I like this laughing Trump, think he's stick around a bit

 

US blames Iran for attack on oil tanker off Oman

The U.S. on Sunday accused Iran of being behind an attack on an Israeli-linked Mercer Street oil tanker last week that killed two workers on board.

"We join our partners and allies in our strong condemnation of the attack against the Mercer Street, a commercial ship that was peacefully transiting through the north Arabian Sea in international waters," Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.

"Upon review of the available information, we are confident that Iran conducted this attack, which killed two innocent people, using one-way explosive UAVs, a lethal capability it is increasingly employing throughout the region."

On Thursday, the Liberian-flagged Mercer Street ship was attacked, with two crew members, British and Romanian, being killed as a result. The U.S. military said on Saturday that it had determined the attack was carried out by a drone strike.

The ship is owned by Maritime Zodiac which Israeli billionaire Eyal Ofer owns through his company the Zodiac Group shipping company.

Both Israel and the U.K. have accused Iran of carrying out the attack. Iran has denied any involvement.

...
"I declare unequivocally: Iran is the one that carried out the attack on the ship," adding that intelligence supports his claim," Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said.

"There is no justification for this attack, which follows a pattern of attacks and other belligerent behavior," Blinken added in his statement. "These actions threaten freedom of navigation through this crucial waterway, international shipping and commerce, and the lives of those on the vessels involved."

Blinken stated that the U.S. would be working with its partners and governments in the region to determine its response to this attack.

https://thehill.com/homenews/admini...oil-tanker-off-oman-forwarding-statement?rl=1

 

View attachment

 

Sounds like they might be getting COVID serious in Iran.

Iran’s health minister calls for lockdowns enforced by military
Iran’s health system could collapse amid a ‘catastrophic’ COVID surge, warns the country’s health minister.


By Maziar Motamedi
1 Aug 2021
Tehran, Iran – Iran’s health minister has called for two weeks of lockdowns enforced by armed forces and law enforcement to curb the alarmingly fast rise of COVID-19 cases across the country.

Saeed Namaki, who will likely be replaced after Ebrahim Raisi is inaugurated as the next president on Thursday, made the request in a letter to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei that was also widely published by Iranian media on Sunday.

Oman
“The pressure is so high that I’m worried even this plan won’t be enough, unless we reduce the exponential load of illnesses through quick preventive measures and boosting adherence to health protocols,” he wrote.

The minister said the fifth wave of coronavirus infections, this time dominated by the virulent Delta variant, could become even more “catastrophic” and “irreversible” if nothing is done because even if the country does not run out of hospital beds, it will run out of workers.

“Even though they are vaccinated, my co-workers are all becoming sick due to long bouts of sleeplessness and stress,” he said, also warning that the country’s health system could collapse.

The heads of 65 medical universities and faculties across the country also called for a lockdown in a letter to outgoing President Hassan Rouhani last week.

More than 3.9 million cases of COVID-19 have been registered in Iran since February 2020 and more than 91,000 people have lost their lives in what has long been the deadliest pandemic of the Middle East.

The health ministry said 366 more Iranians died on Sunday while its numbers show virus deaths have surged by 38 percent compared with a week earlier.

The more than 32,500 newly-discovered cases that were announced on Sunday ranked among some of the highest in the world, and also showed a 32 percent increase compared with a week before.


Loose lockdowns
Iran has introduced numerous temporary lockdowns and shutdowns across the country since the pandemic began, but most have been loosely enforced.

The government put capital Tehran and neighbouring Alborz under complete lockdown for six days in late July, but it was deemed mostly pointless as hardly any businesses closed down and travel restrictions were flouted amid low enforcement of protocols.

The situation has gotten significantly worse since then, but health officials have warned that the fifth wave of infections has yet to reach its peak.

Alireza Raisi, the spokesman of the national anti-coronavirus task force, said on Saturday that 29 of Iran’s 31 provinces are now in the throes of the Delta variant and hospital beds are quickly being filled.

Hundreds of cities across the country are now classified “red” in a colour-coded scale denoting the severity of outbreaks.







