<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/iran" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Iran</a> faces a moment of historic weakness following Israel&#8217;s airstrikes on military facilities throughout the Islamic country on Saturday morning.
As the world&#8217;s leading state sponsor of terrorism considers whether it will respond to the strikes, a new report suggests that the country&#8217;s leader has become gravely ill.
Buried in a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/26/world/middleeast/iran-israel-retaliation.html?searchResultPosition=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> from The New York Times on Saturday was the revelation that intelligence officials believe that 85-year-old Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is &#8220;seriously ill.&#8221;
The report noted that Khamenei&#8217;s health was a factor the regime was having to contend with as it weighs the risks of responding to a vastly superior Israeli military.
The country&#8217;s economy continues to struggle and a war with Israel would likely result in its oil infrastructure being wiped out, which would crash its economy again.
Israel has also decimated Iran&#8217;s top two terrorist proxy groups — Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza — that it has propped up to attack the Jewish State.
<a href="https://www.amiracist.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.amiracist.com/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1729077615157000&amp;usg=AOvVaw17Kprl74oE9DYOLREdiBPU">MATT WALSH’S ‘AM I RACIST?’ COMING TO DAILYWIRE+ OCT. 28</a>
The Israel Air Force (IAF) destroyed key air defense systems in Syria, Iraq, and Iran early on Saturday morning as part of its strike on Iran so that it could operate with impunity over Iranian airspace.
Knowing that it cannot defend itself against a technologically superior foe, Iran &#8220;is also dealing with serious domestic dissent over rising prices and its harsh rule, which play into any calculation for retaliation,&#8221; the report said.
The report said that it&#8217;s because the regime is losing popularity among its citizens that Khamenei &#8220;allowed the election of a more moderate president, Masoud Pezeshkian, after the harder-line Ebrahim Raisi died in a helicopter crash.&#8221;
&#8220;Complicating matters, a quiet battle has emerged over succession,&#8221; the report later added as it highlighted the reports of Khamenei&#8217;s illness.
&#8220;With Mr. Raisi gone, there is internal disquiet over the possibility that Ayatollah Khamenei’s second son, Mojtaba, 55, might succeed him,&#8221; the report said. &#8220;The powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps will have an important say and is considered more willing to confront Israel.&#8221;

Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei Now ‘Seriously Ill’

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

Global Politics

Iran

Israel

World

Iran&#8217;s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been in hiding for nearly a week after Israel killed Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Iranian-backed terrorist group, in an airstrike late last week.
Khamenei had tried repeatedly to get Nasrallah to flee Lebanon and come to Iran for weeks before he was killed, fearing that it was only a matter of time before Israel got to him, Reuters <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/irans-khamenei-warned-nasrallah-israeli-plot-kill-him-sources-say-2024-10-02/">reported</a>.
The Iranian leader, who personally ordered the firing of nearly 200 ballistic missiles at Israel this week, has become deeply paranoid about Israeli infiltration throughout the Iranian government, military, and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Khamenei authorized the missile attack on Israel after concluding, at the insistence of senior IRGC commanders, that it would be riskier to do nothing in response to Israel killing Nasrallah and Hamas terrorist leader Ismail Haniyeh inside of Iran over the summer.
<a href="https://www.amiracist.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.amiracist.com/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1726313279401000&amp;usg=AOvVaw115_qPFFEePDP86-Fvo-Vd">Am I Racist? Is In Theaters NOW — Get Your Tickets Here!</a>
Senior IRGC commander, Brigadier General Abbas Nilforoushan, who Khamenei sent to convince Nasrallah to come to Iran, was killed alongside Nasrallah in Israel&#8217;s airstrike on the deeply fortified bunker where they were hiding in Beirut.
The report said that Khamenei has remained &#8220;in a secure location inside Iran since Saturday&#8221; and has not left over fears that he is next on Israel&#8217;s list.
There has been a widespread collapse in trust inside Hezbollah, Iran, and between Iran and the various terrorist proxy groups that it oversees, the report said.
The paranoia has become so rampant that Iran has started to arrest members of the IRGC — the hardline ideological faction of Iran&#8217;s military — over suspicions that they are working for Israel.
Sources inside Iran&#8217;s government told the publication that &#8220;the trust that held everything together has disappeared&#8221; and that Khamenei &#8220;no longer trusts anyone.&#8221;

Election Day In Iran

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei In Hiding After Israeli Strikes: Report

