Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) says antigovernment protests that it blames on foreign instigators have been "defeated."

In a January 7 statement, the IRGC said "Iran's revolutionary people along with tens of thousands of Basij forces, police and the Intelligence Ministry have broken down the chain [of unrest] created...by the United States, Britain," Israel, Saudi Arabia, militants, and monarchists.

The IRGC statement was issued after Iran's parliament held a closed-door session on January 7 to discuss the antigovernment protests that have rocked the country for more than a week.

The parliamentary session was called by a reformist faction of lawmakers who questioned security and intelligence officials about the causes of the unrest -- which Iran's government has also blamed on foreigners.

The parliament's ICANA website reported that lawmakers questioned Interior Minister Abdolrahmani Rahmani Fazli, Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi, and the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani.

It said some lawmakers voiced concerns about Internet controls put in place in the midst of the unrest, including a ban on Iran's most popular messaging app, Telegram, which officials said had been used to incite violence.

The government has reportedly lifted restrictions that it imposed on the Instagram social media tool.

But access to Telegram remained blocked on January 7, despite claims from Iran's FARS news agency that the restrictions on Telegram had been "fully lifted."

"The parliament is not in favour of keeping Telegram filtering in place, but it must pledge that it will not be used as a tool by the enemies of the Iranian people," Behrouz Nemati, spokesman for the parliament's presiding board, said.

Almost a third of Iran's 80 million people use the Telegram app as their main source of news and a way of bypassing the highly restrictive state media.

The United States and Israel have expressed support for the protesters, but deny allegations of fomenting them.

Meanwhile, state media on January 7 broadcast live footage of a fifth day of pro-government rallies organized by authorities.

But RFE/RL has received credible reports that protests continued in at least nine cities across Iran on January 6, including Tehran, where social media footage showed gatherings despite a large police presence.

RFE/RL's Radio Farda also obtained credible reports on January 6 from sources in Iran about overnight demonstrations against Iran's clerical rulers in Takestan, Arak, Masjed Soleiman, Mashhad, Qazvin, Rasht, Lahijan, and Khomein, the birthplace of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic republic.

More than a week of unrest has seen 22 people die and more than 1,700 arrested.

Various Iranian officials said on January 6 that hundreds of detainees had been released, some after agreeing to sign a pledge not to "re-offend," the semiofficial ISNA news agency reported.

They include around 90 university students, lawmaker Mahmud Sadeghi was quoted as saying by ISNA.

Later on January 7, Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi, said that 70 of the detained protesters had been released on bail during the previous 48 hours.

Dolatabadi also said that there would be more releases from detention, except for the main instigators of the riots.

In a rebuke to Iranian government claims that the widespread demonstrations had been organized and/or instigated by foreigners, a group of 16 prominent reformist figures living in Iran issued a statement rejecting that claim.

In the January 6 statement, the signatories said, "Despite the fact the enemies of the country always try to take advantage of such events, we should know that any kind of foreign interference would not be possible without the existence of internal conditions."

They added that in addition to the government claim of foreign involvement being "an insult" to Iranians, it leads to "negligence toward the real causes of the protests."

The reformist letter also went on to condemn "American interference," especially of President Donald Trump, in the "internal affairs of Iran."

Most of the signatories to the statement are former officials or parliamentarians from the time of President Mohammad Khatami (1997-2005).

Iranian émigrés also staged numerous antigovernment demonstrations in front of Iranian embassies around the world during the weekend -- including The Hague, Berlin and Hamburg, Stockholm, London, and Paris.

With reporting by RFE/RL correspondent Golnaz Esfandiari, Reuters, AFP, AP, dpa, and Press TV</s>As hundreds of thousands of Iranians take to the streets in support of their government and against recent violent demonstrations in the country, the chief commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) reports that the the rioting seen in several Iranian cities over the last week is now under control. Claiming that “the Iranian nation has been targeted due to its resistance against the US and its lackeys and for its support for oppressed nations worldwide,” Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari also reported that “a large number of the arrested trouble-makers at the center of the sedition had received training from counter-revolutionaries and the terrorist Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization [MKO/MEK – People’s Mujahedin of Iran, aka National Council of Resistance of Iran].”

When President Rouhani spoke with French President Macron yesterday, he urged France to stop hosting the MEK, which has been based in Paris since its leaders fled Iran after the 1979 revolution. Macron didn’t acknowledge his country’s support for the MEK, but he did call on the US, Saudi Arabia and Israel to cool their aggressive rhetoric. Much as the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights spoon-feeds Western media with fake intel about what is going on there, and just as Turkey has to worry about the US-based fifth columnist Gulen network, Iran has to contend with a dodgy expatriate organization that Hillary Clinton got de-listed from the US List of Terror Organizations in 2012.

Undeterred by the sheer fantasy that a ‘democratic revolution’ could occur in a country that holds regular elections, it’s all-systems go for the US media in its effort to ‘catapult the propaganda’ against the Iranian ‘Islamic regime’. Fox News yesterday gave a platform to Alireza Jafarzadeh, deputy director of the Washington office of the MEK, in which he urged the Trump government to impose crippling sanctions (additional, presumably, to the existing ones) and to recognize his organization as the new government of Iran.

The heroic story of a righteous underdog fighting for noble ideals against a tyrannical regime has galvanized the US polity – right and left, including some among the ostensibly anti-globalist ‘alt-media’ – to proclaim their impassioned support for ‘the Iranian opposition’, whom they portray as democratic white knights against the theocratic despots ruling Iran. But a closer look at the ‘better option’ certain Westerners have deigned the ‘saviors’ of Iran reveals quite a different tale.

What is the MEK?

The MEK has an unusual and bloody history. Like all revolutionary movements, it began with noble intentions to free a people from the yoke of imperialism, but underwent a series of metamorphoses. Today it is dominated by the cult of personality surrounding its leaders, Massoud and Maryam Rajavi, who have overseen its transition from an anti-Zionist, anti-imperialist, pseudo-Islamic, Marxist revolutionary movement to a bizarre terrorist suicide cult whose members believe its leaders are the divine rulers-of-Iran-in-waiting, a belief its leaders have successfully inculcated in Western policy-making circles. (Massoud Rajavi may in fact no longer be alive, but his wife still publicly leads the organization.)

The MEK partnered with Ayatollah Khomeini to overthrow the Shah but fell out out of favour with the Iranian clergy when the dust settled in the aftermath of the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Khomeini blocked MEK leaders from running in the first post-revolution presidential elections. The MEK responded by staging anti-Khomeini demonstrations, which provoked a violent backlash from the new government and ignited a vicious cycle of attacks and reprisal that led to the imprisonment, torture and death of thousands of Iranians in the early 1980s, predominantly anyone of left-leaning persuasion.

All told, some 10,000 Iranians have been killed by the MEK in its war against the Mullahs. Among their high-profile victims in devastating bombings were top Iranian officials, including President Rajai and Premier Mohammad Javad Bahonar in 1981. A number of MEK leaders were arrested and executed. Rajavi and his supporters then fled into exile in France. While reconstituting the organization in Paris, Massoud Rajavi decided that he needed a partner to run things jointly with him. The story goes that Mayriam Rajavi became his wife when a deputy within the organization ‘voluntarily’ divorced her so that she could marry Massoud.

