EU Is Considering Whether To Proscribe IRGC As Terrorist Entity, FT Says
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According to the Financial Times, the European Union is considering legal options on whether to designate the Iranian regime’s Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist entity; a move that might jeopardize what the newspaper called “hopes of restoring an international agreement aimed at preventing Tehran from developing the capacity to produce a nuclear weapon”.
According to this report, four diplomatic sources have told FT that this issue was raised at the meeting of the EU foreign ministers last week and while one or two countries supported it, the legal department of the European Union is supposed to offer an additional opinion on the legality of the measure within three weeks to inform the 27 members of this union about the decision.
I Am a Former Political Prisoner in Iran. I Worry the Regime Will Execute Female Activists
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The Islamic Republic of Iran executed two more protesters in early January, despite persistent international outcry over two similar executions that were carried out in December. The latest killings sparked a fresh outpouring of public condemnation, as well as new threats of economic sanctions. Yet the following day, the regime’s judiciary proceeded to issue three more death sentences. To me, as a former political prisoner in Iran, this was like déjà vu.
In reality, dozens of other detainees are already facing charges that could also carry the death penalty, reported the Norway-based Iran Human Rights, while the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran, or MEK, the leading voice for a democratic alternative to the clerical regime, reports that upward of 30,000 Iranians have been arrested since mid-September, most of whom are still awaiting charges or trial, according to the International Committee in Search of Justice.
Tehran Failed to Persuade Baku; Azerbaijani Diplomats left Iran
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Despite efforts by the Iranian regime’s senior officials to prevent another diplomatic fiasco, news sources in the Republic of Azerbaijan state that the diplomats of this country have left Tehran. The latest move by Baku took place after an armed attack on the country’s embassy in Tehran left one Azerbaijani guard killed.
Following the attack on Friday, January 27, Khalaf Khalafov, Deputy Foreign Minister of the Republic of Azerbaijan, announced on Sunday that the diplomatic activity of the Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan in Iran has been completely suspended. Though this was initially denied by Iranian state media.
Trying to avoid the severity of relations, the Iranian regime’s president Ebrahim Raisi had a phone call with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on Saturday, while Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian contacted his Azerbaijani counterpart, suggesting the creation of a joint investigation committee. But despite these efforts, Baku decided to completely suspend its diplomatic activities in Tehran.
On Sunday, the Iranian state media announced the transfer of the body of the Azerbaijani agent who was killed during the attack on the embassy, but some sources outside Iran say that the diplomats of the Republic of Azerbaijan have also left Tehran along with the cofin.