First European head of state in an official meeting with Reza Pahlavi, Zelenskyj of course has a lot to gain with Pahlavi at the helm - but hopefully this sets an example for the rest of the European countries. https://x.com/i/status/2022347131458028014

Since the IRGC killed tens of thousands of Protesters over the last weeks, finally the EU declared them now officially a terorrist organisation, which of course also will lead to massive backlash on their structures and regime driven companies on an international scale. Repression cannot go unanswered. https://www.welt.de/politik/ausland/article697b7671e0862a349aeb5585/mullah-regime-nach-toetung-tausender-demonstranten-eu-stuft-irans-revolutionsgarden-als-terrororganisation-ein.html

"European Union foreign ministers approved new sanctions on Iran on Thursday, targeting individuals and entities linked to a violent crackdown on protesters and Tehran’s support for Russia, Reuters reported. The ministers are also expected to reach a political agreement to add Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to the EU list of terrorist organizations, a move that would mark a symbolic shift in the bloc’s approach to Iran’s leadership." https://iranintl.com/en/202601295618 My take: Sanctioning regime officials changes nothing. I'd hoped for sanctions against people affiliated with the regime in the universities, Imams, terrorist-children living luxury life on the Iranian people's money instead they only sanction people already in Iran!! What the fuck? EU's lack of actions and decision-making is turning out to be a complete embarressment of the entire parliament's ability to give true support for the Iranian people. Utterly shameful.

Some of my notes that i used in the Open Discussions (contains the saffron quote): 📜Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard (Moderaterna): - "Sweden is a driving force in the European Parliment to create new sanctions against regime representatives." They want new sanctions to be decided this Thursday (tomorrow). - On the 10th of May 2023 a joint Swedish parliment decided to address a *proclamition* to the goverment that Sweden should work to list the IRGC as a terrorist organization. Everyone still stands beside this. - The way that the Swedish terror-law works is that in order for a organization to be classfied as terrorists it must either commit terrorist attacks on swedish territory or, it must be on the UN:s security councils respectivly EUs terror list - The agreements(in practice letter of intents) which was made in 2017 between the Socialdemocrat government and the regime are canceled. From 2017 onwards it has been "limited cooperation" - The IRGC and the regime is under sanctions regarding missile and nuclear technology. (obviously) ### 🏛️ Debates Skipped the talkingpoints that only were "we give our support" etc. - Nima Gholam Ali Pour (Sverigedemokraterna) is calling for the government to initiate dialogue with Reza Pahlavi and to close the embassy of the regime. He's the only one to mention his name in terms of formal dialogue. He also mentioned is calling to close cooperation with the regimes universities. (Zero reports in media regarding his statements) - Alireza Akhondi (Centerpartiet): Accusations that Spain's opposition to listing the IRGC is driven by economic interests, including alleged IRGC involvement in the saffron trade. Saffron quote: "[...]I can recount a conversation I had with Spain’s EU ambassador in Brussels. She berated me for about an hour, accusing me of being divisive, when I asked why Spain was blocking recognition of the IRGC as a terrorist entity. It didn’t help matters when I told her that Santa Maria saffron, a market 90 percent controlled by the IRGC, could be a driving force behind Spain’s decision not to act." - Alireza Akhondi

From the discussion group Wednesday January 22nd. I was going to answer it in the chat but it was too long. Feel free to chime in and try to stick to the topic. 😊 - - - I wasn't able to find the full context to Ezekiels initial reply - - - Ezekiel Hirshhorn: Smart people tend to migrate to high-paying countries, so US and Europe tend to suck out of the brain power from a country. Not an overnight crisis, but it does have an effect. Erik Sharifi: I don't think brain power will be an issue initially. There's still alot of skilled and knowledgeble people left in Iran; the issue is that they aren't in power. Ezekiel Hirshhorn: Erik, I totally agree. I think for starters Iran will pull in lot's of great minds from the diaspora, due to patriotism and opportunity. The problem may only happen after several decades, at least that's what we experienced here. It was detected in the 90's first. My deleted reply: Indeed. Given your name I believe you're based in Israel and I think Iran will have better conditions for success due to the fact that Iran are 90 million people and have a strong diasphora. Also remember that Iran will have huge opportunities to cooperate with universities in Europe and the US. But education is really important and will need to be prioritized to not have a skill gap between the generations as you mentioned.