Iran Releases 64-Year-Old Franco-Irish Hostage

Khatami has reiterated in a meeting with teachers that Islamic Republic's policies are self-destructive and suggested that the government should embark on reforms. Khatami pointed out that governance in Iran needs to be reformed if the Islamic Republic is to survive. 

He further suggested that all social groups in Iran should follow the non-violent style of Iranian teachers' protests. He further said that the government should represent the people and the people should be able to replace the government. This can be achieved though free and fair elections, adding that in an ideal system everybody should have equal right to power, wealth and status. 

“A regime change in Iran is impossible, but the government is undermining itself. I suggest it reform itself instead,” the mild-mannered reformist politician said.

Khatami who was president from 1997-2005 tried to boost freedom of speech in his first time but he was over-ruled by conservatives supported by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who closed dozens of newspapers and cracked down on dissidents.

Meanwhile, former Majles Speaker Ali Larijani in a sarcastic letter denying an IRGC-linked Tasnim news agency report that the he was preparing to run for parliament in early 2024, said: "The country needs a change in policy." He also accused Iranian hardliners of purging the political landscape of moderate voices. 

Reformist commentator Sadeq Zibakalam in an article interpreted Larijani's statement as meaning that "existing policies cannot stand any longer." 

He said Larijani has used the word "purification" rather than purging in his letter as a political detour to evade a harsh response by the government. However, he meant that the regime can no longer continue the policies it has been following during the past 44 years. What Larijani wants, said Zibakalam, is "a revision of Iran's political structure."

Zibakalam added: "In a nutshell, the government needs to ask itself whether the country's main problem is political or economic or social. What has led to the sulking of the post revolution generations with the government? Why there is so much despair and disillusionment in the society? In fact, Laijani has used the word purging or purification to make sure that he will not be accused of sympathy with protesters, opposition or counter-revolutionaries."

Zibakalam also referred to the term "artificial [political] competition" in Larijani's letter where he said: "It is unlikely that you can create artificial competition ahead of the election [by spreading disinformation about the participation of moderate political figures]." 

Zibakalam said: "In fact, the protests last year shook many state officials. Larijani and individuals like him have realized that wrong policies of the government have pushed the country into a dead-end. What he is saying is that if the government continues those policies, even political figures such as him will find the election meaningless. And what is more important is that apart from the elections, the country is suffering from this chaos."

Zibakalam explained: "Other moderate and realist political figures and groups should also come to the conclusion that an election which is not free and fair would be meaningless. Even some conservatives should understand that. If nothing changes, only the ultraconservative Paydari Party and radical groups will take the 2024 election seriously." 

The outspoken commentator, who has somehow evaded arrest so far, said that with the Raisi administration's economic failure, more moderates and moderate conservatives such as Larijani will demand a change in policies.

"The Iranians have continued to smuggle weaponry and narcotics toward this conflict, and we are very concerned that this would continue despite the benefits that would come from a Saudi-Iran deal. So, I think that is a space we have to watch," US envoy for Yemen Timothy Lenderking said in a briefing.

The US, British and French navies have captured several shipments of weapons headed from Iran to Yemen in recent months. In February the US military announced the seizure of 3,000 assault rifles, 578,000 rounds of ammunition and 23 anti-tank guided missiles onboard a vessel in international waters.

“Despite the fact that we welcomed an agreement between the Saudis and the Iranians, I remain concerned about Iran’s role,” he said, contending that Tehran has trained Houthi fighters and equipped them “to fight and attack Saudi Arabia.”

Tehran denies arming the Houthis, who seized Yemen's capital Sanaa in 2014 after ousting the government and extending their control over large areas of the country.

The Saudi-Iran deal alone will not end the conflict, which can only be settled through negotiations between the Yemeni sides, Lenderking said.

Iran has been accused of violating UN resolutions by providing drones and missiles to the Houthis to conduct cross-border attacks on Saudi Arabia, but no such attacks have been reported in the last year.

Millions of people are in need of international assistance because of the war, which has killed tens of thousands of people.

Vaclav Balek, president of the Human Rights Council, said in a statement Wednesday that he had decided to appoint Bahraini following the receipt of a nomination from regional coordinators. 

The forum to be held in Geneva on November 2 and 3 will focus on the contribution of science, technology, and innovation to the promotion of human rights including in the context of post-pandemic recovery. 

UN Watch launched a petition to the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres Wednesday to stop the Islamic Republic from chairing the forum and said there were still six months left to cancel the appointment.

The petition has so far been signed by more than 30,000. 

In a tweet Wednesday, UN Watch said they sent a letter to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken urging him to condemn the appointment.

Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, called the appointment “shameful” in a series of tweets and said it is “an insult to the tens of thousands of victims beaten, brutalized, tortured, raped and murdered by this regime.” 

