Free Republic

What began as vigils for the students killed when Iran’s Revolutionary Guard mistakenly shot down an airliner turned into large anti-government protests Saturday, with thousands of students chanting “Death to Liars!” and calling for the resignation of the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. ... “I wish I had died, and I wouldn’t have seen such an incident,” said Iranian Brigadier General Amirali Hajizadeh, the Guards’ aerospace commander, at a press conference. But his claim that a “request had been made to clear the sky from civil flights at that time, but it did not happen due to reservations” infuriated Ukraine...

"AmirKabir university students are chanting "We hadn't our loved ones killed to support killer #Khamenei" and also "#IRGC be ashamed & leave our country" "Special Pasdaran Unit of #Iran's Islamic Regime Police is now brutally attacking & suppressing #AmirKabir university students who are protesting against #Iran's Islamic Regime over shot-down of Flight #PS752 " "In addition to the students of #AmirKabir university, students of #Sharif university are also protesting "

Feb 11 is normally a day for rallies all over the country in Iran. It is the anniversary of the Islamic revolution. All over the country, people boycotted the rallies. The regime did their best to scare people in participating, threatening punishment & threatening people's jobs for not participating. School children & their teachers were forced to participate. Many of those who were forced were reluctant to join in, as videos showed only a small group answering to the calls for chants on loudspeakers. As usual, the regime sent buses to transport people to rallies in other cities to try...

EXCERPT - 1.The U.S. government should publicly disclose more information about the billions of dollars the Islamic Republic has stolen from the Iranian people to funnel towards Khamenei and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and the national wealth it has squandered in an attempt to export its revolution abroad. Through documentaries on satellite TV and posts on social media, this data would add credence to the Iranian people’s charges of mismanagement and deceit by those who rule in the name of God. 2.Sanctions placed on regime conglomerates and oligarchic enterprises by the Obama administration prior to the nuclear deal should be...

Since there's a virtual blackout on news of the protests in Iran, I'm posting some updates that aren't being generally reported. Pres. Trump needs to help the Iranian people get publicity through satellite & high tech methods. If the protesters can communicate better within Iran, they can better organize. The Iranian regime is depending upon being able to keep the world in the dark in order to quell the protests Updates: Widespread labor strikes in Iran. Yet, there's absolutely zero coverage in the press or media. In Isfahan, fuel truck drivers have stopped delivering fuel. Protests in Isfahan last night...

The wave of violent protests churning across Iran differs dramatically from the last major uprising that rocked the country in 2009 and could spiral out of control if the regime moves too quickly toward military-style tactics to crush the unrest. While the abortive Green Revolution eight years ago was driven mainly by the children of wealthy political elites in Tehran in the wake of a questionable election, the spontaneous protests this time around are unfolding across the country and driven by what analysts describe as “the working poor” — a segment of the population that has little to lose in...

<p>Anti-regime protests in Iran erupted again Tuesday, prompting a crackdown by government forces that left nine more people dead, according to Iranian state media.</p> <p>The widespread unrest stretched into a sixth day, as demonstrators across the country continued to denounce Iran’s clerical regime and its economic and foreign policies. With at least 20 people killed and hundreds more arrested over the weekend, the uprising has become the biggest challenge to the Iranian regime since 2009, when mass protests shook Tehran after a disputed presidential election.</p>

The Basij militiaman, a paramilitary storm trooper of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, was reportedly swinging an electric shock baton when the crowd of angry protesters closed in around him. "They got a Basij, hold him!” one man shouted as the demonstrators pulled away the militiaman’s baton and knocked him to the ground in the largely Kurdish city of Kermanshah. But rather than beat the man to death, the crowd struck a different kind of blow against Iran’s authoritarian regime: they stripped him of his trousers and sent him stumbling and humiliated into the cold night. “The protesters wanted to show that...

Responding to goading tweets, Hassan Rouhani says US president 'has forgotten that he had called Iranian people 'terrorists' a few months ago' Closing 2017 with a series of tweets summarizing his administration’s achievements over the past year, US President Donald Trump bolstered his voiced support for protesters in Iran, saying that the government there is trying to throttle the demonstrations by cutting off communications. In a tweet Sunday, Trump said: “Iran, the Number One State of Sponsored Terror with numerous violations of Human Rights occurring on an hourly basis, has now closed down the Internet so that peaceful demonstrators cannot...

