and several efforts have been made to write one. In October 1953,...

Strategy for a New Comprehensive U.S. Policy on Iran

‘Adopt’ an Iranian Political Prisoner to Save a Life

The regime kills much more easily in darkness.

Tehran and Doha Team Up to Repress Iranian Dissidents at World Cup

Iran and Qatar have teamed up to suppress dissent against Tehran at the World Cup, which overlaps with sustained protests against the brutal regime in Iran. Tehran reportedly worked to prevent dissidents from attending the games, while critics of the Islamist regime watching the games in Iran and in Qatar faced harsh treatment.

Maximum Support for the Iranian People: A New Strategy

Introduction U.S. policy since the 2009 election-related uprising in Iran has gradually incorporated a variety of human rights related sanctions and designations to name, shame, penalize, and deter Iranian...

Iran Using Minors to Suppress Protests in Iran

Iran is reportedly using minors to crush protests in Iran. In recent weeks, photos have emerged showing children wearing unforms of the Basij militia, a branch of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). “Alongside the uniformed police stood many more plainclothes Basiji units. Some of them were clearly minors,” one Iranian protester reported. International law prohibits the recruitment or use of children in hostilities. Two U.S. laws penalize foreign countries and persons who recruit or use children in hostilities.

U.S. Offer of Sanctions Relief Remains Active Despite Iran Protests

Human rights groups report that the Islamic Republic of Iran has killed at least 233 Iranians, including at least 32 minors, while detaining thousands more during mass protests over the past five weeks. Though the State Department said last week that nuclear talks with Iran are “not our focus right now,” the Biden administration has yet to withdraw offers of sanctions relief already made to the regime in Tehran — leaving the door open for lifting sanctions on entities and sectors of Iran’s economy that finance the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which has played a role in suppressing protests.

Raisi Addresses UN Despite Grim Human Rights Record

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi described the West as “the real violators of human rights” at the UN General Assembly on Wednesday. At the same time, protests continued to sweep across Iran in response to his own government’s human rights abuses — specifically, the Sept. 16 death of a 22-year-old woman, Mahsa Amini, in police custody for violating headscarf laws. These protests challenge the legitimacy of Raisi himself, who won a fraudulent election for president last year and bears a decades-long record of human rights abuses against the Iranian people.

Waiting for Thermidor: America’s Foreign Policy Towards Iran

The Islamic Republic of Iran may be on an accelerated schedule for revolutionary decay, at least if compared to the USSR.

Iran’s Economy is Growing, But So Is Iranian Discontent

Why is Iran’s economic growth not translating into a better quality of life for Iranians?

Protests in Iran Are Surging. The Biden Administration Can Help.

U.S. policy can no longer afford to be limited to seeking a new nuclear deal.

Canada must designate Iran’s revolutionary guard as a terrorist group

Designating the IRGC as a terrorist group would serve as an act of justice that the families of the IRGC’s Canadian victims have long demanded.