Ali Khamenei

Terrorism

Since when did the free press of the United States become a useful idiot? Why are mainstream media outlets, across the spectrum, parroting propaganda from the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI)? The Wall Street Journal spoke of the <a href="https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/irans-election-features-a-reformer-a-hardliner-and-a-crisis-3360fad2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">recent Iranian elections</a>, without declaring its sham nature. The Atlantic published an <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2024/07/iran-election-pezeshkian-khamenei/678948/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">unironic piece</a> detailing Ayatollah Khamenei&#8217;s fear of the reformist party, failing to note that Iran is a <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-57260831">totalitarian state</a>. Nothing happens without his approval, so what exactly does he have to fear? The New York Times is no better. Their <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/16/world/middleeast/iran-new-president-pezeshkian.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">recent portrayal</a> of the new Iranian president paints a sympathetic portrait.
Apparently, the following points need to be made for the American public.
One, the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) is an Islamic theocracy with Ayatollah Khamenei as its Supreme Leader. Khamenei’s regime controls everything in the country. I repeat: everything. This is a foreign concept to Americans basking in the land of the free. So let me provide an example. When I was living in Iran, the regime chose what college I attended. The regime chose my major. The regime forced me to cut my long hair. Like the other 80 million Iranians, I had no agency over my own life.
Moreover, external narratives originating from the regime cannot be trusted. This includes any Iranian news outlet, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-14542234" target="_blank" rel="noopener">as all media is state-run</a>. To maintain a modicum of grace within the Western world powers, the regime creates a facade of liberalism. This is their propaganda. It is a mirage, a lie sold to the West in order to continue <a href="https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/25701/how-iran-and-her-proxies-use-western-resources-to" target="_blank" rel="noopener">leeching Western resources</a>, like funding and research, to further entrench their ideology. Instead, listen to what they say behind our backs. MEMRI, an independent U.S.-based nonprofit, translates scores of <a href="https://www.memri.org/countries/iran" target="_blank" rel="noopener">internal IRI media</a>. Perusing these translations informs us of IRI’s true intentions.
Two, in general, the Iranian people are not our enemy. They suffer most under the oppressive regime and are essentially a collective political prisoner. The lucky few who escaped deserve our compassion and attention, not the ones who are <a href="https://medium.com/@mitra.jashni7/islamic-republic-apologists-in-the-west-are-cheering-for-nuclear-weapons-935f8064f297" target="_blank" rel="noopener">regime apologists</a> and come to the West to whitewash IRI’s crimes. They, who have endured trauma beyond comprehension, do not deserve  treatment similar from which they ran away. When I fled to America nearly eight years ago, I faced resistance when telling my story. It continues to alarm me that other Iranian dissidents, some who continue to face <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/iranian-dissidents-abductions-assassination-attemts-60-minutes-transcript/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">death threats</a> from the regime, are being silenced. Some even have <a href="https://www.npr.org/2024/01/29/1227634325/iran-murder-for-hire-plot-maryland" target="_blank" rel="noopener">terror plots against them</a>. Americans need to listen to these people. We have seen the other side (spoiler alert: it’s terrifying), we notice the warning signs, and we are committed to preserving freedom.
Three, the IRI seeks the destruction of the West, particularly America. This is not hyperbole. Don’t laugh this off. I know it sounds absurd. The end may not come with fire and brimstone, but perhaps rather a social unraveling. I fear that if <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/312644/national-pride-falls-record-low.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noopener">diminishing pride</a> in our country continues to grow, our institutions and infrastructure of freedom will whither. It can be metaphorical suicide to take our freedom for granted. There is a reason Ayatollah Khamenei <a href="https://twitter.com/khamenei_ir/status/1795963798831964411" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tweeted support</a> for American college student protesters and their encampments — which also highlights the regime’s double standard, as the Iranian people do not have access to Twitter. In fact, I echo the request of <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2023-03-22/iran-protests-target-ayatollah-khamenei-social-media-accounts" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Iranian dissidents</a> who call upon Elon Musk and other tech giants to ban Khamenei. The Supreme Leader gets high off of American turmoil. Our chaos is his schadenfreude. To be clear, anything that pleases Ayatollah Khamenei should revolt us. He <a href="https://apnews.com/article/iran-crime-government-and-politics-da53071412f8c3da9cd51945b7870780" target="_blank" rel="noopener">hangs political prisoners from cranes</a> for all to see.  He <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/25/opinions/nobel-peace-gender-apartheid-un-narges-mohammadi/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">upholds gender apartheid</a>, forcing women into a second-class caste. If Ayatollah Khamenei says you’re on the “right side of history,” you’re on the wrong side.
We need to be vigilant about our language. Language directly shapes how we understand our world. The stakes are too high to misunderstand the Iranian regime and the threat they pose. The challenge, of course, is that certain terms carry a different meaning in the IRI context. Words hold very different definitions within IRI. Words like “government” — for Americans this connotes something that is by the people for the people, which the Iranian regime is neither; “private” — the regime controls everything; “private” institutions in IRI are still public; “reformist” — this sounds palatable to Western ears, but the <a href="https://democrawonk.com/2024/06/28/iranian-elections-the-never-ending-saga-of-hardliners-vs-reformists/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reformists and hardliners in IRI are one and the same;</a> “crime” — did you know it is <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-62205744">illegal to own a dog in Iran?</a> 
If you struggle to understand the Islamic Republic, discard all that you know about the world and start anew. Just because a word is familiar, do not assume you know what it means in the IRI context.
Our journalists bear the burden of truth telling and clear communication. I urge them to reject IRI propaganda.
* * *
William Mehrvarz was born and raised in the Islamic Republic of Iran. After rejecting Islam (the crime of apostasy), he fled under the threat of execution to seek asylum in the United States. He now writes and speaks about the dangers of Islamism and the importance of religious freedom. William can be reached on <a href="https://x.com/WilliamMehrvarz" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://x.com/WilliamMehrvarz&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1723843824564000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2O7Yz6sD6Yq1snu_mkvACW">X</a>.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the Daily Wire.

