There couldn’t be a worse time for launching military satellites while Iran faces one of the worst humanitarian disasters in modern history.

On  4^th November, the government of the United States announced that it was issuing fresh sanctions against a number of high-level officials in Iran. The US Department of the Treasury announced the news on the 40^th anniversary of the Iran hostage crisis in which the US Embassy in Tehran was stormed in 1979. The standoff lasted 444 days and 52 American citizens and diplomats were held hostage during this time.

MEK: #Iran Is Still Leading State Sponsor of Terror and Hostage Taking https://t.co/Rp6mTzVBY4#MEK #FreeIran @USAdarFarsi

— MEK Iran (Mujahedin-e Khalq) (@MEK_Iran) November 6, 2019

The US Treasury Department announced that the sanctions would affect Iran’s Armed Forces General Staff and nine individuals that are linked to the country’s Supreme Leader – Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. It said that the sanctions are part of an effort to “block funds from flowing to a shadow network of Ali Khamenei’s military and foreign affairs advisors who have for decades oppressed the Iranian people, exported terrorism, and advanced destabilizing policies around the world”.

On Monday the US Treasury imposed sanctions, on the #Iranian regime’s Armed Forces General Staff and nine individuals, including Ebrahim Raissihttps://t.co/9yqRW7H2UV#Iran #MEK @USAdarFarsi pic.twitter.com/brRrFlymM5

— MEK Iran (Mujahedin-e Khalq) (@MEK_Iran) November 5, 2019

One of the concerned individuals is former presidential candidate Ebrahim Raisi who currently serves the regime as head of the judiciary.

It has also been rumored that a number of American senators are calling for further sanctions against the regime.

These latest sanctions are highly significant because of who is targeted. Raisi was part of a so-called “death commission” during the 1988 massacre – one of the most horrific crimes against humanity in recent times in which more than 30,000 political prisoners, mainly members and supporters of Mujahedin-e Khalq (PMOI/Iran), lost their life. He personally decided the fate of numerous political prisoners who were extrajudicially murdered following a fatwa that was issued by the Supreme Leader at the time.

 

For the first time ever, the 1988 massacre has become the direct subject of sanctions imposed on Iran. This is a major boost to the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) and the entire Iranian Resistance movement that has been calling for justice for the victims of this terrible crime against humanity. Years of appeasement have allowed the regime to enjoy impunity for this entire time.

The US Treasury Department also emphasized the regime’s warmongering and acts of terror across the region and beyond. Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin said: “Today the Treasury Department is targeting the unelected officials who surround Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei and implement his destabilizing policies. These individuals are linked to a wide range of malign behaviors by the regime, including bombings of the U.S. Marine Barracks in Beirut in 1983 and the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association in 1994, as well as torture, extrajudicial killings, and repression of civilians. This action further constricts the Supreme Leader’s ability to execute his agenda of terror and oppression.”

The US authorities also pointed to Iran’s meddling in Iraq, saying that the regime’s destructive policies are highly concerning.

For years, many countries have led policies of appeasement towards Iran. This has done nothing more than embolden the regime and the United States’ move to hold the regime accountable for its actions is long overdue.

For many of the more worrying aspects of the regime’s behavior to be addressed directly through sanctions is positive and one can only hope that other countries follow suit.

Europe introduced its own set of sanctions against Iran in what represented a small shift in policy towards the Iranian regime. Not since before the Iran nuclear deal has Europe employed sanctions against the Iranian Regime. The move signifies that European leaders may finally be awakening to the fact that the Iran nuclear deal has not altered Iran’s behavior and the Iranian regime is still the worlds leading state sponsor of terrorism.

The sanctions are rooted in the terrorist threat Iranian regime poses

In 2018, the Iranian regime’s state-sponsored terrorist machine increased its output dramatically. In March, a pair of Iranian regime agents were detained in Albania after it emerged the regime has orchestrated a bomb attack against the members of the People’s Mujahedin Organisation of Iran (MEK), the principal opposition group living in exile outside the Albanian capital of Tirana.

Shortly afterward, in June, the regime launched its most ambitious plan of the year. An Iranian diplomat working out of the regime’s embassy in Vienna provided a Belgian-Iranian couple with explosives and sent them to Paris to detonate a bomb at the MEK’s annual Grand Gathering.

The French Government Confirms “Without any Doubt” the Iranian Regime was Behind the Foiled Terror Attack

The event was attended by more than 100,000 people, including dignitaries from the UK, the US, France, Germany, and Italy, amongst other nations. Belgian authorities foiled the attack at the eleventh hour, preventing hundreds and thousands of potential deaths. Following the attack, the French government froze assets belonging to the Iranian Intelligence Ministry and expelled two diplomats from the country.

In October, Denmark announced that it had discovered an Iranian plot to assassinate a political dissident living on Danish soil. The revelation prompted an outcry among the Danish public as protestors gathered in the capital to call for a firm response to Iranian aggression.

Protestors Gather in Copenhagen to Call for a Firm Response to Iranian Aggression

Most recently, the Dutch government revealed that it believes the Iranian government was behind the assassination of two Dutch citizens. The Dutch government said this week that it had evidence that the Iranian government had hired hitmen to carry out the assassinations.

Europe’s sanctions target the Ministry of Intelligence (MOIS)

Europe’s latest sanctions target the MOIS, including the director general of the Iranian intelligence agency, Saeid Hashemi Moghadam. The targets have had their European assets frozen and have been added to Europe’s terror list.