This bizarre move was echoed a series of extreme measures that transformed the organization into the cult it has become today. All married couples were told they must divorce. Their children were sent into foster care with MEK members in cells abroad. The sexes were physically kept apart, both in Iraq and in France, including all the children from birth. Eye contact between the sexes was forbidden. Daily and weekly sessions were organized at which members would confess their most intimate thoughts, including their feelings towards other members. All emotions were to be channelled towards adoration of their leaders, the Rajavis, and “the revolutionary struggle to free Iran.” Basically, Scientology for Muslims.

The MEK is vilified by most in Iran because of its collaboration with Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s, which cost Iran about 1 million deaths. Iranian officials refer to the movement as Munafiqeen, ‘hypocrites’, a pun on Mujahideen. The MEK has been positioning itself as the Opposition to the Iranian government, and Maryam Rajavi likes being referred to as The President of Iran. Yet even the Green Movement (an Iranian ‘color revolution’ outfit), which amassed significant support in Iran in the run-up to the 2009 presidential elections (albeit with the dubious support of Western intelligence agencies), has distanced itself from the cult. Zahra Rahnavard, wife of reformist presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi, has stated categorically that “Mr. Mousavi, Mr. Khatami, Mr. Karroubi and all of us within the Green Movement do not consider the MEK a part of the Green Movement.”

By the late 1980s, the Rajavis had amassed a heavily-armed force, some 14,000 strong, which conducted raids into Iran. Towards the end of the Iran-Iraq War, on 26 July 1988, six days after Ayatollah Khomeini announced his acceptance of a UN-brokered ceasefire resolution, Massoud Rajavi ordered his forces to cross the border on a suicide mission they called Operation Eternal Light. Their convoy of tanks got as far as the Iranian town of Islamabad-e Gharb, which they razed to the ground, before being beaten back to Iraq by overwhelming Iranian firepower. The MEK’s last major offensive was conducted against Iraqi Kurds in 1991, when it joined Saddam Hussein’s brutal repression of the Kurdish rebellion. Maryam Rajavi reportedly told her loyal subjects to, “Take the Kurds under your tanks, and save your bullets for the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.”

With Saddam Hussein falling out of favor with the West in the First Gulf War, the Rajavis reconfigured their organization. They began to present a more benign image to the West, focusing their energy on the dissemination of propaganda and lobbying Western officials. At the same time, their military wing carried out violent attacks against Iranian targets in the West, the most spectacular of which was a wave of coordinated attacks on 5 April 1992 when MEK true-believers stormed Iranian diplomatic missions, took hostages and heavily vandalized premises in New York City, Canada, Germany, France, Britain, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Australia.

Shortly after the US State Department placed MEK on its list of terrorist organizations in 1997, an illuminating report appeared in The Iran Brief, a private monthly publication read in Washington circles. The report describes some of the findings of Operation Suture, an FBI investigation of MEK activities in the US, which found that the organization had set up hundreds of front companies in the US through which it, among other things, was actively buying political favors.

That US Congressmen were taking bribes isn’t anything out of the ordinary, but taking campaign contributions in cash from an officially-recognized terrorist organization that was extremely cosy with, and funded by, Saddam Hussein at a time when US media was painting Saddam as ‘The New Hitler’ is pretty extraordinary. Congressmen were apparently taken in by the Rajavis’ slick efforts to distance their bloody war against Iran from their ‘new-found mission’ to raise awareness of human rights violations in Iran. But not everyone was fooled.

According to an August 2002 FBI report sent to Francis Taylor, Coordinator for Counter-terrorism at the US State Dept, the FBI executed a warrant to search the premises of MEK’s converted offices in Falls Church, Virginia, 5 miles from the CIA’s Langley HQ. The FBI was investigating how the various fronts (MEK, PMOI, MKO, NLA, NCRI, etc) all linked together. The FBI report named the organization’s HQ as Rue des Gords 17, Auvers-sur-Oise, on the northwest outskirts of Paris, France. Among the interesting tidbits they unearthed was that all calls to the MEK’s office at the National Press Club in Washington, DC were forwarded to the Falls Church address and that the organization’s official newspaper (the Mojahed Weekly) was prepared there. The FBI also seized publications containing details of NLA military activities, training manuals, operations maps and signed blank cheques used to pay their representatives’ expenses and fund their activities. Contrary to what the MEK leadership was telling its gullible recruits and Washington dignitaries, the FBI concluded unequivocally that “the NRCI operates as an alias of the PMOI/MEK, despite whatever claims these entities make publicly that may fool outsiders and even some of those inside the entities.”

This mattered to the FBI because, 5 years previously, in 1997, despite having bribed then Vice-President Al Gore while he was on the campaign trail with the Clintons back in 1992, the MEK was officially listed as an ‘FTO’ (Foreign Terrorist Organization) by the US State Department because it had assassinated three US military officers and three defence contractors in Iran in the 1970s, was suspected of numerous other assassination attempts on American citizens and was attacking Iranian targets in the US and Europe. This prompted the FBI in 2004 to launch a criminal investigation (Operation Eastern Approach) into MEK activities in the US.

Through wiretaps, the FBI’s LA offices discovered that the MEK was planning bombing attacks from their Paris headquarters and that its fundraising activity had actually increased since being outlawed in 1997. Money coerced from wealthy Iranian expatriates in the US and through drug trafficking into the US was being “transferred overseas through a complex international money laundering operation that uses accounts in Turkey, France, Belgium, Germany, Norway, Jordan and the UAE.” Although just one MEK affiliate was sentenced in the case of US v. Tabatabai, hundreds of MEK members were arrested or questioned by the FBI in joint operations with German and French intelligence. The FBI concluded that “this organization [MEK] routinely lobbies unwitting members of Congress under the pretext of human rights issues in Iran.”

The FBI further found that the organization was procuring equipment and false passports throughout the US and Europe for fellow members to commit acts of terrorism in Iran. The organization designates military-style ranks to members based on their loyalty, uses complex communication methods designed to hide their traces and operates very much as elements of the US intelligence community claim Hezbollah does, with cells within cells and the resources to get things done. But unlike the substantially contrived ‘al Qaeda’ or ‘ISIS’ networks – which are largely entrapment schemes whereby the FBI infiltrates groups of unemployed Muslims, pays them large sums of money, gives them bomb-making equipment, then entraps them by suggesting they blow up public landmarks – the MEK terrorist network is real.

The MEK’s Parisian camp is essentially a series of buildings knocked into one complex, which is heavily guarded with armed security checkpoints. This is ostensibly to protect its members from ‘the Iranian threat’, but one suspects that it is in fact required to keep cult members from escaping. In an interview Massoud Rajavi gave to Corriere della Sera in 2002, the journalist described the level of security he witnessed there:

In June 2003, when a French court ruled that the MEK and its numerous front groups constituted a terrorist organization, French anti-terrorist police raided various MEK offices in and around Paris, including its garrison at Auvers-sur-Oise, arresting 160 of its members and confiscating millions of euros. Nicolas Sarkozy, Interior Minister at the time, expressed concern that the MEK “wanted to make France its support base, notably after the intervention in Iraq,” while Pierre de Bousquet de Florian, head of France’s domestic intelligence service, warned that the group was “transforming its Val d’Oise centre into an international terrorist base.” (Their concerns were of course disingenuous given that this had already been the case for over a decade, but they speak to the mixed feelings of Western leaders about sheltering such a dangerous organization.)

