Mass poisoning on presidential election day hidden by Iranian authorities

"Masoud Pezeshkian is actually a Turk," Erdogan stated. "He speaks Turkish in Tabriz, can speak Kurdish in Kurdish regions, and is also fully proficient in Persian."

Pezeshkian's ethnic background is in fact rooted in the Azeri community, a significant ethnic group in Iran, particularly in Azarbaijan province, where Turkish is widely spoken. He was born in the Kurdish city of Mahabad.

While Erdogan expressed hopes for a new era of “rapid development” in Ankara-Tehran relations, the reality on the ground in Iran remains fraught with challenges. The Turkish president's overtures, though diplomatically significant, may also be seen as an attempt to exploit Iran's internal vulnerabilities for regional advantage.

Trade between Turkey and Iran peaked in 2012 at nearly $22 billion but has since declined significantly. According to Turkish Trade Minister Omer Bolat, trade stood at $7.4 billion in 2023, down from around $10 billion the previous year.

Iran's economy has been severely crippled by sanctions imposed due to its nuclear program, although Tehran denies Western allegations that it seeks to develop nuclear weapons

Pezeshkian narrowly won a runoff race against ultraconservative Saeed Jalili on Friday, in an election marred by historically low turnout. In the first round, less than 40 percent of eligible voters participated, highlighting the growing disillusionment with Iran's clerical rule.

According to information obtained by Iran International, this revelation unveils Hosseini's role in a world of international espionage and targeted killings, marking the first time his identity has been disclosed.

The Islamic Republic has been systematically planning to assassinate its opponents abroad. These plans are orchestrated by high-ranking officials within the ministry of intelligence, aiming to eliminate dissidents who pose a threat to the Islamic government.

Utilizing undercover agents stationed in embassies and operatives disguised as business people, Tehran has been able to plot and execute various attacks globally. This intricate network involves coordination with international drug traffickers and proxy forces to ensure the operations leave no trace back to Iran's intelligence agencies.

A source within the Islamic Republic's ministry of defense indicated that Hosseini is part of a new generation of intelligence managers trusted by Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic. The ministry of intelligence, along with the IRGC's Intelligence Organization, has been conducting the most significant sabotage activities abroad for years. However, information received by Iran International shows that the ministry of intelligence has a more cohesive structure than the IRGC for conducting overseas operations.

Who is Yahya Hosseini Panjaki?

Born in 1975 in Karaj, near Tehran, Hosseini holds a PhD in Political Science from Azad University of Tabriz and has published two articles in academic journals. He was sanctioned by the European Union, the United Kingdom and the United States. His role in founding the "Martyr Soleimani" unit, which conducts sabotage operations worldwide in cooperation with the IRGC, marks him as a key figure in Iran's intelligence apparatus.

The Terrorist Infrastructure

The ministry of intelligence employs two main routes for deploying its agents abroad. The first involves intelligence agents under the cover of the ministry of foreign affairs, often stationed in embassies. The second route sends military-intelligence agents under the guise of commercial activities. These agents plan assassinations, kidnappings, and sabotage, typically executed by proxy forces to avoid leaving any traces back to the ministry. Major drug traffickers often serve as primary contractors for these missions.

High-Profile Operations

The ministry of intelligence has executed numerous operations on European soil. One significant plot was the attempted bombing of the MEK's conference in Paris, designed by Assadollah Assadi, an intelligence operative and an employee of the Islamic Republic's embassy in Austria. This plot was foiled, and Assadi was sentenced to 20 years in prison in Belgium but later exchanged for a Belgian citizen imprisoned in Iran.

Another operation involved the assassination of Mohammad Reza Kolahi Samadi, a member of the MEK, in Almere, Netherlands. Two years later, Ahmad Mola Nissi, an Arab political activist, was killed in The Hague. The Times reported that Ridouan Taghi, a Moroccan-born criminal, connected the ministry to these two assassinations.

The eliminations of Saeed Karimian, director of GEM TV, and Masoud Mowlavi, director of the Telegram channel Black Box, both in Istanbul, were also carried out by this branch of the ministry. A Turkish journalist revealed that Mohammad-Javad Azari Jahromi, the then Minister of Communications, threatened Mowlavi over the phone a day before his assassination.