In response to the announcement, Iranian regime’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif while admitting the regime’s role in terrorist attempts attacked the EU as regime’s usual way, to avoid responding to the crimes it has committed. Wall Street Journal Editorial, on its Wednesday Jauary 9 edition, writes:

“The new sanctions target an Iranian intelligence unit and two of its agents, including deputy minister and director general of intelligence Saeid Hashemi Moghadam. They have been added to Europe’s terror list and their assets will be frozen. Iranian Foregin Minister Javad Zarif on Twitter tried to justiry the attacks: “Accusing Iran won’t absolve Europe of responsibility for harboring terrorist”- his preferred word for anyone who opposes the regime.”

What is the next step?

While the sanctions against the MOIS unit and senior officials in the department are welcome, they will not stop the Iranian regime’s terrorist activities.

EU sanctions on the clerical regime are requisite to the fight on terrorism in Europe but they must be completed by blacklisting of the entire intelligence and IRGC apparatus and by prosecuting and expelling the regime's terrorist diplomats and mercenaries. #BlackListMOIS

— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) January 8, 2019

To protect its citizens and national security interests, Europe must follow up with firmer action. Continuing to do business with the Iranian regime, whose economy is controlled by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) and other repressive organizations, any trade in Iranian markets will indirectly fund terrorist activities, including similar attempts trying to target the opposition.

@MARYAM_RAJAVI:The theocratic rgm’s strategy to survive&break out of crisis, is further crackdown&suppression inside #Iran,&more export of #terrorism,war&crises2 other countries.https://t.co/weeULW0hHl …@JY_LeDrian @ministerBlok @anderssamuelsen pic.twitter.com/i4ZlBK9Ei3

— kamran saghah (@kamransaghah) January 9, 2019

The regime has demonstrated that it has little or no regard for foreign sovereignty or the safety of European citizens. It will use terrorism as a weapon against its enemies, regardless of who is hurt or killed in the process.

The Iranian opposition has recommended blacklisting the MOIS and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, closing Iran’s embassies on European soil, refraining from issuing visas to the regime leadership, expelling Iranian agents and mercenaries, and ending ministerial meetings between European and Iranian officials.

The Iranian Resistance Outlines Strategies for Confronting the Regime’s Terror Activites

Expelling Iranian diplomats and closing Iranian diplomatic offices and buildings must become a priority. Investigations in the wake of the 2018 terror attacks demonstrated that Iranian embassies on foreign soil were hotbeds of terror activities and were instrumental in the planning and execution of terror attacks.

Europe should follow their sanctions against the MOIS with tough economic sanctions, restricting Iranian trade and preventing companies from doing business with the ruthless and repressive regime.

Staff Writer

On Tuesday, the 8th of January, the Telegraph’s Middle East correspondent published an article on the company’s website revealing the Iranian regime’s nefarious dealings with criminal gangs in a plot to assassinate political dissidents living in the Netherlands.

According to the Dutch government’s findings, the Iranian clerical regime hired two gangs to kill a pair of dissidents living in the Netherlands. The findings come just several months after the EU introduced sanctions on regime officials over their involvement in the attempted assassination on a political dissident in Denmark.

The Dutch government revealed that during an investigation into the murder of two Dutch citizens, it found links between the assassins and the Iranian regime.

To prevent #Iranian mullahs’ terrorism in Europe, #EU must #BlackListMOIS and the #IRGC, and expel its agents and mercenaries. Mullahs must understand their terrorism will have grave consequences for their repressive regime. #ExpelIranDiplomatTerrorists

— Mohammad Mohaddessin (@Mohaddessin) January 8, 2019

The pair were both gunned down by hitmen who fled in stolen BMWs. The families of the victims involved had long-suspected that the Iranian regime was involved in the killings, but until now the Dutch government had refused to speculate.

The Dutch government explained its decision to withhold the information in a statement. The Foreign Ministry said it had “strong indications that Iran was involved in the assassinations” but that it kept the matter hidden “in the interests of facilitating this common EU action against Iran.”

Last year, the Dutch government expelled two Iranian diplomats from the country, although it refused to say whether or not the decision was linked to the assassinations.

Iran’s History of Violence

This is not the first time the regime has hired international gangsters to carry out the murder of its political opponents.

In 2011, the United States government accused the regime of hiring a Mexican cartel to assassinate the Saudi Arabian ambassador in Washington D.C.

The People’s Mujahedin Organisation of Iran (MEK) welcomed the EU’s introduction of sanctions against players in the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence (MOIS). In a statement, the MEK called them a “positive but important step in the face of the regime’s state terrorism.”

EU Sanctions #Iran Over Planned Europe Attacks
The European Union on Tuesday froze the assets of an Iranian intelligence unit and two of its staff, as the Netherlands accused Iran of two killings on its soil and joined France and Denmark in alleging Tehran plotted other… pic.twitter.com/lDwpCJqExU

— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) January 9, 2019

However, the episode that played out on Dutch soil further demonstrates that any nations which have an Iranian embassy operating on their soil, cannot guarantee the safety of their citizens.

Embassies have been implicated in various state-sponsored assassination attempts and terror attacks, including a planned attack on the MEK’s Grand Gathering in Paris.

The only way for a nation to truly ensure the safety of its citizens is to follow Albania’s lead and expel diplomats. Only through a complete cessation of Iranian diplomatic activities in Europe can EU nations protect their citizens from the ever-present threat of terrorism and murder.

Staff Writer