Iran Dismisses Plan By UN Nuclear Chief To Visit Next Month

The network was aware of the intimidation tactics at the time, but the documents, obtained by Edalat-e Ali (Ali's Justice) hackers, offer indisputable proof that Iran’s Intelligence Ministry and judicial officials were coordinating the harassment efforts.

In November 2019, a sudden hike in gasoline prices led to nationwide street protests that were met with overwhelming brute force by the Islamic Republic’s security and paramilitary forces. In a matter of days, around 1,500 people were killed by these forces, Reuters reported at the time.

Amid official denials, misrepresenting protesters as organized mobs attacking public property, Iran International deployed its full resources to report about the real situation.

The government shut down the internet and Iran International and other foreign-based Persian broadcasters were the only window for the people to know what was unfolding in the country.

In the leaked Intelligence Ministry letter dated November 30, 2019, a top counter-intelligence officer wrote to Ali Alghasi, Tehran Prosecutor General, revealing the tactics employed by the Islamic Republic as dissenting voices became ever harder to quash.

The document, written as protests were quashed, revealed that 15 family members of Iran International employees across the country were summoned by the Intelligence Ministry.

“Some 71 behind the scenes key players were barred from being able to carry out financial transactions,” according to the letter marked as top secret.

While Iran’s pressure on Iran International and other Persian broadcasters has been publicized before, the document offered an insight into the motivations behind such actions.

“These measures had a psychological impact on the employees resulting in mental disorder and confusion and their sense of security,” the counter-intelligence officer added.

Revealing the psychological warfare employed by the regime, the unnamed author of the letter expressed that the intention of the Intelligence Ministry’s actions was to deliberately "disrupt the mental peace" of those daring to voice opposition to the regime.

However, in spite of the attempts to silence the channel, he noted the regime's failure. “It must be mentioned here that following these measures, the network is almost back to its original format and part of their schedule is dedicated to the legal and intelligence agencies actions involving the network’s employees and their families.”

During the 2019 uprising, the government imposed a week-long internet ban in an attempt to further suppress dissent. Describing the work of Iran International to the prosecutor, the letter said: “This network broadcasts interviews with various people opposed to the establishment, e.g. Monarchists, Mojahedin and …… to call on people to rebellion and destruction of public property, destruction and burning of the state property.”

He accused the station of disseminating “false news to encourage the villains and vandals, inviting people to gather in streets and public places, mobilizing the Iranians living abroad to support the rioters” and "subverting the position of the supreme leader of the country by highlighting his support for the [petrol price increase] plan”.

Iran International has been subjected to a state-backed campaign for years, resulting in a significant escalation in threats against its staff in terms of frequency and severity.

In February 2023, the channel had to temporarily relocate its offices in London to Washington after the UK’s security forces determined it could no longer keep the staff safe following assassination attempts by Iran’s IRGC. However, the network reopened in September from a new location amid tightened security measures.

It was also revealed last year that key commanders from Unit 840 of the IRGC’s Qods Force had offered a human trafficker $200,000 in October 2022 to assassinate Fardad Farahzad, a presenter at Iran International, and former presenter Sima Sabet. In February 2023, a Chechen-born Austrian national, Magomed Dovtaev, was arrested close to the network’s headquarters in London on suspicion of conducting hostile reconnaissance. He was subsequently convicted last December for providing information to be used in a terror plot.

The letter reveals that even ordinary citizens who tried to contact Iran International and share their experiences and visual materials faced pressure from the government.

"In respect of the need to counter the actions of the foreigners and the broadcasting satellite networks, those making contacts with them within Iran were identified and phone numbers of the broadcasting companies were blocked,” the counter-intelligence officer wrote.

The leak also revealed the harassment not only of journalists, but also of their parents and family members, threatening them that should their children continue working with “opposition” media, “deemed to disturb the peace and security of the country … they will be dealt with according to the law”.

A UK representative of Reporters Without Borders condemned the harassment of Iran International Journalists. “Iran’s targeting of journalists’ families shows the shocking lengths to which it will go to silence a free press. It is intended not only to disrupt family life, but also to heap yet more psychological pressure on journalists in exile who are also contending with direct threats. RSF stands in solidarity with all Iranian journalists who continue to report in the face of such harassment and calls on the Iranian authorities to immediately stop their relentless efforts to intimidate them.”

The 2023 annual report from Freedom House, noted that “Iranian authorities have intimidated journalists working for Persian-language media outside the country, in part by summoning and threatening their families in Iran”, as its policy of threats continues in the face of mass discontent.

It stated that amid the nationwide protests that began in September 2022, in the wake of Mahsa Amini’s death in morality-police custody, authorities arrested dozens of journalists, and at least 62 were jailed, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

“Authorities also attempted to suppress coverage of the protest movement by imposing severe restrictions on internet services, including curbs on access to the social media platforms Instagram and WhatsApp,” it stated, as internet shutdowns continue today.

Last month, the US and UK announced a sanctions package against a network involved in assassination plots targeting dissidents, including Iran International journalists, on British soil. At least 15 plots have been foiled in the UK since 2022.

