Iran’s Green Movement Leaders Divided: Two Boycott Election, One Votes

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock in a Friday phone call "delivered a clear message" to Iran’s acting Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani on the urgent need for de-escalation in the region, the Germany Foreign Ministry said.

"Clear message from Baerbock in today's phone call with the acting Iranian FM Bagheri Kani regarding the situation in the Middle East: Further escalation must be prevented at all costs, and Iran must also contribute to this," reads a post on the German Foreign Ministry's X account.

Later in the day, EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell said on his X account that he held a phone call with Bagheri Kani to discuss the "rising tensions" along the Israeli-Lebanese border.

Tensions between Israel and Hezbollah have been escalating in recent days, raising concerns about a potential full-blown war. Both sides have exchanged threats and engaged in increasingly aggressive actions, leading to fears of a larger conflict that could engulf the region.

Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah recently warned that "no place" in Israel would be spared in the case of a full-blown war against the Lebanese group, and even threatened to target Cyprus if it opened its airports to Israel.

Israel has also threatened to “plunge Lebanon completely into the dark and take apart Hezbollah’s power in days."

The Israeli threat to plunge Lebanon into darkness, issued by former war cabinet member Benny Gantz on Tuesday, won't be difficult for the IDF to carry out. Lebanon's power grid, already crippled by decades of mismanagement and the current economic collapse, barely functions as it is. Israel will be able to easily finish it off with a few well-aimed airstrikes.

However, the US is warning Israel that any IDF offensive in Lebanon would risk a broader conflict that draws in Iran and Iran-aligned militants, particularly if Hezbollah's existence is threatened.

German Citizens Jailed in Iran

In the Friday phone call, Berlin said, Baerbock also raised the issue of German citizens jailed in Iran, which include Jamshid Sharmahd and Nahid Taghavi.

Jamshid Sharmahd, a 68-year-old software developer and California resident, was abducted by Iranian agents during a visit to the United Arab Emirates in 2020 and forcibly taken to Iran. In February 2023, the Iranian judiciary sentenced him to death on charges of endangering national security.

Sharmahd, who holds German and Iranian citizenship, was convicted of heading a pro-monarchist group named Tondar accused of a deadly bombing incident that occurred in 2008 at a religious center in Shiraz, killing 14 and injuring 215 more.

Nahid Taghavi, 68, has also been jailed in Iran since 2020, and as detailed by her daughter, endured psychological torture during her detention.

Reports indicate that she was confined to solitary confinement in the notorious Ward 2-A of the Revolutionary Guards at Evin Prison for a staggering 220 days.

She was granted a brief furlough in January, but the furlough was terminated next month, and she was forced to return to prison before "being able to receive necessary medical treatment," according to the German Foreign Ministry.

In London, outside the Iranian consulate where voting for Iran's presidential election was underway on Friday, activists confronted voters, questioning their decision to participate after the bloody 2022 nationwide protests in Iran. "How can you vote after all these people were killed? You legitimize the regime by doing so," one protester was heard saying in a video shared on social media.

Metropolitan Police arrested two voting individuals outside the consulate amidst the tension. Demonstrators displayed images of victims from nationwide protests in Iran, notably from the 2022 Woman, Life, Freedom movement, which was sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody. The subsequent crackdown, resulting in the deaths of at least 550 protesters, has been labeled a crime against humanity by a UN fact-finding mission.

As reported by Mohsen Moheimany, an Iran International journalist who was present at the event, the arrested voters engaged in aggressive behavior and verbally attacked the protesters.

Several videos circulating on social media have documented the clashes, including one where a voter in London is seen threatening the protesters.

Also, there were reports that some protesters and voters verbally confronted one another in Paris.

The protesters equated election ink to the "blood of the youth," using the analogy as their central slogan. Election ink is typically applied to voters' forefingers to prevent electoral fraud.

Protests erupted in numerous global cities, including Bern, Amsterdam, Melbourne, Oslo, The Hague, Vienna, Stockholm, Manchester, Auckland, Sydney, Washington, and Hamburg, as demonstrators gathered outside Iranian embassies and polling stations to denounce participation in the presidential election.

Among the demonstrators in London was Azemat Ajdari, whose sister was a victim of flight PS752. This flight, which departed from Tehran amid military activity, was downed by the IRGC in 2020, killing all 176 passengers aboard.

