THIS PAGE WILL BE UPDATED WITH THE LATEST NEWS
UPDATE: 9:00 PM CET
Iran Uprising at a Glance – Day 168
Based partially on reporting by PMOI (MEK) Network in Iran
Thursday, March 2, 2023 – 8 PM GMT + 1
- Days: 168
- Protests: 282 cities
- Fatalities: 750+ estimated deaths, 664 identified by MEK
- Detentions: 30,000
Iran’s nationwide uprising marked its 168th day on Thursday as protests in many cities are escalating following a growing number of gas attacks targeting mostly all-girls schools in Tehran and other cities. At least 58 schools in 10 cities across the country have been targeted in a string of mysterious gas attacks, leaving hundreds leaving hundreds of schoolgirls poisoned and sent to medical centers to receive aid.
March 2 – Karaj, west of #Iran
Ambulances and firetrucks were sent to the Technical University campus to transfer a number of poisoned students to medical centers.#IranianSchoolgirls pic.twitter.com/QqvgNbJb4F— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) March 2, 2023
Reports from Karaj, west of the capital Tehran indicated that a technical college campus was the target of yet another poisonous gas attack today. Ambulances and firetrucks were dispatched to the scene to transfer a number of students for medical attention.
March 2 – Karaj, west of #Iran
Reports indicate the Technical University dean was not allowing the poisoned students to be transferred for medical care. The campus reported a gas attack today.#IranianSchoolgirls pic.twitter.com/YjteW5Gdhm— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) March 2, 2023
A similar gas attack was also reported on Thursday in the city of Ardabil, northwest Iran, where more than 40 schoolgirls were poisoned after their school came under a new gas attack today. Many were transferred to medical centers to receive attention. People staged a protest, chanting “Death to the dictator.”
Today, in Isfahan, central Iran, women marched while chanting anti-regime slogans, including: “Death to Khamenei!”, “Death to the Basij!”
Last night in Karaj, defiant youth targeted a base of the regime’s IRGC paramilitary Basij units and torched a poster of former IRGC Quds Force chief Qassem Soleimani.
March 1 – Karaj, west of Tehran, #Iran
Protesters attacked a base of the regime's IRGC paramilitary Basij units and torched a poster of former IRGC Quds Force chief Qassem Soleimani.#IranRevolution pic.twitter.com/4FQwM8HshH— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) March 1, 2023
Also last night, residents of the capital’s Tehranpars and Sa’adatabad districts and in Mashhad, the capital of the northeastern province of Khorasan Razavi, chanted anti-regime slogans, including, “Death to Khamenei!”, “Death to the dictator!”, “Death to the child-killing regime!” and “Khamenei, you murderer! We will bury you!”
In another development, today, in Gachsaran, southwest Iran, workers of the local petrochemical site of the Tian Industrial Company were on strike seeking answers to their demands.
March 2 – Gachsaran, southwest #Iran
Workers of the local petrochemical site of the Tian Industrial Company were on strike today seeking answers to their demands.#IranProtests2023 pic.twitter.com/sivWVhW0vA— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) March 2, 2023
UPDATE: 12:00 PM CET
US House Foreign Relations Committee Chair Asked Blinken to Refer Iranian Regime’s Dossier to UNSC
In a letter to the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Mr. Michael McCaul, Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee of the US House of Representatives, called for the nuclear file of the Iranian regime to be referred to the Security Council.
The letter reads in part: “I urge you to seek swift and significant action at the upcoming International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors meeting in response to Iran’s apparent noncompliance with its Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)-related commitments. Responding to Iran’s violations of its NPT-required Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement is crucial due to Iran’s dangerous and provocative nuclear escalation, including its failure to notify the IAEA of ‘substantial’ changes to some of its centrifuges and enrichment of uranium particles to 83.7% purity.”
“For these reasons, I urge the administration to seek a formal finding of Iran’s noncompliance with its NPT-related Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement, and a referral of Iran to the United Nations Security Council at the upcoming IAEA Board of Governors meeting. Iran has tested our patience for far too long and must be held to account for its ongoing intransigence in order to maintain the integrity of the IAEA as an international organization.”
UPDATE: 9:30 AM CET
Iran-supported Groups Continue To Engage in Dangerous and Destabilizing Activity Across the Middle East – Us Department of State
On February 27, the US State Department released its annual report on countries that support terrorism to be presented to Congress.
The report reads in part: “Terrorist groups continued to operate and maintain safe havens in the Middle East and North Africa throughout 2021. ISIS and its affiliates, al-Qa’ida (AQ) and affiliated groups, and Iran-backed groups continue to pose the greatest terrorist threats to the region.”
“Iran-supported groups continue to engage in dangerous and destabilizing activity across the Middle East, with Iran using the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF) and its proxies and partners to advance its interests abroad. Iran continued to acknowledge the active involvement of the IRGC-QF in the conflicts in Iraq and Syria, the latter in support of the Assad regime. Through the IRGC-QF, Iran continued its support to several U.S.-designated terrorist groups, providing funding, training, weapons, and equipment to various groups within the region. Among the groups receiving support from Iran are Hizballah, Hamas, the Palestine Islamic Jihad, al-Ashtar Brigades and Saraya al-Mukhtar in Bahrain, Kata’ib Hizballah and Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq in Iraq, and Hizballah al-Hijaz in Saudi Arabia. Iran also provided weapons and support to other militant groups in Iraq and Syria, to the Houthis in Yemen, and to the Taliban in Afghanistan. Iran-backed militias continued sporadic attacks on Embassy Baghdad and bases hosting U.S. and other Defeat-ISIS forces in Iraq and Syria.”
