Top Iranian Negotiator ‘Frequently Shouts’ at Kerry, Western Officials

Reports: Top Iranian Negotiator ‘Frequently Shouts’ at Kerry, Western Officials

Zarif screams so loud bodyguards have entered the room, Iranian diplomat claims

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (L), EU envoy Catherine Ashton (C) and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif meet in Muscat November 10 / Reuters

BY: Adam Kredo
November 23, 2014 12:30 pm

VIENNA—Iran’s foreign minister and lead negotiator in nuclear talks is known to frequently scream and shout at Western diplomats, including Secretary of State John Kerry, a practice that has caused alarm among bodyguards stationed outside the negotiating room, according to a member of the Iranian diplomatic team who spoke to the Farsi-language press.

Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif—who is scheduled to hold one-on-one talks with Kerry this evening in Vienna—”frequently shouts at Western diplomats” in such a forceful manner that bodyguards have hurriedly entered the negotiation room on occasion worried that an incident might occur, according to one Iranian diplomat involved in negotiations who spoke anonymously with the Iranian press earlier this week.

On one occasion, Zarif’s shouts were so loud that a member of the Iranian delegation entered the negotiation room to check on the players, according to the report, which was independently translated for the Free Beacon.

Upon entering, the Iranian official was informed by European Union Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton, a chief western negotiator, that Zarif was just shouting and she had gotten used to it, according to an independent translation of the report.

The report of Zarif’s aggressive behavior is consistent with previous reports claiming that Iranian negotiators tend to treat their Western counterparts—particularly the Americans—with scorn.

Iranian diplomat Abbas Araghchi, another member of the negotiating team, is reported to have said in an interview that during past negotiations in Geneva, Zarif “shouted” at Kerry and spoke to him in a way that was likely “unprecedented” in the history of U.S. diplomacy.

Araghchi went on to claim that he and Zarif play the roles of “good cop, bad cop,” according to the report, also in Farsi. The two often exchange these roles in a bid to “baffle the Western diplomats” and keep them uneasy, the report claims.

Araghchi further claimed that Kerry said very little after being shouted at by Zarif, except for “one or two very respectful sentences.”

Meanwhile, negotiations in Vienna over a final deal continue just one day before a self-imposed deadline for the talks.

While some Iranian officials have said that they refuse to extend the talks any further, Western officials, including Kerry, maintain that serious divisions remain between the two sides.

Both sides appear convinced that it will be impossible to reach a final deal before the Monday deadline.

“Given the limited time left, reaching a comprehensive agreement seems unlikely,” an Iranian diplomat told the country’s state-controlled media early Sunday.

Desperation on the part of the United States has led to a situation in which Iran feels that it has the upper hand and can act brazenly in talks, according to Saeed Ghasseminejad, an Iranian dissident and associate fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD).

“The problem with the nuclear negotiations is that everybody knows how desperately this administration wants a deal,” Ghasseminejad said. “Nothing good comes out of such a situation. Actually it is [Iranian President] Rouhani who should be desperate to reach a deal.”

The United States “has gone too far to meet [Iranian Supreme Leader] Khamenei’s excessive demands only because the administration wants to have a foreign policy legacy beyond the total chaos it has achieved till now; the problem is that what they do only makes things worse,” he said.

Iran: Mullahs’ regime acknowledges 3000 women in Tehran sleep in streets

In a shocking statistics, Rahmatollah Hafezi, an official of Tehran Municipality, acknowledged that there are 3000 women who sleep in the streets just in Tehran alone. According to Reza Jahangiri, another official of Tehran’s municipality, the average age of these women has declined to 17-18 years. He stated that the reason for the increase in the number of women who sleep in the streets is due to the spread of addiction.

Hafezi, Chair of the Health and Environment Commission in the city council, announced on Friday, November 21, that the number of tramps in Tehran is 15000. This regime official acknowledged that the clerical regime has not provided any shelter for these wretched women. This is at a time when the cold season has caused harsher conditions for the poor and in the past two weeks people in 14 provinces are living in difficult conditions due to the heavy snow and rain fall (Tasnim News Agency, affiliated with the terrorist Qods Force – November 21).

Meanwhile, Mostafa Fayzi, head of Inspection Organization of Tehran Municipality, confirmed that this municipality uses children to collect the trash. Regime’s News Network TV quoted mullahs’ regime census center that 1.7 million children are working in Iran.

Ms. Sarvnaz Chitsaz, Chair of Women’s Committee of the National Council of Resistance, expressed her abhorrence regarding the wretched condition of women who are victims of the mullahs’ tyranny and said: “This shocking statistics which in reality is far less than the actual numbers, is just a glimpse at the catastrophic condition that the evil rule of the mullahs has imposed on the Iranian people and in particular the defenseless women and children.”

The Iranian women and children have to live such a horrible life while just one of the foundations that belong to the regime’s supreme leader has plundered 95 billion dollars of Iranian peoples’ wealth and while in the power struggle among regime’s officials, greater dimensions of the plunder of the national wealth by various ruling factions is disclosed every day.

Ms. Chitsaz emphasized that as long as the criminal regime of the mullahs reigns in Iran, the cycle of livelihood of Iranians and the condition of women will spin on suppression, poverty and gloom. The sole solution for the emancipation of the Iranian people, especially women and children, from the misery caused by the mullahs is the overthrow of this anti-human regime. The struggle to attain this national aspiration is the foremost duty of every Iranian. This is a struggle where the free women of Iran are its vanguards and the 1000 women members of PMOI in Camp Liberty act as their guide.