Ajdari, positioned on the opposite side of the street facing the Iranian consulate, expressed to Iran International, "The street we are standing on symbolizes the sea of blood that separates us from the supporters of the Islamic Republic."

"We are here today because the people of Iran are subjected to the tyranny of a regime that has erected a barrier around them, stifling their voices and preventing them from being heard by the world. Our presence aims to amplify the people's voices and demonstrate that this government does not represent us," Ajdari elaborated.

Fariba Balouch, a human rights activist and another protester, shared with Iran International, "This protest stands against the Islamic Republic's facade of democracy. By being here, we stand in solidarity with the families of the victims, those whose children were killed by this regime, and all victims, including those from Zahedan's Bloody Friday."

On September 30, 2022, security forces opened fire on peaceful protesters in Zahedan, the provincial capital of Sistan-Baluchestan, marking a day known as Bloody Friday. This incident resulted in the deaths of at least 105 civilians, including 17 children.

During protests in Hamburg, Fardin Mafghodi, who was shot in the back and hands during the Woman, Life, Freedom movement and is now confined to a wheelchair, told Iran International, “Anyone who votes effectively buys bullets for the Islamic Republic to target people like me.”

Mojtaba Elhani, a political activist at the Berlin protest, stated to Iran International, “The blood of our youth obstructs the path to the polls. We have only one vote, and that is to overthrow the establishment.”

Faramarz Bahar, a political activist and organizer of the gathering in Paris, also told Iran International, “We want to show the regime that we do not care about the political factions within the system, whether reformist or fundamentalist. Our message to the Islamic Republic is clear: we have not seen justice, and we will not vote again.”

“The authorities of Dizel Abad prison in Kermanshah province have cut off Reza Rasaei's contact with his family and have not given any explanation about the reason for these restrictions,” a source close to the case told Dadban.

The group also reported intensified pressure on Rasaei's family, with increased threats of arrest being made against them.

Last year, the death sentence of Rasaei, one of the detainees from the 2022 nationwide protests, was confirmed by the Supreme Court of Iran.

Rasaei, from the marginalized Kurdish and Yarsan minorities, was sentenced to death by a Revolutionary Court on charges related to the killing of Nader Beirami, head of the Revolutionary Guards Intelligence Organization in Sanandaj, during a clash between security and law enforcement forces and protesters.

Various human rights organizations, including Dadban and Hengaw, reported that the authorities attributed Beirami’s murder to Rasaei without providing any evidence, witnesses, or documents.

Amnesty International, also, issued a warning about Rasaei's trial, noting that he was subjected to torture and ill-treatment, including electric shocks and severe beatings, to compel self-incriminating “confessions.”

Known as the Baqiatallah Headquarters, this apparatus works closely with the Intelligence Ministry to strategically influence the current snap election to replace former President Ebrahim Raisi, the NGO reports.

UANI says its report marks the first clear exposure of these methods of electoral manipulation.

Titled “Engineering Minds and Votes,” the 34-page report is based on original material from inside the IRGC's Baqiatallah Headquarters, including lectures, textbooks, written presentations, and speeches.

Kasra Aarabi, one of the study's authors, notes that the group was established in 2019 with the explicit objective of realizing Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s vision of an "ideal Islamic government and society."

The group, connected to the Office of the Supreme Leader, leads an initiative as part of Khamenei’s broader five-stage doctrine to achieve this goal.

That reportedly involves a five-year plan aimed at creating a regime-led "insider civil society" by recruiting and training four million Iranians across 800,000 groups, designed to influence and control the population.

The report also reveals that the Baqiatallah Headquarters is connected to the Office of the Supreme Leader and leverages resources from other agencies to execute its comprehensive "Middle Ring" strategy.

The five-year plan aims to create a regime-led "insider civil society" by recruiting and training four million Iranians across 800,000 groups, designed to influence and control the population to achieve Khamenei’s doctrine.

While election rigging in the Islamic Republic is not new, most famously in 2009, Aarabi says that the IRGC’s Baqiatallah Headquarters has reached "unprecedented levels of electoral rigging" in recent years.

