Venezuela Says It Has ‘Great Friends’, Including Iran And Russia

A wide range of Iran-related topics were discussed during the session, including how the UK can help support the protesters, prevent the Islamic Republic from another round of mass executions like the ones in 1988, and how to deal with the threats posed by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard both in the region and inside the UK. 

The threats against Iran International and BBC Persian journalists were also mentioned by Conservative MP Bob Blackman, Shadow Minister for the Middle East and North Africa Bambos Charalambous, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Americas and Caribbean David Rutley, and Shadow Minister of State for Security Holly Lynch.

The MPs were concerned that President Raisi, who is one of the main culprits behind the 1988 prisoner massacre that led to the killing of thousands, will orchestrate a similar carnage in cooperation with the IRGC and the judiciary. 

The MPs referred to the death sentences handed to several protesters this week and expressed concerns that a similar fate will be expected for a large number of protesters, particularly following a call by 227 Iranian parliamentarians who are pushing for the death penalty. Moreover, calls for proscription of the IRGC are getting stronger in the British political sphere as they are the main force that would go on with the purge. 

So far, nearly 400 protesters have been reported dead – including about 50 children – and over 15,000 have been detained since the current wave of protests engulfed Iran following the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, it was said. However, the figures are likely much higher, but the authorities do not release any data and obscure the ways for human right groups to obtain information.

Blackman said, “Contrary to the reports that the Minister mentioned, the reports I have are that more than 60,000 people have been arrested.” He added that “President Raisi, was responsible as the prosecutor in Iran for 30,000 executions of political prisoners in 1988, so the direction from the top is very clear... We are also aware that sentencing and executions are beginning in Iran, and that many thousands of people may end up being executed.”

Rutley argued that the threats to press freedom in Iran, now extended to the UK, were a sign of the regimes growing weakness in the face of ‘grassroots’ protests.

Describing the level of violence against protesters as “utterly appalling,” Rutley said, “The UK opposes the death penalty in all circumstances, but it is all the more abhorrent when those sentenced are being arrested for standing up for their rights.”

He added that “the frequency of these death sentences is only likely to increase as the regime processes the thousands of arrests that have been made during the protests. The Iranian judicial system is notorious for its lack of transparency and process, and this barbarism is just one of many threatening and intimidating techniques that the regime has rolled out in response to the protests.”

Blackman was another MP that asked the government to proscribe the IRGC as a terrorist group, but Rutley reiterated the government’s position of not commenting on potential proscriptions.

Speaking on behalf of the opposition, Charalambous and Lynch asked about the steps the UK Government is taking to protect journalists and UK nationals critical of the regime. In response, Rutley reiterated his previous points about summoning the Iranian Chargé d’affaires and the support being provided by the police. 

Citing a report from MI5 of 10 assassination attempts on British residents this year, Lynch called for measures to remove the Islamic Republic-linked actors from the UK

She also asked what steps the government was taking to remove actors linked to the Iranian government from the UK citing a report from MI5 of 10 assassination attempts on British residents this year. Rutley’s response cited the Foreign Secretary’s warning to the Islamic Republic’s chargé d’affaires and promised that the Government would continue to monitor the situation.

Other contributors to the debate repeated Bob Blackman’s request about the need to proscribe the IRGC and for the Government to do more to support the protesters. Rutley’s responses made clear the Government’s support for the protesters, but they did not announce much by way of new measures.

Economy Minister Ehsan Khandouzi, who visited Budapest, said Thursday that Tehran is open to joint investment in pharmaceuticals as prices of Iranian products are “lower than foreign competitors.”

The visit and talk of economic cooperation come as Hungary is a member of Nato and EU while Iran is being harshly criticized by the European Union for using intense violence against protesters and supplying drones to Russia to attack Ukraine.

The minister’s claim comes as much of the raw materials needed for producing medicines in Iran is imported. The Islamic Republic is also dependent on imports for most of the drugs needed to treat life-threatening ailments such as cancer and coronary disease.

Most medicines in Iran are produced locally by quasi-governmental companies. When the Iranian currency began to nosedive in early 2018, the government offered a fixed exchange rate for essential goods, mainly food and medicines.

However, earlier this year, the new administration of President Ebrahim Raisi eliminated what was in fact a government subsidy. Now, food and medicine producers must buy dollars at rates seven times higher to import their raw materials, which has disrupted domestic production.

Reports from Iran say that people cannot even find painkillers, IV fluids, and antibiotics at pharmacies.