Congress Calls for Sanctions on Iran’s Parliament
A bipartisan coalition in Congress is pressuring the Biden administration to sanction nearly all of Iran’s parliament amid the government’s crackdown on anti-regime protesters.
Out of 290 members of Iran’s parliament, 227 should be sanctioned for providing the legal framework for Tehran’s security forces to murder, torture, and imprison dissidents who have been protesting across Iran for months, according to a group of 26 representatives and senators from both parties.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran lacks democratic legitimacy, and the members of its parliament are not true democratic representatives of the Iranian people,” the lawmakers, led by Rep. Claudia Tenney (R., N.Y.) and Sen. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.), wrote in a letter sent Wednesday to the State and Treasury Departments. “We urge you to take further actions—and encourage international partners to join us—to impose much clearer costs on the Iranian regime for the execution of protesters.”
UPDATE: 8:30 AM CET
Maryam Rajavi: Baroness Boothroyd, a Great Friend of the Iranian People and Resistance, Will Be Forever Remembered in Our Country’s History
My heart goes out to the family, friends, and colleagues of Baroness Boothroyd. Her loss is felt keenly by the British people and Parliament, and especially by those in the Parliamentary British Committee for Iran Freedom and the International Committee of Parliamentarians for a Democratic Iran. Baroness Boothroyd was a paragon of courage, nobility, and unwavering commitment to freedom. Her remarkable forthrightness and passionate spirit never failed to inspire me. Baroness Boothroyd deemed the massacre of political prisoners on Khomeini’s fatwa as one of the most heinous unpunished crimes since World War II. She firmly believed that justice would one day be served for the victims of this tragedy.
Popular Protests Escalate in Iran as the Country’s Economy Nosedives
More people from all walks of life are taking to the streets in Iran as the country’s economy is in shambles, making it extremely difficult for ordinary Iranians to make ends meet and put food on the table for their families. In parallel fashion, concerns among regime officials are escalating over these dilemmas erupting into a new wave of massive protests engulfing the regime and rendering a security crisis for the mullahs’ entire apparatus.
People throughout the country are specifically holding the mullahs’ Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei responsible for their miseries, while also condemning the oppressive Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and paramilitary Basij units, alongside other security units that are on the ground suppressing the peaceful demonstrators.
Heartbreaking Tragedy: Mother of 2 Young Kids Executed in Iran
The mother of 2 young kids was executed Monday in prison in Bandar Abbas, southern Iran. Leila Bameri had a son and a daughter, seven and five years old. Originally from a village in Kerman, Leila Bameri was charged with drug trafficking and had been jailed for three years.
Leila Bameri was executed on Monday, February 27, 2023, without having a final visit with her family and children and without their information. Her family was informed on the phone only after the execution. Ms. Bameri was buried on Tuesday, February 28.
Iran’s Economy Does Not Resemble a Flourishing Economy
The economic advisor to Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi recently revealed a forecast for macroeconomic indicators until the end of the year, which has raised numerous questions and objections. Despite the regime’s relentless advertising and state-run media propaganda claiming an improved economic situation, while even some of them falsely portray the country’s economic situation as flourishing, the reality in the country’s markets points to an inflation rate of at least 50 percent and an exchange rate setting new records each day.
52nd Session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva
February 27th, marked the opening of the 52nd session of the Human Rights Council, a UN body tasked with promoting and protecting human rights around the world. The HRC session runs from February 28th to March 25th and a range of human rights issues around the world are discussed. Traditionally, the opening session features speeches from high-level officials.
Surprisingly, the Iranian regime’s Foreign Minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, was invited to the Council. His presence at UN Human rights Council was faced with Iranian protestors, outside the UN building, who viewed his presence at the HRC as an insult to the more than 700 victims of the recent protests in Iran, hundreds tortured and thousands imprisoned.
Zurich, Switzerland—February 28, 2023: MEK Supporters Held a Rally in Support of the Iran Revolution
Zurich, Switzerland—February 28, 2023: Freedom-loving Iranians, supporters of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) held a rally and book exhibition in solidarity with the nationwide Iranian Revolution.
Geneva: Protest Rally by Freedom-Loving Iranians and MEK Supporters Against the Presence of Iran’s Regime FM at the UN Human Rights Council
Geneva, Switzerland—February 27, 2023: To coincide with the UN Human Rights Session, freedom-loving Iranians and supporters of the Iranian Resistance (NCRI and MEK) held a protest rally against the presence of Iran’s regime FM to address the opening of the UN Human Rights Council.
The protesters urged the international community to take a firm policy against the regime’s human rights violations and recognize the Iranian people’s right to self-defense.
Gothenburg, Sweden—February 25, 2023: Freedom-Loving Iranians, and MEK Supporters Demonstrated in Support of the Iran Revolution
Gothenburg, Sweden—February 25, 2023: Freedom-loving Iranians and supporters of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) held a rally in Gothenburg and expressed solidarity with the nationwide Iran protests.
Freedom-loving Iranians came together in Gothenburg to show solidarity with the brave protesters on the streets of Iran for a democratic and secular republic.
Also, read Iran News in Brief – March 1, 2023
