Senator Bob Menendez expressed support for the Iranian people’s fight for democracy, as well as criticism of the Iranian government’s human rights violations and malign activities.

On July 23 and 24, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) held its yearly “Free Iran World Summit 2022: Iran on the Brink of Change.” This summit aims to create a unified international front that opposes the theocracy in Iran and the appeasement approach taken by Western powers. Numerous eminent politicians and parliamentary representatives from both sides of the Atlantic and elsewhere attended this summit and ten of thousands of Iranians from all over the world participated in the event online. The “Free Iran” conference this year is taking place as public discontent with the regime grows and the mullahs are mired in unsolvable domestic and global crises.

On Friday, July 22, heavy rain and subsequent flooding killed 11 people in Fars province, southwest Iran.

In recent days, flash floods have wreaked havoc in hundreds of Iranian communities, leaving a horrifying trail of devastation and death in their wake. According to estimates, the death toll has surpassed 100. As per Mehdi Valipour, head of the regime’s Red Crescent, the official death toll is 61, with 32 others missing. The Head of the regime’s Crisis Management is warning that floods have been reported in 385 areas of at least 111 cities across 27 of Iran’s 31 provinces.

Belgian Parliament voted by 79 to 41 to ratify a fiercely criticized treaty allowing prisoner exchanges with the Iranian regime, potentially opening the way for a convicted Iranian diplomat, and his three accomplices, jailed on terrorism charges to be returned to Tehran.

The Belgian Parliament approved a contentious prisoner swap agreement with the Iranian regime, a shameful agreement that could jeopardize the release of Assadollah Assadi, Tehran’s convicted diplomat-terrorist who was sentenced to 20 years in prison for plotting to bomb the 2018 “Free Iran” rally in support of the Iranian opposition coalition National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI).

In the Gohardasht prison in Karaj, west of Tehran, Noury worked as a prison guard. Survivors of the 1988 massacre shared harrowing accounts of what they witnessed in the regime’s dungeons during his trial, particularly during those dark days in 1988.

For his part in the 1988 massacre of more than 30,000 political prisoners, most of whom were members of the People’s Mojahedin of Iran (PMOI/MEK), a Swedish court on Thursday, July 14 sentenced Hamid Noury to life in prison. In the Gohardasht prison in Karaj, west of Tehran, Noury worked as a prison guard. Survivors of the 1988 massacre shared harrowing accounts of what they witnessed in the regime’s dungeons during his trial, particularly during those dark days in 1988. Tens of thousands of Iranians, who have suffered for forty years as a result of Iran’s crisis of impunity, which has allowed regime officials to continue abusing human rights and receive rewards rather than facing punishment, were elated by Noury’s conviction.

According to the mullahs’ state media, former Republican President Donald Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani and former White House national security adviser John Bolton were also placed on the regime’s blacklist for endorsing the MEK.

According to Reuters, the Iranian government announced on Saturday that it had sanctioned 61 additional Americans, including former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, for their support of the Iranian opposition group, the People’s Mojahedin of Iran (PMOI/MEK). Most of these American dignitaries had long opposed the U.S. State Department’s incorrect classification of the MEK as a foreign terrorist organization and had defended the MEK members when Iraqi forces linked to the Iranian mullahs’ regime attacked their bases in the camps Ashraf and Liberty before they left for Albania in 2016.

Pensioners gathered and demonstrated outside the Social Security Organization in Tehran, and outside social security offices in Ahvaz, Shushtar, Karaj, Isfahan, Kermanshah, Babol, Sari, Arak, and many more cities.

Iranian pensioners rallied and demonstrated in 20 provinces to protest low salaries and the regime’s disregard for their rights. The protests coincided with the Day of Social Security Pensioners in Iran, on Saturday, July 16. The protesters demanded an increase in their salaries, commensurate with the skyrocketing inflation in Iran that has pushed them into absolute poverty. The social security organization in the regime refuses to implement the advice of its own government agencies that suggest a 38% increase in pensioners’ salaries.

“The united front of Iranians,” Mrs. Rajavi continued, “Clearly demonstrated that they would not be silent if justice and the rule of law were disregarded along with freedom, democracy, and human rights.”

Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), said in a video message to the many Iranians who protested in Brussels this morning against the disgraceful treaty that would legalize prisoner swaps with the Iranian regime: “The treaty’s actual substance and name amount to granting impunity to religious fascism’s terrorism and to the mullahs, who were about to carry out a mass killing in Paris, marking the biggest terrorist incident in Europe.  However, with your round-the-clock efforts, you, and other conscientious people exposed the scandalous conspiracy internationally in a short period of time. You are indeed an extension of the rebellions and Resistance Units on the world stage.”

The European Parliament and Gholam-Hossein Dehghani, the Iranian regime’s ambassador to Belgium, signed a deal for the release of Assadollah Assadi and other convicted criminals on March 11.

In return, Tehran would free Belgian or dual nationals who had been held captive by the security and intelligence apparatus of the mullahs in Iran and sentenced to prison or even execution on the basis of false accusations. According to this agreement, which was kept a secret until June 30 between Belgium and the Iranian government, condemned individuals will be freed and will serve out the remainder of their prison terms in their home nations.

Members of the United States House of Representatives Randy K. Weber, Louie Gohmert, and Brian Fitzpatrick wrote to Belgium’s prime minister, requesting that the agreement be terminated.

Recently, it was revealed that the Belgian government had been secretly negotiating a deal with the Iranian regime to free Assadollah Assadi, a convicted and imprisoned terrorist, and three of his accomplices, Iranians and political figures from around the world have expressed outrage, letting Brussels know that such a deal cannot be pursued without careful consideration of the consequences. The Belgian parliament is expected to hold a final vote at the Committee level on Thursday, July 7, allowing Brussels to proceed with the exchange of so-called convicted prisoners with interested parties.

The nuclear talks will take place this week, the regime’s foreign ministry’s spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh announced on June 27.

Josep Borrell, the High Representative of the European Union, visited Iran on the evening of Friday, June 24, to urge the Iranian leadership to ratify a draft agreement that would revive the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Borrell declared that nuclear talks would soon resume upon his arrival in Europe. The nuclear talks will take place this week, the regime’s foreign ministry’s spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh announced on June 27. He also said that the United States had promised to ensure Iran’s economic gains from the JCPOA.