The daughter of one of the founders of the Islamic republic has warned that, while still strong, the system her late father helped establish some 40 years ago is weakened and could someday collapse.

Faezeh Hashemi, the daughter of former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, said in an interview with a Tehran daily published on December 27 that "intimidation" and "fear" were the main things propping up the Islamic establishment.

"In my view, a breakdown [of principles] has already happened, there hasn't been a physical collapse, but I see that as very likely," Hashemi told the independent Mostaghel newspaper.

Hashemi, 56, a former pro-reform lawmaker who was jailed for six months in 2012 after being convicted of antiregime propaganda, said one doesn't see the open and physical crackdowns on dissent like those seen in the antigovernment protests of 2009, but a lot of repressive measures are taking place behind the scenes.

"In every segment of society, groups of activists are in jail, from workers to teachers, truck drivers, women's rights activists, environmentalists, students..., [those involved in economic activities], and citizens who are either in jail or have been sentenced to jail," she said.

A collapse isn't imminent, she noted, "but there's been a breakdown. Everywhere you look there's inefficiency, there's a lack of leadership and reason, everything is abandoned, there's no attempt to find solutions to the problems or if there is then things only get worse, there are no signs of improvement."

'Trampling Everything'

Hashemi has previously come under pressure from hard-line conservatives attempting to smear the legacy of her father, who died in 2017, and also due to her own stances and support for reforms. They denounced her and called for her punishment in 2016 for meeting a leader of the persecuted Baha'i faith with whom she used to share a cell in Tehran's Evin prison.

In March 2017, the hard-line judiciary sentenced her to six months in jail for charges that included "antistate propaganda, spreading lies against the judiciary, and the Revolutionary Guards Corps," the opposition website Kalame reported. She was also briefly detained in the 2009 crackdown.

Hashemi appeared to place much of the blame for the country's current problems on the hard-liners, accusing them of interpreting religion to serve their own interests and "trampling on everything" to remain in power.

But she also criticized President Hassan Rohani, who is in his second term and is seen as a relative moderate.

"The president says things as if he's not the president, he talks in a way as if he were [a member of] the opposition," she said. "I know that the government is not in charge of major issues, there are significant barriers, but there are problems even in those segments under the control of the government."

Hashemi said Iran needed to seriously review and update laws and practices that have gone wrong.

Her comments come amid heightened U.S. pressure on Iran and the reimposition of tough economic sanctions, including penalties targeting the country's oil exports that contributed to a collapse of the national currency earlier this year. The rial has strengthened in recent weeks, but the cost of living remains significantly high.

Protests over economic problems and corruption spread to more than 80 cities and towns last December and in early January. Since then there have been sporadic protests during which protesters have chanted slogans against the establishment.

In a June interview with the Financial Times, Hashemi said that the survival of the Iranian establishment depended on reforms and also negotiations with the United States under President Donald Trump, who has taken a hard line on the Islamic republic.

See the full article on Radio Free Europe - Radio Liberty: https://www.rferl.org/a/revolutionary-s-daughter-says-islamic-republic-weakened-could-collapse/29681911.html?ltflags=mailer

Let’s pray for the government and nation of Iran to experience full reformation and deliverance from the oppression of radical Islam.
Pray also for what is perhaps the fastest growing Christian movement in the world, that the Gospel will spread to every sector and person of the nation.

Every January First, the leader of North Korea gives a New Year's speech that sets the tone for the year.  Everyone is expected to memorize the speech and discuss it at special meetings. 

There is a lot of anticipation as to what Kim Jong Un will have to say on Tuesday.  Following a very eventful year which he rounded out with a letter to South Korean President Moon Jae-in, Kim is expected to lay out his own plan for diplomacy on the Korean peninsula for 2019. 

The world awaits. North Korea is also using the year-end to vaunt its nuclear program with a celebration of the first anniversary of developing nuclear weapons.

In the meantime, people still try to leave the North but it is increasingly difficult.  New video cameras have been installed along the border in full view to discourage defectors.  Ministry of State Security (MSS) agents have also been luring people to defect in order arrest them and increase their own "scores." MSS Bureau 12, tasked with monitoring cell phone use has been re-named to Bureau 15 and has broader powers.  The bureau functions as the mobile-

phone anti-espionage bureau tasked with preventing communications into and out of the country as well as a front line to prevent defections.  There have been a number of defectors who have returned to North Korea--some voluntarily, some under duress.  They are being exploited to discourage others from defecting.

Kim Jong Un's zeal for new construction continues with mass mobilization for the Wonsan-Kalma Coastal Tourist Zone project even as other needed renovation projects languish for lack of man-power and materials.  Along with construction projects, the leadership extolled farm workers with a special rally in December even as the farmers themselves are anxious about being able to make it through the winter.  Sanctions continue to have an impact as shown by these photos from the Rason Economic Zone but the "Singapore" shops in Pyongyang continue with business as usual.

Meanwhile both North and South Korea are moving forward on the inter-Korea railway project celebrated in a special ceremony on December 26th with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on the northern side of the border following assurance from the UN Security Council that the sanctions would not be applied to the project.

We all know that the authorities are working to stamp out the viewing of South Korean media in the North but it seems that they are also heavily involved in spreading it around. A couple final notes:  New Kim Il Sung-Kim Jong Il high prestige badges are being distributed.  Here is a new searchable detailed digital atlas of North Korea.  Take a look around...

Remembering Our Brothers in Prison We continue to pray for six South Koreans held in the North as well as Daily NK journalist, Choi Song Min (alias). Here's information on the pastors and others who have been detained and released.  Please remember them in your prayers.

Ben Torrey - Director

The Fourth River Project, Inc.

www.thefourthriver.org

Pray for the upcoming second Trump-Kim summit planned for the end of next month.
Pray for the denuclarization of the Korean peninsula.
Pray for the closing down of the prison camps and freedom for North Korea as a result.