Devastating floods leave millions in Iran facing humanitarian crisis

April 21, 2019 NBC News

AHWAZ, Iran — Two weeks since the storms started, relentless rain and flooding throughout Iran has left some 2 million people facing a humanitarian crisis.

The deluge has swamped large swaths of the country, from the mountains in the north down to the Persian gulf in the south.

Twenty-five out of 31 of Iran’s provinces have been affected. Officials say say 76 people have been killed so far, with some 150,000 homes partially or completely destroyed. Bridges across the country and miles upon miles of road have been left unusable. Authorities say the estimated bill to repair the damage stands at least $2.5 billion.

Read more...

Iranian-Americans rally near White House for regime change in Tehran

March 8, 2019, The Washington Times

Hundreds of Iranian-Americans gathered just blocks from the White House to rally Friday for a regime change in Tehran.

With Iranian flags and banners promoting democracy in Iran in hand, the demonstrators with the Organization of Iranian American Communities (OIAC) called for an end to the Islamic Republic’s hard-line theocracy.

Read more...

Iran arrested 7,000 dissidents in 'year of shame', says Amnesty

Jan 23, 2019, The Guardian

Iranian authorities arrested more than 7,000 dissidents last year in a sweeping crackdown that led to hundreds being jailed or flogged, at least 26 protesters being killed, and nine people dying in custody amid suspicious circumstances, according to Amnesty International.

Those rounded up during violent dispersals of peaceful protests in what Amnesty called “a year of shame for Iran” included journalists, lawyers, minority rights activists and women who protested against being forced to wear headscarves.

Read more...

Hook: US Sanctions on Iran Have Had Almost 'Entire' Global Compliance

November 20, 2018; VOA

A senior Trump administration official says tough U.S. sanctions re-imposed on Iran earlier this month have been effective, with "almost entire compliance" from the international community.

U.S. Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook made the comment in a sit-down interview with VOA's Arabic-language sister network Alhurra in Dubai on Monday.

"We have seen almost entire compliance with our sanctions regime," Hook said. "And we don't anticipate having to sanction any major companies, because we haven't seen any evidence that these companies want to choose the Iranian market over the United States market."

Read more...

Trump attorney blasts Iran’s ‘outlaws and murderers’

 September 23, 2018; AP

NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump’s attorney, Rudolph Giuliani, told members of Iran’s self-declared government in exile on Saturday that the U.S. sympathizes with their efforts to overthrow that country’s official government.

The former New York mayor spoke to members and supporters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, the biggest opposition group to Iran’s Islamic regime. Two U.S.-based members who joined the gathering have been targeted for assassination by alleged Iranian agents named last month in criminal complaints issued by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Read more...