MEK cells across North America and Europe whirled into action, busing their devotees to coordinated protests. 40 cult members went on hunger strike. Assisted by fellow devotees, another 16 set themselves on fire, two of them fatally. Maryam Rajavi and the rest of the French MEK leadership were immediately released. Whatever was said to French president Jacques Chirac, he backed down immediately. The MEK has since been left alone by successive French governments.

How the Myth of Iran’s Nukes Began

You get an idea of how instrumental the MEK is when you see its role in propagating Western narratives about Iran. Three months prior to the French court ruling and police raids, in March 2003, the US launched Operation Iraqi Freedom. While Bush was prancing around the USS Lincoln in a codpiece declaring ‘Mission Accomplished’ in Iraq, something very interesting was taking place in the background, something which was only revealed four years later in 2007, on a BBC Newsnight program. Let’s call it ‘the original Iran deal’.

Realizing that it was in its interest to prevent Iraq from sliding into all-out civil war, the Iranian government sent a letter to the White House offering the following:
• Iran would use its influence to support stabilization in Iraq
• Iran would open its civilian nuclear energy program to full international inspections
• Iran would end its support of Hamas and Hezbollah

In return, Iran requested the following:
• Most specifically, the pursuit of the MEK leadership and the repatriation of their members

Then US Vice-President Dick Cheney turned down the offer.

It was all there; Iran was prepared to cooperate with the US in Iraq, cooperate with Israel and the US in Palestine, Syria and Lebanon, and allow full transparency of its nuclear program… if only the US would desist from harboring MEK terrorists. The US State Department apparently wanted to pursue it, but certain Neocons torpedoed the deal.

Just think of the ramifications of this US refusal to accept what amounted to an extraordinary olive branch. America’s ‘mission accomplished’ devolved into a decade-long slaughterfest that spawned ISIS. The Israeli invasion of Lebanon would never have happened because Hezbollah would have been finished as a fighting force. And Operation Cast Lead would never have happened because Hamas would never have come to power in Gaza.

Then again, we cannot forget just how profitable war is for warmongers, how much Israel needs to be surrounded by hostile foes, and the lengths Saudi Arabia is willing to go to hold its undeserved position in the Middle East by sabotaging peaceable Iranian economic development.

But what is really twisted here is that the three specific offers made by Iran in 2003 later became the very same conditions the US said Iran must meet if it was to avoid increased sanctions and the threat of airstrikes on its nuclear installations by the US and allies, followed by certain all-out war.

So why didn’t the Iranians and Americans just revisit the original offer and shake on it?

Because since the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime in 2003, the duplicitous MEK has been busy selling the world the Iranian equivalent of the Big WMD Lie. It was the MEK who told the Bush White House that Iran was secretly building nuclear weapons. In fact, at least 20 “startling revelations about Iran’s nuclear weapons program” all came from the MEK. That’s right, the incessant barrage of propaganda about Iran’s intentions vis a vis its nuclear program stems from false information provided to US administrations by a nutty personality cult that lobbies every US administration – Trump’s is just the latest – to overthrow the Iranian government on its behalf.

Former MEK member Anne Singleton has reported that when it became obvious to Massoud Rajavi that Saddam was history, he reached out to the Americans and promised full cooperation in exchange for protection. In April 2003, the US publicly announced that it had brokered an agreement with the Rajavis whereby the MEK switched allegiances from Saddam Hussein to the US government.

The US State Department apparently understood that cooperation with the MEK was bad news and wanted to dismantle its camps, but the Pentagon wanted to keep them operational because the CIA realized they would be useful as leverage over Iran. This schism was apparent in a 2007 Sunday Telegraph article which reported that “a faction in the US Defense Department wants to unleash the MEK.” This “faction” has kept the MEK alive since Saddam was removed from power. When a $400 million budget was passed by the US Congress in 2007 to orchestrate regime change in Iran, the “faction” made sure the MEK was the largest recipient of funds.

Seymour Hersh wrote in the New Yorker in 2012 that from 2005 to 2008 US Joint Special Operations Command conducted training for cult members of this then-designated FTO at a ‘counterintelligence training facility’ in the desert north of Las Vegas. Hersh’s source told him the purpose of disrupting Iran’s nuclear energy program was not to “take out Einsteins” but to “affect Iranian psychology and morale” by “demoralizing the whole system.” This extended to attacking oil and gas pipelines, oil refineries, transport infrastructure and targeting civilians through indiscriminate bombings. The operations were “primarily being done by MEK through liaison with the Israelis.” Even the Israeli Stuxnet virus which crippled Iranian IT systems was delivered by an MEK agent.

Now we can begin to understand how this relatively small player came to be the organization that broke the news that Iran had been ‘secretly hiding’ uranium enrichment facilities from the IAEA for two decades. Capitalizing on the issue of Iran’s purported nuclear weapons, the MEK network focused on telling the Necocon chicken-hawks in Washington exactly what the Israelis wanted them to hear. Taking outward form as either the NCRI or the PMOI, the cult has been freely holding press conferences at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, in London, New York, Paris and Brussels, where they cite their ‘unnamed sources’ (probably Mossad) and dish out the latest ‘intelligence’ on Iran.

Post-war Iraqi governments repeatedly stressed that they wanted the cult out of the country as soon as possible. Families of its remaining 3,000 or so brainwashed members in Iraq held daily vigils at the gates of the sprawling Camp Ashraf desert complex until their eventual removal from Iraq in 2016, when Reuters reported that the last batch of 280 MEK terrorists were relocated to Albania, in a move brokered by the US via the UN Refugee Agency. Another 2,000 or so had previously been disbursed to a dozen unnamed countries in the EU.

In August last year, a delegation of senior US Senators met with Maryam Rajavi and other MEK leaders in Tirana, Albania. What could they possibly have been planning?

MEK presents an interesting case study in how proxy forces – mercenaries, effectively – can be moved around on the global chessboard. In May 2013 Le Figaro reported that two members of the organization were found dead in Idlib, Syria, citing a “European parliamentarian in contact with the anti-government rebels.” In August that year, Qassem Al-Araji, a member of the Security Commission in the Iraqi Parliament, confirmed that MEK was engaged in the war to unseat Assad in Syria. While generally careful to adjust their propaganda to suit Western narratives, The Nation reported that when ISIS took Mosul in 2015, “one MEK website gave a triumphalist account of the conquest, referring to ISIS as ‘revolutionary forces.”

Maryam Rajavi has become the public face of the organization in the West, where for over a decade she has been hosting marathon conferences in Washington, Paris, Brussels and elsewhere. The MEK’s initial aim was to get itself ‘de-listed’ from the US terror list – which Hillary Clinton did for them in 2012. But now it is seeking nothing less than its triumphal return to Tehran as the new regime. Former CIA Director Porter Goss, while bemoaning the MEK’s predicament at a high-level conference in Paris in 2012, told a large crowd of flag-waving MEK supporters that “once we get through the Republican primaries, I think it’s a certainty that this issue [the MEK] will become a front and center issue because it symbolises all of the values that we want to address in this election on national security and human rights.”