“Iran just hanged Yousef Mehrad and Sadrollah Fazeli Zare for using social media to criticize religion,” he pointed out and criticized the US and its allies for not taking action to stop Iran from being elected to the UN Commission on Crime Prevention like they did in the case of Russia in January. 

A group of Iranians staged a rally in London Thursday to protest the regime’s executions. 

Neuer added that UN Watch will approach governments with a draft resolution for the 53rd session of the UN Human Rights Council to overrule the president's decision to appoint Bahraini if the petition gathers 100,000 signatures. 

Headquartered next to the UN human rights apparatus in Geneva, UN Watch is a nongovernmental organization that monitors the performance of the United Nations according to the yardstick of its charter and promotes human rights for all.

“Ali Bahraini is the representative of the leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ali Khamenei. Khamenei stopped millions of covid vaccines from entering Iran which resulted in thousands of deaths. On his orders innocent protesters were shot and more than 500 people, 70 of whom were children, were killed [in recent protests]. This is the same regime that in recent days has executed one person every 6 hours and was condemned by the United Nations Human Rights Council yesterday for its executions,” Iranian protester Vahid Beheshti who staged a hunger strike outside the UK foreign office for over two months and is now in hospital said in a tweet Wednesday. 

“How dare you to insult the people of Iran like this assuming they are ignorant?” he asked the UN Human Rights Council. 

The UN’s Third Committee, also known as the Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Committee or C3, approved a draft resolution on Iran’s human rights situation on November 16 and expressed concern at the alarmingly high frequency of the death penalty in the country. The motion was ratified by a recorded vote of 80 in favor to 28 against, with 68 abstentions.

The Islamic Republic was also voted out in December from the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) for policies contrary to the rights of women and girls. The resolution passed against Iran was drafted by the US due to the regime’s bloody crackdown on protests ignited by the death of a young woman in custody of hijab – or the so-called “morality” -- police.

Economy Minister Ehsan Khandouzi led an economic delegation to Jeddah, holding bilateral meetings with Saudi officials and talks with the Islamic Development Bank during his stay.

Saudi government officials, Islamic Development Bank officers, and Iranian consulate staff welcomed him at King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah.

In March, a China-brokered agreement restored diplomatic relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia, and Khandouzi is the first Iranian official to visit Saudi Arabia since then.

After pro-regime protesters attacked Saudi Arabia's embassy in Tehran and consulate in Mashhad in 2016, Saudi Arabia severed ties with Iran.

According to Iran's state news agency IRNA, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said Saudi Arabia had introduced its new envoy to Tehran, and Iran will "soon" introduce its new envoy to Riyadh.

Farzad Piltan, West Asia director at Iran's Trade Promotion Organization, said that the country was eyeing $1 billion in trade with Saudi Arabia, which could be expanded to $2 billion with a focus on steel, saffron, carpets, cement, dried fruit, and so on.

US Central Command said on Thursday that USCGC Glen Harris was operating in support of the Combined Task Force when a team discovered 1,964 kilograms of heroin on a vessel transiting international waters after departing Chabahar, Iran.

The team also seized $30 million worth of methamphetamine and heroin two days ago from another fishing vessel that departed the same port. So far this year, the navy's Combined Task Force 150 has seized illegal narcotics worth $200 million.

“I’m very proud of my crew and all we’ve been able to accomplish as a team this week,” said Lt. Nick Jabs, Glen Harris’s commanding officer. Glen Harris cutter, a Sentinel Class ship, arrived in the region last year and is capable of intercepting drugs smuggled by boat.

“We’re out here to work with regional partners and disrupt any destabilizing maritime activity at sea. We will continue getting after it.”

An earlier seizure on May 8 resulted in the seizure of 580 kilograms of methamphetamine and 35 kilograms of heroin in Glen Harris's possession.The destination of the shipment has not yet been disclosed.

Earlier this week, Jordan carried out rare air strikes on southern Syria, hitting a Iran-linked drugs factory and killing a smuggler allegedly behind big hauls across the two countries' border.

The sources said one strike hit an abandoned drug facility in Syria's southern Deraa province linked to the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah, which is allied to Syria's government.

In recent years, Iran has been accused of using its proxies in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen to transport illicit narcotics.

According to the US State Department’s 2022 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, Iran is a significant transit and destination country for opiates, cannabis products, and methamphetamine, the vast majority originating in Afghanistan.

“Some corrupt Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps personnel reportedly facilitate illicit drug smuggling or profit from the drug trade,” adds the report.

An estimated 9,000 metric tons of drugs pass through Iran annually, according to Iranian press reports. There was a notable increase in drug seizures and violent incidents along the Iran-Azerbaijan border in 2021.

The Iranian government has been accused of using its proxies to smuggle drugs into other countries for a variety of reasons. The most common reason is to fund its own activities, such as its support for the Syrian government and its involvement in the war in Yemen.

The Iranian government has been accused of using its proxies to smuggle drugs into other countries in order to destabilize them and gain political leverage.