Using tactics such as election engineering and cultural manipulation to secure the regime’s preferred outcomes and suppress opposition, the shadowy group has reportedly been instrumental in executing Khamenei’s vision. Traditionally, the members of the Guardian Council, selected by the Supreme Leader, are in charge of candidate eligibility.

UANI’s analysis, however, shows that the Baqiatallah Headquarters is now a key player in controlling narratives, vetting candidates, intimidating voters, and manipulating vote counts.

Affiliates of the covert group take on roles in election monitoring and polling stations to directly influence outcomes.

Operating at a granular level, the Baqiatallah Headquarters plays a critical role in vetting candidates.

Agents gather detailed intelligence on potential candidates, file reports to the IRGC intelligence, which processes and shares the data with the Guardian Council for final candidate eligibility decisions.

The Headquarters also reportedly runs targeted smear campaigns against candidates not aligned with Khamenei's preferences, ensuring only loyal candidates are elected.

Additionally, it supports IRGC’s cyberspace operations, including trolling social media, spreading misinformation, creating divisions among opposition groups, and trending pro-regime hashtags.

During the March 2024 parliamentary vote, former Foreign Minister Javad Zarif was recorded implicating Mohammad Ali Jafari, the commander of the Baqiatallah Headquarters, in orchestrating election engineering.

Zarif disclosed that Jafari was "behind everything," including preparing the entire candidate list for the parliamentary elections.

The report calls for the US and its allies to immediately sanction the Baqiatallah Headquarters, its leadership, affiliates and apparatus.

Canada’s Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc made the announcement, proscribing the IRGC as a terror organization on June 19 at a news conference in Ottawa. Before the official announcement, CBC News and Iran International English were the first outlets to break the news. 

"The government leaked that listing, and that's not usually how something as serious as this takes place," Lantsman told Iran International’s ‘Eye for Iran’ Podcast.

Lantsman stated that while she does not attribute malicious intent to the federal government for the leak, it may have given individuals with ties to the IRGC time to relocate their money or assets within Canada.

The parliamentarian, whose party has been pressuring the federal government to list the IRGC, admitted that she does not know when the government began taking action or notifying banks.

Iran International sought an interview and a response to the allegations from Canada’s Public Safety Minister for the 'Eye for Iran' podcast but received no reply in time for publication.

In a previous email correspondence, a Public Safety spokesperson told Iran International that adding an entity to the terrorist list results in “significant and immediate consequences for the entity and those associated with the entity.” 

“Canadian financial institutions, such as banks and brokerages, must immediately freeze the entity’s assets, which can then be the subject of seizure, restraint or forfeiture," the spokesperson said. 

Lantsman said “You know when you give somebody a heads up of a decision you know, it allows things to move around. Frankly the government is sloppy on this, just as they've been sloppy on foreign interference, and more than sloppy, but outright dangerous.”

When asked by Iran International’s Negar Mojtahedi during 'Eye for Iran,' whether this points to potential foreign interference within the government itself, Lantsman responded that she does not have the intelligence to suggest that, but that it’s not usual to “see something written in the newspapers before you hear it from a minister's mouth. It's usually the other way around. It should be the other way around. Canadians should expect that it's the other way around.” 

The designation of the IRGC as a terrorist group has long been sought by Iranian-Canadians and the relatives of those killed when the IRGC shot down Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 with two surface-to-air missiles on January 8, 2020. 

The downing killed all 176 people on board, including 55 Canadian citizens and 30 permanent residents of Canada. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau resisted calls to designate the IRGC as a terrorist organization, despite his party's support for a motion to list it in 2018.

Trudeau previously cited several concerns, including the unintended consequences such a designation could have for individuals conscripted into the group. 

In an email, a Public Safety spokesperson told Iran International that “being listed as a terrorist entity does not constitute a criminal offense, however it can lead to other criminal consequences.” 

The RCMP does not investigate movements or organizations for their ideological dispositions but rather for their criminal activities, the statement said. 

The listing of the IRGC as a terrorist entity, the Public Safety spokesperson wrote, identifies individuals who have engaged in or played a “substantial role in terrorism and acts of violence.” Doing so allows the Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) to prevent these individuals from obtaining a visa, entering, or remaining in Canada.

You can watch the full podcast with Minister Melissa Lantsman on Iran International YouTube Page.