Cyrus The Great Is Harbinger Of Light For Future Iran – Exiled Prince

As per the latest figures, over 24,000 Iranians have registered their candidacy for the Majles election, down from the initial 50,000 who registered unofficially in August. This decline in interest may be attributed to the Majles' unpopularity and the government's perceived failure in economic and foreign policy.

Concurrently, former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's political rivals have shown sensitivity towards his silence both on the domestic front and on the unfolding conflict in the Middle East.

Recent reports have indicated that politicians from across the Iranian political spectrum are keenly observing Ahmadinejad's silence ahead of the March 1 elections. They have attempted to provoke him to take a stance on the Israel-Hamas conflict, particularly given his notoriety as a holocaust denier.

In response to these pressures, Ahmadinejad, through his aide, lawmaker Ahmad Alirezabeigi, conveyed that he would only comment on the war if allowed to address domestic political issues as well. This response suggests that Ahmadinejad, known for his outspoken nature, is under government pressure to remain silent regarding political affairs.

Furthermore, Alirezabeigi clarified that Ahmadinejad does not intend to run for a parliamentary seat, but he will endorse like-minded candidates. It is speculated that the conservative coalition known as Sharian (Strategic Network of the Friends of the Islamic Revolution) will be instrumental in grooming pro-Ahmadinejad candidates.

Abbas Amirifar, a cleric known as Ahmadinejad's exorcist, has told the media that the former president occasionally travels to the Caspian region to meet with his aide and relative Esfandiar Rahim Mashai, who is taking the lead in electioneering for Ahmadinejad. His other aide, Hamid Reza Baghai is also said to be helping Mashai to come up with a list of candidates.

Despite these efforts to weaken Ahmadinejad's influence, many Iranians believe he remains popular among a significant portion of the population. Former Vice President Es'haq Jahangiri has criticized Ahmadinejad for his anti-Israeli rhetoric during his presidency and what he perceives as a waste of national resources. Jahangiri's statement appears to be an attempt to further tarnish Ahmadinejad's image ahead of the election.

As President, the populist Ahmadinejad engaged in virulent anti-Israeli and anti-West statements, stonewalling on the nuclear issues, which prompted stringent UN sanctions on Iran’s economy, and the beginning of a decade-long economic crisis.

Moderate conservative politician Mansoor Haqiqatpoor, a staunch supporter of former Majles Speaker Ali Larijani, also criticized Ahmadinejad, accusing the former president of hiding from the public to avoid expressing an opinion about the Israel-Gaza war.

Furthermore, Haqiqatpoor emphasized that both Larijani and former President Hassan Rouhani would encourage the public to participate in the elections. As of now, neither of them has officially registered their candidacy for the Majles, and Rouhani, who is a member of the Assembly of Experts, has not declared his intention to run for re-election in the assembly. The Assembly of Experts' election takes place on March 1, concurrently with the parliamentary election.

During the previous round of parliamentary elections in Iran, more than 16,000 candidates had registered their candidacy. Only 13 percent of the current registrants are women, and a mere 2 percent are former parliament members. These candidates will undergo scrutiny by the Executive Committee of the Interior Ministry and the Guardian Council before February 1, resulting in a significant reduction in the number of candidates vying for the 290 parliamentary seats.

Esmail Khatib, the Minister of Intelligence of the Islamic Republic, made statements regarding Hamas' October 7 attack, describing it as a "new historical beginning for the eradication of Israel", claiming it will lead to the collapse of the entire Israeli government.

Khatib's comments reiterate the Iranian regime's long-standing opposition to its archenemy Israel, which he called a "fabricated Zionist regime that had crafted a legendary narrative and a Hollywood image over the years.”

His comments come as Israel's troops on the ground in Gaza rescued its first of the more than 230 hostages held by the group designated by countries including the US, UK and EU.

The young female soldier, Ori Megidish, was taken back to her family in Israel as ground operations stepped up since the weekend, a victory for the Israeli government which is coming under increasing pressure to find the hostages, who are mostly civilians.

As Iranians continue to endure the worst economic times in recent history, the regime's ongoing support for its regional proxies such as Hamas, is a knife in the wound. Hamas alone garners at least $100m a year from Iran in addition to military, technical and logistical support.

