In a Townhall commentary published on January 24, Ali Safavi of the NCRI’s Foreign Affairs Committee rebutted Michael Rubin’s latest diatribe against the Iranian Resistance, his fourth in less than a month.

Safavi highlights Rubin’s shady past, including two trips to Iran in the 1990s and ties to an Iraqi double agent, Ahmed Chalabi, and debunks his ridiculous portrayal of the MEK as a cult. Rubin’s “superfluous demand that MEK members must prove to him that they have disagreements with its leadership are not only childish tantrums but mirror the demands of regime interrogators and torturers in the “death commissions”. “In the context of American history, that’s like calling Continental Army officers atop Brooklyn Heights ‘cult’ members unless they can show that they wrote letters of protest to George Washington during the 1776 New York campaign!” Safavi wrote.

With the ongoing protests threatening the Iranian regime’s survival, regime officials have felt compelled to order as many executions as possible as their only means of dealing with the ostensible ‘dissent’.

Waves of detained protesters arrested during recent demonstrations have been quickly marked for execution, with many subjected to tortured confessions. Iranian authorities have then used these confessions to charge prisoners with unrelated crimes in order to justify hanging sentences.

During the mullahs’ reign, Iran’s student movement experienced ups and downs. Because of the harsh repressions in the years following the July 9, 1999 attack on the Tehran University campus, a portion of the student movement faded away.

On September 18, 2022, student protests began following the death of Mahsa Amini, who was killed by the regime’s morality police. The first gathering began with a mass sit-in by students from Tehran University’s Faculty of Fine Arts. Finally, other cities’ universities joined the protests on September 29. So far, 143 cities have joined the protesting universities. Some of the main protest slogans include ‘death to the dictator,’ ‘death to Khamenei,’ ‘freedom, freedom, freedom,’ and ‘death to the oppressor, whether the shah or the [supreme leader].

“Women are at the forefront of this movement because they have been the most oppressed by this misogynistic regime.  It is an uprising against the religious dictatorship, with misogyny as its central pillar,” Mrs. Rajavi said, referring to Iranian women’s role in what many regards as Iran’s democratic revolution.

Belgian lawmakers held a conference in support of Iran’s nationwide uprising, with Iranian opposition President-elect Maryam Rajavi of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI). The event was presided over by Ms. Els Van Hoof, chair of the Belgian parliament’s foreign affairs committee.“The current situation in Iran is very sensitive. The regime has shown that it is capable of all crimes to remain in power. But in the face of the Iranian people’s courage, it has reached a dead end,” Mrs. Rajavi said.

On November 19, after two weeks of silence, the clerical regime’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, addressed his regime’s supporters.

Following his failure to control Iran’s nationwide uprising despite a harsh crackdown, Khamenei declared that the protests would be “wrapped up” and over soon. Since the beginning of the protests, Khamenei has given several speeches, each time declaring victory over the “enemy” and vowing to put an end to what he calls “riots” and what Iranians call a “revolution.”

Earlier this year, medicine became scarce in Iran, and treatment costs skyrocketed, putting thousands of people on the verge of bankruptcy due to treatment costs.

A look at the equipment and weapons used by the Iranian regime to suppress protests reveals the enormous expense required to ensure the stability of its reign. With the regime’s security forces frequently using pepper spray against protesters, many people suffering from Asthma and other respiratory problems are struggling to recover from these attacks due to a lack of proper medicine. The regime’s media recently reported that the steroid Fluticasone, which is used to treat Asthma and COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease), has become scarce, and when it is available, it is extremely expensive.

The nationwide anti-government uprising in Iran has now lasted more than 60 days. There has been little substantive change in the behavior of either the clerical regime or the protesters seeking its overthrow during that time.

However, the two-month mark was marked by the announcement of the first death sentence for a protester, as well as a new round of strikes on Kurdish areas in neighboring Iraq. The uprising began in mid-September after the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman, at the hands of Tehran’s “morality police.” Authorities have conflated the accountability movement due to the early involvement of communities in and around her native Saqqez.

According to the latest reports protesters in at least 220 cities throughout Iran’s 31 provinces have taken to the streets for 61 days now seeking to overthrow the mullahs’ regime. Over 550 have been killed by regime security forces and at least 30,000 arrested, via sources affiliated to the Iranian opposition PMOI/MEK.

On Tuesday, storeowners, college and high school students, and people from all walks of life will mark the third anniversary of the November 2019 uprising with general strikes and protests in dozens of cities across the country. Protests in Iran have now spread to at least 220 cities. Iranian opposition group People’s Mojahedin of Iran (PMOI/MEK) sources claim that over 550 people have been killed and over 30,000 have been detained by the regime’s forces. The MEK has released the names of 402 protesters who were killed.

According to the latest reports protesters in at least 219 cities throughout Iran’s 31 provinces have taken to the streets for 58 days now seeking to overthrow the mullahs’ regime. Over 550 have been killed by regime security forces and at least 30,000 arrested, via sources affiliated to the Iranian opposition PMOI/MEK.

The Iranian people’s nationwide uprising erupted again on Friday, with protesters taking to the streets in large numbers across the province of Sistan & Baluchestan in southeast Iran and chanting “Death to Khamenei!”These massive protests came just two days after people across the country held ceremonies and protest gatherings to mark the 40th anniversary of the regime’s security forces September 30 massacre of over 100 Baluch community members in the city of Zahedan.