How Will Iran Respond to Trump's Escalations?

After re-imposing sanctions, Trump's new "Iran Action Group" is the latest step in his destabilization campaign against Tehran. International Crisis Group President Robert Malley, who helped negotiate the Iran nuclear deal under the Obama administration, joins TRNN's Aaron Maté to discuss the White House's goals and Iran's response.

Iranian Regime Targets Family of 'Angel of Freedom' Neda Agha Soltan
THE TELEGRAPH: Iranian security officials have begun pulling down posters of Neda Agha Soltan, the young woman who has become the face of the country's pro-democracy uprising after her death in Tehran was captured on video.

Relatives said images of Neda Agha Soltan, 27, who has been described as Iran's "Angel of Freedom" after she was apparently shot dead on Saturday, had been targeted by plain-clothed officials.

They had removed any material commemorating the 27-year-old student that had been erected near her home by sympathisers in the Iranian capital.

Miss Agha Soltan was shot in the chest after she joined a protest near Azadi (Freedom) Square. Within hours an Iranian exile in Europe had posted pictures shot on mobile phones online and the scenes have been viewed by millions since.

Relatives said the authorities had insisted Miss Agha Soltan was buried in a cemetery plot reserved for slain "rioters" and that attempts to hold memorial services had been banned. >>> Damien McElroy, Foreign Affairs Correspondent | Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Jews Slam Germany for Hosting Khatami
THE JERUSALEM POST: Three weeks after former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami visited Germany, the Central Council of Jews in Germany has launched a bitter assault on Social Democratic Foreign Ministry State Secretary Gernot Erler and the Green Party's mayor of Freiburg, Dieter Salomon, for welcoming him, accusing them of "pure appeasement" politics toward the Iranian regime.

Khatami, who served as president of Iran from 1997 to 2005, is now jockeying to replace the current President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

On October 28, Khatami was invited by the University of Freiburg, in southern Germany, to deliver a lecture on "Dialogue between the Islamic and Western World."

Salomon praised Khatami's tenure as Iranian president, saying it represented "more rule of law, democracy and freedom for the [Iranian] people." He told the Badische newspaper, "We feel very honored" by Khatami's visit.

Khatami was also welcomed by Erler, Freiburg University dean Hans-Jochen Schiewer and the Reverend Wolfgang Sauer of the archdiocese in Freiburg.

His visit attracted barely any media attention and produced little controversy at the time, even though Khatami has described Zionism as the "continuation of fascism" and defended the French Holocaust denier Roger Garaudy.

In the wake of the visit, however, a public letter issued by the Central Council of Jews in Germany, co-headed by Dieter Graumann, has asserted that by hosting Khatami, Erler and Salomon aligned themselves with his reactionary politics. As outlined in the letter, Khatami advocates the death penalty for homosexuals, opposes women's rights, and represses minority religious and ethnic groups in Iran. >>> By Benjamin Weinthal, Jerusalem Post Correspondent in Berlin | November 23, 2008

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