Increasing storms across vast areas of Iran are
signaling more floods and further devastation for hundreds of thousands of
people throughout the country. According to People's Mojahedin Organization of
Iran website, Mojahedin.org, electricity in various areas of Ahvaz, the capital
of the oil-rich Khuzestan Province in southwest Iran, is down. This includes
even downtown areas of this major city. Reports indicate local authorities in
this province have also issued orders for more water to be released from dams,
placing even more cities, towns and villages in danger of being engulfed by
raging waters. 161 villages of Khuzestan are reporting not having access to
drinking water due to the recent flood. Many farmlands and local date trees
have been severely damaged due to the rising waters. There are rumors that
authorities may issue evacuation orders for the city of Karoon, with over
200,000 residents.
In Lorestan Province, west of Iran, around 200 roads
leading to villages across this province have been blocked due to floods.
Iranian regime’s state-run media published articles
describing the wrath of Poldokhtar residents against Lorestan's governor and a
MP from the regime's Majlis (parliament). “Angry residents of the town of
Poldokhtar facing catastrophic situation caused by the devastating flash floods
and the lack of relief and government attention to their problems, and also due
to government mismanagement in sending aid to the needy, reacted angrily when
two officials from the governorate visited their town. The people protested
fiercely and cursed those officials for not doing anything. They put the blame
on these and other officials for their miseries."
In other news, flood-ravaged residents of Poldokhtar,
angry of the regime’s inaction and destructive policies contributing to the
vicious floods, attacked Ahmad Khadem, commander of the South-Moghaddam
military base on Wednesday April 3.
Ahmad Khadem’s visit to this town happened after the
IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp) opened floodgates redirecting huge
amounts of water towards the town washing out most everything on its path, and
submerging most of the agriculture lands.
It is worth mentioning that on Tuesday, Mohsen Rezaie,
former commander of the Revolutionary Guards, IRGC, in a mock attempt travelled
to Poldokhtar to pose for TV cameras and reporters pretending the regime is
concern of the fate of the people. But he was confronted by angry people,
especially the youth shouting “Let them get lost,” and “Get out of here!” Being
surrounded by his guards and security, he was forced to flee.
People who have lost their entire livelihood to the
flashfloods get angry and furious when they see an official coming there just
to pose for selfies.
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The United States government will officially be
designating the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) in Iran as a foreign terrorist
organization (FTO) this coming Monday, according to a US government official
talking to The Wall Street Journal. The Trump administration is gearing for this
move that will significantly expand the United States’ maximum pressure
campaign against the mullahs in Tehran.
Iranian opposition President Maryam Rajavi, head of the
National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), has long been calling for the
international community to completely end the appeasement approach vis-à-vis
the regime in Iran.
On January 11, Mrs. Rajavi called for the specific IRGC
blacklisting as an FTO alongside the referral of Iran’s human rights violations
dossier to the United Nations Security Council.
Washington’s recent decision follows months of debates
and negotiations, and is expected to be announced on Monday. This designation
is considered an unprecedented move, especially taking into notice that the
IRGC is a military entity of this regime and responds only directly to Supreme
Leader Ali Khamenei.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and National
Security Adviser John Bolton strongly support this measure with the objective
of imposing further pressure on the IRGC and the regime ruling Iran.
Since its foundation back in 1979, the IRGC has played
an active role in domestic crackdown against all protests and uprisings
throughout the past 40 years, and expanding the mullahs’ malign influence
across the Middle East through terrorist proxy groups. The 1983 Beirut bombings
that left over 240 US Marines killed in their barracks was carried out by the
Lebanese Hezbollah, a terrorist group sponsored, trained and funded by the IRGC
from day one.
The IRGC and its proxies have been behind a series of
terror attacks and atrocities throughout the past decades:
-1992 bombing of the Israeli embassy in Argentina
-1994 AMIA bombing in Argentina
-1996 Khobar Tower bombing in Saudi Arabia
-The killings of hundreds of American soldiers in
Afghanistan and Iraq
-Funding, training and equipping proxies in Iraq, Syria,
Yemen and Lebanon in the devastating wars that have wreaked havoc across the
region
Despite the fact that the U.S. Treasury Department has
taken vast measures against the IRGC, the official FTO designation will
strongly expand the United States’ ability to take practical measures against
this entity, along with its associated companies and individuals.
According to this designation, all entities and
individuals will be banned from providing any support or resources, such as
financial services, training equipment, specialist advice, arms or
transportation equipment, to IRGC-controlled or IRGC officials.
IRGC officials and those engaging with them will be
placed under civil and criminal punishment, including legal prosecution.