Others who gave rousing speeches on the MEK’s behalf at that Paris conference in 2012 included former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani; François Colcombet, a senior French judge and founder of the French Committee for a Democratic Iran; Philippe Douste-Blazy, UN Deputy Secretary-General and former French Foreign Minister; US General Hugh Shelton, former chair of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff; Judge Michael Mukasey, former US Attorney General; Ingrid Betancourt, Columbian presidential candidate; Yves Bonnet, former head of French Counter-terrorism; John Sano, former CIA National Clandestine Service’s Deputy Director; General David Phillips, former Commander of US Military Police; Geir Haarde, former Icelandic Prime Minister; Aiham Samarrae, former Iraqi cabinet minister; Carlo Ciccioli, member of Italian parliament; Lord Ken Maginnis, member of UK House of Lords; André Glucksmann, member of New France Philosophers; and William Bourdon, a prominent French jurist.

That’s the list of speakers I found at just one conference; there have been many other rallies and conferences, year after year, countless videos of which are posted on YouTube. Unsurprisingly, the MEK has been paying each of these speakers huge speaking fees, with the money apparently coming through Saudi Arabia and Israel.

If the MEK represents the ‘democratic opposition’ the US and Israel would like to see take power in Iran, and assuming this organization and its powerful patrons are indeed currently involved in capitalizing on dissent within the country, then you will forgive me for not cheering on the demise of yet another Middle Eastern government in the face of deranged fanatics who would do literally anything to attain power.</s>Hundreds of Iranians held rallies on Saturday in support of the anti-government protests in Iran, in cities including Washington, D.C., Stockholm, London, Paris and Berlin.

About 400 people gathered in central Paris, and several hundred held a rally in front of Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate with Iranian flags, drums and banners calling for a change of government. (Reuters)

See more news-related photo galleries and follow us on Yahoo News Photo Twitter and Tumblr.</s>People demonstrate in solidarity with anti-government protests in Iran near the Iranian embassy in Paris January 6, 2018. — Reuters picDUBAI, Jan 7 — Thousands of government supporters staged rallies in Iran for a fourth day yesterday in a backlash against widespread anti-government protests that the clerical establishment has blamed on the country's enemies.

Yesterday's show of support took place a day after Iran's foreign minister said a United Nations Security Council meeting called by the United States to discuss the protests had proved a "blunder" by the administration of US President Donald Trump.

State television showed rallies and marches in more than a dozen cities with demonstrators waving Iranian flags and chanting slogans including “Death to America,” “Death to Israel” and “Death to Britain.”

More than a week of unrest has seen 22 people die and more than 1,000 arrested, according to Iranian officials, in the biggest anti-government protests for nearly a decade.

Unrest spread to more than 80 cities and rural towns as thousands of young and working-class Iranians voiced anger at graft, unemployment and a deepening gap between rich and poor.

Residents contacted by Reuters in various cities have said the protests had subsided in recent days, after the government intensified a crackdown by dispatching Revolutionary Guards forces to several provinces.

Yesterday, videos on social media showed a heavy police presence in cities, including Khorramabad in southwestern Iran where on Wednesday evening social media posts showed protesters throwing stones at riot police. The protests have drawn largely young people and workers as well as members of the educated middle-class that formed the backbone of a pro-reform revolt almost a decade ago.

The provincial governor in northeastern Mashhad, where the protests started, was quoted as saying yesterday that 85 per cent of detainees there had been released after signing a pledge not to re-offend.

“Those with a criminal record, or those charged with sabotage such as setting fire to motorcycles or damaging public buildings have been referred to judicial authorities,” governor Alireza Rashidian told the Isna news agency.

A police spokesman said most of those arrested were “duped” into joining the unrest and had been freed on bail, the state news agency Irna reported. “But, the leaders of the unrest are held by the judiciary in prison.”

Tehran University vice president Majid Sarsangi said the university had set up a committee to track the fate of students arrested during the unrest.

“Our efforts at the university are aimed at cooperating with the relevant authorities to create the conditions for the return of the detained students to the university and their families in the shortest possible time,” Sarsangi told Isna.

Separately, a member of parliament said about 90 students were detained, 10 of whom were still not accounted for.

“It seems that the total number of detainees is around 90. Ten students from universities in Tehran and some other cities are in an uncertain position, and ... it is still unknown which body has detained them,” the labour news agency Ilna quoted reformist politician Mahmoud Sadeghi as saying.

Iran has several parallel security bodies and residents say arrests are often not immediately announced.

Videos that appeared on social media in recent days showed relatives of detainees gathering outside prisons seeking information about the fate of their loved ones.

In Europe, hundreds of Iranians held rallies on Saturday in support of the anti-government protests in Iran, in cities including Stockholm, London, Paris and Berlin.

About 400 people gathered in central Paris, and several hundred held a rally in front of Berlin's Brandenburg Gate with Iranian flags, drums and banners calling for a change of government.

One of the protesters in Berlin, 18-year-old Pariya Kohandel Saleh, said her father was in jail in Iran for supporting the families of prisoners.

“Things should be good in Iran now the sanctions have been lifted, but the mullahs' pockets are bottomless and everybody knows it,” she told Reuters.

A United Nations Security Council meeting on Friday to discuss the protests turned into criticism of the United States for requesting to meet on what some member states said was an internal issue for Iran.

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted: “The UNSC rebuffed the US's naked attempt to hijack its mandate ... Another FP (foreign policy) blunder for the Trump administration.”

Iran's elite Guards and its affiliated Basij militia suppressed unrest in 2009 over alleged election fraud, in which dozens of pro-reform Iranians were killed. — Reuters</s>Thousands of government supporters staged rallies in Iran on Saturday, in a backlash against widespread anti-government protests that the clerical establishment has blamed on the country’s enemies.

Saturday’s show of support came a day after Iran’s foreign minister said a UN Security Council meeting called by the US to discuss the unrest had proved a “blunder” by the administration of US president Donald Trump.

State television showed rallies and marches in more than a dozen cities on Saturday, with demonstrators waving Iranian flags and chanting slogans including “Death to America”, “Death to Israel” and “Death to Britain”.

More than a week of unrest has seen 22 people die and more than 1,000 arrested, according to Iranian officials, in the biggest anti-government protests for nearly a decade.

The unrest has spread to more than 80 cities and rural towns as thousands of young and working-class Iranians voiced anger at graft, unemployment and a deepening gap between rich and poor.

Residents contacted by Reuters in various cities said the protests had subsided in recent days, after the government intensified a crackdown by dispatching Revolutionary Guards forces to several provinces.

On Saturday, videos on social media showed a heavy police presence in cities, including Khorramabad in southwestern Iran, where protesters reportedly threw stones at riot police on Wednesday evening.

The anti-government protests have also drawn members of the educated middle-class that formed the backbone of a pro-reform revolt almost a decade ago.

The provincial governor in northeastern Mashhad, where the protests started, was quoted as saying on Saturday that 85 per cent of protest detainees there had been released after signing a pledge not to reoffend.