UK Home Secretary James Cleverly said: “The Iranian regime has tried to undermine our democracy through repression … We cannot allow foreign regimes to collaborate with criminals to threaten us. Sanctioning these criminal networks working for the Iranian regime will remind them that we will fight back. My priority is to protect our people and to defend our way of life, and the UK will not tolerate threats from the Iranian regime.”

The neighborhood hosts residential buildings, schools and Iranian cultural centers, and lies near a large, heavily-guarded complex used by security agencies. The district was targeted in an Israeli attack in February 2023 that killed Iranian military experts.

The Syrian Observatory, a war monitoring group based in Britain, reported that a building near an Iranian school in Damascus was targeted. The area is frequented by senior officials of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.

Rami Abdulrahman, the head of the Observatory, said that the target of the attack was to eliminate Hezbollah and IRGC personnel. So far, three individuals have been reportedly killed.

There have been several strikes since January targeting high-value Iranian targets in Syria and particularly in Damascus. Targets near a military airport west of the Syrian capital Damascus were attacked on February 9 by unidentified missiles on drones. An Iranian military adviser was killed in another attack in Damascus on February 2.

Syrian state news agency SANA said an "Israeli attack" had targeted a residential building but made no mention of casualties. It published an image of the charred side of a multi-story building.

Witnesses heard several back-to-back explosions. The blasts scared children at a nearby school and ambulances rushed to the area, the witnesses told Reuters.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military. Since 2017, Israel is believed to have launched hundreds of air strikes against Iran-affiliated targets in Syria.

Iran has been a major backer of President Bashar al-Assad during Syria's nearly 12-year conflict. Its support for Damascus and the Lebanese group Hezbollah has drawn regular Israeli air strikes meant to curb Tehran's extraterritorial military power.

“Reformists cannot participate in meaningless, non-competitive, unfair, and ineffective elections in governing the country.” This is strategy number 4 of the Iranian Reformist Front’s statement on the 2024 elections. Contrary to this strategy and the majority vote of of Reformist organizations to boycott the elections, 110 Reformist activists have urged people to participate. This request has sparked intense debate among the Reformist activists and strategists.

Now it is evident that a faction of the Reformist camp cannot overlook the sacrifices of the “Women, Life, Freedom” Movement, which include 550 deaths, tens of thousands of arrests, more than 10 political executions, and the blinding and maiming of hundreds of individuals, and encourage people to return to the polls. Another faction still advocates for voting for the lesser evil, forming a minority in the Majles (parliament) to promote economic development.

However, they fail to explain how development and progress can be achieved while maintaining intact the nuclear and expansionist programs, which have brought on crippling US sanctions.

Pro-boycott arguments

What are the main arguments of both sides of this debate? Pro-boycott Reformists present arguments that diverge significantly from the reformists’ trajectory in the past two decades. From their perspective, the main issues with the statement of 110 activists include the futility of participation, the lack of significance of the 2024 elections, legitimization of disqualifications through participation, and the absence of any clear boundaries set by these 110 individuals. This same argument could have been raised during the 2000 presidential elections that led to Khatami's second term, yet the Reformists participated in all elections from 2000 to 2020.

Pro-boycott activists believe that both the Majles and the Expert Assembly are irrelevant in governing the country. The Majles lacks real checks and balances and monitoring power, with tens of councils in the country possessing legislative authority. The Expert Council has never fulfilled its responsibility to hold Khamenei accountable, and the next leader will be chosen by the security and military establishment.

Critiquing the statement of pro-participation Reformists, Mohsen Armin the vice president of the Reform Front said: Society is so dissenting and angry that any participation in the elections will not yield any results beneficial to the public." He considered the pro-participation group to be a minority among the Reformists and accused them of employing "fantasy-based theories" to highlight their fundamental differences with the majority, resulting only in division.

Blaming Ali Khamenei for Iran's "defective political system," imprisoned political activist Mostafa Tajzadeh, has declared in a letter that he will not vote in the upcoming elections. He cites several strategic mistakes by the leader of the Islamic Republic, including "rendering elections meaningless and rendering elected institutions ineffective, especially the parliament."

Pro-participation arguments

The pro-participation camp argues for consensus-building, gradualism, problem-solving coalitions, and attention to the institutional and structural contexts of the goals. However, the Reformists did have strong presence in the parliament prior to 2020 and failed to achieve any of these goals. The numerous instances of Reformists' participation through allegiance to the regime have not sufficed to prove their loyalty and good intentions. Their candidates were massively banned from the 2020 parliamentary and the 2021 presidential elections.

"Since 2020, according to all indicators, we have been moving in the wrong direction, proponents of boycotting the 2020 and 2021 elections…should evaluate the consequences of this policy," says one of the signatories of this statement. According to this interpretation, economic and social decline is not attributable to the regime's corruption, incompetence, waste, expansionism, authoritarianism, and totalitarianism but rather to the decreased participation of people over the past five years. It is the people's fault for not voting sufficiently.