Iran-Celebrating Iran’s IRGC Missile And UAV Attack Against Israel

I Am From Iran. Here’s Why American Journalists Need To Reject Iranian Propaganda.

I Am From Iran. Here's Why American Journalists Need To Reject Iranian Propaganda.

journalist

Legacy Media

New York Times

Propaganda

Radical Islam

The Atlantic

Wall Street Journal

On Sunday, a helicopter in the East Azerbaijan Province carrying the President of Iran as well as the foreign minister of Iran crashed, killing them as well as others on board. The president and the foreign minister of Iran were both murderous butchers, but the media have a very difficult time with this sort of information because they&#8217;re not sure whether they&#8217;re supposed to call terrorists and their supporters “austere religious scholars,” as we <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-50205592" target="_blank" rel="noopener">saw</a> with ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
Reuters <a href="https://x.com/Reuters/status/1792415003229999105" target="_blank" rel="noopener">posted on X</a> regarding Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi, who was nicknamed the “Butcher of Tehran,” that he “rose through Iran&#8217;s theocracy from hardline prosecutor to uncompromising president, as he burnished his credentials to position himself to become the next supreme leader.” 
<a href="https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/who-is-iran-president-ebrahim-raisi" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tablet Magazine</a> explained who Raisi was in a piece titled, “Meet ‘The Butcher,’ Iran’s New President Ebrahim Raisi,” writing:
<blockquote>Raisi became an Islamist ideologue as a teen studying in the seminary in Qom. After the revolution, when he was only 19 years old and lacking any university education, he was appointed as a prosecutor, rising over the following four decades to fill the positions of attorney general, deputy chief justice and, most recently, chief justice of Iran’s theocratic dictatorship.
Most notably, though, Raisi was one of four members of a death committee responsible for the 1988 execution of thousands of Iranian prisoners of conscience in the space of a few months. The ideologically motivated mass executions constituted both a crime against humanity and genocide—a cleansing of religious infidels—according to international human rights expert Geoffrey Robertson. It was a massacre, he says, comparable to those at Srebrenica and the Katyn Forest.
Raisi would typically spend only a few minutes with each prisoner—some young children—asking them questions to test their allegiance to radical Islam. The prisoners, mostly leftist revolutionaries who had helped bring the regime to power, typically refused to feign loyalty, even after prolonged and brutal torture, which in some cases was personally directed and overseen by Raisi. It is estimated that a minimum of a few thousand and as many as 30,000 were killed by hanging or firing squad. The massacre is still shrouded in secrecy, with the regime continuing to deny information to the families of those killed, including about the location of their loved ones’ remains.
What is known is the speed and efficiency of killing, with hangings using forklifts every half hour, and the dumping of dead bodies in piles on trucks, a method and pace that traumatized the executioners themselves. Virgins were systematically raped before their execution, to circumvent the Islamic prohibition on killing virgins and to prevent women and girls from reaching heaven. The executed were ordered to write their own names on their hands before they went to their death. The massacre is a trauma etched into the collective consciousness of all of the Iranian people, throughout the country and throughout the diaspora.
At the time, Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, who had been designated to succeed the revolutionary leader Khomeini, condemned the mass executions in an act of dissent. In response, Khomeini rescinded Montazeri’s clerical rank, canceled his selection as the next supreme leader, and condemned him to house arrest. In Montazeri’s place, Raisi rose up.
Raisi was an evil human being presiding over the death of American soldiers all across the Middle East as well as the spread of the terror tentacles of the Islamic Republic.</blockquote>
The foreign minister was Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, a close ally of Qassem Soleimani, the senior Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander and leader of terrorism who was killed in a United States airstrike in Baghdad in 2020.
<h4><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1968-the-2024-election-in-one-graph-member-exclusive" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Ben Shapiro Show</a></h4>
But here’s the salient point: The two men being killed is not going to change anything in the Middle East because Raisi was not the Ayatollah, and the Ayatollahs run Iran. They decide who the leadership is; they engage in massive amounts of fraud. Along with the IRGC, they run the country. 
The Ayatollahs are simply going to appoint somebody else to fill his stead. That person is likely Vice President Mohammed Mokhber, who is now taking over and has been <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/05/20/iran-acting-president-mohammad-mokhber/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sanctioned</a> by the United States and the EU. 
In order for the regime to be completely changed, you&#8217;d have to have a full-scale coup from within the IRGC or a popular uprising that overthrows the government. 
Meanwhile, the EU <a href="https://x.com/JanezLenarcic/status/1792240959180120305" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> they were activating their rapid response mapping service in view of the helicopter accident with the hashtag #EUSolidarity. Geert Wilders, the new leader of the elected coalition in The Netherlands, immediately <a href="https://x.com/geertwilderspvv/status/1792460811274961097" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tweeted</a>, “EU solidarity with evil,” which is exactly right. The president of the European Council <a href="https://x.com/CharlesMichel/status/1792438047058890987" target="_blank" rel="noopener">stated</a>, “The EU expresses its sincere condolences for the death of President Raisi and Foreign Minister Abdollahian, as well as other members of their delegation and crew in a helicopter accident. Our thoughts go to the families.” Wilders <a href="https://x.com/geertwilderspvv/status/1792474240798568701" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fired</a>, “Not in My Name!” — which is the correct response for the West.
It&#8217;s an absolute absurdity that there are so many members of the press, so many members of the EU, so many people inside the United States who will express condolences and solidarity with legitimate monsters who have spread terror all over the region and keep tens of millions of their own citizens in abject poverty and under the boot of an evil tyranny, tolerate <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/location/middle-east-and-north-africa/middle-east/iran/report-iran/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">chemical attacks deliberately targeting girls’ schools</a> nationwide, force girls out of school, and prosecute people who do not comply with Sharia law.
There are so many Westerners who can&#8217;t make basic moral distinctions.