“Those with a criminal record, or those charged with sabotage such as setting fire to motorcycles or damaging public buildings, have been referred to judicial authorities,” governor Alireza Rashidian told the ISNA news agency.

Tehran University vice-president Majid Sarsangi said the university had set up a committee to track the fate of students arrested during the unrest.

“Our efforts at the university are aimed at co-operating with the relevant authorities to create the conditions for the return of the detained students to the university and their families in the shortest possible time,” Sarsangi told ISNA.

Separately, a member of parliament said about 90 students had been detained, 10 of whom were still not accounted for.

“It seems that the total number of detainees is about 90. Ten students from universities in Tehran and some other cities are in an uncertain position, and . . . it is still unknown which body has detained them,” the news agency ILNA quoted reformist politician Mahmoud Sadeghi as saying.

Iran has several parallel security bodies and residents say arrests are often not immediately announced.

Videos that appeared on social media in recent days showed relatives of detainees gathering outside prisons seeking information about the fate of their loved ones.

In Europe, hundreds of Iranians held rallies on Saturday in support of the anti-government protests, in cities including London, Paris and Berlin.

About 400 people gathered in central Paris, and several hundred held a rally in front of Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate with Iranian flags, drums and banners calling for regime change.

One of the protesters in Berlin, 18-year-old Pariya Kohandel Saleh, said her father was in jail in Iran for supporting the families of prisoners.

“Things should be good in Iran now the sanctions have been lifted, but the mullahs’ pockets are bottomless and everybody knows it,” she told Reuters.

A UN Security Council meeting on Friday to discuss the situation in Iran turned into criticism of the US for requesting to meet on what some member states said was an internal issue for Iran.

Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted: “The UNSC rebuffed the US’s naked attempt to hijack its mandate . . . Another FP (foreign policy) blunder for the Trump administration.” – Reuters</s>Iran’s parliament is set to hold a special session as soon as Sunday to discuss the anti-government protests that began Dec. 28 and continued through this week.

Iran’s ISNA news agency reported that Iran’s interior minister, head of intelligence and security council chief are all expected to attend. On the agenda are discussions of the root cause of the protests, as well as legal help for protesters jailed during the demonstrations.

The session was called by a group of reformist lawmakers, according to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. In a letter, those lawmakers called for legal assistance for the detained and condemned any outside “interference” in the protests, calling out the United States in particular.

U.S. President Donald Trump is set to decide next week whether to continue waiving sanctions on Iran that were suspended under the 2015 international deal on Iran’s nuclear program. The waiver must be renewed every 120 days, according to U.S. law. Trump could decide not to renew, putting U.S. trade sanctions back into effect.

In Europe, supporters of the anti-government protesters in Iran have been gathering to show their support in The Hague, Berlin, Hamburg, Stockholm, London and Paris.

At least 22 people have died in the protests, and more than 1,000 have been arrested. Hard-line cleric Ahmad Khatami told worshippers in a sermon Friday that those arrested should be treated as enemies of Islam, particularly those who have burned the flag.

“There should be no mercy for them,” he said.

Government official Mansour Gholami has told reporters that about a quarter of those arrested have been released, but he did not provide exact numbers.

The United Nations Security Council held an emergency meeting Friday at the urging of the United States.

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley called the protests “a powerful exhibition of brave people who have become so fed up with their oppressive government that they are willing to risk their lives in protests.” She also addressed the Iranian government, saying, “the U.S. is watching what you do.”

In response, the Iranian ambassador, Gholamali Khoshroo, said it is a “discredit” to the Security Council to hold such a meeting on Iran in the face of the conflicts taking place in Yemen and elsewhere in the Middle East. He, along with a number of Security Council members, said the United States is meddling in Iran’s domestic affairs.

After the meeting, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted, “The UNSC rebuffed the U.S.’s naked attempt to hijack its mandate. ... Another FP (foreign policy) blunder for the Trump administration.”

Still, U.S. intelligence officials warn Tehran is at a crossroads, noting the protests are the biggest outpouring of public discontent since Iranians took to the streets in 2009 following a disputed presidential election.

“The protests are symptomatic of long-standing grievances that have been left to fester,” an intelligence official told VOA on condition of anonymity. “Will it address the legitimate concerns of its people or suppress the voices of its own populace?”

“What is clear is that these concerns are not going away,” the official said.

Critics of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani say he has abandoned the poor, pointing to rising prices for key commodities like fuel, bread and eggs.</s>1/6/218 6:04 p.m. -- Several hundred people protested against the Iranian government in Berlin on Saturday, gathering in front of the Brandenburg Gate and calling for regime change.

The rally, organized by the German wing of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, followed more than a week of unrest across Iran that has seen more than 20 people die and more than 1,000 arrested, according to Iranian officials. The anti-government protests have been the largest in the past decade.

1/6/2018 4:43 p.m. -- Tehran University has set up a committee to track students who had been arrested during the recent anti-government protests, university Vice President Majid Sarsangi told ISNA, according to a Reuters report.

"Our efforts at the university are aimed at cooperating with the relevant authorities to create the conditions for the return of the detained students to the university and their families in the shortest possible time," Sarsangi told ISNA.

A member of parliament told Reuters that about 90 students had been detained during demonstrations -- 10 of the students have not yet been accounted for.

1/6/2018 3:13 p.m. -- This amateur video appears to show anti-government protests continuing on Friday in the capital, Tehran, where security forces were reportedly out in large numbers to prevent the gatherings from turning into a larger rally. The video was published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty on Saturday.

Anti-government protesters in Tabriz late Friday purportedly chanted the name of Soltan, the 26-year-old philosophy student and protester who was gunned down during the bloody government crackdown on demonstrators during the 2009 mass rallies. They also said they missed Neda, a young female student who was shot dead during those same rallies and became an icon for the Green Revolution.

Another video reportedly shows thousands of fans at a soccer game in Tabriz, the capital of West Azerbaijan Province, a predominately ethnic Azeri region, chanting anti-leadership slogans.

​1/6/2018 2:05 p.m. -- Demonstrators gathered outside the White House on Saturday, in a show of support for anti-government protests taking place in Iran. VOA Farsi Instagram posted these photos. The gathering, at Lafayette Park, across from the White House, was organized by the Organization of the Iranian American Communities. It was held in solidarity with those demonstrating in Iran.

1/6/2018 1:49 p.m. -- Iranian senior cleric Ahmad Khatami, during his Friday prayers, called on Iran to create its own indigenous social media apps, blaming them for the unrest that followed days of protest in the Islamic Republic over its economy.

1/6/2018 10:59 a.m. — Thousands of pro-government supporters rally Saturday across Iran for the fourth consecutive day — one day after Iran's foreign minister said a United Nations meeting was a "blunder" by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump.

State television showed demonstrators in the cities of Amol, Semnam and Shadegan wielding Iranian flags and chanting slogans against the U.S., Israel and Britain. Rallies also were held in the provinces of Khuzestan, Semnan and West Azerbaijan.

1/6/2018 4:08 a.m. — Iran’s foreign minister says a U.S. move to call an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting on protests in country marks another foreign policy “blunder” for the Trump administration.

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif wrote on Twitter late Friday that the Security Council “rebuffed the U.S.’ naked attempt to hijack its mandate.”