The Broader Impact

These operations underscore the lengths to which the Islamic Republic will go to silence its critics and maintain its power. Utilizing an intricate network of proxies, drug traffickers, and undercover operatives, Iran's ministry of intelligence has developed a sophisticated system for targeting opponents abroad. This system, managed by Yahya Hosseini Panjaki, highlights the ongoing global threat posed by Iran's intelligence operations.

Protesting nurses in Iran’s Mazandaran province in northern Iran have been summoned by Labor Dispute Settlement Boards for "participating in illegal gatherings" and given “10 days to present a defense,” ILNA reported Sunday.

However, the threats and summons aren’t limited to Mazandaran province, said the head of the Iranian Nursing Organization, Mohammad Sharifi Moghadam, adding that dozens of nurses have been summoned and threatened across the country.

“This has been the policy of the Ministry of Health throughout the country. About 60 nurses have been summoned in Kerman, some in Kermanshah. In different parts of the country, nurses have been summoned and threatened because of expressing their protest,” Sharifi Moghadam said.

Iran's labor law forbids the formation of trade unions and as such trade unions are not recognized in Iran.

The prohibition means that a wide range of professionals, from teachers and nurses to industrial workers, are unable to freely organize and protest against their challenging working conditions.

Defying the restrictions, Iranian nurses have been protesting for better wages and improved working conditions in recent weeks.

Nurses employed in the private sector risk "non-renewal of their contracts and termination" if they join protests. Similarly, protesting nurses working in the public sector under the Ministry of Health are often "summoned and punished by Labor Dispute Settlement Boards," ILNA said.

According to Sharifi Moghadam, despite the critical shortage of nursing staff, Iranian nurses earn a meager 200,000 rials per hour, equivalent to just 33 cents. Moreover, even this paltry salary often takes months to be paid.

“We have a shortage of nurses, and they force nurses to work overtime with an hourly wage of 200,000 rials, which is paid after six months. Nurses have no right to say that we don't want forced overtime or that we object to this illegal behavior,” Sharifi Moghadam said.

Earlier this year nurses in Kermanshah had not received their salaries for over 12 months, he said. Consequently, the nurses resorted to protests which led to them being summoned by the Labor Dispute Settlement Boards.

The nurses say the current wages are neither legal nor fair and are protesting against mandatory overtime, Sharifi Moghadam said.

The issue of low wages however isn’t just limited to nurses. Iran’s economic landscape for workers is marked by severe hardship, with annual inflation hovering above 40% for five years while wages have only risen marginally.

In March, the Iranian government announced a 35% increase in the minimum wage, raising it to 110 million rials (approximately $186) with benefits.

Despite the increment, the new minimum wage remains woefully insufficient, covering only almost half of the monthly $400 that the average household of three requires for basic food and necessities in a big city like Tehran.

The dire working conditions for Iranian nurses have led to several deaths, suicides, or migration of nurses to other countries, especially Oman.

Last month, three nurses died due to overwork. Additionally, in April, an Iranian nurse took his own life due to these harsh conditions.

Last year, Iranian MP Hossein Ali Shahriari reported that around 10,000 healthcare practitioners have left Iran over the past two years, seeking better opportunities in the Arab world.

The ongoing campaign, addressed to the Tehran City Council, calls for Zakani’s dismissal, arguing that the mayor's actions, including repurposing green spaces for building mosques and commercial projects, show his inability to handle the responsibilities of his office.

Back in April, over 147,000 people signed a petition to prevent the destruction of Qeytarieh Park, where Zakani's administration planned to construct a mosque, leading to the cutting down of many trees.

However, Mehdi Chamran, the chairman of Tehran City Council, has downplayed the popular campaigns to dismiss Zakani, saying similar efforts against US President Joe Biden also failed to unseat him.

"Now he is sitting in his place, hale and hearty," Chamran said, emphasizing that even the large number of signatures does not justify changing the mayor.

