“If it gets nukes, Iran could fire using cruise missiles – exclusive,” Yonah Jeremy Bob, Jerusalem Post, May 16, 2021.

Notice the last line about Iran using the Palestinians.  “Ultimately, the Palestinians are still mostly on their own. Their anger is directed against Israel first and foremost, but there is also rage for all those who they argue should be helping them but are not: the Palestinian Authority and President Mahmoud Abbas, who has been in power since 2005; Arab countries that profess brotherhood and common cause but only pay lip service to the Palestinian cause; Washington, which rhetorically voices commitment to human rights and justice but does little to hold its allies, including Israel, accountable on these fronts. The Syrian-Palestinian writer Nidal Betare, who grew up in the Yarmouk refugee camp in Damascus, also raged in a Twitter thread against Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. In it, he accused them of having lost their role as liberation movements and having turned into guns for hire, their leaders sitting comfortably in Damascus or Qatar while Palestinians are being bombarded in Gaza. Some Palestinians may look to Iran as their last ally, and may well cheer the Hamas rockets as the sole way to push back against Israel. But for more than 40 years, the Islamic Republic has used the Palestinian cause for its own advancement.”  See “No One Is Coming to Help the Palestinians,” Kim Ghattas, The Atlantic, May 16, 2021.

With a performance capacity of 0.56 petaflops.  “Iran unveils its strongest domestic supercomputer,” Maziar Motamedi, Al Jazeera, May 16, 2021.  What is surprising, pleasantly, is that ICT Minister Mohammad Javad Azari-Jahromi said that “the supercomputer will be named Maryam, after the late world-class Iranian mathematician Maryam Mirzakhani. … A Stanford University professor, Mirzakhani passed away in 2017 from breast cancer at the age of 40. In 2014, she was honoured with the Fields Medal, the most prestigious award in mathematics, becoming the first woman and the first Iranian to receive it.” Thus far the Regime had distanced itself from her award due to its being won by a woman.

A really good article outlining the control of the Leader.  “Khamenei’s hidden hand in Iran’s presidential vote,” Majid Rafizadeh, Arab News, May 16, 2021. “Iran’s election in June will determine not only the next president, but possibly also who will succeed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Khamenei, who came to power in 1989, is the second-longest serving ruler in Iran in the past century, behind only Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, who was in power from 1941 until the revolution of 1979. He is the longest-serving head of government in the Middle East. Given that he is 81 years old and suffers from several health problems, it is realistic to argue that he is considering who his successor will be. Grooming a political or religious figure to become the next supreme leader will ensure a smooth transition of power when Khamenei dies. The position of supreme leader is critical for the survival of the Islamic Republic and the continuation of the revolutionary concept of Ayatollah Khomeini — Velayat-e Faqih, or “guardianship of the Islamic jurist.” Whoever holds the position has the final say on Iran’s domestic and foreign policy and has significant control over the legislative, executive and judicial systems. In addition, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and intelligence service — the most powerful political and economic apparatuses in the country — report only to the supreme leader, who also has the authority to hand-pick military commanders as the chief of Iran’s military institutions. The supreme leader controls the bonyad charitable trusts (which control a significant part of Iran’s gross domestic product) and the Setad organization (the headquarters for executing the orders of the imam, which is worth more than $90 billion). The supreme leader dictates how the nation’s resources are spent, with a focus on exporting Iran’s revolutionary ideals and support for proxies and militia groups across the Middle East. Although Khamenei, high-level clerics from the Guardian Council and the Assembly of Experts, and the senior cadre of the IRGC are probably already secretly discussing who will be the next supreme leader, discussing it publicly is considered taboo. Tradition reveals that the position of president can be a crucial stepping stone when it comes to succeeding the supreme leader. The position of president can be a crucial stepping stone to succeeding the supreme leader. When Khomeini died in 1989, Khamenei was Iran’s sitting president. Even though the constitution states that the supreme leader should be elected by the Assembly of Experts, the former incumbent most probably selects his successor. For example, according to the late former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Khomeini chose Khamenei to be his successor. The regime even changed the constitution so that Khamenei qualified and Khomeini’s wish could be fulfilled. This partially explains why Khamenei has increased his interventions in the presidential election. He has even told the grandson of the Islamic Republic’s founder, Hassan Khomeini, not to run. The reformist political camp in Iran was reportedly intending to introduce Hassan Khomeini as its candidate. But Yasser Khomeini, brother of Hassan, declared: “The revolution’s supreme leader considered that Hassan Khomeini’s candidacy in the election was not appropriate. He expressed that he counts Hassan as his son, asking him not to enter this field in such circumstances.” The Guardian Council, which has the ultimate power over who runs for the presidency, has also significantly narrowed its terms for qualification. It has barred anyone older than 75 and younger than 40 from running. Even President Hassan Rouhani criticized the Guardian Council for introducing such restrictive rules, and said it had no legal right to do so. The new age restrictions prevent potential candidates such as 39-year-old Mohammed-Javad Azari Jahromi, the minister of information and communications technology, and 80-year-old Mohammed Gharazi, the former minister of petroleum, from standing in the election. To fulfill Khamenei’s demands, the Guardian Council will also probably disqualify figures such as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was president from 2005 to 2013, or anyone else the supreme leader disapproves of. The council also imposed new rules barring anyone with a criminal conviction or a lack of managerial experience from running in the election. As a result, people such as the reformist Mostafa Tajzadeh, who was jailed in 2009, cannot be a presidential candidate. It is worth noting that, when Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said he might run for president, the Guardian Council would have had difficulty disqualifying him because of his current position. However, the leaking of a controversial audio tape of Zarif resolved that issue as Khamenei publicly criticized him. Zarif subsequently announced that he would not be running. It is because the position of president can be seen as a stepping stone to succeeding the supreme leader that Khamenei and his inner circle are escalating their interventions in the election.”

“Why the West must challenge Iran on human rights,” The Conversation, May 16, 2021.  “The Iranian Parliament recently added two new provisions to Iran’s Penal Code that are intended to target a range of marginalized groups with the threat of arbitrary arrest and detention. One provision takes aim at “anyone who insults Iranian ethnicities or divine religions or Islamic schools of thought recognized under the Constitution,” saying they can be subjected to harsh punishments. Another says that “any deviant educational or proselytizing activity that contradicts or interferes with the sacred law of Islam” can lead to a prison sentence of two to five years.” This article pleads the Biden Administration to include human rights in the JCPOA negotiations.

“In phone call, Iran’s Quds Force chief applauds Hamas leader for Israel attacks,” Times of Israel, May 16, 2021.

“592 Iranians sign up for presidential election,” Xinhua, May 16, 2021.

In the World Bank’s index, Iran was ranked 131 for government effectiveness.  “Iran’s Inefficient Government,” Pooya Stone, Iran Focus, May 16, 2021.