He says the majority emphasized the need to fully implement the nuclear deal and to refrain from interfering in the affairs of other countries.

U.S. President Donald Trump has voiced encouragement for anti-government demonstrations that have broken out in Iran. The U.S. called the U.N. meeting on Friday, portraying the protests that began last week as a human rights issue that could spill over into an international problem.

On Saturday, Iran’s state TV showed several hundred government supporters rallying a day after Zarif's comment.

The state broadcaster showed the pro-government rally in the city of Amol, in the northern province of Mazandaram, with hundreds of people waving the Iranian flag and chanting slogans against the U.S. and Israel. State TV described the rally as a “response to rioters and supporters of the riots.”

​1/6/2018 2:38 a.m. — U.S.Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told the Associated Press in a wide-ranging interview that he is working with key lawmakers to find a legislative way to enable to keep the United States in the Iran nuclear deal.

He also expressed some disappointment that the European Union has not taken "a more definitive stance in supporting" the protesters in Iran.

1/6/2018 12:26 a.m. — RFE/RL reports that Iranian authorities have blocked social media and messaging apps to foil would-be organizers and quell ongoing antigovernment protests.

But in one minor regard, state officials appear to have decided that if they can't beat 'em, they'll join 'em.

The country's state broadcaster, Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), used the banned messaging app Telegram to hail the authorities' ban on that very same app.

​1/6/2018 12:26 a.m. — (From RFE/RL) Some credit Roohollah Zam with providing a crucial information platform for Iranian protesters as they take on the Iranian regime. Tehran, however, accuses him of inciting violence and spreading fake news.

Whichever way you see it, there is no doubting that Zam, a former journalist turned exile, has become someone for the Iranian authorities to reckon with. Making use of the encrypted safety of the messaging app Telegram and the information agency he runs from abroad, Zam takes on all members of the establishment in Iran in an effort to bring the system down.

*Some information for this report provided by AP.

VOA Persian Service coverage of Iran Protests in Farsi

 

 Follow @VOAIran breaking news coverage in Farsi on Twitter</s>Turkish riot police officers stand guard in front of the Iranian Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, January 4, 2018 Photo: Reuters

TEHRAN - Iran, where fresh pro-regime demonstrations took place Friday, has been rocked by days of opposition protests over the economy and the Islamic regime as a whole.

The unrest has left 21 dead, mostly demonstrators, and prompted hundreds of arrests. It is the biggest such movement in the tightly controlled country since a protest movement over a disputed election in 2009.

A few hundred demonstrators gather in the northeastern city of Mashhad and several other towns on December 28 to protest high living costs.

Videos on reformist media show protesters focusing their ire on President Hassan Rouhani but there are also slogans lambasting the entire regime and Iran's involvement in conflicts across the Middle East.

The next day larger-scale protests flare up in more cities including religious centre Qom, where footage shows hundreds of demonstrators chanting "Death to the dictator" and "Free political prisoners".

On December 30, regime supporters rally around the country for officially sanctioned demonstrations to commemorate the defeat of the 2009 protest movement.

Despite government warnings, anti-government protests grow. Tear gas fills the streets of downtown Tehran as hundreds of people scuffle with police.

The unrest claims its first victims when two people are killed in the western town of Dorud.

On December 31, the authorities issue more warnings and block access to online messaging services that were instrumental in organising protests.

Rouhani insists people are "absolutely free" to express their anger but "criticism is different to violence and destroying public property".

Nevertheless, the unrest continues as videos on social media show demonstrations across the country for a fourth night.

Iranian media and officials report 10 deaths in protests overnight Sunday to Monday in the west of the country.

US President Donald Trump says it is "time for change" in Iran.

State television says nine people, including a policeman and Revolutionary Guards member, are killed in unrest on January 1.

Six die in the town of Qahderijan, in the central province of Isfahan, where protesters try to storm a police station, the state broadcaster reports. The number of arrests rises to 450.

Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei breaks his silence on January 2, saying Iran's "enemies have united and are using all their means" against the regime.

Rouhani phones French leader Emmanuel Macron to demand action against a "terrorist" Iranian opposition group he accuses of fomenting the protests, likely referring to the Paris-based Mujahedeen-e-Khalq.

On January 3 the commander of the elite Revolutionary Guards, General Mohammad Ali Jafari, announces "the end of the sedition".

At the United Nations, Iran accuses Washington of "grotesque" meddling.

On January 4, the United States imposes sanctions on five Iranian companies it alleges are working on Iran's illegal ballistic missile program.

On January 5 pro-regime rallies are held around Tehran for the third day running.

Prosecutor Mohammad Jafar Montazeri accuses the United States, Israel and Saudi Arabia of being behind the violence. His deputy criticises the government for not having blocked the internet.

Iranian officials say they have arrested four members of a "terrorist cell" linked to the Mujahedeen.

The UN Security Council prepares to meet to discuss the Iran protests, prompting Russia to accuse the US of "interfering".</s>About 22 Iranians have been killed since December 28 when anti-government protests began in Iran’s northeastern city of Mashhad. Tens of thousands, especially young, took to the streets as demonstrations spread to over 80 cities by the first weekend of 2018.

The protests have more or less died down. However, the resentment that fuelled them has not been addressed yet. Many have said that Iran is at a crossroads and that “changes are afoot”. Express takes a look at the current protests and its antecedents



 Who are the protesters and what do they want?

There has been a measurable decline in Iran’s living standards since the US imposed sanctions took effect in 2006. As a result of the subsequent plunge in the value of the rial, the Iranian currency, the country has been battling a double-digit inflation. This has pushed up the prices of essential commodities. Behrang Tajdin, an Iranian journalist, told the BBC’s Radio 4 that his countrymen used to drink twice as much milk seven years ago than they do today. They were eating 50 per cent more red meat in 2007 than today. In other words, they can no longer afford the same quantity of food that they used to 10 years ago.

So, when the price of eggs went up by 50 per cent overnight, people of Mashhad felt they could not keep quiet anymore. So, they hit the streets in large numbers, shouting anti-government slogans. Soon, tens of thousands of Iranians from across the country, who have also been feeling the pinch of inflation, joined them.

However, it’s not just the food prices, although they were the precipitating factor. For more than a decade now, Iran has been battling a youth unemployment rate of more than 20 per cent. In fact, in 2017, over 25 percent of youngsters between 15 and 24 years of age were unemployed, according to the International Labour Organisation. Further, analysts say Iranians are dismayed by the lack of improvement in their living conditions, despite the relaxation of international sanctions.

In other words, Iran is dealing with what experts call a “crisis of expectation”. Political leaders, including president Hassan Rouhani, promised jobs and better living standards ahead of last year’s presidential election. However, not much has materialised, leading to resentment.

How different are today’s protests from that of 2009?

The economy was not a major issue back then. In fact, Iranians were better off economically in 2009 than they are today. The driving concerns were deteriorating human rights condition, suppression of dissent and Iran’s growing international isolation. In other words, those who took part in the Green Movement -- as the protests of 2009 came to known -- were unhappy about the political direction their country was taking.

What sparked the Islamic Revolution of 1979?

