Tehran Silent Over Israeli Claims Of Interrogating IRGC Agent

Some Iranian activists bombarded Parviz Parastui, the lead actor of the film, with questions about his political stances during the Q and A that followed the screening of One Thousand and One Day at 'Red Carpet with Parviz Parastouei' at Lumiere Cinema in Los Angeles on Wednesday.

Activists said Parastui who has appeared in more than fifty Iranian films never speaks about "human rights violations in Iran" and "regime atrocities" such as the killing of hundreds of protesters in nationwide protests in November 2019.

They also criticized him for his praise of the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) Qods Force Commander Ghasem (Qasem) Soleimani who was killed in a targeted US drone strike as he arrived at Baghdad airport on January 3, 2020.

Parastui who has on some occasions criticized the clerics in power for corruption refrained from directly answering the questions on his relationship with Soleimani but implied that he could not speak freely and said he always feels as if he is walking a tightrope "to keep everyone happy."

Before the event, Sam Rajabi, a former judoka champion who now lives in the US, insisted that Parastouei explain about his relationship with Soleimani, while filming him on his mobile. Parastui refused to respond, and the encounter ended in Parastui knocking the mobile out of Rajabi's hand. The video taken by Rajabi has gone viral on social media with hundreds commenting in support or against Parastouei.

There was also a heated argument between a group of activists and Gohar Kheirandish, an Iranian actress who spoke in Parastui's support outside the venue of the event.

"Mr Rajabi has democratically and in an acceptable tone asked a question … and faced physical violence," one of the actor's critics said in a tweet while accusing the veteran actor of being a "government-sponsored" artist.

It is the duty of an artist who has found fame and money because of people's support to speak up and take people's side when they are oppressed, another critic argued on Twitter.

Some others have defended the actor saying being an outspoken critic is not easy for those living under an oppressive regime. "Sam Rajabi definitely knows that Parviz Parastui and Gohar Kheirandish are neither pro-regime revolutionaries nor super-religious," one of Parastouei's supporters tweetedwhile arguing that activists' demands for candid expression of artists' political views puts them in danger.

Yet others have questioned the US government about granting visa to a "Soleimani supporter".

Hardline Iranian media, such as the IRGC-linked Fars news agency, have alleged that the opposition Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization was behind the confrontations with Parastui and Kheirandish. But regime opponents of different persuasions have criticized the event as a publicity stunt in support of the Islamic Republic

Directed by Habib Ahmadzadeh, One Thousand and One Day -- also known as the Legend of Bonasan: The Genie in the Lamp -- is the story of a genie that must compose a melody with help from four humans to create a human miracle or he would be expelled from the Solar System for eternity and according to its director, is a film in praise of peace.

The Iranian Cinema US Tour organized by Code Pink included screenings and discussions in Washington DC, New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles in April.

Code Pink introduces itself as a women-led grassroots organization "working to end US wars and militarism" and supporter of peace and human rights initiatives. Code Pink condemns US sanctions on Iran.

In a parliamentary discussion Saturday, Ghalibaf said that “a car with good quality can be imported” for $5,000 whereas the Iranian version of a Kia Pride, the cheapest and most popular car on the market, costs about around $8,000 (2 billion rials). But it is the parliament and the government, controlling foreign currency, who have not approved additional car imports.

Since the United States introduced ‘maximum pressure’ sanctions in 2018, threatening third parties dealing with the Iranian financial sector, Iran has struggled with imports, while European carmakers in joint projects have withdrawn.

Iranian automakers are also quasi-governmental companies, benefitting from favorable borrowing and lack of competition. Some media in Iran have speculated that this vested interest might have a role in blocking approval for imports.

Parliamentarian Ali Babai Karnami bemoaned an “unrestrained situation” in the car industry. “Who is responsible for the rising car prices?” he asked. “What does the industry ministry do? Shouldn't the parliament monitor [the market]?..The situation of the car market is unbearable and has also had a detrimental effect on the prices of basic goods.”

Earlier in the month, the deputy head of Iran's traffic police Teymour Hosseini claimed domestically-made cars were more liable to fatal accidents and blamed their low quality on a monopoly held by Iranian automakers.

The Coordination Council of Iranian Teachers’ Trade Associations said that security officers raided the homes of the several activists in Tehran on Saturday, arrested four and confiscated their electronic devices.

The spokesman of the association, Eskandar Lotfi, said in a tweet that three of the detainees were taken to the notorious Evin prison, adding that tens of their other colleagues from different parts of the country have been summoned to court.

According to reports, the officers used violence against some of the activists who resisted arrest, including Rasoul Badaghi, and broke glasses and furniture with a hammer.

During the latest round of nationwide rallies, demonstrators gathered in front of the Education Ministry building in Tehran on Thursday and its offices in various other cities to protest discriminatory regulations on a teacher ranking plan as well as the "continuous and systematic" suppression of union activists.

Teachers across Iran have staged several nationwide protests and strikes in the past six months and have vowed to continue protests until authorities meet their demands including, the implementation of decade-old legislation that would bring the salaries and pensions of 750,000 teachers in line with other civil servants.

The sources who spoke to Iran International on condition of anonymity said the accused who is currently in detention in a European country has admitted to receiving $150,000 for organizing the assassinations with one million promised to be paid to him after the completion of the operations.

The alleged operative has confessed, the sources said, that he was ordered to organize the assassination of an Israeli national who worked at the Israeli consulate in Istanbul, an American general in Germany, and a French journalist.

