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In his vitriolic new year speech, Irans Supreme Leader claimed the US president and European heads of state arm the countrys revolutionaries.

During recent unrest, the US president and heads of states of certain European countries openly offered weapons and financial and security support to rioters to weaken the Islamic Republic but what happened was the opposite, he said, in spite of the country being in its worst economic recession for decades and all but isolated on the world stage.

The allegation was one of many thrown at the West in a new year speech Tuesday, amidst outright denials of Irans having sent drones to Russia for use in its invasion of Ukraine. We categorically deny any presence in the Ukraine war and such a thing is not true at all, he said.

The remarks show little has changed in the regime rhetoric after more than six months of protests calling for an end to the Islamic dictatorship.

Khamenei, whose public speeches are always peppered with scathing criticism of the West, said not only has the enemy fanned the flames of unrest in the country, triggered by the death in custody of Iranian-Kurd, Mahsa Amini, but claimed the Wests goal is to topple the regime and in turn, see Islam fade into oblivion.

It is what he terms a hybrid war against Iran waged by the West to undermine clerical rule, a propaganda war to undermine the nations will, sow despair among the youth, and make them disappointed at the future, work, and progress by fudging the facts.

This emphasis on such conspiracies are meant to deflect attention from the fact that Irans economy is in crisis and young people have lost all hope for their future, yearning for cultural and personal freedoms away from suffocating religious laws.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei during Nowruz gathering in Mashhad, March 21, 2023

Khamenei who espouses a 20th-century leftist ideology of anti-imperialism also accused the West of having colonial designs on Iran. In everything they do, they seek to politically and economically dominate Iran and plunder it, he maintained.

Perhaps reflecting his deep resentment towards Saudi Arabia, which is no secret, Irans 83-year old authoritarian ruler failed to mention a recent agreement with the oil-rich Persian Gulf state to normalize relations, despite the fact that the deal announced earlier this month came as a diplomatic earthquake in the region and possibly the biggest diplomatic victory for Iran in years.

Removing it from isolation from one of the regions biggest powers, the deal has brought Iran in from the cold at a time when it has become a pariah on the world stage, not least, since the collapse of nuclear talks, the JCPOA, after Iran's intransigence in negotiations.

Khamenei has long labelled the Saudi ruling elite as corrupt and un-Islamic, but approved restoration of ties amid its own isolation.

Recently, more and more politicians and commentators in Iran call for an opening to the world, arguing that in the 21st century no country can succeed alone. The Iranian regimes ongoing nuclear program and its support for dangerous militant groups around the region have further isolated the country both politically and economically.

Showing no signs of weakening these proxy groups based in several countries including Lebanon and Iraq, in addition to cells far beyond the Arab world, Khamenei also reiterated support for what he calls his axis of resistance.

While it is hoped that the Saudi deal will mean Irans disarming the Houthis in Yemen, skeptics suspect the regime will not alter its policy of arming its proxies around the region. It is as yet unclear if the Houthis too, will agree to disarming.

While relations with the West continue to nosedive, Khamenei claimed that the Wests efforts to isolate Iran have failed, praising his policy of forging closer relations with dictatorships China and Russia, what he has dubbed as a policy of looking East

He had little to say on matters of economy to reassure the people that the worst recession in decades showed any sign of abating.

Economically, Iran has fallen behind even in the oil and natural gas sectors which represent its main sources of foreign currency revenues needed for economic development. Its energy sector needs upwards of $200 billion in investments, according to its own oil minister Javad Owji, in spite of the country sitting on the worlds second biggest oil fields.

In a bizarre twist, Khamenei said that Iran should even ditch the US dollar after months of sharp declines in the value of the rial, claiming that several sanctioned countries which stopped using the dollar found their situation got better. He failed to give examples of such wild claims.

The fate of the country remains in the hands of an aging leader with old-fashioned diplomatic and economic policies. It may be a new year for Iran, but it is still, old rhetoric which dogs its leadership.

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Khamenei Claims West Is Offering Arms To Iran Protesters -

WASHINGTON (AP) President Joe Biden used a White House event to mark Persian New Year on Monday to pay tribute to Iranian women and girls who took to the streets of Iran to protest following the death last year of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini and vowed to keep pressure on Tehran.

Biden said he wished the Nowruz holiday, a nearly 4,000-year-old tradition known as the Festival of Fire thats linked to the Zoroastrian religion, would be a moment of hope for the women of Iran fighting for their human rights and fundamental freedoms.

The United States stands with those brave women and all the citizens of Iran who are inspiring the world with their conviction, Biden said, describing the reception as the biggest White House Nowruz celebration to date. Were going to continue to hold Iranian officials accountable for their attacks against their people.

The United States, Europe and the United Kingdom have imposed a series of fresh sanctions on dozens of Iranian officials and organizations, including the countrys special military and police forces, for their violent clampdown.

