IRGC Renews Threats Against Extra-Regional Presence In Persian Gulf

During a joint presser with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud on his last day his visit on Thursday, Blinken said Washington and Riyadh, together with the GCC, are “focused on Iran’s destabilizing influence in the region, including its support for terrorism and violent militia groups, the seizure of tankers transiting international waters, and nuclear escalation.”

While the United States and Iran both denied reports that they were nearing an interim deal Thursday, Blinken added that “the United States continues to believe that diplomacy, backed by economic pressure, by deterrence, and by strong defense cooperation, is the best way to avoid and counter these dangerous actions.”

He noted that the US supports efforts by Saudi Arabia to de-escalate tension and stabilize relations, without elaborating on details.

Among the main points on agenda in Blinken’s trip was pushing Riyadh for normalize ties with Israel, about which his Saudi counterpart said that “it’s quite clear that we believe that normalization is in the interest of the region, that it would bring significant benefits to all.”

However, he added “without finding a pathway to peace for the Palestinian people, without addressing that challenge, any normalization will have limited benefits.”

Fierce campaigner Senator Ratna Omidvar who has been leading the charge, stressed that “the crimes of the Islamic regime and the IRGC go beyond the borders of Iran", citing the contribution of the IRGC to Russia's brutal invasion of Ukraine, for which Iran has supplied kamikaze drones.

“They [the IRGC] have been deployed more than 90 times against a civilian population,” added Omidvar --who experienced the turbulence of Iran’s Islamic Revolution while living there before moving to Canada -- highlighting that “Iran and the IRGC fund and support Hamas and Hezbollah, creating significant regional instability".

In June 2018, the Canadian parliament passed another similar motion, introduced by MP Garnet Genuis, to designate the IRGC but the government did not follow up on the action.

So far, Canada has only designated the Quds Force, the extraterritorial arm of the IRGC, but has been reluctant to list the IRGC as a foreign terrorist group.

Canadian officials said last year that the designation would be too much of a “blunt instrument” that could punish innocent people in Canada who were conscripted into the IRGC as part of their mandatory military service.

In November, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada has designated Iran's IRGC leadership, adding that “we will restrict financial transactions with the Islamic Republic of Iran associated with the IRGC and the proxies that support them. These actions are some of the strongest measures anywhere against Iran.”

He further noted in a tweet that he has found out that based on the order his bank accounts will be blocked and he will be deprived of his citizenship rights.

Ronaghi is an Iranian blogger, human rights activist and political dissident who was arrested on September 24. 2022, along with his lawyers in front of the Evin Prison prosecutor's office and transferred to jail where he was tortured.

In protest, Ronaghi went on a hunger strike after his arrest amid antigovernment protests and refused liquid nourishment and water.

Tehran residents rushed to the hospital in November after his brother wrote in a tweet that security agents had moved Ronaghi from prison to a hospital. He said his brother “got on an ambulance fully awake after talking to his mother,” adding “whatever happens to Hossein is nothing more than a pre-planned scenario because they intend to kill him.”

Ronaghi, 37, a contributor to The Wall Street Journal, has for years been one of the most fearless critics of the Islamic Republic who has stayed in the country.

Iranian authorities on November 26 released Ronaghi on bail.

In previous rounds of torture, the dissident has lost one kidney and his second kidney is functioning at 60 percent, according to human rights sources.

Hossein Ronaghi has been arrested and jailed several times in the past 13 years. He was detained in 2009 for his role in the post-election protests. Ronaghi was arrested again in February 2022 after criticizing a bill that would limit internet access in Iran.

Referring to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's recent speech in which he said, "The enemy has started to prepare its artillery against the upcoming elections in Iran," conservative commentator Mohammad Mohajeri quipped in a column in the reformist Etemad newspaper: "What can the enemy do to harm the elections?" and explained that "downplaying the importance of voter turnout, manipulating the election process, rigging the elections, and helping unqualified people to win the elections are among the things the enemy can do to that end."

The commentator was referring to the interference of the Guardian Council, an undemocratic body inserted into the constitution, that rejected hundreds of candidates in the parliamentary election in 2020, and again rejected qualified contenders in the 2021 presidential vote. 

Mohajeri pointed out that the enemy cannot interfere with the process of elections. Those who interfere are Islamic Republic officials. executives, supervisory bodies, and security organizations. The enemies will begin their attacks and propaganda only after state officials and institutions make big mistakes by intervening in the election process with the aim of changing the results, he said.

Mohajeri added: "The Guardian Council is where most of such mistakes are made. It is involved from the beginning to the end of the elections and its behavior has always been controversial. The council vets the candidates and appoints the inspectors and supervisors." 

He further pointed out that many of those who have been disqualified by the Guardian Council in previous years are well-known political figures who would have been more useful than the current members of the parliament. 

Meanwhile, reformist commentator Abbas Abdi accused current officials of making the government useless by bringing it into constant confrontation with the people and their demands. This approach, he said, “will tire everyone including yourselves and I can see the signs of this fatigue in your behavior.”

"The government's interventionist approach and its insistence on excessive and often unnecessary control and punishment, as well as its confrontational approach and its refusal to hold any dialogue have a destructive impact on many economic, political, social and cultural processes including the country's foreign policy," Abdi said.

"When we follow the news, we see many examples of that confrontational behavior for instance in trying to control prices through issuing orders. Everyone, except the government, knows that this does not work. Not only it does not work, it also leads to corruption. The government uses the same wrong methods to fix interest rates, foreign exchange rates and the price of eggs, utilities, fuel, rent and so on. 

The government intervenes in everything, including dress code and childbirth, which are issues that cannot be regulated through confrontation, penalties and imprisonment," Abdi added. 

The prominent commentator stressed that such methods can only widen the gap between the people and the government. 

Meanwhile, shedding light on the bigger picture, former government spokesman and moderate politician Ali Rabiei wrote in article in Etemad that "All revolutions in the Middle East have given governments in the region a license to violate citizenship and human rights as well as democratic rules."

He suggested that governments that rule in the name of revolutions need to find a way to reconcile revolutionary values and citizens' rights by giving the people the right to complain to the judiciary system if government officials undermine their essential rights. 

“The release of water in February of last year caused the wetland to become wet by six or seven percent, but because this water flow did not continue and we faced the hot season, it was ineffective,” Hossein Akbari, Deputy of Environmental Protection of Esfahan (Isfahan) Province told Thursday.

Akbari further pointed out that a total of about 15 million cubic meters of water and sewage reached the wetland last year (ending on March 21) which was ineffective for Gavkhouni's regeneration.

A salt marsh with a salinity of 31.5% and an average depth of about one meter, the wetland is home to a variety of migratory birds including flamingos, ducks, geese, gulls, pelicans, and grebes.

Since 1900, nearly 64% of the world's wetlands have disappeared, and 35% have vanished since 1970, according to the Global Wetland Outlook 2021.

Many of Iran's wetlands are already on the verge of extinction. The country is known to have 141 wetlands spread across three million hectares.

As a result of the fast-disappearing wetlands, the country has suffered a growing water crisis, which has fueled anger and discontent. The annual rainfall has plummeted to almost one-third of the global average, with the majority of provinces increasingly arid.