Four Prominent Iranian Opposition Figures Renew Unity Pledge

Vahid Beheshti has been on a hunger strike in London since February 23 outside the UK Foreign Office to raise awareness for the need to designate the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).

On Tuesday, Beheshti was invited to the Foreign Office in central London, where he is camped, to speak to Tariq Ahmad, Minister of State for the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia.

“We discussed the UK’s sanctioning of four more IRGC Commanders yesterday, and the importance of taking further steps and actually proscribing the IRGC as a terrorist organization,” Beheshti wrote in a tweet.

He urged that sanctioning individuals who do not leave Iran is not an effective means of stopping the IRGC’s terrorist activities.

Having survived 62 days on water, coffee, and sugar cubes, 45-year-old Vahid Beheshti can no longer walk.

Last week, a group of 125 British MPs signed a letter backing Beheshti’s calls.

Several countries including the UK and EU have been cautious to designate the IRGC for fear it will further alienate the regime and in turn, limit negotiating capacity regarding its nuclear program.

In December, members of the UK House of Commons unanimously voted for a motion that urges the government to proscribe the IRGC, but it has split the House.

The outraged local population have taken to the streets to protest the actions of the repressive forces in Sistan and Baluchestan province, home to various incidents of mass crackdowns since September.

Videos posted on social media show protesters throwing stones at a checkpoint and gunshots can be heard in the background.

Local media reported that police opened fire at the protesters.

The motorcyclist was identified as Samir Gordhani, 16, who succumbed to the injuries he sustained in the shooting.

Other reports say the teenager died after the police car ran over their motorcycle. However, the police authorities in Sistan-Baluchestan have denied the role of agents in the death of the motorcyclist.

IRNA state news agency says the commander of the police force of the province issued an order to investigate the incident without referring to the shootings.

In recent months, pressure on the people in Sistan-Baluchistan has increased, and the situation in various cities has been described as very tense, especially on Fridays, when residents come out to protest against the regime.

The protests began on September 30, 2022, afrer nationwide unrest began following the death of Mahsa Amini.

In the recent popular protests following the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, Sistan-Baluchestan has had the highest number of victims among 31 provinces.

Iran’s official news agency IRNA reported Wednesday that Amir-Abdollahian met with Oman’s foreign minister Sayyid Badr Albusaidi and thanked him for mediation efforts by Sultan Haitham bin Tariq and the government of Oman “for their positive role” in JCPOA nuclear talks.

IRNA quoted Amir-Abdollahian as saying, “In addition to issues relating to expanding relations, I discussed regional issues with my Omani counterpart, as well as international problems, such as Palestine, Yemeni reconciliation and the situation in Sudan.”

IRNA commented that Oman has played an important role in Iran’s nuclear talks, “exchange of prisoners between Iran and the West”, and contacts between Iran and Saudi Arabia.

Oman has long played a mediating role between Tehran and Washington. First contacts in 2013 to launch nuclear talks were facilitated by Oman.

Meanwhile, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov visiting the United Nations in New York, told reporters during a news conference on Tuesday that the revival of the JCPOA nuclear deal does not depend on Russia, China or Iran, indirectly accusing the United States for freezing talks.

The European Union presented a compromise agreement draft to Iran and Western powers last August, after 18 months of talks, but the United States accused Iran of stonewalling and presenting “extraneous” demands. In October, Washington said it is not focused on the talks any longer, demanding that Iran stop weapons supplies to Russia, among other things.

The first day of the European Parliament Solidarity Days was held on Tuesday jointly by the Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Committee on Foreign Affairs in coordination with the European Parliament's Delegation for Relations with Iran to exchange views on "How to support Human Rights, Freedom and Democracy in Iran". 

Udo Bullmann, Chair of the Subcommittee on Human Rights, said during the session, “We stand in full solidarity with the courageous people of Iran who risk their lives by taking the streets and speaking out for freedom and justice again, and again and again. We must not and will not let them down. Tyranny will not win. We stand up for dignity, democracy and human rights, we stand with the people of Iran.”

European lawmakers say the event’s objective is to explore ways to support human rights, women, and civil society in Iran with a large spectrum of Iranian guest speakers, and to reflect on challenges and prospects for Iran's democratic movement. However, the list of the speakers on the first day drew controversial reactions online as some of the participants were labeled as regime apologists by some social media users. 