Zakani's tenure as mayor has been marked by significant controversy and criticism. His involvement in the 14th presidential election, where he withdrew in favor of other conservative candidates, left many issues, such as the construction in parks, unresolved.

During the 2022 “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests, the United Kingdom sanctioned several officials of the Islamic Republic, including Zakani, highlighting his contentious past as the former head of the Student Basij Organization, a group notorious for its human rights violations.

Last year, Zakani’s trip to Brussels for the “World Association of Major Metropolises” assembly stirred further controversy. Darya Safai, a Belgian MP of Iranian descent, criticized his presence, stating that Zakani is the former head of the Student Basij, an organization sanctioned by the European Union for human rights violations. She said it is outrageous that the “regime’s terrorists” can freely walk in the heart of Europe.

Tehran is grappling with numerous challenges, including severe air pollution, heavy traffic, land subsidence, water shortages, high housing costs, and an aging and insufficient public transportation system. Many residents believe these issues have worsened under Zakani's leadership.

Zakani's political career has been fraught with aggressive tactics and controversies, particularly against reformists. Financial and familial scandals have also plagued his tenure, with allegations of nepotism involving his son-in-law and questionable financial dealings by his daughter.

Zakani's recent candidacy in Iran's presidential election also drew criticism, as he took a leave from his municipal duties to participate in a race that almost everyone anticipated he would eventually withdraw from to support other hardline candidates.

Khamenei’s remarks came just one day after he told the newly elected Masoud Pezeshkian to follow in Raisi’s footsteps. Although the president-elect has vowed not to propose any major plans and execute Khamenei’s vision, he has also criticized certain policies and actions pursued in the past three years by the Raisi administration.

In this meeting, which was the final gathering of the members of the Raisi government, Khamenei described the administration as the "government of work, hope, and progress." He said, "Martyr Raisi was truly hopeful and rightfully optimistic about the future, and he was determined to achieve the outlined goals."

Ebrahim Raisi, a cleric backed by hardliners and elected in June 2021 in a highly stage-managed election, was killed in a helicopter crash in May. So far, no clear cause for the incident has been provided.

Khamenei’s praise for the former president contradicts his administration’s poor record in managing the economy and its conduct during anti-government protests in 2022-2023, when security forces killed around 550 civilians, injured hundreds more and arrested 22,000 people.

The Iranian currency doubled its losses in less than three years during Raisi, sinking to more than 600,000 rials per US dollar. This worsened inflation, especially for food and consumer necessities while the government was unable to meaningfully boost salaries. Monthly wages for ordinary workers has remained below $200, impoverishing tens of millions of people.

When Raisi was elected, there was some hope for a nuclear agreement with the United States and European powers that could have lifted crippling US sanctions. Negotiations had been underway in Vienna since April 2021, but the talks paused for nearly six months. When they resumed in November of that year, they ultimately failed in 2022.

This left Iran struggling with a deepening economic crisis. While it is widely known that Khamenei determines Iran's foreign policy and the president has little say in strategic issues, Raisi praised the Leader’s wisdom and continued to preach self-reliance and closer relations with Russia and China.

This was perhaps what Khamenei valued most as he praised Raisi's deep belief in domestic capabilities on Sunday. "We have talked about this with officials at various times, and no one disagreed with this appraisal; however, one could see that Raisi genuinely believed in the domestic capacities and capabilities to solve the country's problems."

However, the fact was that even many conservative politicians began criticizing Raisi early in his term for mismanagement and a lack of ability to make changes necessary to alleviate economic pressures.

While suspicions linger among many Iranians about the helicopter crash that killed Raisi, Khamenei and his ideological establishment do their utmost to present him as a hero and a martyr.

Khamenei in his speech even tried to credit Raisi with a project to transport sea water to Iran’s arid interior, a lofty plan that preceded the late president and will probably remain on paper for years to come.

In the concluding part of his speech, Khamenei delivered remarks that many will interpret as a message to the new president: These characteristics were highlighted to establish a model and to be recorded in history, demonstrating that the head of the executive branch can possess a collection of intellectual, heartfelt, and practical virtues and can pursue them in both governance and personal conduct.