The protests began in mid-September when Amini died after being arrested by Irans morality police for allegedly violating the Islamic Republics strict dress code.

The protests mark one of the biggest challenges to Irans theocracy since the 1979 revolution.

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Biden pays tribute to Iranian women at Nowruz celebration - Yahoo News

Irans nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri-Kani met European diplomats last week in Oslo, the official news agency IRNA reported Wednesday without details about the talks.

Quoting several well-informed sources IRNA said Bagheri-Kani, who is also deputy foreign minister met with foreign ministry directors of the United Kingdom, France and Germany, three signatories of the 2015 nuclear accord known as the JCPOA.

An official from the German foreign ministry confirmed Wednesday afternoon that a meeting had taken place, but said the purpose was "to make our positions very clear in the face of the Iranian escalation in many areas. No, there are still no negotiations, not even on the JCPoA."

The three countries are known as the E3 and participated in long but unsuccessful negotiations with Iran in Vienna, together with Russia and China from April 2021 to March 2022. The European Union that has been coordinating the talks continued discussion with Iran in the following months hoping to bring about a deal to revive the JCPOA, abandoned by the United States in 2018.

These attempts reached a deadlock last September followed by US declarations that reviving the JCPOA is no longer on its agenda.

Europe has also adopted a sharply critical position toward the Islamic Republic on its gross violations of human rights by a deadly crackdown on protesters. Several rounds of sanctions by the EU and the UK have been announced against entities and officials involved in violence against civilians and mass arrests.

IRNA quoting a senior official said that Enrique Mora, deputy to EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell was also present at the meeting. But Amwaj.media, which also reported about the meeting, later quoted a diplomatic source as saying that Mora was not present.

IRNA also said that there is no information about the agenda of the meeting, but quoted a senior Iranian official as saying that the event was supposed to be a brain storming session. IRNA quoted another source who said the meeting was secret, which the agency said shows there are still obstacles to renewed negotiations.

The report went on to say, Although such meetings rarely take place in Norway, but this was not the first time this Scandinavian country, which is not an EU member, hosted talks between Iran and Europe. It added that a similar meeting also took place a few months ago.

IRNA's report is full of positive references to recent Iranian diplomatic efforts. It seems that Iranian government wants to reinforce positive news about its attempts aimed at ending its international isolation.

IRNA also claimed that the are signs about a possible release of US citizens held in Iran, a claim recently repeated by Iranian officials and dismissed by Washington.

IRNAs report seems more as an attempt to reinforce optimist about Iran breaking out of isolation with mentioning a vague deal achieved with the International Atomic Energy Agency earlier this month when the agencys chief Rafael Grossi paid a two-day visit to Tehran.

Irans economic situation has sharply deteriorated in recent weeks, amid continuing US sanctions, with the national currency falling to historic lows, signaling much higher inflation in the coming months. Tehran seems anxious to make some sort of improvement in its foreign relations and to open the door to more talks with Washington.

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Iran Reports Meeting Held With European Diplomats -

Members of IRGCs Quds Force are weary of the fight with Israeli forces at Golan Heights and are selling military intel to Israel, a recently-leaked document shows.

Minutes of a meeting of senior clerics and Revolutionary Guard commanders with Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, leaked to media last week, suggest that the economic and political situation in Iran has made the Islamic Republicsforces sell information about Quds Force operations to Israel, and that more and more elements are seeking to leave the battlefield in Syria and get jobs and positions inside the country.

The44-page document contains citations of remarks by 45 IRGC commanders and clerics at a meeting at Khameneis office on January 3 on the anniversary of the death of Quds Force commander, Qassem Soleimani, who was killed by the US three years ago.

Almost all the participants spoke about the current wave of antiregime protests that has engulfed the country since September last year. The meeting, held more than three months into the protests, focused on the negative impact of the protests on the morale of forces under the command of the IRGC and their burn-out, with several offering anecdotal accounts of insubordination.

The document indicates that officials are shocked by the large scale and duration of the protests and admit that they do not have the means to quell the uprising. The participants also acknowledged massive defections and desertions among themilitary forces and clerics, mainly due to the unrelenting economic woes as well as in protest to the heavy-handed crackdown by security forces and harsh sentences by the judiciary.

IRGC Commander Rahim Noi Aghdam (right) and former Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani

Rahim Noi Aghdam, who served as the commander of IRGCs Zeynab operational headquarters in Syria, said during the meeting that the Quds Force "faces many problems" in the border areas of Israel and the Golan Heights. He mentioned Israel's "non-stop" bombings and "inability of quick access to the supplies of Iran's allied forces in this region" as some of the problems, adding that economic hardships and the ongoing protests have also led to "ideological issues and family problems" among the ranks of the forces.

