An unbalanced socio-political climate and flagrant human rights abuses are all traits of a dictatorship, and the theocratic dictatorship in Iran is not an exception.

In response to the ongoing protests over the past three months, the Iranian regime has used its entire propaganda machine to portray freedom-loving Iranians as “waging war against God” or “moharebeh” by confronting the regime. To punish a “moharebeh,” Article 282 empowers the judge to hand out one of the four specified punishments at his own discretion: Death by hanging, crucifixion, amputation of the right hand and left foot, or banishment.

Major protests against the mullahs’ regime have been escalating across Iran in the past few years.

Iran has experienced numerous large-scale uprisings and countless local protests in numerous provinces since the end of 2017, involving people from a variety of demographics and professional affiliations. A recent study by the Supreme National Defense University (SNDU) on this ongoing phenomenon found that “three out of four Iranians participate in protests” and that a similar proportion can be anticipated to stay involved if another nationwide uprising occurs soon.

The censure in question was based on Tehran’s refusal to cooperate with an investigation into the past military dimensions of Iran’s nuclear program, rather than on systematic violations of the JCPOA’s terms.

On Wednesday, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) published a new report on Iran’s nuclear activities, while Western signatories to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) expressed growing skepticism about the prospects for reviving the deal, which sought to extend Iran’s “breakout time” for a nuclear weapon. Even with its current capabilities and existing supplies of 60 percent enriched uranium, the regime can now produce 25 kg of weapons-grade uranium – more than enough for one nuclear weapon – in three to four weeks, according to experts.

A look inside the Natanz enrichment facility in central Iran.

The European Union’s attempt to conciliate a nuclear agreement between world powers and the Iranian regime failed, and there has been quite a chaotic reaction inside the mullahs’ ruling regime. An interview with Hossein Shariatmadari, editor-in-chief of Kayhan daily, a well-known mouthpiece of Iranian regime Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, was published on Sunday by the Fars news agency, which is connected to the regime’s Revolutionary Guards. In the interview, Shariatmadari harshly criticized the nuclear negotiations as a Western plot and suggested the regime should renounce the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

Since the start of the Ukrainian conflict, the Iranian regime has used the crisis to promote its own energy resources as a potential alternative for Europe, after sanctions forced Russian oil and gas off Western markets.

Negotiations between Iran and six world powers to resurrect the 2015 nuclear deal have been ongoing for months with no success. The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which is the official name of the agreement, has long been broken by the Iranian regime. Due to the country’s economic crisis and four decades of oppression, theocratic rule in Iran desperately needs to break out of its international isolation. Nonetheless, Iranian officials and state media never miss an opportunity to brag about their “powerful position” in the negotiations, claiming that Western powers, not the regime, require the deal.

In 2022, Iran was voted one of the saddest countries in the world, ranking near the bottom of the table at 110th place on the global happiness index, alongside Iraq, Venezuela, Niger, and the Gambia, to name a few.

According to the World Tourism Organization and the regime’s claims, approximately 5.1 million people will visit Iran in 2021. The majority were religious pilgrims, but there were far fewer visitors from developed countries.

The Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), Ministry of Intelligence & Security (MOIS), state police, the state broadcaster “The Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting” (IRIB), the offices of Friday prayer imams, seminaries, and various religious institutions all received enormous sums of money from Mobarakeh Steel Co.

Iran’s impoverished citizens were once again shocked by Iran’s most recent embezzlement case of 920 trillion rials, which involved the state-run Isfahan Mobarakeh Steel Company. This was approximately $5.25 billion at the time of the alleged theft.

The Middle East and North Africa region’s largest steel producer is Mobarakeh Steel, which is situated in the central Iranian province of Isfahan. Approximately 15% of the regime’s budget was made up of the company’s earnings last year, according to a 250-page report published by the Majlis of the mullahs (parliament).

The NCRI held a press conference in Washington on August 14, 2002, to discuss ongoing work on nuclear weapons at covert locations close to the Iranian cities of Natanz and Arak.

Following the 20th anniversary of the initial public disclosures about the country’s nuclear weapons program, a number of specialists in international security and non-proliferation met with representatives of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday to talk about the current status of Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

People’s purchasing power has shrunk so dramatically that a family earning minimum wage in 1978 could afford 74 kg of meat, but now the same family can only afford 20 kg. This demonstrates how dramatically the people’s economic power has declined.

Iran’s economy has suffered a sharp decline since the 1979 revolution. The first factor is the Iranian regime’s institutionalized corruption and economic monopolization by the Revolutionary Guards Corp (IRGC), and the second is the regime’s massive spending on nuclear and missile projects. According to the regime’s media, Iran’s per capita income has fallen from $10,000 in 1979 to around $7,000 in 2021, based on the real global and regional inflation rates, and it has fallen even further this year.

The US immediately and publicly reacted by stating that it was prepared to implement the agreement based on the EU’s suggestions, but Tehran specifically signaled that it intended to review the draft and then provide comments.

The US and the EU both announced through spokespersons that they were “studying” the response to what has been referred to as the “final text” of an agreement to restore the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. The draft proposal was delivered to the US and Iran last week, with instructions for them to respond by Monday and state whether they would accept the agreement in its current form, according to Enrique Mora, the coordinator of the European Union for those negotiations.