More from the woman who claimed “job opportunities” were the key to defeating ISIS . . . Marie Harf, a former Obama State Department spokeswoman, appeared on today’s Fox News Sunday. Substitute host Dana Perino didn’t hesitate to put Harf on the hot seat, comparing Obama’s lack of support for Iranian protesters in 2009 with President Trump and VP Pence’s support for the protesters in Iran today. Exemplifying Obama’s losing, “leading from behind,” approach to foreign policy, Harf said: “The reason we didn’t [support the protesters] was that it was our judgment—and we were hearing from Iranians protesting on the...

For all the squabbling that social media platforms are notorious for, their relevance to the media landscape plays an important role in times of protest. This was evident with Black Lives Matter, among other movements. It’s been evident for the past three days in Iran, where thousands have taken to streets and public squares calling for an end to the hardline conservative regime of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The question that needs to be asked right now is why traditional mainstream media outlets – grandstanding over their importance in this new, bold era of fact-checking and truth-telling – have largely ignored...

The Revolutionary Guard killed three Iranians participating in a Saturday night demonstration in Iran's Loerstan province, Saudi Arabia's Al-Arabiya network reported. The incident has not been officially confirmed. The string of protests, which began Thursday night, call for an end to the Iranian government's policies and corruption. Those supporting the Iranian government claim the protesters' main complaint is rampant unemployment and the corruption Iranian President Hassan Rouhani is currently fighting. According to Fars, seventy students protested at Tehran University, throwing rocks at local police and chanting "Death to the dictator." Reuters reported that protesters elsewhere in Tehran had also been...

Anti-government demonstrations that began in Iran on Thursday have now spread to several major cities. Large numbers reportedly turned out in Rasht, in the north, and Kermanshah, in the west, with smaller protests in Isfahan, Hamadan and elsewhere. The protests began against rising prices but have spiralled into a general outcry against clerical rule and government policies. A small number of people have been arrested in Tehran, the capital. They were among a group of 50 people who gathered in a city square, Tehran's deputy governor-general for security affairs told the Iranian Labour News Agency. The US State Department condemned...

Cotton Statement on Iranian Protests December 28, 2017 Washington, D.C. - Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) today released the following statement on the protests against the Iranian regime in the city of Mashhad: "Even after the billions in sanctions relief they secured through the nuclear deal, the ayatollahs still can't provide for the basic needs of their own people-perhaps because they've funneled so much of that money into their campaign of regional aggression in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and Yemen. The protests in Mashhad show that a regime driven by such a hateful ideology cannot maintain broad popular support forever, and we...

Protests held in the cities of Yazd, Mashhad, Shahrood, Kashmar numbering in the thousands. They are demonstrating against high prices, unemployment, and the gov't spending money & lives in their involvement in Lebanon & Syria. None of the protests were in Tehran. This video is a compilation of protests. "Protesters were heard chanting 'Death to Rouhani' and 'Death to the dictator'"

Smuggled letters allege authorities are using mass rape as a weapon inside Iran's most notorious prisons. Prison guards in Iran are giving condoms to criminals and encouraging them to systematically rape young opposition activists locked up with them...authorities are intentionally facilitating mass rape and using it as a form of punishment. Mehdi Mahmoudian, an outspoken member of Iran's Participation Front, a reformist political party, is among those prisoners who have succeeded in smuggling out letters revealing the extent of rape inside some of the most notorious prisons. ... one young prisoner was raped seven times in a single night. "In...

Iran bans contact with 60 groups Ban includes BBC, Human Rights Watch and Israel Radio. Veteran Persian-language broadcaster in Israel says this is not the first time Iran points the finger at media AFP Iran has banned its citizens from having contact with 60 organizations including the BBC, Human Rights Watch and opposition website Rahesabz as well as US-funded broadcasters, state media have reported. The deputy intelligence minister in charge of external affairs said that the 60 blacklisted groups were suspected of being involved in efforts by Western governments to topple the Islamic regime as part of a "soft war"...

TEHRAN (Reuters) – Iran said on Monday several foreign citizens were arrested during clashes between opposition supporters and security forces last month, state television reported.

Here is video obtained by CNN which shows Iranian Government vehicles plowing into a crowd of protesters in Tehran as they rallied against the thug regime of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. It is clear the regime will stop at nothing to try and destroy the protest movement. . . . . (VIDEO)

Mideast: As the death of a dissident cleric spawns renewed protests, Sen. John Kerry seeks to make nice with the oppressors of those who truly deserved the Nobel Peace Prize. How about regime change, Senator? The death toll from the brutal suppression of the latest round of Iranian protests against their government has reached double digits. We wonder if the senator still wants to be the highest U.S. official to visit Tehran since U.S. hostages were held for 444 days by the very same regime. To Kerry and this administration, the problem is one of mistrust and misunderstanding. Come, let...