Member of Parliament Calls Siamak and Baqer Namazi 'American Generals in the Field of Influence'

Abulfazl Abutalebi, the second secretary of the Iranian Parliament's Judicial and Legal Commission, referred to Baqer Namazi as an 'American general in the field of influence' and stated that one of the accusations against him was an attempt to 'prevent population growth' in Iran. On Friday, October 30, in an interview with the 'House of the Nation' website, Abutalebi named Baqer and Siamak Namazi as 'great American generals in the field of influence' in Iran. Siamak Namazi, a manager at an oil company, and his father Baqer Namazi were each sentenced to ten years in prison in Iran this week for allegedly collaborating with the 'hostile government of the United States.' According to Abutalebi, these two individuals have been active in various fields in the country and were part of 'very important elements of the United States system' who were 'fortunately arrested thanks to the wisdom and actions of the Revolutionary Guards' intelligence. The parliament member further considered the Namazi case to be 'very important' and unusually described Mohammad Baqer Namazi as a 'theorist of the issue of population reduction, preventing population growth and childbirth in Iran.' While the U.S. State Department has deemed the arrest warrants for these Iranian-Americans 'unjust' and called for their release, Iranian officials have stated that they do not accept American interference and the country's 'interventionist' remarks. A new wave of arrests of dual-national Iranians in Iran has significantly increased following the signing of the nuclear agreement 'JCPOA' by the Revolutionary Guards and the judiciary, with many of those arrested accused of participating in the 'influence' project. This term reflects a concept that can be attributed to Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic. After signing this nuclear agreement, Khamenei warned about the potential for 'influence' in the Islamic Republic, which immediately became a basis for a new wave of arrests and attacks on the government. In 2012, Khamenei also called family planning and 'population limitation' policies a mistake and warned again in 2013 about the danger of an aging population in the country, stating that Iran should be a country of 150 million people. He then issued the 'General Population Policies' to the heads of the three branches of government and the head of the Expediency Discernment Council in May 2014. In his directive, the leader of the Islamic Republic described the country's population as an important issue in 'national power' and stated that the decline in the growth rate and fertility rate in previous years must be compensated. Mohammad Javad Fazel Lankarani, head of the Jurisprudential Center 'Imams of the Pure,' also said on Friday that 'the sterilization of generations by the Zionist regime is being pursued in third-world countries.' Fazel Lankarani added: 'Health officials in the country should pay attention to these issues and genetic manipulation alongside health guidance.' He further stated: 'Pills and medications imported from other countries could be an example of the sterilization of generations.'