Russian Drone Engineers Took Shelter In Tehran Amid Mossad Strike

The president's remarks follow Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei comments this week describing the Revolutionary Guard as “the largest counter-terrorist organization in the world” and a forceful military power.

Raisi praised the IRGC and claimed its role has been “a source of security, tranquillity, and hope across various domains.” He went on to assert that the presence and actions of the “dedicated fighters have prevented the spread of ISIS influence in Europe” and criticized what he described as “labeling the Revolutionary Guard.”

Earlier this year, the European Parliament adopted a resolution urging member states to classify the IRGC as a terrorist organization. This development followed a movement initiated by Iranian and European activists and politicians, who have implored European states to designate the IRGC as a terror group. The movement gained traction due to the IRGC's involvement in widespread repression following the death of Mahsa Amini. However, the European Union claimed it cannot list Iran's IRGC as a terrorist entity until an EU court has determined that they are.

The IRGC has faced numerous accusations of supporting, training, funding, and arming various non-state entities and proxy groups throughout the Middle East. Organizations such as Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Palestine, Houthis in Yemen, and Shiite militias in Iraq and Syria have been recipients of IRGC support. Some countries have designated these groups as terrorist organizations due to their involvement in armed conflicts.

In recent years, the IRGC has also faced allegations of engaging in cyber activities, including cyber espionage, hacking, and disruptions targeting both regional and international entities.

Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh told Faraz Daily website that "every day some 10,000 Afghans arrive in Iran as illegal immigrants and surprisingly, they get a job and a place to live within two days." He said it is as if there is a well-organized system that arranges this influx.

The former lawmaker added that based on a 2016 statistics, 1.5 million of the 7.5 to 8 million Afghans living in Iran have a military background. Seven years later, the figure must have increased considerably.

According to Khabar Online, the Afghans have been fleeing from war, violence, natural catastrophes and violations of human rights under the Taliban rule. Many of them go to Iran, and some to Iraq and Syria to escape the calamities. People also see no economic future and no social freedoms under Taliban rule.

The website added that according to the Iranian Immigration Monitoring Agency, currently, 65 percent of all migrants in the world come from Afghanistan. Nicaragua and Syria, followed by Venezuela and Haiti. In 2022, Venezuela was on top of the list.

Khabar Online quoted a UN official as saying that between 500,000 to 1.5 million Afghans have arrived in Iran after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan. In July, Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi put the number of Afghan refugees in Iran at over five million.

In an unattributed commentary in July, Aftab News in Tehran said millions of Afghan immigrants consume at least $5b of around $90 to 100 billion annual subsidies that the government is spending to keep fuel, other energy and food prices down. The website suggested that this is only one of the ways in which the authorities are encouraging Afghans to stay in Iran.

The article suggested that the Islamic Republic might be facilitating Afghan immigration as a remedy to the problem of population decline. “We should not start to import a big population that lacks national and religious [conformity with the Iranian population] under the pretext that the country’s population may decline within the next few decades,” it said.

Falahatpisheh told Khabar Online that lack of accurate statistics about Afghans in Iran deprives hundreds of thousands from educational and health services in the host country. Furthermore, their presence has faced Iran with a major challenge as their movement cannot be monitored in terms of security, economic and social issues.

He further criticized the Iranian government for failing to keep tabs on Afghan refugees. He said: "A major part of those who come to Iran from Afghanistan have military background. We are facing an entity called the Taliban which knows nothing other than war and can turn the smallest issues into a war. Any issue in Iran-Afghan relations such as the ongoing border dispute provokes part of the Afghans in Iran.” Nonetheless, Khabar Online quoted Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi as saying that Iran's security agencies monitor the Afghan refugees and make sure they do not pose a challenge to Iran.

Falahatpisheh further added than Afghans arrive in Iran like a wave and change the population milieu in some Iranian cities. While most Iranian families have only one child, most Afghan families have at least three children. After a decade, Afghans may comprise the majority of the population in those cities.

He added that Afghans arrive in Iran although they are aware of the shortcomings in the host country. Some of them are skilled workers and technicians and simply look for security and peace of mind in Iran.

Falahatpisheh said the number of Afghan refugees in Iran has been constantly on the rise, but Interior Ministry officials play with statistics to conceal their incapability to draw a proper plan to handle the issue.

