US Does Not Deny Secret Meetings With Iran

“We discussed the rich history between our peoples and the opportunities for future collaboration not only between Israel and a secular, democratic Iran but across the Middle East,” Pahlavi tweeted on Monday. “Together, let’s bring in a new era,” he said.

No further details have been released from the meeting between the two.

As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ramped up threats to attack Iranian nuclear facilities, the Iranian opposition figure, Pahlavi, seems to be a uniting point between the people of Iran and Israel.

Gantz who was in the previous Israeli government is also a strong opponent of the Iranian regime, its nuclear program and interventions in the region.

In April, Pahlavi toured Israel as part of his efforts to unite international support against the Islamic Republic and in support of the uprising in Iran.

During a press conference in Tel Aviv, Pahlavi said that Iranians are the extreme opposite of the country’s current rulers, and that the regime does not represent the Iranian nation. “They have no antagonism to any nation or any faith. I know that Iranians and Israelis see how important it would be for our future to be strategic partners, to work together, to address many issues. I come here to convey this message to Israeli citizens,” he said.

Renani is a well-respected professor of economics in the University of Esfahan (Isfahan).

A May 26 post on Renani's Telegram account has become so popular among the academia and the public that 14 other Iranian academics wrote their opinions under his post, to add value or offer their insight on the matter. More than 66,000 Iranians follow Renani's articles on Telegram.

Referring to the current situation of the Iranian society, following the 2022 uprising, Renani wrote: "Let us remember that Iran today needs thoughts more than blood. It needs water more than military power, It needs ethics more than ideology, rationality and understanding of simple facts more than intelligence. It needs life more than death, joy more than sorrow, understanding more than slogans, and sympathy more than hatred."

These emotional words uttered by Renani should be understood in the context of government forces killing more than 500 protesters in the street and jailing thousands who had no legal defense and many subjected to torture.

Renani added: "Societies will evolve and dictators will have to leave the scene sooner or later, with or without bloodshed. But if violence and hatred are produced in the process of their departure, that violence and hatred will haunt us and the next generation in the same way we are paying the price of the movement that led to the nationalization of Iran's oil and the coup in 1953."

Calling for a change in Iranian intellectuals' approach to political activism, Renani said elsewhere in the post: "The intellectuals' mission today is not producing thoughts and ideas. Their mission is to keep the society joyful and the youths lively. Young people are the country's main capital. If they live happily, then we do not have anything to worry about, as they will rebuild the country."

He added: "The government is suffering from the illnesses of old age. It is too weak to rebuild itself and too weak to stop changes the young generation wants. The fact that the government is beginning to act like characters in cartoons is good news. We only need to take care of young people and keep them away from anger and hatred. We only need to stop them losing their hope and fleeing Iran."

In another part of the post, Renani wrote: "The government can no longer manage the country by suggesting economic plans. Whatever the government does in the area of economy will make the situation worse. On the other hand, the Mahsa revolution has turned into the most profound revolutionary movement in Iran's modern history."

He said, "I hope men will not interfere in this movement and will not make the women's cultural revolution violent. …They should not try to replace women or lead them. Iranian men have staged three revolutions in contemporary Iran and messed up everything on all three occasions. The government is in a deadlock, and it will lose, no matter what it does. Only the most foolish government would entangle itself in such a situation. What we need to do now is…to be kind and happy, read books, play music, support working children, give jobs to unemployed youths, give loans to the needy, … respect each other, be ethical, and have mercy on everyone everywhere until this tough time passes."

Alireza Kafaei, one of Renani's critics wrote: "How can we be that patient in the face of all of these crimes, imprisonments and executions and all of these thefts by state officials in the name of religion? They are wasting the country's resources and rob the youths of their hope. How can we dance to that?"

An unidentified critic said: "Renani is suggesting that women who turn to prostitution as a result of poverty, a man who sells his kidney to make ends meet and the Baluch child who do not have shoes to wear, and those who have been blinded by security forces during the protests should dance instead!"