TOPSHOT-IRAN-ACCIDENT-POLITICS-RAISI

Iranian President Killed In Helicopter Crash

Ben Shapiro

Middle East

Opinion

Readers Pass

Iranian Supreme Leader <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/ali-khamenei" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ayatollah Ali Khamenei</a> said during an address to his country this week that &#8220;death to America&#8221; is not just a slogan or a chant, it&#8217;s the country&#8217;s official policy toward the U.S.
The remarks come as the Islamic Republic, which is the world&#8217;s leading state sponsor of terrorism, has fueled attacks against Israel over the last month through several terrorist proxy groups, including Hamas, which murdered 1,400 Israelis. Terrorist leaders with Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad have repeatedly <a href="https://twitter.com/MEMRIReports/status/1720095669937992115" target="_blank" rel="noopener">stated</a> that Iran was the main backer behind their activities, providing them with money, weapons, and training.
Khamenei made the remarks Wednesday on Iran&#8217;s Channel 1, according to a video clip translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute.
&#8220;The situation between America and Iran is this: When you chant &#8216;Death to America!&#8217; it is not just a slogan – it is a policy,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I have stated the reasons previously. For many years, from the 1940s to the 1970s – that is 30 years – the Americans did everything they could do against the Iranian nation. They hit Iran in any way they could – financially, economically, politically, scientifically, and morally.&#8221;
&#8220;If it were not for America&#8217;s support, if it were not for the support of U.S. weapons, the corrupt and artificial Zionist regime would have been destroyed in the first week,&#8221; he claimed. &#8220;It would have collapsed. The Americans are behind this.&#8221;
He also claimed that Iran was not helping push anti-Semitic rallies across the world.
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WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei: Death to America Is Not Just a Slogan, It Is a Policy; The West Could Not Handle Anti-Israel and Anti-American Protests, So They Claimed Iran Was Behind Rallies in England <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Iran?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Iran</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Hamas?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Hamas</a> <a href="https://t.co/yuJqXU9d9z">pic.twitter.com/yuJqXU9d9z</a>
&mdash; MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) <a href="https://twitter.com/MEMRIReports/status/1720075915504628048?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 2, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei: ‘Death To America’ Is Not A Slogan, It’s ‘Our Policy’

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei: 'Death To America' Is Not A Slogan, It's 'Our Policy'

America

Disaffected members of Iran&#8217;s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) <a href="https://iranwire.com/en/politics/114906-exclusive-irgc-commanders-warn-khamenei-about-implosion/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reportedly targeted</a> the residence of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei with artillery.
The attempted attack, which appears to have been quickly foiled, is mentioned in a confidential report detailing a January 3 meeting in which IRGC commanders and security officials warned Khamenei about rising tensions in the country.
&#8220;Since the start of the protests, we have had personnel who have defied orders,&#8221; said a speaker identified as Gholamali Rashidi.
He appeared to reference the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/iran-morality-police-abolished-attorney-general-says" target="_blank" rel="noopener">recent protests</a> set off by the death of a woman, 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who died after being taken into custody by the morality police for allegedly violating the country’s dress code.
“One incident involved an individual targeting the Supreme Leader’s residence with artillery,&#8221; Rashidi added. &#8220;Thanks to the immediate response of our fellow members in the unit, the perpetrators were identified and apprehended.&#8221;
Leaders convened the meeting to mark the third anniversary of the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/top-iranian-general-revenge-for-soleimani-death-to-happen-within-u-s-no-one-will-forget-what-we-do" target="_blank" rel="noopener">U.S. military killing of Qassem Soleimani</a>, the commander of the IRGC&#8217;s Quds Force, according to IranWire, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/10/22/iran-wire-mahsa-amini-protest/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a website that publishes</a> the work of citizen journalists.
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Commanders reportedly told the supreme leader that significant elements of their forces refused orders to shoot at civilians. They also spoke of a drop in morale and a rise in conflicts among the IRGC ranks.
The IranWire report said decisions were made during the meeting to address the situation, including releasing detainees and boosting budgets. Khamenei instructed commanders to announce them in the following weeks, it added.

