THIS PAGE WILL BE UPDATED WITH THE LATEST NEWS
UPDATE: 9:00 PM CET
Iran Uprising at a Glance
Based partially on reporting by PMOI (MEK) Network in Iran
Friday, April 21, 2023 – 8 PM GMT + 1
- Days: 218
- Protests: 282 cities
- Fatalities: 750+ estimated deaths, 675 identified by MEK
- Detentions: 30,000
Iran’s nationwide uprising marked its 218th day on Friday, with the new surge in chemical gas attacks by regime operatives targeting mainly schoolgirls across Iran raising outrage among parents and locals of various cities where these horrific measures are taking place.
Protesters and brave youths in the city of Rudsar in Gilan Province, northern Iran, torched a large poster of regime Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Thursday.
April 20 – Rudsar, Gilan Province, northern #Iran
Protesters and local youths torched a large poster of regime Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.#IranRevoIution pic.twitter.com/IC9oBErlht— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) April 20, 2023
According to reports tallied by the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), people in Zahedan, southeastern Iran, poured into the streets again today, launching their latest anti-regime demonstration following their Friday prayers. Reports showed a large crowd of locals holding a major rally, marching, and chanting slogans against the mullahs’ regime and their apparatus of oppressive forces. Their slogans include:
“So many years of crimes! Down with the mullahs’ regime!”
“I will kill those who killed my brother!”
“Basij and IRGC, you are our ISIS!”
“Down with the Basij!”
“Khamenei, have some shame! Let go of the country!”
April 21 – Zahedan, southeast #Iran
Protesters are marching and chanting:
"So many years of crimes! Down with the mullahs' regime!"#No2ShahNo2Mullahs #IranRevoIution pic.twitter.com/FEPzGMwRUs— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) April 21, 2023
People in different cities of Iran, including Tehran, Saqqez, and Mahabad, are marking Eid al-Fitr and visiting their local cemeteries to pay respects to protesters killed by the mullahs’ regime during the recent protests of the Iranian uprising that began in September 2022. In Bukan, locals held a ceremony in memory of the Iranian revolution’s fallen heroes.
In Saqqez, the hometown of Mahsa Amini, authorities immediately dispatched their oppressive security units to prevent any possible anti-regime protests during the gathering. People at Mahsa Amini’s grave began chanting: “Down with the dictator!”
Contract workers of the local steel mill in the city of Yazd, central Iran, were also on strike today, protesting their officials’ refusal to increase their salaries.
April 21 – Tehran, #Iran
People marking Eid-al-Fitr and paying their respects to brave protesters killed by the mullahs' regime during #IranRevoIution.pic.twitter.com/snr3ZvyXYW— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) April 21, 2023
Workers of the Exir Sanat Company involved in various projects at the major refinery of Abadan in southwest Iran launched a strike on Friday, protesting the officials’ refusal to increase their salaries.
Workers in the oil, gas, and petrochemical industry in other cities, including Asaluyeh, Dehloran, and Gachsaran, were also on strike on Friday.
April 21 – Dehloran, western #Iran
Workers of the local oil and gas industry are on strike protesting their officials' refusal to increase their paychecks.#IranProtests #اعتصابات_سراسریpic.twitter.com/CHXbrnPUQr— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) April 21, 2023
United States Imposes Sanctions on Iranian Military Procurement Network
The United States remains firmly committed to taking action to disrupt Iran’s military programs and its procurement networks. We are designating elements of Iran’s military procurement network — one individual and six entities. These elements based in Iran, the People’s Republic of China (PRC), and Malaysia have supported procurement activities of the U.S.-sanctioned Iranian company Pardazan System Namad Arman (PASNA), which is linked to Iran’s Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics. This network has enabled PASNA to procure electronic components, including components for use in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), from foreign suppliers primarily based in the PRC. Iran’s proliferation of weapons destabilizes the Middle East and beyond, and we will continue to work with allies and partners to counter such activity.
UPDATE: 11:30 AM CET
Judge Nisman Was Murdered by Tehran, Former Argentinian Official Says
Miguel Ángel Toma, the former Minister of National Intelligence of Argentina, highlighted that Alberto Nisman, the persecutor of the AMIA bombing case, was murdered by the regime in Iran.
