THIS PAGE WILL BE UPDATED WITH THE LATEST NEWS
UPDATE: 10:00 PM CET
In Iran, Food is Becoming a Luxury Many Can’t Afford
Ahmadreza Moini, the Iranian regime’s labor council chairman acknowledged the catastrophic living conditions of the workers. According to that state-run ISNA news agency, Moini said: “The current salary may only cover one-third of a worker’s month. Today, many workers can no longer afford to buy a bag of Thai rice. Because of the staggering price of fish, this product has been removed from the workers ‘table. With the rise in dairy prices, milk has also been removed from the workers’ table.”
Meanwhile, IRGC-Quds Force-affiliated Tasnim news agency reported today: “According to the Center for Monitoring the Prices of Basic Items, the prices of rice, chickpeas, potatoes, bottled drinking water, and tomato paste have increased by more than 100 percent compared to the previous year.”
More of Iran’s Wildlife is Burning to Ashes
Due to wildfires that broke out at noon on Sunday and continued until midnight, 20 hectares of Miyankaleh wetland burned down. No helicopters were dispatched to extinguish the fire, and the guards of this important habitat tried to stop the fire with shovels and pickaxes.
According to state media, this is the 42nd fire that occurred in Miyankaleh’s habitat this year, which was more widespread than previous fires. Earlier, about 300 hectares of intermediate fields were burned down. According to statistics, last year, 16 fires broke out in the Miyankaleh Wildlife Sanctuary, with a total area of 380 hectares.
Internet Restriction in Iran Has Practically Began, State Media Report
According to state media reports, the speed of the Internet in Iran has dropped significantly in all infrastructures, including landlines and mobile phones.
Bahar News, affiliated with the former regime’s president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, wrote today: “According to the latest statistics from speedtest.net, out of 179 countries in the world, Iran is ranked 141st in terms of landline internet connection speed, which is lower than Libya and Burkina Faso. In April, Iran was ranked 83rd in the world in terms of Internet speed.”
“One of the goals of slowing down the Internet is to restrict access to popular social networks,” the state-run Etemad newspaper reported on Monday. “The bandwidth is supposed to be reduced so much that users practically forget that there was a social network called Instagram.”
State-run Jamaran website also reported that the speed of Instagram has been deliberately reduced. The Zummit website, which covers technology news, wrote in a report that some Internet companies say the bandwidth of foreign social networks such as Instagram, WhatsApp, Telegram, and Club House has been “deliberately reduced”.
Yesterday, February 20, Abbas Abdi, a state-affiliated analyst told the Entekhab website: “The low Internet speed has caused severe stress and strain on students. This has nothing to do with our infrastructure… and apparently, this is due to a silent implementation of the same “protection plan” (the parliamentary bill that intends to restrict the Internet) before the law is even passed.”
UPDATE: 1:00 PM CET
50 Years Old Freight Carrier Dies under Load in the Cold
On Sunday, February 20, a hard-working, 50 years old ‘kulbar’ (freight carrier) froze to death under heavy load in Nowsud border area, Western Iran.
According to local sources, his name was Ali Darvishanfard, he was married and the father of two children. He was a resident of Thalas Babajani city, Kermanshah province.
Victims of the Iranian regime’s corruption, unemployment, and systemic discrimination, ‘kulbars’ are porters who haul goods on their back across the borders of Iran over long distances to be able to feed their families.
UPDATE: 9:00 AM CET
Plane Crash in Tabriz Left Three Dead
Following a warplane crash in Northwestern Iran, the Iranian regime’s Airforce announced that the cause of the accident was under investigation. In an interview with the state-run ISNA news agency, the Air Force PR manager in Tabriz stated: “An F-5 fighter plane crashed inside the city of Tabriz and near the international airport of this city a few minutes ago.”
Managing Director of Tabriz Red Crescent Society said that the plane hit the wall of a school, which fortunately was closed. Two Air Force personnel and a local driver were reportedly killed in the crash.
Another Execution Reported in Southeast Iran
The Iranian regime’s Judiciary executed a prisoner in Zahedan Prison at dawn on Saturday, February 19. The prisoner was identified as Hamed Kheradmand, 35, from Sistan and Baluchestan province, married and the father of two children. Hamed was transferred from ward 3 of Zahedan Central Prison to quarantine on Thursday. He had been in prison since 1997.
Iran Price Hikes Major Concern for Ordinary Iranians
In recent weeks, rising prices of consumer goods have brought an elevated level of anxiety and discomfort to Iranians. They have caused the majority of the population to feel the pressure of inflation in their daily lives even more than before. Economists and analysts agree on the fact that due to the liquidity trend in Iran’s economy and the system of budgeting and money allocation, the rate of inflation will continue at a similar pace next year.
Iranian Political Prisoner Denied Medical Treatment
Prison authorities in Rajai Shahr Prison have prevented the continuation of treatment and surgery of the gums of political prisoner Hassan Sadeghi. Hassan Sadeghi went to the hospital for several sessions and his gums were operated on and sutured, but he was told that he was no longer allowed to be sent to a hospital outside the prison.
“Political prisoner Hassan Sadeghi received treatment at his own expense and was sent to a dentist outside the prison for several sessions,” a reliable source said. “But suddenly he was prevented from being sent for further treatment and he was informed that he was no longer allowed transfer to hospital.”
Iran Coronavirus Update: Over 509,000 Deaths, Over 337 “Red Zone” Cities Across the Country
Over 509,000 people have died of the novel coronavirus in 547 cities checkered across all of Iran’s 31 provinces, according to reports tallied by the Iranian opposition People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) as of Saturday afternoon local time, February 19. The official death toll declared by the regime stands at 135,040, around a fourth of the actual figure.
The regime’s Health Ministry announced the mullahs’ engineered Covid-19 numbers from the past 24 hours on Sunday as 16,968 new cases and 242 deaths. Furthermore, 4053 patients are in ICUs and 2315 of the new cases have been hospitalized. “With the spread of omicron across the country, the number of cities registered as red zones has jumped from 247 to 337; we have 64 orange cities, 47 yellow, and zero blue cities,” the Health Ministry announced on Saturday.
Read more: Iran News in Brief – February 20, 2022
