“Voice of America’s management has told staff of the U.S.-government-funded but editorially independent global news outlet not to call Hamas and its members terrorists, except when quoting statements, National Review has learned.” nationalreview.com/2023/10/voice-… “In an email sent on Friday to the news service’s employees, VOA associate editor for news standards Carol Guensburg relayed the outlet’s policy for covering the October 7 terrorist attacks and the ensuing Israeli campaign against Hamas targets. She emphasized that VOA needs to maintain neutrality in its coverage and that its reporters should “be especially careful with word choice in dealing with a conflict.”

“An Iranian-born Pentagon official is to keep her top-level security clearance despite being named as part of a covert influence campaign run by Tehran — and being called a ‘spy’ by Republicans.” nypost.com/2023/10/20/pen… “Ariane Tabatabai appeared to be a willing recruit in the covert influence operation run by Tehran’s Foreign Ministry, according to a trove of leaked files revealed last month by Semafor.”

“Simon Malley embraced national liberation movements around the world, and was a trusted confidant to Arafat and former Cuban leader Fidel Castro, with whom he once conducted a 20-hour interview, according to reports.” nypost.com/2023/10/14/ex-… “The Malley family’s sojourn in Paris was interrupted when conservative French president Valéry Giscard d’Estaing ordered Simon out of the country and stripped him of his residence permit in 1980.”

Thread 🧵 <The Empire Strikes Back>
Why did the Islamic Republic massacre Israelis through HAMAS at this moment? What factors are driving Khamenei & the Revolutionary Guards’ behavior? The regime has faced the most widespread & persistent popular uprising against it in the past 44 years. The murder of #MahsaAmini & the ensuing uprising posed the most serious threat to the regime than ever before. The regime has managed to drive the uprising underground for the moment, but the threat of its overthrow is not gone. The strike against Israel was a show of power for the regime’s most important audience, the people of #Iran.

“The Biden administration’s now-suspended Iran envoy Robert Malley helped to fund,support,& direct an Iranian intelligence operation designed to influence the United States & allied governments, according to a trove of purloined Iranian government emails.” tabletmag.com/sections/israe… They showed that Malley had helped to infiltrate an Iranian agent of influence named Ariane Tabatabai into some of the most sensitive positions in the U.S. government—first at the State Department and now the Pentagon, where she has been serving as chief of staff for the assistant secretary of defense for special operations, Christopher Maier.”

The current moment seems perfect for a major shock to the Islamic Republic. The banking system is collapsing, there is no gasoline, water & electricity shortages are increasing, and the population is about to explode in the face of social restrictions & as the one year anniversary of #MahsaAmini’s murder approaches. The Biden admin is well aware of the dire situation for the regime & has substantially eased sanction restrictions. Robert Malley has also tried to give the regime $16 billion + in order to stave off regime collapse

Must-read by ⁦@VictoriaCoates⁩:

“A pair of TIPP polls taken in July and October reveal a startling shift in American’s views of re-entering the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or Iran nuclear deal, as a national security priority. 19fortyfive.com/2022/10/shock-… In July a majority supported prioritizing the deal. By October a large plurality favored human rights over the JCPOA.”

According to this poll, Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi (@PahlaviReza) is the most popular political figure in #Iran by far, with nearly 80% of #Iranians favoring him as their representative “Our survey uncovered that more than 79.7% of respondents view Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi as their preferred political representative, with 16.7% selecting none of the nominees, or preferring not to answer our question.“

“The guy is basically an ideologue, and he is pushing a very focused agenda, but the agenda has to do with representing a perspective of a certain wing of the Iranian government,” tabletmag.com/sections/news/… “Why anyone would make him the executive vice president of a supposedly American foreign policy association doesn’t make any sense.”

The regime beat up Hossein Ronaghi! (@HosseinRonaghi)
The prominent anti-regime activist showed up at Evin prison’s courthouse to turn himself in but the people surrounded him & prevented his arrest. He was beaten up by regime agents. The regime has earlier failed to arrest or assassinate Ronaghi at his home so he said he was going to turn himself publicly.

#IranProtests2022 #IranProtests #Mahsa_Amini #مهسا_امینی #مهساامینی #MahsaAmini
#زن_زندگی_آزادی

“Ukraine expels the ambassador of Iran — because of the drones used by Russia in the war.”

Slava Ukraini 🇺🇦
babel.ua/en/news/84679-… The Iranian side was told that the supply of Iranian weapons to Russia for its further use by Russian troops against the Ukrainian civilian population directly contradicts the position of neutrality, respect for the sovereignty,

“Azerbaijan is awake, it stands behind Kurdistan.”
#Iranians hailing from all ethnicities have united in overthrowing the Islamic Republic after its murder of #MahsaAmini
#Urmia, #Iran “We students will die before accepting oppression.”
Alzahra University, #Tehran, #Iran.
#MahsaAmini #IranProtests #مهسا_امینی

Islamic Republic security forces attack peaceful protesters in Saqez, #MahsaAmini’s hometown in western #Iran. #MahsaAmini was murdered by the regime for “improper” hejab. #مهسا_امینی “Down with the dictator.”
Protesters at #MahsaAmini’s funeral in Saqez #Iran.
#مهساامینی

“Down with the dictator.”
Protests in #Tehran #Iran after the murder of #Mahsa_Amini by the Islamic Republic
#مهسا_امینی Cars honk in protest near the hospital where #Mahsa_Amini expired after being beaten by the regime’s security forces.

“A group of Iranian dissidents and former hostages is set to sue the hardline regime's president, Ebrahim Raisi, in a landmark case in federal court alleging torture and other human rights crimes. freebeacon.com/latest-news/ir… The case will be filed ahead of Raisi's travel to the United States to attend annual U.N. proceedings in New York City, according to information about the case provided to the Washington Free Beacon by the National Union for Democracy in Iran…”

“While relatives of Iranians killed on Flight PS752 were unable to get visas to fly to Canada for memorial services, an Iranian VP's son is living and working in B.C.” nationalpost.com/opinion/terry-… “Over the past five years, the federal Start-Up Visa (SUV) Program has been a wildly popular way for Iranian entrepreneurs to obtain permanent resident status in Canada.

👀 👀
“Iran’s ruler Ali Khamenei has been absent from the public view for two weeks, and now some say that he has delegated the nuclear issue to President Ebrahim Raisi.” iranintl.com/en/202209143067 “In the absence of Khamenei from the public scene for about two weeks, the handover gives rise to speculations whether the leader delegated part of his authority because of a medical emergency,

I’ve learned so much about #Iran’s geography from the last 5 years of anti-regime popular protests. Even now during the most recent protests I learn about towns I never heard of before. And I disagree that only protests in large cities such as the capital Tehran matter. #Iran is a large country of 85 million people and constant protests are bound to exhaust & demoralize the security forces if they spread far & wide. And in some smaller towns we’ve seen the Basij headquarters fall to the protesters.

“Down with Raisi.”
Anti-regime protests continue today in Shahr-e-Kurd, #Iran. Khamenei banner torn down in Shahr-e-Kurd, #Iran.

Anti-regime protests start in Quchan, Razavi Khorasan province, #Iran. Anti-regime protests start in Sureshjan, Chaharmahal Bakhtiari province, #Iran.

The #Iranian revolt against the Islamic Republic spreads to Bushehr province. Ganaveh, #Iran.
“Fear not for we stand together.” Borazjan, Bushehr, #Iran.