Women's rights activist and writer Mansoureh Shojaee, journalist Mahdieh Golroo, Sociology of Gender Researcher Fatameh Karimi, and former political prisoner Sattar Rahmani as well as Ardeshir Amirarjomand, a senior advisor to dissident former prime minister Mir-Hossein Mousavi – were some of the speakers. 

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Also among the participants was Canada-based opposition figure Hamed Esmaeilion, whose recent resignation from the Alliance for Freedom and Democracy in Iran has sparked bitter arguments between constitutional monarchists and his supporters.

He told Iran International after the session that he focused his remarks on how to help “the Iranian revolution” on three main topics: providing uncensored internet, helping the affected families and protesters – free or detained -- inside the country, and setting up a fund to support striking workers.

He added that the designation of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organization was also among the topics discussed during the session. Blacklisting the IRGC has been one of the main demands of the Iranian opposition as it is the regime’s hand in cracking down on dissent inside the country and handling Tehran’s proxy wars across the region.

One of the main hosts of the event is Cornelia Ernst, the chair of the European Parliament's Delegation for Relations with Iran, which has maintained a regular dialogue with the Islamic Republic’s parliament and its mandate is to further promote dialogue and “mutual understanding” with the Iranian parliament. Such a mandate seems to be against the Women, Life, Liberty movement, which has engulfed Iran since September 2022, when the death in custody of Mahsa Amini sparked the protests against the regime.

However, Ernst voiced opposition sanctioning the IRGC, expressing concerns that the designation would cut off relations and dialogue with the Islamic Republic and may pave the way for the regime to become another North Korea, which the European Union does not want.

Hanna Neumann, the representative of Germany in the European Parliament who has been very active in supporting the Iranian protest movement especially since September 2022, also spoke during the session. She said the protests and the ensuing crackdown have shed light on the atrocities of the regime.

“Thanks to the protests, everyone knows now how brutal this regime is, how it is beating, raping, executing its own people,” she said, noting that “it is quite clear that the regime is impossible to reform and that it is a big threat to its own people, to the region and to the world as a whole.” 

 Other MEPs also called for the freedom of hundreds of political prisoners, especially women, marginalized minorities, and torture survivors.

They also reiterated their call for the EU to add the IRGC to its list of terrorist organizations, three months after a plenary resolution adopted on January 19, 2023.

Workers in more than 80 companies have joined industrial action, protesting poor working conditions, low wages and rising costs of living, according to the Council for Organizing Oil Contract-Workers' Protests.

The council accused the regime of seeking to sow division among workers through ethnic differences. ”It can be seen in some places that our protest rallies have been dispersed on the pretext that workers belong to a certain ethnicity,” the group said in a statement this week.

“This is while all of us workers from every part of the country have common pains and enemies. All of us are protesting the poverty and rising prices and worsening of our working and living conditions every day.”

Almost all of the striking workers in oil, gas, steel, petrochemicals and other industries, are not officially hired by the country’s oil company or relevant ministries and are working on temporary contracts, so risk their only means of livelihood by joining the strikes.

Labor activists believe warn that society is on the verge of explosion as strikes reach new levels. Experts say there is no end in sight as tensions rise amidst a crumbling economy and the biggest anti-regime sentiment in years.

Strikes at Salman Farsi Petrochemical company

In a bid to retain calm, employers claim that the strikes will end soon, claiming there will be no other rounds of strikes until the end of the summer.

However, the council refuted this. “We firmly declare that we are not slaves to anyone so no one can speak on our behalf,” it said. 

In an audio file sent to Iran International and verified by our contacts earlier in the week, a man recounted the ordeal of contract workers, describing their situation as “stuck in hidden slavery”. The worker says the problems stem from the special status of a few well-connected senior managers and systematic corruption in the energy industry.

He explained details of the meagre wages paid with delays and the lack of weekend breaks for overworked and underpaid staff. The worker also went on to explain how the country’s security forces have threatened those striking and their families of serious repercussions if they do not stop participation in industrial action. 

The workers who are officially employed by the oil ministry enjoy better conditions and usually do not risk their position by joining the popular movements.

Javad Abbasi Tavallali, a journalist with first hand experience about the working conditions in Asaluyeh -- a city in Bushehr province and home to the majority of the country’s energy plants and refineries – told Iran International earlier in the week that almost all these government contractors, such as Petro Sina Arya, PetroPars, and Petro Paydar Iranian, are affiliated with the Revolutionary Guard.

The Council did not disclose the exact number or percentage of the striking workers or when the factories will have to stop operations if the strikes continue.

The current round of strikes started on Saturday as workers demand wage increases in the face of more than 50 percent annual inflation.