Academic Sajjad Fattahi wrote: "Renani is like a doctor who instead of giving the right medicine to the patient gives him a bunch of poetic words. What he explains and suggests are not accurate enough and that might make the patient's situation even worse."

Alireza Gharibdoost praised Renani for encouraging others to debate the matter. He wrote, "As Renani himself has said elsewhere, progress is not a product of dialogue. Progress is dialogue and that is what Renani is advocating."

“The money has been spent on issues like pensions for elderly clerics and support for the retirement of seminary students," the report released by MEK-affiliated Telegram account Uprising till Overthrow said.

Iranian media had reported in January that the budget for religious organizations would increase by 130 percent, reaching $500 million, while at least 20 million more Iranians are now considered poor compared to two years ago.

Religious organizations, including seminaries, play the role of propagandists for the regime.

The group released a trove of secret and top-secret documents on May 30 that it said were obtained by hacking the government’s servers.

Since the 1979 revolution, the clergy have gained increasing power, but discontent against them has risen in recent years, particularly amid waves of protests over economic, political, and civil rights issues.

Several Iranian clerics have come under attack by angry Iranians recently as rising prices and constant protests have led to a tense environment in the country.

In recent months, while the government was keen to enforce compulsory hijab as women defied the imposed lifestyle and took to the streets, many clerics, particularly those in the government, used vulgar words about Iranian women.

Iran's top Sunni cleric Mowlavi Abdolhamid said Friday that clerics and religious seminaries must not be funded by the government to remain independent and critical.

In his address to the pro-Israel advocacy group AIPAC on Monday, he said, "If Iran rejects the path of diplomacy, then, as President Joe Biden has repeatedly made clear, all options are on the table to ensure that Iran does not obtain a nuclear weapon."

He did not elaborate on what Iran should do exactly that can be construed as rejecting the path of diplomacy as Tehran has been enriching uranium to over 60% purity and its proxy militia have attacked US forces in the region at least 83 times since 2021.

Admitting that there was no danger that Israel faces "that is graver than the one posed by the Iranian regime,” Blinken voiced Washington's "iron-clad" commitment to Israel's security.

“That regime routinely threatens to wipe Israel off the map, continues to provide weapons to terrorists and proxies like Hezbollah and Hamas, who reject Israel's right to exist,” he said, adding that the Islamic Republic “exports its aggression throughout and even beyond the region, including by arming Russian forces with drones that are being used to kill Ukrainian civilians and destroy its infrastructure.”

Blinken also highlighted the US “three-pronged approach of diplomacy, economic pressure, and deterrence, which also includes strengthening Israel's military capabilities,” saying that “it puts us in the strongest possible position to address the Iranian nuclear threat just as we take on the many other challenges posed by the Iranian regime.”

The bill is sponsored by dozens of Ukrainian parliamentarians, including the head of the Verkhovna Rada’s foreign affairs committee, Oleksandr Merezhko.

Israel and the US have been urging their allies to list the IRGC as a terrorist group. In mid-May, a bipartisan group of US congresspeople urged Washington’s allies– namely the UK, Australia, Canada, and India -- to swiftly act and officially join Washington in labeling the IRGC in its entirety.

The move in Ukraine has been lauded by several Israeli officials, such as the country’s ambassador to Ukraine, Michael Brodsky, who said, “Iran poses a clear threat to Ukraine, Israel, and the whole world.”

Washington designated the IRGC as a foreign terrorist group in 2019 under the Trump administration as relations with Iran plummeted following Washington’s withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal. Tehran responded at the time by designating the US military as a terrorist group.

The Ukrainian action came only a few days after the Swedish parliament unanimously voted to designate the IRGC. It swiftly followed the execution of Swedish-Iranian Habib Chaab (Asyud) which saw Sweden's Ministry of Foreign Affairs summon Iran's chargé d'affaires in protest of the execution, one of hundreds since the start of the year.

Earlier on Monday, the UK Defense Ministry said in an intelligence update that during May 2023, Russia launched over 300 Iranian Shahed suicide drones against Ukraine, describing it as“its most intense use of this weapon system to date.”