By: Struan Stevenson

Jan. 18 (UPI) -- Iran, despite its rich, civilized and open culture, has become an international pariah, its religious fascist regime condemned for human rights abuse and the export of terror, while its 80 million beleaguered citizens, over half of whom are under 30, struggle to feed their families against a background of power outages, water shortages and food prices that have risen by more than 50 percent. Since the second tranche of U.S. sanctions affecting oil and banking came into effect on Nov. 5, Iran is producing 1 million fewer barrels of oil a day. It has cost the Iranian economy $2 billion since November. But the mullahs continue to fund terrorism.

By Staff writer, SF

Last week in Cairo, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that diplomacy will still be hard at work to remove every last Iranian boot from Syrian soil, even as US troops begin their retreat from Syria.

By Azita Carlson

It was reported recently that the national security adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump – John Bolton – had requested the Pentagon to “provide the White House with military options to strike Iran” last year. Many have spoken out about this, including senior officials in the Pentagon, stating that such moves by Bolton could precipitate armed conflict with Iran.

By Staff writer, SF

The European Union has announced that it is imposing new sanctions on Iran’s Iintelligence Ministry, as well as two Iranian nationals, for their alleged involvement in two assassination plots in the Netherlands.

The Dutch government laid out the charges to parliament in a letter that also indicated that throughout Europe over the past three years the regime is suspected in at least four assassination and bomb plots.

By Atousa Pilger

The Iranian government proposes a budget bill to the country’s parliament (Majlis) at the end of every year. Once the bill passes, a clerical body must also approve the legislation. Then, Iran’s Central Bank presents monetary and credit policies that correspond to the budget.

By Armin Baldwin

The European Union announced new sanctions targeting the Iranian Regime on January 8 because of the mullahs’ terrorist plots and assassinations in France, Denmark and the Netherlands.