IRGC Rebels Tried To Bomb Ayatollah’s Home: Report

Protests

In a stunning admission of the heinous nature of Iran’s despotic, tyrannical government, a sister of Iran&#8217;s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei publicly condemned the government and urged their terrifying Revolutionary Guards to lay down their arms.
Writing in a letter that was shared on her son&#8217;s Twitter account, Badri Hosseini Khamenei, who lives in Iran, took on the Islamic Republic’s leaders dating back to the inception of the regime by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1979.
“I think it is appropriate now to declare that I oppose my brother&#8217;s actions and I express my sympathy with all mothers mourning the crimes of the Islamic Republic regime, from the time of Khomeini to the current era of the despotic caliphate of Ali Khamenei,” she <a href="https://twitter.com/moradkhani/status/1600257724524044288">wrote</a> in the letter shared on Wednesday.
“Ali Khamenei&#8217;s Revolutionary Guards and mercenaries should lay down their weapons as soon as possible and join the people before it is too late,” she added.
On Tuesday, the Revolutionary Guards urged the judiciary to “not show mercy to rioters, thugs and terrorists” in response to the protests that have surged against the government since the death of Mahsa Amini, 22, in police custody on September 16.
“In November, Khamenei&#8217;s activist niece Farideh Moradkhani was <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/niece-irans-supreme-leader-urges-world-cut-ties-with-tehran-over-unrest-online-2022-11-27/" data-testid="Link">arrested</a> by authorities after calling on foreign governments to cut all ties with Tehran,” <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/sister-irans-supreme-leader-condemns-his-rule-urges-revolutionary-guards-disarm-2022-12-07/">Reuters</a> noted.
Protests in Iran have surged since the <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/16/middleeast/iranian-woman-dies-police-intl/index.html">death of Amini</a>. Between her death and November 19, 378 Iranians were killed by the government’s “security forces,” including 47 children and 27 women, according to <a href="https://iranhr.net/en/articles/5594/">the non-profit Iran Human Rights</a> (IHR).
“Based on our information, the killing of protesters were committed exclusively by the Islamic Republic’s repressive forces,” Director of Iran Human Rights Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam stated. “The responsibility for the killing of protesters rests solely with the Islamic Republic and its leader, Ali Khamenei.”
According to IHR, protesters had been killed in 25 provinces, with 40 protesters killed in by state “security forces” in the week between November 12 and November 19.
In July 2021, in a <a href="https://amir-etemadi.medium.com/iranian-opposition-to-israels-prime-minister-continue-your-nation-s-correct-policy-and-support-6ac3af91ef4e">letter</a> to then-Israel Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, over 30 Iranians who opposed the despotic, theocratic Islamic government of Iran urged Bennett to target the regime with “increased decisiveness.”
The group, which included political prisoners, artists, athletes, lawyers, journalists, and medical professionals, slammed the Iranian regime’s “promotion of international terrorism,” as well as its creation of “poverty, economic bankruptcy, suppression, and a myriad of social problems for the people of Iran.”
The group added, “The regime that massacres Iranian protesters in streets across our country is the head of the octopus whose tentacles are the terrorists who extend insecurity to the state of Israel and other nations in our region.”
They requested “that you support the Iranian people with anti-filtering and anti-censorship technology,” and concluded, “We await the day when the two ancient nations of Iran and Israel, under the auspices of the Cyrus Accords, establish serious political, cultural, economic, and technological relations and we believe that day is closer than ever.”

Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei

Stunning Bravery: Sister Of Iranian Supreme Leader, Living In Iran, Condemns ‘Despotic’ Government

Stunning Bravery: Sister Of Iranian Supreme Leader Condemns Iran's Government

Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps

Politics

The Iranian people burned campaign posters and vandalized Tehran with pro-democracy messages as they organized an unprecedented public boycott of what citizens said is a sham presidential election this week.
&#8220;Our vote is regime change and Yes to a democratic Iran,&#8221; was <a href="https://twitter.com/r_siavosh/status/1404431423164006401">scrawled</a> on walls in Tehran, along with other messages like, “we will not vote for murderers.” Posters of the regime&#8217;s favored candidate were vandalized and burned in the days leading up to the election, video footage provided to The Daily Wire showed.
Video clips filmed on Friday by supporters of the resistance inside Iran and provided to The Daily Wire show scenes of dozens of deserted polling sites across the country, including in the country&#8217;s capital.
Faced with what appeared to be abysmal turnout, the Iranian Interior Ministry <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/asia-pacific/20210618-live-iran-votes-in-presidential-poll-with-few-choices-high-apathy">announced</a> Friday evening that polling station hours would be extended late into the night until 2 a.m. or as long as voters showed up at polling places.
The presidential candidate favored by Iran&#8217;s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei&#8217;s regime is judiciary chief Ebrahim Raisi, a hardliner who was involved in the <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/i-was-lucky-escape-my-life-massacre-iranian-political-prisoners-1988-must-now-be-investigated-8779679.html">mass executions</a> of Iranian political prisoners in 1988. Raisi, who is all but guaranteed to win, was sanctioned for his role in the executions by former President Donald Trump in 2019. The candidate&#8217;s sordid past appears to be one of the chief factors lending strength to the resistance movement this election cycle.
Popular uprisings in December 2017 and November 2019 that turned deadly, killing hundreds of protesters, appear to have caused Khamenei to support loyalists like Raisi as he works to strengthen his control.
Protesting elections in their country, which has been on the U.S. state terror sponsor list for decades, is nothing new to Iranians, but the movement has a different energy this time — they are no longer hiding their identities.
Mothers and fathers of young Iranians killed by the regime for peacefully protesting posted video messages to social media of themselves calling for an election boycott. The bereaved parents held pictures of their dead children as they introduced themselves by name and condemned the election as rigged.
&#8220;I won&#8217;t vote. My vote is regime change,&#8221; <a href="https://twitter.com/HanifJazayeri/status/1402731693224693763">said</a> one mother, Iran Allahyari, whose son, Mehrdad Moinfar, was killed in November 2019 by the regime for participating in a peaceful protest.
&#8220;I will not turn a blind eye to the unjust murder of my only son,&#8221; she said. &#8220;They destroyed my life.&#8221;
An Iranian father, Reza Salmanzadeh, recorded a video <a href="https://twitter.com/HanifJazayeri/status/1402701257693880328">message</a> saying he is the father of Mahdi, who was &#8220;martyred in the path of freedom for Iran.&#8221;
“In the past 42 years, I have never voted for the Islamic Republic, and I will never vote for it,” the father said in the video. “And I will do everything to overthrow this sinister Islamic Republic regime and its leaders.”
&#8220;Long live freedom. Shame on the Islamic Republic,&#8221; he said.
The Iranian city of Sadra reportedly <a href="https://twitter.com/r_siavosh/status/1402911504446504961">ordered</a> shopkeepers to vote in the presidential election, threatening them with unemployment if they refuse.
Khamenei cast his vote early Friday morning in Tehran and urged Iranians to turn out to vote.
&#8220;Each vote counts &#8230; come and vote and choose your president,&#8221; the Supreme Leader <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-57510763">said</a>. &#8220;This is important for the future of your country.&#8221;
Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, who leads the Iranian political resistance group the People&#8217;s Mujahedin Organization of Iran (MEK) along with her husband Massoud Rajavi, <a href="https://www.maryam-rajavi.com/en/mullahs-sham-election/">called</a> the successful boycott &#8220;the greatest political and social blow&#8221; to Khamenei and the ruling theocracy.
&#8220;The boycott proved and showed the world that the Iranian people’s only vote is to overthrow this medieval regime. The nationwide boycott is the groundswell of the martyrs’ sacrifices and is a reflection of the Iranian people’s great campaign for justice,&#8221; Rajavi said Friday in a statement.
&#8220;The religious dictatorship is in a downward spiral and must be swept aside. Emerging out of this sham election will be a regime that is more disgraced, vulnerable, and fragile,&#8221; she said.
Rajavi predicted that &#8220;the henchman of the 1988 massacre&#8221; will likely perpetrate more crimes, but the regime will ultimately be overthrown by the Iranian people.
&#8220;Freedom and a democratic republic are the Iranian people’s inalienable rights,&#8221; she concluded.
More than 59 million of Iran&#8217;s 80 million residents are eligible to vote, but 12 hours after polls opened only 37% had cast their ballots, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/iran-vote-set-hand-presidency-judge-under-us-sanctions-2021-06-18/">according</a> to semi-official news agency Fars.
By contrast, in the 2020 U.S. presidential election, 67% of all citizens age 18 and older reported voting, a record turnout, <a href="https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2021/04/record-high-turnout-in-2020-general-election.html">according</a> to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Less than 10% of eligible voters actually cast their ballot, according to the MEK, the Iranian opposition network that organized much of the resistance activity. The MEK said its assessment was based on the reports of more than 1,200 reporters of Iran National Television, the satellite television channel run by the Iranian resistance, who reported from 400 Iranian cities and recorded more than 3,500 video clips at polling stations.
Iran approved a total of seven presidential candidates for its presidential election this year. Iran’s Guardian Council, however, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/world-news-donald-trump-middle-east-iran-elections-e1636938e8bc11b30650c90c0bb7764e">barred</a> several prominent allies of current Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, who is prohibited by term limits from seeking office again, from running to replace him. One of the candidates said he was rejected because his daughter lives in the U.S.
In 2017, when Rouhani won re-election against Raisi, the estimated turnout was unexpectedly high at <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-39984066">70 percent</a>.
Rouhani has long represented a more moderate alternative to the Iranian theocracy and urged Iranians to vote on Friday. Many of his <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2017/05/18/middleeast/iran-rouhani-election/index.html">promises</a> never came to fruition under Khamenei&#8217;s rule, prompting citizens to seek a more radical change through boycotting the election.
Ali Safavi is a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), a political coalition calling for the replacement of the regime in Iran.
The boycott and protests this election cycle are &#8220;unprecedented&#8221; because they are &#8220;not spontaneous&#8221; but &#8220;very well organized,&#8221; Safavi told The Daily Wire.
&#8220;I think the sentiment among Iranians is reflected in one of the most prevalent chants that you hear on the Iranian street even today, where they say, &#8216;the enemy is right here, they lie when they say it&#8217;s America,'&#8221; Safavi said.
Savafi also said he believes Iranians do not want to see the U.S. sanctions on Iran lifted despite the crippling effect they have had on Iran&#8217;s economy. Any relief provided will be absorbed by the regime and not be used to improve the livelihood of everyday Iranians, according to Savafi.
He urged the Biden administration to &#8220;reject this sham which the regime tries to sell to the Western world as an election.&#8221;
&#8220;More protests are certainly looming on the horizon, and they will be much more ferocious and widespread than previous ones,&#8221; Savafi predicted.

