IRGC Commander Repeats Threat To Kill Trump, Pompeo

In a report on Thursday night, IRIB News said Iran and Syria have reached an agreement for the delivery of equipment related to air defenses and electronic warfare as "Syria needs to rebuild its air defense network and requires precision bombs for its fighter planes."

Having felt threatened by increased Israel attacks on facilities needed by Iran to deliver arms and equipment to its proxy forces, "Syria needs to reconstruct the network of its air defenses and also required precision bombs for its fighter jets," the report said. "It is very likely that we will witness the supply of Iran's radars and defense missiles, such as the Khordad 15 missile system, to reinforce Syria's air defenses." The Islamic Republic claims Unveiled the missile system is capable of detecting fighter jets and combat drones from 150 kilometers away and tracking them within a range of 120 kilometers.

Amid new sanctions by Western countries on Iran’s Revolutionary Guard for human rights violations and other mischiefs, the multi-role organization is ramping up Syria’s air defense system, despite rampant poverty in Iran.

Israel has also in recent months intensified strikes on Syrian airports and air bases to disrupt Iran's increasing use of aerial supply lines to deliver arms to allies in Syria and Lebanon, including Lebanon's Hezbollah.

The new record low was recorded in unofficial trading on Friday, which is weekend in Iran and many people are waiting to see the trade rate Saturday morning.

Last Monday, the country experienced a shock when the rial fell to more than 500,000 against the US dollar from 460,000 only a week earlier and 300,000 in late August.

The cash-strapped regime is trying all the tricks to stop the devaluation of its currency but to no avail as the inflation rate is rising and people are desperate as they cannot afford basic foods. 

If the rapid slide continues in the coming days, it will make daily living almost impossible for ordinary Iranians, who already cannot afford higher-priced meat, dairy and other necessities.

An informed Iraqi source told Iran International on Thursday that the recent trip by Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian to Baghdad was focused on ways to retain the flow of foreign currency from the neighboring country. 

Earlier in the month, Iran International obtained information that the Islamic Republic is suffering from heavy financial losses because a huge amount of its money is blocked in Iraq because of US sanctions. 

Washington has imposed new restrictions on dollar transfers to Iraq as the Arab country’s banking officials believe there is widespread money laundering sending funds to Iran and Syria.

In an exclusive report on Friday, the Jewish Chronicle claimed that Iranian officials revealed “the possible step” at a secret meeting with ambassadors from Oman, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday.

The media outlet cited one of those present at the meeting as saying that the Islamic Republic plans to announce a range of new sanctions to hit back at Britain, which has imposed several rounds of sanctions since the current wave of protests began in the country sparked by the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in September. 

On Wednesday, February 22, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard took credit for the relocation of Iran International studiosfrom the UK to the US following terror threats, calling it a victory for the Islamic Republic.

The British embassy in Tehran has been a regular flashpoint in recent years. In December 2022, its walls were defaced by the Basij paramilitary militia, one of the forces operating under the IRGC, with slogans labelling it a “terrorist center”. 

According to UK Security Minister Tom Tugendhat, Iran is also hiring organized criminal gangs to spy on Britain’s Jews in preparation for a potential assassination campaign against prominent community members. Earlier in the month, Jewish journalist Catherine Perez-Shakdam -- who infiltrated the regime and met Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei -- told the JC the plans were designed to ensure “the diaspora would have a very nasty surprise” in the event of an Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

The new sanctions, which were announced to mark the one-year anniversary of the aggression in Ukraine, designated 80 people, including senior executives of Russian state-owned nuclear power company Rosatom as well as five senior Iranian executives of Qods Aviation Industry, a subsidiary company of Iran Aviation Industries Organization, which manufactures drones used in Ukraine. 

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly announced on Friday the new package of internationally coordinated sanctions and trade measures, including import bans on 140 goods such as iron and steel products processed in third countries. 

The statement by the Foreign Secretary said that the sanctions on Iranian officials demonstrates their commitment to continue to pressure third countries supplying Russia’s military. 

Managing Director of Qods Aviation Industry Company Ghassem Damavandian, and some board members of the company, namely Vali Arlanizadeh, Reza Khaki, Majid-Reza Niyazi-Angili, and Hamidreza Sharifi-Tehrani, are the Iranians included in the new batch of sanctions. 

Earlier in February, Britain imposed sanctions on three Iranian judges, three members of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and two regional governors. Those added to the sanctions list are subject to an asset freeze and travel ban. The list of sanctioned individuals includes IRGC members, such as the commander of provinces in which security forces have severely injured and killed children.

Last week a video of a woman unveiling at an official event in Tehran went viral on social media. On Wednesday, the same woman posted a video of herself apologizing for her “rash” behavior.

Zeynab Kazempour, an engineer, removed her headscarf during the annual assembly of Tehran Construction Engineering Organization (union) after her application to run as a candidate for the board was turned down, presumably on the grounds that she did not abid by the compulsory hijab rules.

In the video, Kazempour is making a short statement on the stage of packed auditorium -- with her headscarf around her neck instead of her head -- about being excluded from the union’s elections. She then throws the headscarf on the floor while storming out as many of her male and female colleagues, both on the stage and among the audience, cheer and applaud her.

“I reacted momentarily, without premeditation … I regret [my reaction] and apologize to the public,” she says in the video.

“Releasing this type of videos has long precedence,” Dadban, a team of volunteers who provide legal advice to activists and protest victims, tweeted Wednesday, adding that security bodies are now forcing dissidents to make coerced statements in front of their own cameras instead of the cameras of the security forces for television.

Iran's state-run television has aired the so-called “confessions” or forced statements of dissidents, activists, individuals accused of terrorism, economic sabotage, blasphemy, and even family members of government violence victims since the very early days of the Islamic revolution to justify prosecution, or execution, of individuals and to discredit opposition groups.

In October, statements very likely to have been acquired under duress from dissident rapper Toomaj Salehi were aired by the state television.

Many Iranians also believe that since his arrest in September, and being released on bail in October, another popular artist Shervin Hajipour whose song “Baraye Azadi” (For Freedom) has become an anthem for Iranian protesters has been under pressure to post “dictated” content on Instagram.

Shervin whose song won this year’s Grammy Awards’ “Best Song for Social Change”, a new category, said in a post on Instagram after his release from prison that he was sorry that his song was being used by dissident political groups outside Iran. After winning the award he also said in a post he regretted that his award was presented, in absentia, by the US First Lady Jill Biden.

The once quite effective televised “confessions” have largely lost their clout in the Iranian society where many repudiate them as mere propaganda. As a counter-measure, many now even refuse to share or like social media posts that they think have been dictated to the author by security forces or extracted under duress in prison and even block those who circulate such videos on their accounts.

“Such [coerced] confessions may have worked in the early days of the revolution but fortunately they have lost their [desired] impact now due to being repeatedly used for all sorts of things. These have even made the incompetent security organs the butt of jokes,” Maziar (Mazyar) Ebrahimi, a businessman who was tortured to ‘confess’ that he had been spying for Israel and was involved in the assassination of Iranian nuclear scientists in 2012 tweeted about the airing of anti-compulsory hijab activist Sepideh Rashno’s forced statements in August.