The task force’s spokesman Raisi also said adherence to health protocols requiring the use of face masks and observing physical distancing has dropped to below 40 percent across the country while it stood at above 70 percent less than two months ago.

Apart from other difficulties, implementing a forced two-week lockdown across the country is sure to prove challenging for Iranian authorities as people and businesses are under immense economic pressure due to United States sanctions and decades of mismanagement.

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In an economy marked by inflation of more than 40 percent and high unemployment, many have been unable to close down shop.

But the last-ditch request for a strict lockdown also runs counter to the health minister’s previous rhetoric.

Namaki, who has frequently praised the supreme leader for his guidance during the pandemic, had last week repeated his claim that “the world is today in awe of how we have managed to both contain the illness with help from God, and produce medicine, equipment and vaccines”.


Vaccine rollout gains pace
Iran’s vaccine rollout has accelerated in the past two weeks as several more million doses have been imported after months of lag that officials said was due to US sanctions and missed deadlines by other countries.

So far, jabs have been imported from China, Russia, India, Cuba, and COVAX, the global vaccine effort.

But still, according to the health ministry, only about 10 million people have received at least one dose of a vaccine in a country of more than 83 million.

People aged above 55 can currently sign up at the health ministry website to be inoculated.

Officials say more than half a million doses of COVIran Barekat, the country’s first locally developed vaccine, have also been administered across the country so far.

Local vaccines are expected to be rolled out in larger numbers during the next few months to fill the gaps left by lacklustre imports.

Iran has several other vaccine candidates in the works, including one jab developed by an organisation under the defence ministry, one under the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and one being developed by the private sector.

The Barekat vaccine, two doses of which have been administered to Khamenei, has been developed by a powerful organisation under the supreme leader.







Source: Al Jazeera

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021...ster-calls-for-lockdowns-enforced-by-military

 

"And I will bless them that bless thee, and him that curseth thee will I curse; and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed."


Iran is doomed!

 

Now this is iran, commit a terrorist act they think is against Israel, wind up killing innocents then threaten any response....like a bully, let me hit you and you cant hit me back....

iran is a nation that should not be allowed to have nuclear power because they prove to be a murderous terrorist regime willing to kill innocent civilians

Iran warns against retaliation for Mercer Street attack
UK ambassador: Israel has own considerations on Iran response * Reports claim Israel "greenlit" by UK and US to respond to ship attack

Iran has warned against any form of retaliation following the deadly drone attack that hit the Mercer Street ship that killed two people.

Though Iran has denied being behind the attack on the Israeli-managed ship on which a Romanian and British national were killed, an Iranian official was quoted by Nour News on Monday as saying that Tehran would respond to any move made against it.
“Although the Islamic Republic of Iran considers the threats of Western officials and those of the Zionist regime as propaganda, any move against the interests and national security of Iran will face a tough and firm response, and Washington and London will be directly responsible for its consequences,” an Iranian official said Monday.

Earlier, Romanian Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu said that Bucharest will work with international partners on a response to the Iranian attack.
“Based on [the] available info, Romania strongly condemns [the] Iranian drone attack against Mercer Street, during which a [Romanian] citizen was killed,” Aurescu tweeted. “There is no justification whatsoever for deliberately attacking civilians.”
The remark from Bucharest came the day after Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said they are certain Iran was behind Friday’s attack on the vessel.

 

Blinken Condemns Ship Attack

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday blamed Iran for an attack on a cargo ship off the coast of Oman, joining the United Kingdom and Israel in condemning an apparent suicide drone attack that killed two crewmembers aboard.


Blinken’s statement did not elaborate on why Iran targeted the ship, which the shipping company said was empty of cargo. Although flying a Liberian flag, the ship is part of Israeli billionaire Eyal Ofer’s Zodiac group.


The attack appears to be yet another episode in a tit-for-tat maritime conflict between Iran and Israel that has ramped up since 2019. Israel’s targets have reportedly included arms and fuel shipments meant to shore up Bashar al-Assad’s government in Syria—so much so that Russian naval ships have escorted Iranian vessels to prevent interference. Iran’s targets have been more wide-ranging, from arms shipments to car carriers to the latest attack on a cargo ship.