Although the Iranian Revolution of 1979 is a result of a combination of factors, including western imperialism, the clergy’s hatred of the Shah and so on, the state of the Iranian economy in the late 1970s was a critical factor.

Mohammad Reza Shah, like his father, Reza Khan, signed off on a lot of development projects. The pace of growth caused the inflation rate to spike. The oil shock of 1973 and the resultant windfall in oil revenue, brought more money into the already inflated economy. The price of nearly everything went up.

Further, according to Robert Graham, the author of the book, Iran: The Illusion of Power, the oil crisis not only produced an “alarming” rate of inflation, but also widened the gap between the rich and the poor, and created a perception in the minds of many ordinary Iranians that the beneficiaries of the oil boom were none other than the elites.

In other words, like how the relaxation of western sanctions gave hope to millions of young Iranians, the oil boom of the 1970s created a crisis of expectation among ordinary Iranians, who hoped to reap its rewards but were left dismayed.

Moreover, the austerity measures imposed by Mohammad Reza Shah in 1977 to fight inflation caused the economy to shrink, causing widespread unemployment.

As opposition to his rule mounted, the Shah decided that it was in his best interest to placate his opponents by offering them limited concessions.

Thereafter, he allowed public discussions on many issues. In the two-year-period between 1977 and 1979, press enjoyed a greater degree of freedom. Newspapers were allowed to criticise the policies of the government. However, once he started liberalising, things began going out of the Shah’s hands. Those who wanted to depose him made use of the newfound freedoms to rally the country against his rule.

The late 1970s was also a period of great turmoil and uncertainty, which led many Iranians to seek solace in the promise of Islam. However, this is not to say that all Iranians who took part in the revolution of 1979 were pious Muslims who wanted to get rid of the Western-backed, secular-minded Shah.

In fact, those who coalesced under Islamic cleric Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s leadership in 1978-79 included liberals and communists. So, what brought them all under the umbrella of a theocrat? They were united by their desire to get rid of the corrupt, pro-western Shah whose policies, they felt, had ruined Iran. However, they had differing priorities about the nature of the government that should replace the Shah’s dysfunctional regime.

In fact, there are historians who argue that a lot of Iranians who took part in the revolution were not fighting to bring about an Islamic government.

According to Dr Roham Alvandi, a professor of Iranian studies at the London School of Economics, it is not accurate to use the adjective “Islamic” to describe the revolution of 1979, as many of those who took part and supported Khomeini, were unaware of his plans for the post-Shah Iran. In fact, until he landed in Tehran in April 1979, Khomeini himself was tight-lipped about it.

Many assume that Iran is a country of hardline Islamists seeking to bring about apocalypse. This is not true. Although Islam has been a part and parcel of the Iranian identity, for long periods in the past, especially after Reza Khan took over as the Shah of Iran in 1921, the country saw many reforms that took it closer to the West.

However, following the revolution of 1979, Islam became a dominant facet of Iranian life almost overnight, which shocked many, especially youngsters who came of age during the reign of liberal-minded Pahlavis. On top of that, the revolutionary regime, insecure in its position of power (as most revolutionary regimes are), built a security state that routinely executed people, suspected of disloyalty.

Dr Alvandi notes that the Islamic state put in place by Ayatollah Khomeini, was sharply at odds with the expectation of many, especially the youth, who participated in the movement to overthrow the Shah. He called it a “traumatic experience” for many Iranians.

The victory of Mohammad Khatami in 1996 and that of Hassan Rouhani in 2013 were seen as evidence that the balance is slowly but steadily tipping in favour of the reformists, although the religious establishment continues to have a firm grip over all affairs of the state.

However, today, nearly half of Iran’s population in under the age of 30, which means they came of age in the twenty-first century. Most of them are exposed to western ideas and are aware of the political rights enjoyed by people in the West. They are less committed to the ideals of the 1979 revolution and are more concerned about making the ends meet.

In the years ahead, Iran may see more demands, not less, for reform, which means the conservatives would have a tough time staying relevant. “The experience of Islamic government in Iran since 1979 has turned many Iranians against political Islam and the attitudes of those Iranians have secularised,” wrote Michael Axworthy, a British academic and Iranian expert in his book Revolutionary Iran: A History of the Islamic Republic.

Why do Iranians hate the West? Or do they?

Many think that Iranians hate the West because they are simply “very Islamic” and see the western societies as agents of moral perversion. This is a common misconception, especially in the western countries. Anti-American demonstrations are not uncommon in Iran.

Although Iran adopted western ways of clothing and education, these did not improve average Iranian’s perception of western countries. For long, the western powers have used Iran to satisfy their needs.

This is especially true of Russia and Britain, and more recently, the United States. In the late nineteenth century and during the early 20th century, both Britain and Russia sanctioned huge sums of money as loans to the Iranian Shahs in return for economic concessions.

The Qajars kings, who ruled Iran prior to the advent of the Pahlavis, granted exclusive economic privileges to foreigners, which included exclusive right to trade in certain key commodities.This angered the traditional merchant class, whose position in the market was undermined by the sudden influx of western goods, and the religious establishment, which saw concessions and the growing presence of westerners in Iran as a humiliation

Further, in 1901, William Knox D’Arcy, a British petroleum and chemical engineer, discovered that Iran was lying over a massive reserve of oil. In fact, it was the first discovery of oil in the Middle East. At the time, Iran owed Britain huge sums of money, which effectively tied the hands of Shah Nasr Al-din. In the end, Iranians were told that they will get 16 per cent of the profits generated from the sale of their oil. The rest will go to London.

This sort of exploitation continued until Mohammad Mossadegh nationalised the Iranian oil, restoring the pride of many Iranians. However, the victory was short lived. The western-backed coup that followed, once again confirmed to the Iranians of the foul motives of America and Britain.

More recently, the US imposed sanctions have caused living standards to plummet. This has once again stirred up antipathy against the West.

Although US president Donald Trump warned Tehran not to use of force against the protesters, Iranians today are aware that western countries have little interest in their welfare.

Having said this, it is worth noting that many Iranians, more so the young, admire western ways of life. Levis and McDonalds are very popular in metropolitan cities like Tehran. Thousands of Iranians travel to the US and UK every year for higher studies. “Young Iranians have an Islamic identity but a ‘Western exterior’,” an Iranian cleric told the TIME Magazine.

Tehran merchants took to the streets protesting a concession granted by Nasr Al-din Shah to a British tobacco company that gave it the exclusive right to produce and sell tobacco in Iran for 50 years.

1901 Oil discovery

 William Knox D’Arcy, a British chemical engineer discovered massive oil reserves beneath Iran. Soon, the Anglo Persian Oil Company acquired the right to extract Iran’s oil and sell it on the international market.

1905-1908 Constitutional revolution 

 A movement led by merchants and clerics that called for a representative assembly and limits to the Shah’s power. Iranian Majlis was established during this period.

1939-45 World War One 

 During the First World War, Iran’s oil was a vital strategic asset for Britain. Germany attacked British possessions in Iran.

1921 Reza Khan 

 With the support of Britain, Reza Khan, a tribal leader, marched to Tehran with his supporters where he crowned himself as the first Shah of the new dynasty, called the Pahlavis.

