Politicians Of Different Stripes In Iran Slam The Government

In a statement the group claimed a building belonging to its supporters in the city of Saint-Ouen-l'Aumône was attacked by “terrorists and mercenaries of the IRGC Quds Force and the ministry of intelligence” who were speaking Farsi.

“Two terrorists threw incendiary devices towards the entrance of the building, but as soon as they were chased by the residents, they quickly fled the area in a car that was ready on the street,” read the statement.

The MEK further added that the fire at the entrance was extinguished quickly, and no one was injured, but police started investigations.

Earlier on May 31, the same place was targeted by six bullets, but no one was hit, according to the statement.

The group added that the recent release of Asadollah Asadi, an Iranian agent disguised as a diplomat in Europe who was convicted in a Belgian court for a terror plot in France in 2018, has made the regime more “audacious” to stage terrorist acts.

It also called on the French government, police, and judiciary to arrest the perpetrators of such criminal acts of terrorism and prosecute them and publish all the details to inform the public opinion.

A week ago, Olivier Vandecasteele, a Belgian aid worker detained in Iran, returned to his country in exchange for the release of Assadollah Asadi.

Reports on social media say the victims were a woman from Kherson and a married couple from Bakhmut who had fled from their homes hoping to find safety in Odessa.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian Air Force announced that Iranian-made drones are still a “headache” for Ukraine.

“Iranian-made Shahed kamikaze drones largely used by Russia are still difficult to shoot down,” Air Force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat said in an interview with Ukrainska Pravda on Sunday.

Since last October, Moscow, which launched its full-scale invasion in February last year, has regularly sent waves of Iranian drones to attack targets in Ukraine. Although they are slow, drones are cheaper and more expendable than advanced missiles.

Some experts say that Russia's use of the Shahed drones, costing around $20,000 each, either is meant to confuse Ukrainian air defenses during missile attacks, or to force Kyiv to spend its expensive Western-supplied anti-air missiles.

Iran has denied sending armed drones to Russia after Moscow launched its invasion in February 2022, claiming that any shipments occurred before the war.

However, Russia has used hundreds of Iranian-made drones to attack Ukrainian infrastructure and civilian targets, with Kyiv reporting more supplies in December as Moscow’s stocks were used up.

Western powers have strongly objected to Iran's decision to arm Russia with the Kamikaze drones, and possibly other weapons and ammunition.

According to an Iran International source, Shamkhani was receiving about $3.5 million in bribes per year from Zindashti, in addition to the narcotics that the drug baron personally provided for the secretary of Islamic Republic’s Supreme National Security Council.

Shamkhani’s dealings with Zindashti were among the reasons why a man representing Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in the security council was pushed out of his position in May.

Sharifi-Zindashti and his accomplices – dubbed “The Friends’ Club” – have used the IRGC’s vast reach and control over transit routes and logistics to gain the upper hand in Iran's drug market, the source said.

The Club is comprised of senior IRGC officials and high-ranking members of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council as well as managers from Tehran Municipality and members of parliament.

Shamkhani, who was a senior member of the "Friends’ Club” was forced out of office, but the drug distribution network is still operating, reportedly trafficking more than 20 percent of narcotics distributed across Iran and about 35 percent of the drugs pushed in the capital Tehran.

Shamkhani's résumé is so full of controversies that it is difficult to pinpoint a single reason for his removal after about a decade at the post.

In recent months there were rumors about Shamkhani stepping aside as hardliners blamed him for failure to suppress protests. In video-taped remarks released on the internet in November, former lawmaker Hamid Rasaei, a hardliner cleric, accused him of failing to quash protests.

The conjecture was further confirmed after the hacktivist group ‘Uprising till Overthrow -- affiliated with the Albania-based opposition Mojahedin-e-Khalq (MEK) group – hacked into 120 servers at the presidential office, getting access to internal communications, minutes of meetings, President Ebrahims Raisi’s online conference platforms and about 1,300 computers inside the office.

Among the released documents, there is correspondence between the president’s office and the office of Shamkhani, confirming rumors that he stepped down over conflicts with the Raisi administration. 

In the letter addressed to Shamkhani, the chief of staff of the president, Gholam-Hossein Esmaili, criticized the security chief for a lack of insight into the wave of protests that engulfed Iran following the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini. With a condescending tone, Esmaili rebuked Shamkhani’s office for “merely describing and analyzing the events,” asking him to provide “meta-analyses and predictions” about the developments regarding the protests.

Shamkhani also had a fair share of scandals, like most regime insiders, pertaining to his abuse of power for financial gain and nepotism, including reports about his sons -- Hassan and Hossein -- owning dozens of businesses, such as large shipping companies.

There are also reports about the extravagant lifestyle of his family members in Iran and abroad. Following “rumors” that even his toddler grandson has hundreds of thousands of dollars in just one bank account as well as several properties, authorities announced that the bank account was blocked. Iran International’s investigative journalist Mojtaba Pourmohsen has published several exposés about the corruption of kith and kin, including his nephews Mo’ud and Naji Shamkhani.

Several pundits, such as commentator Morteza Kazemian, are also of the opinion that Shamkhani’s removal may be linked to the case of British-Iranian national Alireza Akbari, a former Iranian deputy defense minister who was executed over charges of spying for Britain. Akbari was a close ally of Shamkhani, and his execution was also interpreted as a move aimed at weakening Shamkhani’s position in the regime.

The rial on Sunday alone rose nearly 4 percent against the US dollar and other currencies after media reported that the Biden administration gave a waiver to Iraq to release about $2.7 billion of frozen Iranian funds.

The rial was trading at 555.000 against the US dollar on May 1, but on June 11 it rose to 470,000, a 17-percent gain.

Western and Israeli media, as well as Iran International have quoted well-informed sources as saying that direct and indirect talks have been taking place between Washington and Tehran, possibly for a limited nuclear deal or an exchange of Iran’s frozen funds with American dual nationals held hostage by the regime.

South Korean banks hold $7 billion that Seoul owes Tehran for oil imports prior to full US sanctions imposed in May 2019. South Korea was allowed to import a limited quantity of oil from May 2018 to May 2019 despite initial sanctions imposed by the Trump administration.

These funds have been cited as a possible ransom for freeing three US citizens imprisoned in Iran on manufactured charges.

Iraq also owes Iran at least $7 billion, but the $2.7 said to have been waivered by the US will not reach Iran as cash. Tehran can use the money to import food and pay for the expenses of pilgrims going to Iraq.

The price of mutton has passed 5,000,000 rials a kilogram (about $10) and some other items like edible oil and dairy products have jumped 30 percent in recent weeks.

According to officials, the monthly minimum wage of less than $150 only suffices for nine days of a family's livelihood.

Farmers and ranchers say if they do not increase the prices of meat and dairy products, they have toclose down their businesses soon.

However, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei claimed Sunday that to resolve the economic woes, the country needs to have nuclear energy, but he declined to say how nuclear energy can help controllingthe inflation. 

A few months into the presidency of Ebrahim Raisi, when inflation was around 40 percent, the High Council of Labor increased the minimum wage by an unprecedented 57 percent in early 2022 after two consecutive years of very high inflation. At the time minimum wage almost equaled $220.

However, the rial lost half of its value in the past nine months and the minimum wage, without housing allowance, has dropped to around $120 a month.