Speaking during a military event on Monday, Mohammad Bagheri, the Chief of Staff of Iran's Armed Forces, said Hamas fighters have constructed over 400 kilometers of tunnels, describing them as one the factors that the Islamist militia has survived against Israeli fire. Meanwhile, its cities are buried under rubble as the terror group plants its infrastructure under civilian sites.

Backed by Iran’s hefty financial and logistic support, Hamas Islamist militants attacked Israel from air and ground in a surprise attack on October 7, killing more than 1,400 Israelis and taking hostage over 220 others. Israel has recently extended its retaliatory bombing of the city to ground operation. The Israeli aerial campaign, which has led to the death of thousands of Palestinians, seems inevitable as Hamas has created an underground network of tunnels to move forces, smuggle weapons, infiltrate into Israel, and perhaps keep the hostages. This extends to hiding its key infrastructure under the likes of schools and hospitals.

Boasting about the tunnels, Bagheri said motorcycles and cars can pass through the tunnels whose one end is inside the Gaza Strip and the other inside the Israeli territory. He did not talk about why Hamas, who controls the tunnels, would not let civilians use them or take shelter in them, nor did he say why the group does not use its underground network to supply the much-needed food and resources for the Gazans, who have been living under a blockade since 2007. “Hamas fighters prepare for the battle in these tunnels and manage their defensive industries,” he said. 

Hamas Official Mousa Abu Marzouk said in a televised interview last week that the tunnels in Gaza were built to protect Hamas fighters from air strikes, not civilians. He added that protecting Gaza civilians is the responsibility of the United Nations and Israel. “We are fighting from inside the tunnels,” he stated. 

While there are tunnels acting as shelters for the Hamas militia, there are no shelters for Gaza's civilians under Hamas control.

The Iranian general claimed that Israel would not launch its foreshadowed big ground invasion because it knows it will end in another defeat, glorifying the deadly attack by Hamas that has ruined chances for a regional peace for an unknown future. “Palestinian fighters are ready for a ground assault by Israel, and in the past few nights, we witnessed some glimpses of this defeat. As soon as the internet reconnects in Gaza, we will see images of burning tanks and the killing and capturing of Zionist soldiers."

Referring to the Israeli army, Bagheri said, "That mighty army and unmatched security, power, and splendor of the Zionists collapsed on October 7” in the operation al-Aqsa Flood – the codename for the war Hamas declared on Israel, "a manifestation of Hamas' depth of intelligence and operations." 

Suggesting that the group, designated by countries including the UK and US, has enough military hardware and rockets to sustain a long war, he said, “If this bombing continues for one year, once again, the Zionists will be the losers in this field.” While Iran continues to deny having a hand in the war, while international aid groups claim there is no basic food, water and hygiene products in the territory, there is clearly no shortage of rockets. 

Also on Sunday, several other Iranian military men and officials praised the tunnels as a means of “passive defense.” Iran’s Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi, himself a Revolutionary Guard commander, said the tunnel network is a significant factor in Hamas “resistance.” Iran brands its proxy militias across the region as “resistance forces” against global imperialism. 

The Palestinian Islamist group has different kinds of tunnels running beneath the sandy 360 sq km coastal strip and its borders -- including attack, smuggling, storage and operational burrows, Western and Middle East sources familiar with the matter said.

What lies in wait for Israeli ground troops in Gaza, security sources say, is a Hamas tunnel network hundreds of kilometers long and up to 80 meters deep, described by one freed hostage as "a spider's web" and by one expert as the "Viet Cong times 10". 

While it and other Palestinian groups are secretive about their networks, recently released Israeli hostage, 85-year-old Yocheved Lifshitz, said, "It looked like a spider's web, many, many tunnels," adding: "We walked kilometers under the ground."

The Israeli military said on Friday that Hamas is using Gaza's main hospital, Al Shifa, as a shield for tunnels and operational centers, revealing the complex network of the center. "Hamas has turned hospitals into command-and-control centers and hideouts for Hamas terrorists and commanders," Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, Israel's chief military spokesman, said.

He showed photographs, diagrams and audio recordings that, he said, showed how Hamas was using hospitals to hide command posts and entry points into the tunnel network. "Hamas terrorists operate inside and under Shifa hospital and other hospitals in Gaza," he said. 

With Israel in control of Gaza's air and sea access and 59 km of its 72 km land borders - with Egypt 13 km to the south -- tunnels provide one of the few ways for Hamas to bring in weapons, equipment and people. Its capability for smuggling has earned the Hamas leaders in exile a fortune running into billions as everything that goes in and out is subject to Hamas taxation. 