Israel tensions. How or indeed, if, Israel responds will be an indicator of how much Prime Minister Naftali Bennett differs from his predecessor, Benjamin Netanyahu. Writing in July, Foreign Policy’s Anchal Vohra described a growing consensus among Israeli analysts that Bennett needs only “calculated risks” in the maritime arena while focusing on the more direct targets of Iran’s nuclear program and arms depots in Syria.

Iran-Saudi relations. Although Iranian arms shipments to Hezbollah are likely to continue, those in support of Assad’s government in Syria may soon dry up. That’s according to a report in the Asia Times teasing an impending rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Iran which could include a quid pro quo: A Saudi withdrawal from Yemen in return for an Iranian drawdown in Syria

Foreign Policy Morning Brief

 

Admitting the undeniable

 

The world know iran, and no amount of bumbling lies can change that

Belgian MPs confront Iran regime’s ‘lies, racism and deep-rooted hatred’
The Belgian lawmakers received a letter from Mohammad Basher Qalibaf in which he accused "the Zionist Regime" of a litany of false accusations.

Iran, a systematic abuser of human rights, is hypocritical in its criticisms of Israel, the only real democracy in the Middle East, Belgian legislators Michael Freilich and Darya Safai wrote to Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, speaker of Iran’s Islamic Consultative Assembly, on Monday.
The lawmakers had received a letter from Qalibaf, addressed to his Belgian counterpart, in which he accused “the Zionist regime” of having “severely beaten and injured a large number of Palestinian citizens... in al-Aqua Mosque for worshiping God Almighty.”
Qalibaf said Israel has committed war crimes and violates human rights, including the right to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression of “the oppressed and defenseless people of Palestine.”
The Iranian parliamentary speaker also claimed that Israel has banned vaccine distribution to Palestinians.
He summed up his litany of false accusations by calling on the world to “immediately investigate the critical situation in al-Aqsa Mosque and take effective action to stop the crimes of the Zionists immediately.”
Safai, an Iranian refugee who the Islamic Republic imprisoned after she participated in a protest, and Freilich, who is Jewish, told Qalibaf they had read his letter “with disbelief.”

“If there is anything outrageous, then it is your incredible audacity in making these claims that are known to be based on lies, racism and deep-rooted hatred,” they wrote.
The legislators decried the hypocrisy of the Iranian regime accusing others of violating freedom of expression, assembly and other human rights.
“In 2019 alone, you murdered 1,500 protesters in the streets of Tehran... Your country routinely hangs or throws LGBTQ+ individuals from public buildings... Let’s not forget your recent attempts to kidnap an Iranian dissident journalist in New York or your country’s flagrant involvement in a major terrorist plot on European soil,” they wrote.

“You shamelessly speak about freedom of religion while you [persecute] the followers of the Baha’i religion and deny Sunni Muslims places of worship and subject them to societal discrimination and economic deprivation,” they added. “You speak about Israel’s ‘outrageous discriminatory policies during the COVID-19 pandemic and the banning of vaccine distribution,’ a blatant lie, while your own leaders deny Iranians US- or UK-produced vaccines to save lives.”
The lawmakers also mentioned Iran’s violations of the nuclear deal’s restrictions, its development of ballistic missiles and cyber warfare.

“And now, hypocritically, you call for action against Israel, the only real democracy in the Middle East, a country whose basic right to exist you deny,” they wrote. “Israel, through the signing of the recent Abraham Accords, has shown once again that it is open to peace with its Arab neighbors.”

It is possible to criticize Israel in a constructive manner, Freilich and Safai said, voicing support for a peaceful two-state solution to the conflict with the Palestinians.
In addition, they said they do not have a problem with the Iranian people, “who have suffered through decades of abuse at the hands of its leaders,” but rather with the regime.
“If you hold any decency, you would resign and repent for the crimes and atrocities that you are a partner to,” they wrote. “Know this: The forces of good will always triumph over the forces of evil. It will not be different this time. Justice shall prevail!”