He said that "leaks of operational plans has reduced the edge of Iranian forces against Israelis, adding that "pre-emptive attacks by Israeli forces in five operations showed us that the issue of infiltration... and the forces unwillingness to remain at Israel's borders have made them do unimaginable things, such as selling military intel.

Noi Aghdam added that if the Islamic Republic loses the areas that it has gained "with years of effort" outside its borders, "a practical threat to the Islamic Republic regime will not be unimaginable."

Other attendees also talked about the desertions and disobedience within their forces, with Abdollah Haji-Sadeghi, Khameneis representative in the IRGC, saying that there is no doubt about desertions. He said that different security organizations of the country have reported varying figures, from 12 percent to 68 percent of desertions.

Khodarahm Sarani, the IRGCs commander in the city of Zahedan -- the provincial capital of Sistan-Baluchestan province that is home to Iran's Sunni Baluch minority of up to two million said the demands of the people there are basic such as water and basic necessities. He added that remarks by their Sunni leader Mowlavi Abdolahamid have united the residents, making them leave aside their sectarian differences and focus on popular demands.

A sample page of the leaked document

Sarani then made a direct attack on the secretary of Irans security council Ali Shamkhani who was present at the meeting. When an officer under my command comes to my office and shows the watch worn by Mr. Shamkhani's son and tells me that the price of this watch is equal to four years of my service inthe armed forces, how can I answer?

We cannot always blame the problems on the enemy, yes, we are under sanctions, but the country's income is not low. If there are problems in the country, then how come these problems do not show themselves at the level of military commanders, he added.

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IRGC Losing Edge In Iran And Region Leaked Document -

As the Iranian year was coming to an end on March 20, some local media presented a more than disappointing assessment over the performance of the parliament.

The election for the next parliament (Majles) is less than 11 months from now, and the current parliament, whose members call themselves "revolutionaries" has had no achievement to be proud of.

Khabar Online website in Tehran summarized the "radical parliament's" track record saying that the Majles was "unable to meet the society's demands and incapable of supervising the government's performance or holding it accountable for shortcomings the media have been complaining about on a daily basis.

According to the website, lawmakers have failed to address issues such as the the economic hardship people face, the fall of the Iranian currency, deadlock in the country's foreign policy, international isolation, inefficiency of local governors and other officials including cabinet ministers. They have not been able to impeach any minister although they talked about it every single day.

The Majles has not been able even to make the government accountable for the promises given to the people. Nor the Majles asked any serious questions about why the government has not been able to control inflation.

Prices of cars, houses and rents have been constantly on the rise, turning necessities into dreams for citizens. Journalists in Iran tweeted that in some areas people buy their daily bread on credit from neighborhood bakeries, promising to pay at the end of the month.

When at one point in February the US dollar rose to 600,000 rials, Vice President Mohammad Mokhber told the Majles that he cannot do anything about it and lawmakers "can take it or leave it." Parliament simply listened to Mokhber and took no action.

President Ebrahim Raisi with Hardliner supporters in parliament during his inauguration in August 2021

During the year, most proposed bills ended in controversy and remained inconclusive. Here are some examples:

Hijab

While opposition to compulsory hijab was the one of the root causes of the uprising that shook the country for more than five months, the Majles discussed a bill that called for sending text message threats to women and freezing their ID cards and closing their bank accounts as well as forcing them to pay a fine for not wearing their headscarves "properly". They seemed not to care that this was exactly why Mahsa Amini was murdered in police custody.

Women

Another controversial bill proposed to restrict women's freedom to travel abroad, demanding that all women should have the consent of their husband, father or grandfather for a travel permit. Apart from everything else, those who drafted the bill failed to realize who would sign the permit for an 80-year-old woman who has no husband or father. After several denials by lawmakers, no one still knows if the bill has gone any further.

Documenting Crimes and Brutality

As photos and videos of police brutality during the protests went viral on social media, the parliament approved that filming such scenes is strictly prohibited. The bill even called for harsh punishment for anyone who circulated such images on social media or sent them to foreign-based media. Those breaking the law could be charged with colluding with the enemy and acting against national security, the bill stipulated.

"Fake" News

Another controversial bill called for prosecution of anyone who posted any "false" story on social media. The bill said that courts, which are in fact controlled by intelligence agencies, are the authority to determine if a news story was fake. Basically, the bill meant that any account of events different from the official version is punishable.

Other similar bills included barring university students from travelling abroad as a punishment for taking part in protests, as well as controversial attestations that forced government employees to learn to recite the Koran.

While these bills backed by hardliners may not have majority support, supporters can get them passed at the opportune moment. Meanwhile, the parliament has not tackled any legislation to alleviate the financial hardships endured by citizens.

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Media In Iran Slam Performance Of Hardliner Parliament -