Iran elections

‘Yes To A Democratic Iran:’ Iranians Burn Campaign Posters, Refuse To Vote In Unprecedented Boycott Of ‘Sham’ Presidential Election

Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley slammed Twitter on Friday for flagging one of her tweets warning about the risks of ballot harvesting while leaving alone a tweet from Iran’s leader casting doubt on the Holocaust.
“Wow. When Iran’s Ayatollah says the Holocaust didn’t happen, Twitter doesn’t say ‘this claim is disputed.’ When I say ballot harvesting makes election fraud easier Twitter says that’s disputed. Wonder why conservatives don’t trust big tech?” Haley said in a tweet. She posted side-by-side pictures of a tweet of hers flagged by Twitter and a tweet by Iranian Ayatollah Ali Khamenei left untouched.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Wow.  When Iran’s Ayatollah says the Holocaust didn’t happen, Twitter doesn’t say “this claim is disputed.”  When I say ballot harvesting makes election fraud easier Twitter says that’s disputed.  Wonder why conservatives don’t trust big tech? <a href="https://t.co/5SGkqyOhUe">pic.twitter.com/5SGkqyOhUe</a>
&mdash; Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) <a href="https://twitter.com/NikkiHaley/status/1327329640780869633?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 13, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Haley’s flagged tweet said that “ballot harvesting” and mail-in voting makes committing voter fraud easier. Twitter placed a warning label on her tweet saying that her claim about voter fraud is “disputed.”
“Despite what the media tells us, election fraud does happen, and policies like ballot harvesting and mailing ballots to people who don’t request them makes it easier. That needs to stop,” Haley’s tweet said.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Despite what the media tells us, election fraud does happen, and policies like ballot harvesting and mailing ballots to people who don’t request them makes it easier. That needs to stop.<a href="https://twitter.com/StandAmericaNow?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@standamericanow</a> 
Read more: <a href="https://t.co/CpTuLcPCmY">https://t.co/CpTuLcPCmY</a>
&mdash; Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) <a href="https://twitter.com/NikkiHaley/status/1327305628419837955?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 13, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Haley compared her tweet to an Oct. 28 tweet from Khamenei in which the Iranian leader pushed back against assertions that questions over whether the Holocaust happened should be considered misinformation.
“The next question to ask is: why is it a crime to raise doubts about the Holocaust? Why should anyone who writes about such doubts be imprisoned while insulting the Prophet (pbuh) is allowed?” Khamenei said.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
The next question to ask is: why is it a crime to raise doubts about the Holocaust? Why should anyone who writes about such doubts be imprisoned while insulting the Prophet (pbuh) is allowed?
&mdash; Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) <a href="https://twitter.com/khamenei_ir/status/1321494146989907969?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 28, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Khamenei’s tweet was sent moments after Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey was grilled on Khamenei’s Holocaust denialism in a hearing on Capitol Hill. During the hearing, Dorsey said that while tweets on election interference and voter suppression may get flagged on his platform, Twitter has yet to make any policies covering Holocaust denialism. Dorsey admitted that he considered denying the Holocaust a form of misinformation.
As <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/jack-dorsey-iranian-leaders-tweets-questioning-holocaust-not-misinformation-under-twitter-rules">The Daily Wire</a> reported:
<blockquote>“I know we’ve established content moderation can have certain upsides like combatting terrorism, but Twitter has chosen to approach content moderation from the standpoint of combatting misinformation, as well. So it’s strange to me that you flag the tweets from the president but haven’t hidden the ayatollah’s tweets on Holocaust denial or calls to wipe Israel off the map,” [Sen. Cory Gardner (R-CO)] said.
Dorsey defended his platform by saying that the misinformation in the ayatollah’s tweets did not fall under Twitter’s rules against misinformation, which are limited to “manipulated media, public health – specifically COVID – and civic integrity and election interference and voter suppression.”
Denying the Holocaust “is misleading information,” Dorsey said, “but we don’t have a policy against that type of misleading information.”</blockquote>
The social media platform has flagged numerous tweets by President Trump as potential misinformation on voter fraud and election interference since Election Day. Trump has continued to allege that mass voter fraud and errors have given Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden the lead in several swing states, potentially handing the election to Biden. The Trump campaign and the GOP are pursuing litigation over the allegations in states such as <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-campaign-sues-to-stop-michigan-from-certifying-election-results">Michigan</a>, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-campaign-files-suit-against-nevada-for-alleged-nonresident-dead-vote">Nevada</a>, and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-pa-court-delivers-big-legal-win-to-trump-mandates-gop-access-to-ballot-counting">Pennsylvania</a>.