 

Yes he can improve Iran's economy tomorrow by just re entering the Iran nuclear deal today.

Can Iran’s new President Raisi fix a deeply troubled economy?
Iran’s economy has been crippled by United States sanctions and decades-long structural issues.


Supporters of newly inaugurated Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi display his portrait during a celebratory rally for his presidential election victory [File: Majid Asgaripour/West Asia News Agency via Reuters]
By Maziar Motamedi
2 Aug 2021
Tehran, Iran – Ebrahim Raisi, who will be sworn in on Thursday as Iran’s eighth president, inherits a troubled economy whose fate has been intertwined with political upheavals.

The “revolutionary” government he’s promised to form has a Herculean task ahead to fix an economy that suffers from a toxic mix of United States sanctions, the COVID-19 pandemic, and structural issues that have taken hold after decades of mismanagement.


One inescapable economic hardship that increasingly makes everyday life more difficult for Iranians is inflation, which many Iranian economists and analysts expect to remain above 40 percent at least until later this year.

This is while the central bank had set a target of 22 percent for annual inflation for both the previous and the current Iranian calendar year, which ends in March 2022.

“Unfortunately, today we are on the brink of a severe and uncontrollable inflationary situation,” economist Masoud Nili warned in a meeting of economists with Raisi in early July, according to a government press release.

According to a report by the labour ministry, food inflation crossed the “crisis” threshold in the month ending June 21, with over two-thirds of staples like meat, rice and fruits seeing an average annual price hike of at least 24 percent.

Other food essentials have exceeded even that, with prices of butter, chicken and liquid oil skyrocketing by 121 percent, 118 percent, and 89 percent in the past year, respectively.

Global food prices have spiked this year as economies scale back COVID-19 restrictions and reopen for business, triggering supply bottlenecks.

But that has only exacerbated Iran’s inflationary problems that predate the pandemic.


A lightning-fast increase in money supply has been the main culprit driving the devaluation of the Iranian rial, especially as US sanctions blocked the country’s access to its own currency reserves outside the country.

US sanctions have also effectively cut Iran out of the global economy, slashing oil revenues and incomes. As the administration of former US President Donald Trump barraged Iran with one blacklisting after another, the cash-strapped government of former President Hassan Rouhani kept leaning on a dependent central bank to print more money.

Since 2018, when the Trump administration unilaterally abandoned Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers and embarked on a maximum pressure campaign to hobble the country’s economy, Iranian officials have promised to introduce “structural reforms” to wean the country’s overstretched budget off of oil revenues.

But even as the government was accused of shoring up its finances by encouraging ordinary Iranians to jump into a stock market bubble that burst, it still faced a massive budget deficit that is believed to reach as high as 3 quadrillion rials ($12bn) for the current fiscal year ending March 2022.

Meanwhile, the unemployment rate for all workers was 9.6 percent for the calendar year that ended in March, according to the central bank, and 16.7 percent for youths aged 18 to 35.

Inflation, as well as inequality, corruption and housing were all issues that surfaced during televised presidential debates in June.

Raisi promised to build four million homes in four years to alleviate a housing crunch, overhaul the outdated banking system, create one million jobs annually, and slash inflation by half before gradually bringing it down to single digits.

His predecessors made similar promises, on which they largely failed to deliver.

The JCPOA factor
Iran says by relying on its “resistance economy” doctrine of boosting local production, it has largely weathered the storm of US sanctions and the deadliest pandemic in the Middle East.

The central bank claims the economy grew by 3.6 percent during the previous calendar year ending in late March.

But even the country’s hardliners who spent years bashing the nuclear deal as an abject failure have said it must be restored to lift US sanctions.

Raisi has also promised to form a “strong” government that would be able to exact concessions from the West during talks over the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), as the nuclear deal is formally known, and lift US sanctions for good.