On Tuesday, April 18, in an interview with Radio Realpolitik, Mr. Toma said: “In the Nisman murder case, it has been proven that people with prior expertise were personally involved, and they told me that Zaninni [Alberto Carlos Zannini], the legal and technical secretary of the Argentinian presidency, contacted Alberto Nisman and told him to stop the investigation about the Iranian regime in the attack on AMIA. It was clear that Nisman did not pay attention to this and continued until he was assassinated.”
“I also do not deny the participation of special forces of the Iranian regime in this attack,” Mr. Toma added. “At the end of the day, these lies will be exposed and the responsibilities will also be clarified because it was an assassination, a murder with intent, and obviously a political one.”
In January 2015, Judge Alberto Nisman, an Argentinian chief investigator, was found dead in his apartment in Buenos Aires. In December 2017, a federal judge in Argentina ruled that Nisman was murdered but particular parties in the country tried to paint it as “a suicide”.
Despite certain threats and political pressure, Judge Nisman was investigating the case concerning the highest officials of the clerical regime being behind the bombing of the AMIA Jewish Center in Buenos Aires. Hours before he was supposed to present his evidence to the Argentine parliament, Alberto Nisman was assassinated.
Judge Alberto Nisman proved that Cristina Fernandez, then vice president of Argentina, colluded with the Iranian regime to cover up the regime’s role in the 1994 AMIA bombing in Buenos Aires.
#Nisman is a martyr for peace and humanity and not just a martyr of the Argentinean people#Iran pic.twitter.com/hstAbPWHAk
— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) January 29, 2015
Congress Forms Bipartisan House Committee on Iranian Women
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) announced the formation of a bipartisan caucus of nearly 20 lawmakers on Thursday, which focuses on the women of Iran. The caucus, named the Iranian Women Congressional Caucus, will serve as a forum in which members of Congress can address issues and developments relating to women’s freedom and democracy in Iran. The committee’s first move was a joint resolution condemning the chemical attack on Iranian school girls.
“So many Iranian women are showing their bravery and resiliency in the face of challenges in their fight for equality and human rights,” Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) said in a statement shared with the Washington Examiner. “As we have witnessed, women and youth have displayed tremendous courage in leading the protests in Iran over the past five months, calling for social freedom and political change. We will be on the side of freedom and oppose the oppression of women, in the United States, Iran, and around the globe.”
UPDATE: 10:00 AM CET
More Schools in Iran Targeted in Gas Attacks as Protests Spread To Other Cities
Iran’s nationwide uprising is witnessing its 217th day on Thursday as more schools across the country are being targeted in chemical gas attacks by regime operatives. The mullahs’ dictatorship is desperate to keep a lid on the country’s extremely restive society and one method implemented in pursuit of this objective has been to target Iran’s innocent schoolgirls that were one of the main engines behind the anti-regime uprising that sparked in September 2022. People throughout Iran continue to specifically hold 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.
Us Senate Hosts Exhibition Honoring Women and Girls Who Lost Their Lives in the Iran Uprising
US Senate Hosts Exhibition Honoring Women and Girls Who Lost Their Lives in the Iran Uprising. On April 12, 2023, the US Senate hosted a photo exhibition in honor of the martyrs of the Iranian people’s uprising. The exhibition featured photographs of women and girls who lost their lives during the democratic revolution in Iran and was attended by advisors to senators and staff from various professional committees.
Iran’s Sistan Grain Store; Dies of Hunger and Thirst in 2023!
Sistan has been left to its fate. Once, thanks to the Helmand River and the abundant water of Lake Hamun, there was no thirsty land in this region, and the fertile lands had turned Sistan into Iran’s grain warehouse. But now, the warehouses are empty and ruined, the lake is dried up, and the Helmand River barely breathes a little water. The result of all this is the creation of a hunger crisis for the patient people who have only seen hardships, endured pain without support, and now like a forgotten and lost land in the Iranian plateau, await death under the burden of suffering. Why?
Also, read Iran News in Brief – April 20, 2023