There is also a foreign element in the pro-participation arguments. Some argue that alleged enemies such as Donald Trump or Benjamin Netanyahu will take advantage of a low turnout in the elections as the legitimacy of the regime comes under question. This implies that, out of fear of Trump and Netanyahu, Iranians should embrace their brutal and corrupt leaders and pledge allegiance to Khamenei, despite the Reformists having a very slim chance of winning any parliamentary seats.

"I implore all democratic member states to unite in protesting the IRI regime’s egregious abuses against Iranians & brutalities abroad via proxies," wrote Boniadi on her social media account.

The letter directly addressed to Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield, highlighting the severity of the situation in Iran. "He is the representative of a brutal and cruel regime that beats, blinds, rapes, poisons, unlawfully detains, forcibly disappears, tortures and murders its own people," the letter stated.

Boniadi emphasized the need for a unified stand against the Iranian regime's human rights violations. "You must surely recognize the inappropriateness of a representative of this brutal and criminal regime being allowed to address the UNHRC," she added.

The call for action comes after continuing repression in Iran and an increase in executions. In 2022 and 2023 the government killed around 550 citizens during protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini.

"More than 500 demonstrators were killed by security forces in the protests following Mahsa's death, after they were given free rein by the regime’s top officials in an attempt to quell the uprising," the letter highlighted.

The documents encompass a spectrum of sensitive subjects, ranging from internal deliberations within the National Security Council following the death of Mahsa Amini to efforts aimed at quelling unauthorized VPN vendors, protests against the 2020 employment examination, and cases related to economic corruption.

The group unveiled a series of documents suggesting the complicity of the Iranian government in prosecuting prominent public figures during the 2022 uprising and preceding events. 

Edalat-e Ali exposed document highlighting the Iranian regime's clandestine endeavors to exert control over public figures, particularly those occupying influential positions in the realms of entertainment and sports. Financial sanctions, bank freezes, travel bans and more have hit celebrities across the board.

They revealed a list encompassing 29 cinema and television figures alongside football stars accused of crimes including "anti-government propaganda activity" and allegations of "conspiracy and collusion against national security."

Actress Katayoun Riyahi, known for her public appearances without compulsory hijab during the uprising following Mahsa Amini's killing, faces charges encompassing “conspiracy, anti-government activities, and inciting moral corruption through her actions.”

Similarly, football icons like Ali Daei, Aref Gholami, and Voria Ghafouri have been accused of fomenting dissent and engaging in activities deemed against national security.

The document, authored by Mohammad Mehdi Heidarian, the then head of the Joint Working Group on Celebrity Management and advisor to the Minister of Culture in 2019, outlines a comprehensive strategy involving multiple government entities tasked with overseeing and managing public figures, thus underscoring the regime's efforts to suppress dissent and enforce conformity.

Edalat-e Ali's ascendancy to prominence traces back to August 2021, marked by their penetration of the surveillance infrastructure at Evin Prison, supporting the ongoing protests and voicing advocacy for the release of political detainees.

The group's previous revelations, including documents implicating security forces in acts of sexual assault and extrajudicial violence against protesters, underscore the gravity of the situation and the need for accountability within Iran's governing apparatus.

The latest hacking is one in a long line of cyber attacks on the regime. The incidents have escalated since the 2022 uprising. From breaches in the judiciary's servers to infiltrations of surveillance infrastructure at Evin Prison and servers belonging to the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), these hacks have underscored the vulnerability of Iran's digital infrastructure.

Each breach has not only exposed confidential information but also served as a catalyst for heightened scrutiny of the regime's activities and policies. The frequency and scale of the hacks reflect the ongoing tensions within Iranian society and the determination of hacktivists to challenge the status quo.

In the past year, MEK-affiliated hackers have targeted the portals of several other government agencies including Tehran Municipality, the Presidential Office, and the ministries of Foreign Affairs, Agriculture, and Culture as well as the parliament and published thousands of documents. In December, a cyberattack paralyzed much of the country's network of gas stations.

This week, documents were leaked following the hack of the Iranian parliament’s media arm, revealing a wide range of Tehran’s strategies to circumvent US sanctions.

Last week, hacktivist group Uprising till Overthrow took responsibility for the recent cyberattack on the Khaneh Mellat News Agency, the media arm of the Iranian Parliament.In a statement released by the group, closely affiliated with the Albania-based opposition Mujahideen-e Khalq (MEK) organization, it was disclosed that the attack reached 600 of the the main servers of the parliament, commission servers, main chamber servers, parliament assistant servers, parliament bank server, and other servers related to administrative functions. 

Cybersecurity specialist Amin Sabeti claims Iran will continue facing increasing cyberattacks due to “structural defects” in their cyber defense systems. He claimed that many projects aimed at developing what the regime terms “domestic services” have failed due to their reliance on corrupt connections and nepotism rather than meritocracy and expertise.

It has led to domestic criticism in the face of the regime's weakness. Shahriar Heydari, deputy chairman of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of the Iranian parliament, stated that the National Organization for Passive Defense and the Intelligence Ministry should be held accountable for the recent cyberattacks.“Cyberspace is a war of information. Every country needs to secure its systems against hacking and data theft,” Heydari said.