But even if the nuclear deal is revived with little or no changes to its original text, economist Meysam Hashemkhani says the immediate impact on the economy would be modest.

“The whole world witnessed Trump’s withdrawal from the JCPOA and would consider the risk of something like that happening again in dealing with Iran,” he told Al Jazeera.

“Even if they might have thought Trump was wrong, they saw what happened. So now the JCPOA must remain stable for a few years for others to believe it’s sustainable.”

In the short term though, Hashemkhani believes a full restoration of the nuclear deal can prevent some further harm to the country, and especially its beleaguered private sector businesses that have faced a myriad of challenges, including but not limited to money transfer issues.

The government could sell more oil, but Hashemkhani said he’s not optimistic that would translate into a major improvement for the oil-dependent economy, which has been dealing with similar structural issues for decades.

In the long run, he said Iran should capitalise on opportunities presented by the restoration of the nuclear deal by inoculating itself against the potential for it to fall apart again.

“Iran has to reach strategic alliances with countries in the region in the form of long-term trade agreements lasting at least 15 years,” he said.

Through these agreements, and boosting tourism and investment deals, regional interests would become so intertwined that the US would have to think twice before considering reneging on the JCPOA again, he added.

Hashemkhani also believes resolving long-standing issues like budget deficits and inflation are not tied to sanctions, and can be remedied through policy changes like abolishing the artificial currency rate for imports and similar measures that encourage rent-seeking activities and waste billions each year.

He said neighbours Iraq and Afghanistan, for instance, have faced larger crises and constant instability but have maintained single-digit inflation.

“In contrast,” he said, “inflation in Iran stood at an average of 15 percent during the three years the JCPOA was in effect.”

Source: Al Jazeera

https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2021/8/2/iran-president-raisi-fix-economy

 

Except the mullas dont care about the economy, every dollar they get goes toward building nukes

 

Biden is sucking mullah dick so hard to get back to that nuke deal, the mullas know it and can do anything they want and all biden can do is swallow...iran played biden like a crackhead looking for rock

Threatening Iran is meaningless with sanction relief in play - analysis
The mixed messages of talking tough while offering sanctions relief allow Iran to continue its malign behavior and rush to a nuclear weapon with impunity.


Three days after the Iranian drone attack on the Israel-managed Mercer Street ship off the coast of Oman, and a day after the US and UK publicly named Iran as the culprit in the bombing that killed a British and a Romanian national, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson talked tough.
“Iran should face up to the consequences of what they’ve done,” Johnson said. “This was clearly an unacceptable and outrageous attack on commercial shipping. A UK national died.”

Secretary of State Antony Blinken came out with a statement the night before that was strongly-worded - for him - saying the bombing “follows a pattern of attacks and other belligerent behavior.”
“We are working with our partners to consider our next steps and consulting with governments...on an appropriate response, which will be forthcoming,” he warned.

This raises the questions of what those “consequences” or a “forthcoming” and “appropriate response” will actually be.
A few hours after Johnson spoke, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki poured water on the chance that there would be serious implications, saying during a White House press briefing that “as it relates to our own engagement in nuclear talks...our view is that every single challenge and threat we face from Iran would be made more pronounced and dangerous by an unconstrained nuclear program.”

“So, put another way, constraining Iran’s nuclear program by returning to the JCPOA will put us in a better position to address these other problems,” Psaki said.
In other words, Iran’s assault on a commercial ship will not deter the Biden administration from its mission to return to the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action nuclear deal.
“Constraining Iran’s nuclear program,” as Psaki put it, sounds good on its own - though Israel has long pointed out the JCPOA’s many weaknesses and loopholes - but she conveniently left out the fact that in order to get Iran to agree to those limitations, the US has offered to lift all sanctions, as US Special Envoy for Iran Rob Malley has attested. Plus, the US has not been enforcing many of the sanctions in place since Biden entered office in January.
And that, apparently, has not changed for the US after the Mercer Street attack. In fact, we've seen Iran try to kidnap a US citizen on American soil, increase uranium enrichment to 60%, develop uranium metal and block International Atomic Energy Agency access to nuclear sites in recent weeks with impunity and no repercussions as far as the sanctions relief offer is concerned.