Iran: Kurdish political prisoners stage hunger strike in Orumiyeh Prison

Today, November 22, the hunger strike by 30 Kurdish political prisoners in Orumiyeh Prison entered its third day. They began their hunger strike in ward 12 of Orumiyeh Prison on Thursday to protest the transfer of ordinary prisoners to the political prisoners’ ward. The objective of transferring ordinary prisoners to the political prisoners’ ward is to intensify the pressure and suppression of the political prisoners, especially that the regime brings elements of its Mafia gangs under the cover of ordinary criminals to the political prisoners’ ward to intensify the torture of political prisoners.

The protesting prisoners are also demanding the return of 27 political prisoners that have been transferred to other wards in Orumiyeh Prison.

At the same time, regime’s court in Karaj City is planning to bring up fresh fabricated allegations against two Kurdish political prisoners by the names of Zaniar and Loghman Moradi as their current file is empty. To this end, mullahs’ regime’s intelligence elements have started to produce bogus documents in the city of Marivan (in Kurdistan Province).

In another development, 19 Baluchi political prisoners in the central prison of Zahedan have sent a letter to the international authorities and human rights organs to request dispatch of an international delegation to this prison to look into the abhorring prison conditions there.

The Iranian Resistance calls on all human rights bodies and organs to adopt effective measures to save the lives of political prisoners in Iran and to look into the demands of the striking prisoners and other political prisoners in Iranian regime’s dungeons.

Adoption of 61st UN Resolution censuring flagrant and systematic human rights violations in Iran

Maryam Rajavi: Regime’s appalling human rights record must be referred to the Security Council

Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the Iranian Resistance, welcomed the United Nations General Assembly Third Committee’s adoption of 61^st resolution censuring the flagrant and systematic violation of human rights in the Iran. “This resolution leaves no doubt that the appalling human rights record of the clerical regime must be referred to the Security Council for the adoption of binding and punitive measures and that those responsible for 120,000 political executions should face justice,” she said.

Mrs. Rajavi added: Although this resolution fails to include all aspects of the atrocities and crimes of the ruling theocracy, it makes it palpably clear that this regime has trampled on all 30 articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Moreover, the resolution underscores that the mullahs are violating the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the International Law.

The Iranian Resistance’s President-elect noted: The deteriorating trend of the human rights situation in Iran, such as the unprecedented rise in executions, the wave of state-organized acid attacks against Iranian women, the continuation of repression of religious and ethnic minorities, bloggers, reporters and activists demonstrate this regime’s fear of the growing public discontent.

These horrifying atrocities, whose systematic and deliberate nature have time and again been underscored in the UN resolutions, render illegitimate continued political, diplomatic and trade relations with the regime ruling Iran.. Appeasement of and concessions to this regime, writing letters to its criminal Supreme Leader, partnering with it in the fight against ISIS in Iraq, or remaining silent vis-a-vis  the role of this regime and its affiliated terrorist militias in the massacre of Iraqi and Syrian people, only embolden it to continue with and intensify its atrocities.

This degree of indifference towards the mullahs’ brutality and suppression scars the conscience of humanity. Western government’s silence on the horrific crimes this regime has perpetrated against the Iranian people is the root cause for the expansion of terrorism, fundamentalism and warmongering by this regime throughout the region and endangers world peace and security.

We therefore emphasize that nuclear negotiations should not act as a pretext to turn a blind eye on the flagrant violation of human rights in Iran, Mrs. Rajavi emphasized.

Mrs. Rajavi also highlighted the resolution’s emphasis on the futility of repeated requests by UN Rapporteurs to visit Iran in the past nine years. She said that even if this regime were to accept UN inspectors to visit some of its nuclear sites, it shall never open the gates of its torture chambers to international observers because the world would see what the mullahs are committing behind the walls of prisons are a hundred times worse than what ISIS is doing.  

As such, restoring human rights in Iran is solely possible through the overthrow of the ruling religious fascism and the establishment of democracy.

Iraqi officers obstruct transfer of 5 female patients to hospital

The anti-human siege on Camp Liberty takes on added dimensions with every passing day and Iraqi officers have ramped up their hampering in the transfer of patients.

On Tuesday, November 11, the Iraqi officers prevented three female patients from going to the hospital for their medical appointments. These officers also prevented the interpreters of two cancer patients from accompanying them. This compelled the patients to go to the hospital without an interpreter that caused them many problems.

On Wednesday, November 12, the Iraqi officers prevented two female patients from going to the hospital on the pretext that patients may only go to one hospital. These two patients had eye surgeries. This is the second time this week that the appointment for surgery of one of these patients is being cancelled and the Iraqi officers bar her from going to the hospital.

On this same day, the Iraqi officers also prevented the interpreters for three patients from going along, forcing the patients to go to the hospital without an interpreter.

Previously, in the period of November 3-8, the Iraqi forces also prevented the transfer of patients to the hospital upon fictitious pretenses. As a result, dozens of residents’ medical appointments that had been obtained with great difficulty were cancelled.

These restrictions are being imposed at a time that 53 patients suffering from eye diseases are waiting for surgeries but have not been transferred to the hospital due to the hampering of the Iraqi forces.

The Iranian Resistance warns about abovementioned measures and in view of the commitment of the U.S. government and the United Nations with regard to the security and well-being of Camp Liberty residents, calls for an urgent intervention by the U.S. and UN to end these suppressive measures and to completely annul this criminal siege and to secure the free access of residents to medical services.

Mohammad EGHBAL