Chief Justice Gholahossein Mohseni Ejei called on the police and the ministry of interior to take immediate measures amid yet more crackdowns while the law is awaiting final approvals from authorities who have cited "ambiguities" in the proposal.

Initially presented by the Judiciary, the Chastity and Hijab bill was later modified by a commission consisting of select members of the parliamentary judiciary and cultural committees, without being debated in the parliament's open session. The modified bill was eventually approved with the addition of more articles.

On September 20, parliament members endorsed the bill with a three-year experimental period and forwarded it for approval to the Guardian Council.

However, last week, the Guardian Council and the Expediency Council criticized the bill, which had been approved by a special parliamentary commission, citing “ambiguities,” and subsequently sent it back to the parliament for clarification.

Anti-hijab sentiment is still high, however. Shargh daily recently conducted a poll, revealing that a significant 84% of respondents expressed their opposition to compelling women to observe the hijab. Of the 12,334 participants in the poll, 84.21% believed that the implementation of the Chastity and Hijab law would not result in an increased hijab compliance among women.t

In September, the United Nations branded the law "gender apartheid".

In an emotional farewell, Shirel Haeimpour’s grandfather sang a traditional Jewish love song and a wedding song with his Esfahani Persian accent for the young woman who will never get to stand under the traditional canopy, or ‘chuppah’.

From the town of Rishon Lezion, Shirel’s loved ones gave moving speeches about her as Israel mourns the more than 1,400, mostly civilians, murdered on the day now considered the most deadly day for Jews since the Holocaust.

Another more than 230 have been taken hostage to Gaza, including babies and children.

It was her last weekend as a soldier in the mostly female base near Kibbutz Nahal Oz, one of the many villages where civilians were slaughtered and homes destroyed by the thousands of Hamas militants who invaded Israel by air, land and sea.

The girls’ duty was to watch the country’s most active border. The base had a policy of 'you see, you shoot’, the Gaza border a constant threat since Hamas took over control of the strip.

In a chilling recollection, her boyfriend Ariel Ben Uri, spoke of her constant fears that one day, Hamas would break through and invade, feeling that both the soldiers and the civilians around them were not safe from terrorist infiltration. “You were right,” he said, fighting back tears.

The youngest daughter of four, her brother Barak spoke of her bravery as she leapt out of bed as the tragedy unfolded to go straight to the emergency room. Hamas drones had blacked out the cameras meaning there were just minutes for the girls to alert others of an imminent attack.

“You saved lives and chose to help,” he said, speaking through his tears at the ceremony in Rishon Lezion, south of Tel Aviv.

News of her death was felt by the Iranian diaspora. Karmel Melamed wrote on X: “As an Iranian American I weep for Shirel Haeimpour, an innocent Iranian-Israeli young woman slaughtered by Hamas barbarians.

“She came from Isfahani (Esfahani) Jewish roots which are ancient. Just as we mourn the loss of Armita in Iran, we also mourn the loss of Shirel in Israel,” referring to a 16-year-old schoolgirl, who was pronounced dead after spending four weeks in coma in Tehran, following a scuffle with hijab police.

Among the murdered were hundreds of dual citizens from countries including France, the UK, and the US. Dozens of local Arabs and Bedouins were also murdered.

The hostages now include around 30 nationalities, Israelis, dual-nationals, foreign workers and tourists.

Hamas has demanded the release of 6,000 prisoners in return for the hostages, though it claimed recently 50 have died in Israeli airstrikes on the strip.

In 2011, Israel released over 1,000 Palestinians from its jails in return for one Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit. In a bitter twist, many of them, including Hamas' leader in the Gaza Strip, Yahya Sinwar, ended up being among those who masterminded and executed the surprise attack on October 7.

Experts warn that the latest situation would set a dangerous precedent not only to Hamas but to Israel’s archenemy Iran. In August, the Biden administration agreed to unblock $6b of frozen Iranian funds in south Korea in exchange for five dual-national US-Iranians held hostage in Iran. Many warned at the time that the “largest ransom in history” would embolden the Iranian regime and other would-be hostage takers.

In the meantime, Israel has vowed to continue its ground invasion of Gaza until both Hamas is destroyed and the hostages are brought home, as the war enters its fourth week.