On Friday June 14, Iranians voted in large numbers for ayatollah Hassan Rowhani, a regime insider who was elected as Iran’s president with 50.71% of the vote. A centrist, not a ‘reformist’, he became the candidate of an unofficial coalition between ‘reformists’ and ‘centrists’ forged three days before the vote, after green leader and former …
Continue reading “Iran election: Not a victory for progressives”
Yassamine Mather advocates a boycott and stresses the need for regime change from below On May 22, the US moved closer to imposing a full trade embargo against Iran, as the Senate reaffirmed US support for Israel – should it be “compelled to attack Tehran’s nuclear programme in self-defence”. The Senate voted unanimously to adopt …
The Iranian elections are a travesty Supporters and apologists of Iran’s Islamic Republic in Respect,1 Counterfire2 and the Socialist Workers Party3 have in the past told us that Iran is not a dictatorship. It has democratic elections to determine the president and the composition of its parliament … The regime’s 11th presidential elections have demonstrated …
Continue reading “Iran: Election farce exposes regime’s crisis”
Over the weekend of May 4-5 Israel launched air raids against targets in Syria. Yassamine Mather and Moshé Machover, two members of the Hands Off the People of Iran steering committee, discuss the issues raised by this latest development YM: The two Israeli air raids into Syrian territory have to be looked at in the …
Continue reading “Syrian bombing: Netanyahu attempts to provoke new confrontation”
Hands Off the People of Iran has consistently identified the workers of Iran as the solid anti-imperialist force in that country, a force that has shown resilience in opoposition to the religious state . This is the section of Iranian society that the anti-war movement in the west must be a partisan of and …
Continue reading “HOPI STATEMENT: MAY DAY 2013 IRAN – SUPPORT WORKERS’ STRUGGLES!”
LONDON: Britain has blocked efforts by oil major Royal Dutch Shell to settle a $2.3 billion debt it owes Iran by paying in kind with grains or pharmaceuticals, industry sources said. Shell has been trying for months to find a way to work around international sanctions that prevent it paying in currency for crude it …
Continue reading “UK Government blocks Shell paying Iran oil debt in food, medicine”
From The Economist DURING a Persian new year’s party (in late March) at Iran’s flagship South Pars project in the Persian Gulf, where the world’s largest known gasfield is being tapped, a labourer called on Iran’s workers to unite. Behnam Khodadadi demanded better pay and conditions, and a proper trade union. Around 1,500 workers stopped …
Continue reading “Though watched and muzzled, independent labour unions are stirring”
ISFAHAN, Iran — Protesters in the Iranian town of Varzaneh clashed with police this week after more than a month of demonstrations against the government’s diversion of water from central Isfahan Province to other regions. Witnesses used social media to report that dozens were injured in the clashes with authorities and many were arrested. The …
“The Labour Representation Committee is an affiliate of Hands Off the People of Iran and I call on others to support its important work. With the war drums beating again in the Middle East and the imperialist pressure on the working people of Iran growing daily, principled international solidarity is vital. Hopi is at the …
Yassamine Mather reports on the chaos that is the Islamic Republic In Iran, presidential elections are looming, the economy is in freefall, the public hanging of small-time criminals is creating an atmosphere of terror, repression is worsening and workers are protesting throughout the country. There are unconfirmed reports of an explosion at the Fordo uranium …
