THIS PAGE WILL BE UPDATED WITH THE LATEST NEWS
UPDATE: 10:00 PM CET
Canada, Allies Condemn Iran Snub of Negotiations With Victims’ Families for PS752
OTTAWA — Canada and its allies are accusing Iran of snubbing the families of those killed when its military shot down a passenger jet two years ago by refusing to negotiate a settlement. The joint condemnation Thursday by Canada, Britain, Sweden, and Ukraine comes after Iran ignored a Wednesday deadline by the coalition of countries to negotiate a settlement for the Jan. 8, 2020 disaster that saw Iran’s Revolutionary Guard shoot down Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752.
UPDATE: 4:30 PM CET
Dual National Iranians Are Being Interrogated at Tehran’s Airport
According to the state-run website Ruydad 24, Iranian flight passengers at the international Khomeini Airport in Tehran who fly in from Europe were interrogated or forced to provide personal information about themselves.
An Iranian traveler who is living in the Netherlands said that right after checking his passport and stamping, a person with a police radio led him and his wife to a room near the passport control and asked them to fill out a form, requiring details about themselves.
The Iranian citizen said: “There were about 10 other passengers who were filling in such documents in that room.” A dual-national Iranian living in Germany also reported that questions were apparently only asked from dual nationals.
However, in its report, the website concluded in its research that dual nationals or refugees were not the only targets of these inquiries and that people with citizenship in some countries were also questioned.
Interrogation of Iranians living in the West upon their arrival in the country is reported while state officials like president Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, had vowed that Iranians’ return to the country would be smooth and would not require coordination with security officials.
UPDATE: 3:30 PM CET
State-run Daily Admits to Systemic Failure of Regime’s Crisis Management
State-run newspaper Aftabe Yazd wrote on Wednesday: “The people of the south of the country, who had a hard time supplying their agricultural and drinking water until last week, are now coping with extensive floods in the past two days. It’s very interesting that the officials are surprised as usual and they are now dealing with a new crisis!”
The daily added: “It seems like the country’s crisis management headquarters has become used to crises in recent years, and in critical moments, instead of managing the crisis, this body is taken by surprise and loses control. It does not matter if the government is a reformist or conservative one. The process of being surprised by the Crisis Management Task Force is repeated every year, and as a result, there is excessive harm to the people.”
MP Warns of Iran’s Economic Sorry State
“The Statistics Center has declared a poverty line of 12 million, while many poor sections of the society feed their families with a subsidy of 45,000 Tomans and a daily wage,” Ali Rezaei, a member of the Iranian regime’s parliament told state-run Shafaqna website. “The weaker class of society has disappeared and now the pressure is on the middle class and even this one is on the verge of failure.”
He added: “The facts must be told to the people and a disciplinary budget will not solve people’s problems because the people expect their production, employment, and livelihood to improve and any budget that does not help improve the people’s livelihood is worth nothing.”
Rezaei, who is a member of the Iranian regime parliament’s Economic Commission that supposed to evaluate the administration’s budget for the next year, concluded: “Iran is not a weak country; We have a lot of gold, oil, and mines, so the country should not be run like this. But unfortunately, corruption, fraud, and discrimination are prevailing in the country… We’re hearing people’s bones are breaking under pressure and we’re not paying any attention.”
UPDATE: 9:30 AM CET
Floods, Drought, and the Mullahs’ Rule
Once again, Iran is ravaged by seasonal floods. Eighty-seven cities and hundreds of villages in 17 provinces have been hardly hit by floods and heavy rain that began on Saturday. Many people, especially in rural areas, have no shelter and the minimum facilities to protect themselves against floods.
By Tuesday, at least 11 people had died in the floods and several others have been injured or have gone missing. In some areas such as Konarak, thousands of homes have been flooded and more than 10,000 people are homeless and stranded as water levels are rising. Power lines are cut off, streets are filled with muck, and the government response has been virtually non-present.
Iran: Summary of Repression and Executions in 2021
In 2021 the Iranian regime carried out brute repression in the country’s prisons, public and secret dentation centers, and on the streets. In the protests of Saravan, the regime responded to the people’s demands with lethal force. It repressed the farmer’s protests in Isfahan and blinded many people with birdshot and showed it is prepared to extinguish protests at any cost. Executions in Iran continued daily across the country’s prisons.
Iran’s 2021 Record: One Death Penalty Carried Out Every Day
More than 365 prisoners have been executed in 2021 in Iran, raising concern over the abysmal human rights condition which has worsened since Ebrahim Raisi became the regime’s president. This number does not include those prisoners who are secretly executed, and it is not possible to ascertain their names and places of execution. The actual number of executions in 2021 in Iran is much higher as the regime carries out most executions out of the public eye.
Iran’s Regime Is Desperately Trying to Stop the Growing Tide of Protests
Iran’s regime is promoting the State Security Forces (SSF) to the level of the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) and the army. Chief of Staff of Armed Forces Mohammad Bagheri announced the change on December 9, 2021, and regime media reported that the plan was approved and signed by supreme leader Ali Khamenei three weeks prior to that. “There are high expectancies from the SSF, and in comparison to other armed forces, the SSF is expansive at all levels… and present in all aspects of people’s lives,” Bagheri said.
German FM: Iran Has Squandered Trust in Nuclear Talks
Iran has squandered a lot of trust in nuclear talks, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Wednesday, January 5, 2022. There is not much time to revive a nuclear deal, Baerbock said, after meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken. World powers are negotiating with Iran’s regime in Vienna to bring it back within the limits of the 2015 nuclear deal.
Mullahs Have Destroyed Iran’s Economy, State-Run Daily Warns
In an article, the state-run Hamdeli newspaper admits that the mullahs have destroyed Iran’s economy. Hamdeli: “Four decades after the [1979] revolution led by clerics, the economic divide and misery have reached a point…” “… that seeing women and children searching for food in trash piles has become a common scene.”
Iran: COVID-19 Death Toll Exceeds 495,300
The People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) announced on Wednesday, January 5, 2022, that the COVID-19 death toll in 547 cities has exceeded 495,300. In Tehran the death toll has reached 115,780, Khorasan Razavi 39,945, Isfahan 34,310, West Azerbaijan 18,683, Lorestan 16,390, Kerman 13,352, Kermanshah 9,264, Hamedan 9,183, Semnan 6,525, North Khorasan 6,328, Ilam 4,728, and South Khorasan 4,371
#Iran Coronavirus Update
More than 495,300 people have died of #COVID19 in 547 cities checkered across all of Iran's 31 provinces, according to the Iranian opposition PMOI/MEK.
Full reporthttps://t.co/Tybk2j7f2Q pic.twitter.com/sIXAeAMzlx
— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) January 5, 2022
Read more: Iran News in Brief – January 5, 2022