1947 crisis of Soviet withdrawal

 Soviet Union’s refusal to withdraw from Iran at the end of the Second World War caused friction among the erstwhile allies. It was the first crisis of the new order.

1951 Oil nationalisation

 Socialist Nationalist leader Mohammad Mossadegh was elected as the prime minister of Iran in April 1951. He nationalized the Iranian oil, causing outrage in Washington and London.

1953 Shah ascendant

 Shah Mohammad Reza reasserts his authority. Iran becomes increasingly pro-western under his leadership.

1963 White Revolution

 Shah Reza launches large-scale reforms to prevent a communist takeover. The key component was the land-reform program. Land was taken away from the rich and was given to the peasants. In doing so the Shah hoped to win the peasants' backing for his rule.

October 1964, Exile of Khomeni 

 Ayatollah Ruholla Khomeini was exiled to Paris for criticising diplomatic immunity granted to American military personnel in Iran. Washington had sent military experts to train Iranians in using modern arms imported from the US.

1977-79

 Opposition to the Shah’s rule intensifies. Economic hardships undermine the living standards of ordinary Iranians.

November 4, 1979 

 Protesters ransack the US Embassy in Tehran calling it the “Den of thieves” 52 Americans were taken, hostage. They were released 444 days later, in January 1981

September 22, 1980 

 War erupted between Iran and Iraq over disputed territory.

July 1988

 Iran and Iraq accepted a ceasefire, bringing an end to the eight-year war, which claimed over one million lives.

1995 sanctions

 US imposed sanctions against Iran over its alleged sponsorship of “terrorism”

July 1999 

 Pro-reformists organised large scall demonstrations outside the University of Tehran, protesting the closure of a reformist newspaper Salam.

October 2007 

 The US announces sanctions against Iran for its alleged pursuit of nuclear weapons.

Tens of thousands gather in Tehran to protest the results of the presidential election, which they say was rigged.

June 2013, Rouhani wins

 Reformist cleric Hassan Rouhani wins the presidential election, securing 50 per cent of the total votes.

July 2015, Iran deal

 World powers reach a deal with Iran, limiting its nuclear enrichment in return for the lifting of economic sanctions

December 2017

 Protest erupts in over 80 cities against the rising price of commodities and decline in standard of living.</s>Public statements issued by US President Donald Trump and his senior officials all made strident calls in support of protesters while denigrating the Iranian government as a "brutal oppressor." Arguably, that amounts to audacious incitement of sedition in a foreign state, and such American misconduct should be legally sanctioned.

What’s remarkable too is just how close the recent turmoil in Iran seemed to follow a well-worn US formula for regime change, including political statements of condemnation; biased media coverage to undermine the legitimacy of the target government; and the apparent hijacking of peaceful protests by violent provocateurs.

What is acutely resonant is the historical background. Iran was probably the first nation to have been subjected to American regime-change operations in the post-Second World War period, with the CIA-led coup carried out in 1953.

But first, let’s look at the flagrant attempts by the US to destabilize the Iranian government through highly pejorative and misleading public statements.

Last week, the American ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley even claimed that "the Iranian people are crying out for freedom against their dictators." A senior official in the US State Department also admitted that his government was communicating via social media with demonstrators in Iran.

READ MORE: US Mediator Role in Palestine-Israel Row Likely to Fade Away — Activist

Washington’s top diplomat, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, openly said in a media interview this weekend that his government is seeking "political transition” in Iran – or, in other words, regime change.

Also this weekend, the US called an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council in an attempt to censure the Iranian government for the dozens of deaths incurred during the week-long protests. Haley declared: "The world is watching what Iran does."

Iran, Russia, and China have berated the US for violating Iranian sovereignty by interfering in the country’s internal affairs. The brazen attempt by the US to fuel protests in Iran is indeed a serious breach of the UN Charter forbidding interference in any nation’s political matters. US regime-change policy is arguably criminal conduct.

A legitimate part of the rallies was motivated by genuine economic grievances among the population. But at the same time, the rapid escalation of violence and armed attacks on police stations suggest that a subversive plot was being orchestrated.

The role of the US news media, and to lesser extent European, in covering the Iranian unrest was also indicative of a geopolitical agenda. The American media, in particular, tended to portray the protests in a benign light as an uprising against an autocratic regime.

READ MORE: Peaceful Pro-Government Demonstrations Take Place in Iran — Reports

Nikki Haley, the US envoy to the UN, dismissed Iranian claims of foreign subversion. Haley’s dismissal contradicts the public statements and admissions of the US president and other senior officials.

However, Iran has sound reason to suspect a pernicious agenda seeking to exploit social protests.

The coup ushered in the rule of the pro-Western Shah Pahlavi who opened up Iranian oil fields to American and British companies. The CIA and US military were lynchpins in the Shah’s regime and its brutal repression of Iranians until he was finally overthrown in the Islamic Revolution of 1979. For this reason, Washington has never forgiven the Iranian people and is why the US political establishment is driven by regime-change obsession in Tehran.

READ MORE: UN Security Council to Hold Emergency Meeting on Iran

What is telling are the similarities between events then and now. The CIA-led coup in 1953 involved a propaganda campaign using news media outlets to undermine the government. The New York Times labeled Mosaddegh a “dictator” and compared him to “Hitler” and “Stalin”. Britain’s state broadcaster, the BBC, was also involved in the campaign to undermine the Iranian authorities, as Mark Curtis recounts in his book Web of Deceit.

Back in Washington and London, the political leaders implemented an economic embargo on Tehran and denounced it as a Soviet stooge.

From the CIA and MI6’s point of view, the coup was a stunning success. The regime change opened up big oil interests. For the Iranian people, it meant years of vicious repression under the Shah and his CIA-trained SAVAK secret police.

In 1953, the CIA was only newly formed in the aftermath of the Second World War. What the Iran coup marked was a fateful turning point for the agency, and the nature of American governments ever since, with global repercussions. In its original formation, the CIA was only intended to serve as an “intelligence gathering” service to aid US presidents to formulate foreign policy.

READ MORE: Russia Criticizes US Call for UNSC Emergency Session Over Protests in Iran

What the coup in Iran marked was the beginning of a "secret government" within the US; one that was above the law and unaccountable. US presidents would come and go in elections, but the "deep state" of the CIA would remain. It assumed the powers to carry out regime change against any foreign government regardless of international law. Subversion and political assassination would become tools of this new US statecraft.

While the recent social protests in Iran have subsided, nevertheless there also seems to be another, more sinister dimension to the Iranian disturbances – an illegal agenda of regime change promoted by Washington.

Given that Iran is "ground zero" for America’s historical worldwide practice of regime change, the threat to national security from foreign interference is an understandable concern.

Russia and China have taken the correct position in warning the US to cease adding instability in Iran. The Iranian people must be safeguarded from external meddling to resolve their own internal problems. The laughable irony is that while American politicians and media complain hysterically about others meddling in their country, they have no qualms about brazenly poking into Iran.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Sputnik.
Hundreds of Iranians hold rallies in support of the anti-regime protests in Iran, in cities including Washington, D.C., Stockholm, London, Paris and Berlin. About 400 people gathered in central Paris, and several hundred held a rally in front of Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate with Iranian flags, drums and banners calling for a change of government.