Psaki seems to be saying that Iran could pile on “every single challenge and threat” - more terrorist attacks, more civilians killed, more proxy warfare, more progress on its nuclear program in violation of the JCPOA, more Americans, Brits and other Western hostages held in the notorious Evin prison - and the Biden administration will still look to lift sanctions and still view reviving the deal as the best option.

 

Well, but he is being robust about it, right?

 

I always thought Israel should go to the useless UN over every single palistinaian rocket, stabbing and bombing, if for nothing else to get pali terrorism on record, a public relations campaign to show cause...then bomb the piss out of 'em.
Bennett rightly so, points out the Butcher of Tehran is now in charge of iran,

Biden and the world would be intentionally blind to go back to a nuke deal with.....
"The new Iranian president has been nicknamed “the Butcher of Tehran,” because of the former judge’s role in the execution of thousands of Iranian dissidents, which earned him US sanctions for human rights violations and war crimes charges in Sweden."

Bennett: Iran’s days of igniting the Middle East are over
The prime minister spoke of Israeli efforts to bring the international community to its side but added that “at the same time, we know how to act alone.”


Iran can no longer continue its aggression with impunity, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett warned on a visit to the IDF Northern Command on Monday.
“Iran knows the price we exact from anyone threatening our security,” he said. “The Iranians need to understand that they cannot sit peacefully in Tehran and ignite the whole Middle East from there. That is over.”
The increase in the defense budget, as part of the state budget the cabinet passed on Sunday, is a reflection of Israel’s seriousness about investing in countering the Iranian threat, the prime insisted said.

Bennett’s remarks came several days after Iran launched a suicide drone attack one the Mercer Street, an Israeli-managed ship, killing a Romanian and a British national. The US, UK and Romania said they are certain Iran was behind the attack and that they will work on a response.
The prime minister spoke of Israeli efforts to bring the international community to its side against Iran, including by sharing the intelligence showing Iran was the perpetrator, but added that “at the same time, we know how to act alone.”

Bennett also criticized the European Union for sending Enrique Mora, the EU coordinator in Iran nuclear talks and deputy secretary-general of the European External Action Services, the EU's foreign ministry, to attend incoming Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi's inauguration this week.
“Raisi is the most extreme Iranian president so far, and it’s a stiff competition,” Bennett said. “I call on the European Union: you cannot talk about human rights while honoring a murderer, a hangman, who killed hundreds of dissidents.”

The new Iranian president has been nicknamed “the Butcher of Tehran,” because of the former judge’s role in the execution of thousands of Iranian dissidents, which earned him US sanctions for human rights violations and war crimes charges in Sweden.

Foreign Ministry Spokesman Lior Haiat said “the decision of the European Union to send a senior representative to the swearing-in ceremony of the ‘Butcher of Tehran’ is puzzling and shows poor judgment.”

 

iran is being recognized as the threat to the world they are

Britain tells UN 'highly likely' Iran behind deadly tanker attack
"This attack disrupted and posed a risk to the safety and security of international shipping and was a clear violation of international law," the countries said in a letter to the 15-member council.

Britain, Romania and Liberia told the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday that it was "highly likely" that Iran used one or more drones to carry out a deadly tanker attack last week off the coast of Oman.
"This attack disrupted and posed a risk to the safety and security of international shipping and was a clear violation of international law," the countries said in a letter to the 15-member council seen by Reuters. "This act must be condemned by the international community."

 

This is what the world thinks of the new head mullah in iran, the guy Biden want to make a nuke deal with

Human rights groups slam EU for sending diplomat to Raisi inauguration
Senior Israeli diplomatic source says Raisi and others were documented eating cream puffs to celebrate the execution of Iranian dissidents.


