Iran: Pro-Regime Group Hacks Twitter
Iran has announced its intention to produce a new generation of centrifuges that could produce fuel at up to triple the rate. In combination with a recent missile test, the announcement is considered an Iranian attempt to up the ante with the U.S. over the nuclear standoff.
However, Meir Javedanfar argues that Iran can ill afford to enter an arms race with the West that will weaken its economy. He concludes, “the more Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ignores the economic plight of his people due to excessive focus on the military, the more unpopular his regime will become.” Michael Allen quotes Leon Wieseltier who contends that, given only a “legitimate and decent and rational government in Tehran” will not pose a threat to the region, the U.S. should side in “strong and sophisticated ways with the democracy movement.”
According to Heshmat Tabarzadi, a dissident who spent six years in Evin prison for protesting the regime, the Student Day protests “proved the movement for a free, democratic Iran is robust and only growing in strength.” In fact, Mehdi Khalaji contends the holy months of Muharram and Safar will present an opportunity for the opposition and an impossible dilemma for the Iranian regime. He reasons, “If the government avoids violence out of respect for the religious values of Muharram and Safar, it could mean two months of open challenges to the fundamentals of the Islamic Republic’s ideology. But if the government cracks down on religious displays, resentment against the Islamic Republic could increase significantly.”
A group calling itself the Iranian Cyber Army has launched a cyber attack on Twitter and the Iranian opposition website mowjcamp. The hackers left the message in Persian “In the name of God, as an Iranian this is a reaction to Twitter’s sly interference which was U.S. authorities ordered in the internal affairs of my country.” Nonetheless, the attack hasn’t stymied the dissemination of an interview, hosted by Tehran Bureau, with a former Basij member who has fled Iran and revealed his role in fixing the elections, beating protesters, and witnessing the rape of prisoners.
Tehran Bureau also reports that after a Majlis committee refused to investigate the suspicious death of Ramin Pourandarjani, his father insisted his son had not committed suicide and lamented that “no one dares to speak up and tell the truth.” Meanwhile, the green movement was denied a permit to hold a rally separate from regime supporters against the desecration of a poster of Ayatollah Khomeini.