According to digital activists, after the EU sanctioned Abrarvan, the company lost the servers it was using in Europe and is unable to censor Iran's internet anymore.

Arvan Cloud or Abr Arvan is an Iranian IT company supporting the Iranian government’s efforts to control access to the Intranet in Iran.

The European Union sanctioned the company on November 14 for its role in disrupting the internet to pave the ground for the regime to crack down on protests following the death of Mahsa Amini.

The EU says since 2020, Abr Arvan has been a major partner in the project of the Iranian government, in general, and the Iranian Ministry of Information and Communications Technology, in particular, to set up a separate, Iranian version of the internet.

“Such a national intranet with connecting points to the global internet will help to control the flow of information between the Iranian intranet and the global internet,” said the EU.

According to the EU, Abr Arvan is involved in censorship and efforts of the Iranian government to shut down the internet in response to recent protests in Iran.

“It is also associated with persons responsible for serious human rights violations in Iran, notably the EU-listed Iranian Minister of Information and Communications Technology.”

MI5 Director General, Ken McCallum said Wednesday that except Russia and China, the Islamic Republic is a “mounting concern.”

During his annual threat update in Thames House, London, he underlined that Iran is a state actor which most frequently crosses into terrorism.

“Iran projects threat to the UK directly, through its aggressive intelligence services. At its sharpest this includes ambitions to kidnap or even kill British or UK-based individuals perceived as enemies of the regime,” added McCallum.

He went on to say that UK authorities have discovered at least 10 “potential threats” since January to “kidnap or even kill British or UK-based individuals perceived as enemies of the regime.”

Some UK politicians have demanded a tougher stance toward the clerical government in Tehran.

Elsewhere in his remarks, McCallum noted that “We work at pace with domestic and international partners to disrupt this completely unacceptable activity. The Foreign Secretary made clear to the Iranian regime just last week that the UK will not tolerate intimidation or threats to life towards journalists, or any individual, living in the UK.”

The UK summoned Iran’s ambassador last week as the regime is accused of threatening journalists working in Britain. The UK-based Iran International TV network said last week that two of its journalists had recently been notified of the threats.

In a statement Volant Media, the parent company of Iran International, said “The Metropolitan Police have now formally notified both journalists that these threats represent an imminent, credible and significant risk to their lives and those of their families. Other members of our staff have also been informed directly by the Metropolitan Police of separate threats.”

Speaking about the recent protests in Iran, UK’s top domestic security chief stated the regime is resorting to violence to silence critics who are asking fundamental questions of the totalitarian regime. However, he raised hope that this could “signal profound change, but the trajectory is uncertain.”

The current protests in Iran, which started in mid-September after Mahsa Amini, a young woman was killed in the custody of ‘morality police’, have lasted nearly two months, the longest and most serious challenge to the Islamic Republic, which has one of the largest trained and well-equipped suppression machines in the world.

So far, security forces have killed more than 340 protesters, according to human rights monitors and arrested an estimated 14,000 people. Just during protests on Wednesday around 10 protesters and bystanders were killed.

During his Wednesday comments, McCallum also blamed Iran as a regime that with its proxies, remains a profoundly destabilizing actor in its region and beyond, adding that the Islamic Republic provides support to Russia, including by supplying the drones inflicting misery in Ukraine.

Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi told state TV on Wednesday, "People of other nationalities were arrested in the riots, some of whom played a big role. There were elements from the French intelligence agency and they will be dealt with according to the law."

Islamic Republic is outraged over Paris voicing solidarity with Iranian protesters and dissidents. Last week, President Emmanuel Macron met Iranian female activists and hailed the protests as a “revolution”.

Since the beginning of the current wave of protests, ignited by the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, the Islamic Republic has accused several Western countries of stoking nationwide protests.

Last week, France's Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said a total of seven French nationals were detained in Iran.

In early October, France accused the Iranian regime of “dictatorial practices” after Iran’s state TV aired the forced confessions of two French nationals arrested in the Middle Eastern country ruled by its 83-year-old anti-West ruler, Ali Khamenei.

Human rights organizations accuse Iran of a systematic policy of hostage taking over four decades from the earliest period of the Islamic Republic after the ouster of the Shah, starting with the 1979-1981 siege at the US embassy in Tehran.

Tehran denies any policy of hostage taking and insists all foreigners are arrested and tried according to legal process. However, it has frequently shown readiness for prisoner exchanges and participated in swaps in the past.