Nonetheless, the former lawmaker insisted that the Iranian government should continue welcoming Afghan refugees. He said they have contributed to Iran's reconstruction after the 1980s Iran-Iraq war by doing the hardest jobs Iranian workers tend not to take.

The International Conference of Research in Europe (ICRE), an annual event that began last year has drawn over 300 participants including UK professors from Cambridge, Birmingham and Glasgow Caledonian University.

The ICRE conference director Mohammad Hussain Ataee Dolatabadi is affiliated with the highest security intelligence circles of the regime. In January 2023, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei praised Dolatabadi, a British citizen for organizing ICRE and Abadi has boasted to IRGC-affiliated sources about the conference and its global academic attendees, who can bolster the regime with critical information in the field of science and technologies.

However, after it was revealed in the British media that Dolatabadi has hosted senior IRGC commanders through his position as head of the ‘Islamic Students Association of Britain’ and ‘Union for Islamic Students Association of Europe’, organizers tried to erase evidence of the conference including its website.

ICRE's formal association with these two student associations, recently exposed for online meetings with senior IRGC officials, indicate deep connections between the conference and the regime's highest security-intelligence circles.

Mohammad Marandi, an adviser to the regime's nuclear negotiating team, is part of ICRE's Scientific Committee and Hadi Larijani, with close ties to the regime's leadership, also played a key role in organizing the conferences.

As the IRGC's targeting of the UK increases, so do calls for immediate action. Critics are demanding that the government immediately proscribe the IRGC as well as investigate the presence and citizenship of Iranian regime elites and oligarchs within the UK.

Reports say that the teenager, identified as Hamza, sustained a brain injury in a motorbike accident in May. Initial cranioplasty surgery involved the removal of part of his skull to relieve pressure on his brain from swelling.

Doctors planned to reattach the piece of skull after recovery, but Hamza's father revealed to local media that during a recent hospital visit, medical staff informed him that the missing portion was "unavailable."

Authorities are investigating the matter and said that if negligence is established, appropriate legal action will be taken.

Dr. Hasan Zarei, Deputy of Treatment at Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences, said that Hamza's cranioplasty, during which a titanium implant was inserted in place of the removed section, was conducted “successfully” last Thursday. Regarding the missing piece, he said, “experts are currently investigating the matter and emphasized that any deviation from scientific and legal protocols will be addressed in accordance with regulations.”

He added that this surgery is a common medical procedure globally and urged trust in the medical institution.

Meysam Salehi, head of Hazrat-e Abolfazl Hospital in Minab also confirmed that investigations are ongoing and confirmed that in the case of negligence, “appropriate legal measures will be taken”.

According to medical officials in Hormozgan Hamza's vital signs are stable, and he has been discharged from intensive care, remaining under hospital care in the surgical ward.

The unscheduled meeting comes a day after Amir-Abdollahian arrived in the kingdom and declared ties between the countries were "on the right track" following talks with his Saudi counterpart Prince Faisal bin Farhan.

Mohammed bin Salman, widely known as MbS, is the kingdom's de facto ruler, and has pushed to reorient Saudi foreign policy in recent years amid questions over its historically close relationship with the United States.

Amir-Abdollahian posted on X that “This morning we had a 90-minute meeting with Emir Mohammad bin Salman in Jeddah. We had an open, direct, beneficial and productive discussion based on good neighborliness. With the will of the leaders of both countries, we stressed [on the importance] of lasting bilateral relations in all areas.”

Iranian media cited the Iranian delegation as saying the meeting had been "very good". Saudi state news agency SPA said they discussed international and regional developments.

Rivalry between Iran's revolutionary, Shiite Muslim leaders and Saudi Arabia's Sunni ruling family dominated Middle Eastern affairs for years as they competed for influence in wars and political struggles in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen and Bahrain.

However, China brokered a rapprochement in March leading to a resumption of full diplomatic relations, which Saudi Arabia had broken off in 2016 when protesters attacked its Tehran embassy over Riyadh's execution of a prominent Shiite cleric.

Prince Faisal visited Tehran in June and said he hoped Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi would visit the kingdom at the "appropriate time".

Reporting by Reuters