The identities of the alleged targets and the reason for them being targeted have not been revealed.

Israel’s Haaretz reported following the disclosure by Iran International that Mossad played a role in preventing the assassination of its consulate worker in Turkey.

The revelation comes at a sensitive time when talks to restore the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, JCPOA, have stalled becuase of Tehran's demand that the United States shoudl remove the IRGC from its list of terrorist organizations.

IRGC working with drug cartels

Mohsen Sazegara, a United States-based journalist and political activist, told Iran International that there is a possibility the plots were connected to the Islamic Republic's promise to take revenge against the United States for the 2020 assassination of Qods (Quds) Force Commander Ghasem (Qasem) Soleimani, given that one of the targets of the alleged plots is said to have been an American general.

Soleimani was killed in a targeted US drone strike as he arrived at Baghdad airport on January 3, 2020. Iranian officials have repeatedly vowed to avenge his death.

The sources also said the accused has admitted that he had orders to use drug trafficking contacts to carry out the assassination missions.

Sazegara who was among the founders of the IRGC in 1979 and served in several high government positions in the early years of the Islamic Republic also said that Iranian operatives' use of drug traffickers to carry out operations abroad is not new. "For a long time, the Islamic Republic has worked with drug traffickers. The network of drug trafficking-terrorism extends from Kabul to Caracas," he said.

A special IRGC unit

Diplomatic sources who spoke to Iran International also said the man in charge of the alleged assassination plots was a member of the secretive Unit 840 of the Qods Force. The unit’s mission is to conduct operations against Western targets and Iranian opposition groups and individuals.

There is no mention of Unit 840 in Iranian media. The existence of a such a unit has only been reported by Israeli media which in November 2020 reported that Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) had accused Unit 840 of placing explosives on Syrian border.

Ali Afshari, political analyst based in the United States, told Iran International that in his view the IRGC has evolved into a "gangster, mafia-like organization" from an originally "idealistic Shia Islamic fundamentalist entity."

"The IRGC uses drug traffickers and criminal gangs to be able to avoid being held directly responsible for its terrorist operations," Afshari said.

In December 2020 Turkish intelligence said it had discovered a terror network tied to Iran’s Intelligence Ministry that would abduct or assassinated Iranian dissidents. According to Turkish government's official TRT channel, the network and its 11 operatives were behind the abduction of Farajollah Chaab, the former leader of an Iranian Arab separatist Movement.

Iranian intelligence allegedly lured Chaab to Turkey, abducted him, and with the help of an international Turkey-based drug cartel known as the Zindashti Cartel whisked him to Iran where he was later put on trial.

In 2013 the United States sentenced Iranian-American Manssor Arbabsiar to 25 years in prison. Arbabsiar, a car dealer, admitted to plotting the assassination of the Saudi ambassador to Washington on orders from Iranian military officials. Arbabsiar was arrested after the FBI and US Drug Enforcement Agency became suspicious of his visits to Mexico and contacts with a Mexican drug cartel.

“The Zionist media say that just in the past 40 days 15 Zionists have been killed and dozens wounded in a series of Palestinian attacks,” Fars news agency affiliated with the Revolutionary Guard wrote in a report on Saturday.

The language used, such as calling civilian victims of attacks “Zionists”, to justify their killing according to the ideology of Iran’s rulers, is not a new phenomenon, but the obvious triumphant tone in supporting these attacks shows a recent rhetorical escalation.

Fars went on to say, “Just four special operations of Palestinian resistance in only 18 days in March-April took the lives of 14 Zionists and wounded others, creating strong fear in Tel Aviv about a new wave of operations against Zionists.” At the same time, Iranian officials have clearly reiterated their support for ‘Palestinian resistance’ and praised their material support for groups such as the Lebanese Hezbollah.

The unmistakable aggressive tone comes across all platforms, including top leaders of the Islamic Republic, who unleashed a barrage of threatening language in the past few days, as the annual Quds Day approached on Friday.

Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Friday delivered a speech to mark the Quds Day, launched by Tehran in the 1990s to show its fundamental opposition to the existence of a Jewish state. "Palestinian youth, and the military manoeuvres in Gaza indicate that all of Palestine has turned into an arena of resistence," he said.

Other officials threatened Arab countries who have normalized relations with Israel, with some highlighting that a new solid-fuel missile, Kheybar could reach Tel Aviv in under 10 minutes.

The aggressive public stance comes at a curious time, when the Biden Administration seems to be in an internal debate over whether to remove the IRGC from its foreign terrorist organzation list, as Tehran has been demanding as a pre-condition to reviving the Obama-era nuclear agreement known as JCPOA.

It would be logical to expect that the Islamic Republic would adopt a more cautious public posture not to put the White House in a more difficult position than what it finds itself in, as domestic opposition rises to further concenssions to Iranians.

But apparently Tehran has decided to highlight the fact that it will not change its interventionist regioanl posture, most clearly demonstrated by the role IRGC plays in supporting and arming militant anti-Israeli and anti-Western militants.

The clear signal came not just from Tehran, but all proxy forces in the region chimed in to highlight their anti-Israel ideology.

The Houthis in Yemen, Shiite militia in Iraq and Hezbollah in Lebanon all joined the messaging from Tehran, reiterating their rejection of Israel and echoing the statements by Khamenei and other Iranian officials on Friday.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah praised Khamenei for supporting “the resistance”, saying, "What Imam Khamenei said today underscored his serious and firm commitment to supporting Palestine and the resistance movements in the region."