Nikki Haley

Nikki Haley Rips Twitter For Flagging Her While Leaving Iranian Leader’s Holocaust Denial Untouched

Holocaust

Iran’s supreme leader on Sunday cited a conspiracy theory claiming America bio-engineered the coronavirus. Citing this theory, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei refused U.S. help in fighting the virus.
Khamenei not only repeated the conspiracy theory, which is being peddled by Chinese authorities in order to take the blame off of the communist country for the outbreak, but claimed the virus was created using Iranian genetic data to specifically target Iran, The Associated Press <a href="https://apnews.com/2cffa4c49cbf085562a71cd36a4e4378">reported</a>.
“I do not know how real this accusation is but when it exists, who in their right mind would trust you to bring them medication?” Khamenei said, as reported by the AP. “Possibly your medicine is a way to spread the virus more.”
He then claimed that the coronavirus “is specifically built for Iran using the genetic data of Iranians which they have obtained through different means.” As the AP noted, there is no evidence to support this accusation.
“You might send people as doctors and therapists, maybe they would want to come here and see the effect of the poison they have produced in person,” Khamenei added.
More from the AP:
<blockquote>There is no scientific proof offered anywhere in the world to support Khamenei’s claims.
However, his comments come after Chinese government spokesman Lijian Zhao tweeted earlier this month that it “might be US army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan. Be transparent! Make public your data! US owe(s) us an explanation!”
Lijian likewise offered no evidence to support his claim, which saw the U.S. State Department summon China’s ambassador to complain. A Chinese state newspaper tweeted Sunday another allegation trying to link the virus to Italy, similarly hard-hit by the outbreak.
Wuhan is the Chinese city where the first cases of the disease were detected in December.</blockquote>
Khomenei made his unsubstantiated claims on Sunday in a speech that was televised live across Iran. Sunday is Nowruz, the Persian New Year. Khomenei made the remarks during a broadcast marking the event and the Islamic commemoration Isra and Miraj.
“His comments come as Iran has over 21,600 confirmed cases of the new coronavirus amid 1,685 reported deaths, according to government figures released Sunday. <a href="https://apnews.com/a385bc3ccad75f990dff96f664dd508c">Experts still fear Iran may be underreporting its cases</a>,” the AP reported. “Iran is one of the hardest-hit countries in the world by the new virus, sweeping across leaders in both its civilian government and Shiite theocracy. Across the Mideast, Iran represents eight of 10 cases of the virus and those leaving the Islamic Republic have carried the virus to other countries.”
The U.S. has offered aid to Iran to help stop the coronavirus, but the country has refused the help, claiming America was being disingenuous in its attempts at the country struggles with U.S. sanctions.
The AP also reported that this isn’t the first time Iranian leaders have chosen to believe conspiracy theories that make the U.S. look bad.
“Iranian hard-liners have supported conspiracy theories in the past when it suited their interests. Following the Sept. 11 attacks, some publicly doubted al-Qaida’s role and state TV promoting the unfounded conspiracy theory that the Americans blew up the building themselves,” the AP reported.
“Former hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad similarly raised doubt about the Sept. 11 attack, calling it a ‘big lie,’ while also describing the Holocaust as a ‘myth.’”

Ayatollah Khomeini

Iran Leader Cites Chinese Conspiracy Theory While Rejecting Help From US To Stop Coronavirus

COVID