Iran's Petroleum, Syria and Honor

February 11 was the 37th anniversary of the islamic revolution in Iran. It has had one effect not mentioned in Teheran -- more than 8 million Iranians have fled their homeland to escape the rule of terror. And, one of the reasons given by supporters for the 2015 Iran nuclear deal was that it would strengthen the position of the "moderate" president of the Islamic Republic, Hassan Rouhani, but nothing has changed. Political executions in Iran continue to increase. During the past 12 months, hundreds of Iranians have been tortured and killed without even the pretence of due process. The number of announced executions in Iran in the last six months of 2015 reached nearly 1,000, not including secret executions acknowledged by family members. The Campaign for Human Rights in Iran reported in January that many journalists have been arrested prior to the "Islamic Parliament" election. Human rights groups and other observers report torture, rigged trials, and hangings, all in breach of international law. Strangely, Iran has not faced concerted warnings because of its violations of human rights -- not from the UN or the Western community of nations. Instead, their foreign ministers are leading groups of business leaders to Teheran to make deals with the Iranian regime, whose disregard for human rights, its systematic violations of international law and norms, its support of and connections with international terrorism, its defiant ballistic missile tests (a violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1929) since signing the nuclear agreement with the world powers -- all these speak to the dangers involved in trusting the ayatollahs' islamic regime as a partner in any international agreement, especially one that could lead to Iran developing nuclear weapons. The recent storming of the American embassy, the British embassy and the Saudi Arabian embassy are characteristic of the dictatorial outlaw regime in Iran. The UN General Assembly's human rights committee last November passed a resolution expressing deep concern about human rights violations by the Iran regime. Amnesty International has also called on Iranian authorities to stop hanging juvenile offenders. To mislead the West, most of the executions in 2015 were orchestrated to be for drug offences. Amnesty International has published many reports on physical and psychological torture in Iran, saying the number of torture and ill treatment cases is increasing, making it clear that these violations of human rights not only continue but have expanded in Hassan Rouhani's presidency. Political murders and repression became more widespread in the country in 2015, as reported by the UN's Ahmed Shaheed, whom Iran has refused to let enter the country for years. A recent report by Shaheed to the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) reveals that Iran is holding more than 900 political prisoners including journalists, bloggers, lawyers, civic activists, and human rights campaigners. Iran has also incarcerated religious minorities, gays and lesbians. Shaheed has routinely reported about human rights violations affecting women, ethnic minorities and religious activists, as well as retaliatory action against individuals Iran suspects of cooperating with the West. In response to recent accusations by the US Congress, Iran says its human rights record is fine and accuses the US and the West of using the human rights issue as a pretext to add pressure to a country already under sanctions for its nuclear activities. ~~~~~ Dear readers, despite the brutal acts of Iran's rogue regime, Bloomberg reported Tuesday that Iran sent its first oil shipment to Europe since sanctions ended following the nuclear deal. French, Spanish, Russian, Chinese and Greek companies are currently purchasing at least 4 million barrels of petroleum. So while the world piously tries to halt the Syrian civil war and help trapped, starving civilians, some of the key participants are buying oil from Iran, adding to its funds available to support al-Assad directly and through Hezbollah. It seems oil is more important than honor.