A group of opposition and human rights groups from Iran slammed the European Union for its decision to send a senior diplomat to the inauguration of Ebrahim Raisi, Iran’s new president.
“The EU cannot be credible on human rights if it celebrates Ebrahim Raisi as president of Iran,” a statement said. It was posted online and shared on social media.
According to the statement, the EU decided to send a senior diplomat, Enrique Mora, for the inauguration of Raisi.
“We, as movements representing the peoples and opposition in Iran, do not understand this move. There has been no EU representative to the inauguration of Lukashenka as president of Belarus. Why is the EU now sending a representative to co-celebrate the inauguration of Raisi? Our question is whether we, as people from Central Asia, are seen as less valuable than people from Belarus. Is the EU choosing a different approach based on race?”
Iranian journalist and activist Masih Alinejad also condemned the EU decision in a video she posted online. “I’m furious to find out that Enrique Mora, EU’s deputy secretary-general/political director, has attended Ebrahim Raisi’s inauguration ceremony today. This empowers Raisi, who has committed crimes against humanity, to kill more people.”
The statement posted online from minority and human rights groups was signed by the Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan, the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan, the Free Balochistan Movement, the Democratic Solidarity Party of Al Ahwaz, the Baluchistan People’s Party and the Azerbaycan Democratik Birliyi-Birlik, as well as the Freie Bürger Mitteldeutschland, Fridays for Future, the Rojhelat Women Organization, the European Syriac Union, the Youth Organization of Iranian Kurdistan, Kolbarnews and the Hana Human Rights Organization. These represent a diverse range of groups linked to minorities in Iran and human rights activists.

The statement said that there is no question whether Raisi is a human rights abuser.
“The EU is well aware of the fact that this man presided in 1988 and 2019 over the killing and torture of many thousands of people.... The EU is also aware that the election of Raisi was a scam.”
The statement compares the abuses in Iran with the leadership of Belarus and questions why the EU did not attend the 2020 inauguration in Belarus but sought to go to the one in Iran. European ambassadors boycotted the inauguration of President Alexander Lukashenko to protest his government’s crackdown on political opponents at the time.

A SENIOR Israeli diplomatic source said that Israel and the US are of one mind on the matter and have expressed their dissatisfaction to the EU and other countries that sent representatives to the event.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and the Foreign Ministry publicly criticized the European Union.
“Raisi is the most extreme Iranian president of them all, and the competition is tough,” Bennett said on Tuesday. “I call on the EU: One cannot talk about human rights and simultaneously honor a murderer [and] a hangman, who has eliminated hundreds of opponents of the regime.”
Israel is seeking to emphasize to the world that Raisi is “a cold-blooded killer” who cannot be accepted by the global community, the diplomatic source said, adding that Israel has documentation of Raisi and others eating cream puffs to celebrate the execution of Iranian dissidents in which he was involved.
The human rights groups pointed to recent protests in Iran and the reported arrests of thousands protesting water scarcity. “Arabs, Kurds, Baloch, Turks, Lur and Fars are on the streets of Iran to demand the same as every European citizen is entitled to. The EU is aware of this but decided to ignore it. Iran, just in the last week, killed a Romanian citizen through an unwarranted drone attack on a cargo ship, as confirmed by the UK and the US.”
The statement also referenced Iran’s activities in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and other countries.
In recent weeks, protesters in Iran have called for the regime to stop its involvement abroad, angry that resources from the Islamic Republic go to Gaza but not to locals who lack basic things like electricity.
“Sending Enrique Mora to Iran for the inauguration of Ebrahim Raisi means that the EU tells the peoples of the Middle East and Iran that you have to either be white or flee to Europe to obtain human dignity and the right to life,” the statement read.
“We urge the EU to fulfill its democratic and human rights commitments in its diplomatic relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran and Ebrahim Raisi’s administration. We urge you to address the crimes committed against humanity, rather than standing with those who commit the crimes. We urge the EU to stand up for its own principles, which are in the interest of both EU and Iranian citizens and that of all peoples oppressed by this regime.”

 

At inauguration, Raisi promises Iran’s ‘engagement with world’
New president reiterates stance that boosting relations with regional neighbours top of his foreign policy.

 

Iran will engage the world?
Betcha!