Ideology Of Pure Islamic Rule Serves Power Politics In Iran

Despite its continued denial of involvement in the October 7 atrocities, which resulted in the death of 1,200 mostly civilians, with over 250 individuals taken hostage to Gaza, Tehran continues its public meetings with Palestinian militant groups, long supported, armed, and trained by Iran.

In Lebanon on Saturday, the foreign minister also met leaders of Palestinian militant groups in addition to its biggest proxy, Hezbollah.

He has been on a whirlwind tour of the region which began Friday. While in Doha, where Gaza militants Hamas has long had one of its foreign outposts, Amir-Abdollahian held separate talks with his Qatari counterpart and the Emir of Qatar.

Qatar marked the final leg of the Iranian diplomat's regional tour. In Syria, Amir-Abdollahian had also met with regime-backed militant leaders, in addition to President Bashar al-Assad.

Since the outbreak of the Gaza war, Israel has been increasing airstrikes on Iranian-backed military targets in Syria, with reports of high-level killings of Iranian military personnel since the outbreak of the conflict.

The documents revealed the parliament's coordination with designated Iranian entities and individuals to facilitate their trade activities and conceal their identities and connections from international regulatory bodies. The measures include manipulating purchase documents and customs regulations as well as banking incentives and foreign currency supplies to offset the damages incurred due to sanctions. 

Uprising till Overthrow, closely affiliated with the Albania-based opposition Mujahideen-e Khalq (MEK) organization, said they breached 600 of the main servers of the parliament, commission, main chamber, parliament assistant, parliament bank, and other servers related to administrative functions, via the Khaneh Mellat News Agency.

Among the vast array of internal communications and confidential documents leaked Tuesday is a 14-page letter that outlines numerous methods of bypassing sanctions and supporting sanctioned individuals and entities discussed in a session of Iran’s Sanctions Counteraction Headquarters held in August 2023.

The confidential letter is signed by Mohammad Mirmohammadi, the Deputy for Economic and Technological Affairs of the Secretariat of the Supreme National Security Council, addressed to Mohsen Rezaei, the Secretary of the Supreme Council of Economic Coordination of the Branches of Government. A copy of the letter was also sent to the heads of the three branches of Iran’s government, namely the president and the chief justice as well as the Parliament Speaker. 

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The Sanctions Counteraction Headquarters was established in 2018 after the US withdrawal from the JCPOA. Es'haq Jahangiri, the First Vice President of the Rouhani administration, announced the establishment of this headquarters, saying, "In the new conditions, country managers do not have the right to surrender to the conditions and must find solutions for selling oil and providing the country's needs." 

According to the leaked letter, the HQ decreed that sanctioned individuals have the "possibility to change their identity for the purpose of continuing their activities." They will also benefit from other facilities such as "financial incentives in banking, insurance, tax, and customs areas."

Another resolution included "provision of protective and security coverage" to all managers, agents, and people working to neutralize sanctions, aimed at "immunizing" them against incurred damages. 

Mentioned in the letter is the provision of legal-judicial services domestically and internationally to support people at risk of retribution for their efforts to evade sanctions. Methods of bypassing the restriction to import sanctioned goods and dual-use goods are also addressed, in addition to practices such as not providing a certificate of origin or accepting a mismatched certificate of origin from non-Iranian businesses, tampering with documents with names inconsistent with the buyer, and changing the name or details of the purchase agreement.

Using foreign intermediaries for sanctioned goods was also introduced as a common practice with customs permitted to change declarations to avoid the disclosure of information about the imported goods. 

Such mechanisms have, over a number of years, effectively established a hidden financial system that has become an integral part of Iran's economy. The authorities of the Islamic Republic have repeatedly acknowledged their efforts to circumvent US sanctions, and some people in Europe and the US have been detained on charges of involvement in this circumvention. 

The timing of the cyberattack is notable as it coincides with the upcoming parliamentary elections, scheduled for March 1st, which have been marred by extensive disqualifications of candidates, raising concerns about the integrity of the electoral process. This isn't the first time Uprising till Overthrow has targeted Iranian government agencies. In June, the group exposed documents from the Iranian presidential system, shedding light on activities of the Revolutionary Guards in suppressing protests.

The announcement came during naval exercises with the IRGC deploying two ballistic missiles from the Shahid Mahdavi warship.

The IRGC claims that the missiles can strike targets up to 1,700 kilometers (1,050 miles) away.

"The IRGC has initiated the firing of ballistic missiles in the Gulf of Oman for the first time," state television reported.

IRGC Chief Hossein Salami stated, "The launch of a long-range ballistic missile from the warship was executed with success."

In a warning on Tuesday, Salami said, "In the event of a naval conflict and our ships being targeted, we will respond with equal or greater force."

Additionally, state television reported that the IRGC conducted a simulation of a surface-to-surface ballistic missile strike on Israel's Palmachim airbase from central Iran. The base serves as a critical facility for F-35 fighter jets in Israel.

The military maneuvers unfold amid heightened regional tensions following the eruption of the Israel-Hamas conflict on October 7. Iran, which does not recognize Israel, has long opposed it and supported Palestinian terror groups since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

It follows an attack on a bulk carrier of corn traveling from Brazil to Iran on Monday. "This is just the latest, absurd example demonstrating that the Iranian regime supports terrorism and destabilizing behavior by groups like the Houthis at the expense of all the people of the region, including the Iranian people themselves," the spokesperson said.

Citing maritime sources, Reuters reported that the attack was the first time a ship headed for Iran was targeted amidst the Red Sea blockade, launched in November.

A regional security official told Reuters that the attack appeared designed to "show Iran does not control the Houthis and they act independently." They added that the Houthis had informed Tehran in advance, though so far Iranian officials are yet to comment on the allegations or the attack itself. 

The Yemeni Houthis joined the proxy war which emerged in the aftermath of Iran-backed Hamas's attack on Israel on October 7. The deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust, Hamas killed 1,200 mostly civilians and took at least 250 more hostage. Israel's relentless retaliation on the Gaza based militia has led to large swathes of the strip destroyed and around two thirds of the population at least displaced.

In solidarity, Iranian proxies in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen have attacked both Israel and US targets, punishment for Biden's support of Israel's right to defend itself in the wake of the October atrocities.

Mahdokht Damghanpour, one of Ghobadloo's attorneys, was summoned to the Culture and Media Court after voicing numerous objections to the proceedings of her client's case.

In an interview with Didban Iran, Damghanpour previously stated that her client was executed despite requests from medical professionals and 50 psychiatrists to halt the execution.

She said her client was executed without notifying his attorneys, examining his mental health status again as per the Chief Justice's orders, informing his family, or granting him a final visit.

Ghobadloo was detained during the uprising which followed the death in morality-police custody of Mahsa Amini in September 2022. He was charged with running over a police officer with his car and causing his death, as well as other charges including "corruption on earth" and "waging war against God" in another case.

In a recent interview, Damghanpour claimed Ghobadloo was subjected to beatings and forced to confess before his execution last month.

So far, at least nine protesters have been executed in connection with the Women, Life, Freedom protests.