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.

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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."

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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.

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2 Alleged Agents of Iran Arrested for Spying in US

Aug 22, 2018; The New York Times

By The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The U.S. has charged two alleged agents of Iran, accusing them of conducting covert surveillance of Israeli and Jewish facilities in the United States and collecting intelligence on Americans linked to a political organization that wants to see the current Iranian government overthrown.

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Trump's pressure against regime adds strength to Iran's largest dissident group

July 1, 2018; The Washington Times

PARIS— Iran’s largest dissident group is getting a fresh burst of support in its decadeslong push for regime change, as pressure builds on the Islamic regime in Tehran from the inside as well as the outside.

A large, boisterous rally here over the weekend was led by the largest opposition organization in Iran of exiles, the National Council of Resistance of Iran, a well-connected group that has found new prominence and influence in the strongly anti-Iran Trump administration.

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