THIS PAGE WILL BE UPDATED WITH THE LATEST NEWS
UPDATE: 9:00 PM
Iran Offers $100 a Month to Recruit Houthi Rebels in War-Torn Yemen
Iran is offering $100 (£79) a month to desperate Yemenis if they join the Houthi rebels in their war on Israel and commercial shipping in the Red Sea. Thousands of fighters have joined the ranks in recent weeks, according to sources in opposition-held territories, amid an aggressive recruitment drive.
Yemen, where more than 80 percent of the country lives below the poverty line, has proved a fertile recruiting ground, with more than 100,000 militiamen thought to be now backed by Iran.
The money offered to fighters is dwarfed by the $1,300 (£1,020) a month Iran pays to members of Hezbollah’s military wing in Lebanon.
UPDATE: 6:30 PM
Iran Begins New Year With Dizzying Rate of Executions
Jan. 11 (UPI) — 2024 began in Iran just as 2023 ended, with a dizzying rate of executions.
A Kurdish political prisoner was executed on Jan. 4 after enduring 14 years in prison. The number of executions recorded in 2023 reached at least 864, according to the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), the highest figure in the last eight years and about 34% higher than in 2022, when 646 people were executed. However, as many executions in Iran are carried out in secret, the actual number is likely to be much higher.
The frenzy of executions continued to escalate throughout 2023, with 313 taking place in the last three months of the year. Clearly, this alarming death toll is geared toward frightening the restive population into passivity.
UPDATE: 2:00 PM
Armed Drone Shot Down Over US Base in Northern Iraq -Statement
BAGHDAD, Jan 10 (Reuters) – Defence systems shot down an armed drone on Wednesday over Erbil airport in northern Iraq where U.S. and other international forces are stationed, Iraqi Kurdistan’s counter-terrorism service said.
A statement from the service did not say if there were any casualties or damage to infrastructure as a result of the attack.
A group called the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of Iran-aligned Iraqi militias, said in a statement that it had carried out a drone attack on the U.S. base at Erbil airport.
Houthi Rebels Who Attacked British Ship Trained at Elite Iranian Academy
Houthi rebels, who have fired missiles at a British Navy ship in the Red Sea, trained at an elite Iranian naval academy. Some 200 mercenaries, who control swathes of Yemen, were sent to the leading naval institution in Iran to receive instruction from Revolutionary Guard officials, The Telegraph can reveal.
Details of the training, gathered by intelligence sources in Iran, demonstrate Tehran’s direct involvement in widening the conflict in the Middle East.
On Wednesday, Britain was considering retaliatory strikes on land targets in Yemen, The Telegraph understands.
UPDATE: 11:00 AM
Iran’s Despots Should Fear the Words of JFK About the Inevitability of Violent Revolution
This year began in Iran just as 2023 ended, with a dizzying rate of executions. A Kurdish political prisoner was executed on January 4 after enduring 14 years in prison. The number of executions recorded in 2023 reached at least 864, the highest figure in the last eight years and a 34 percent increase in 2022.
However, as many executions in Iran are carried out in secret, the actual number is likely to be much higher. The frenzy of executions continued to escalate throughout 2023, with 313 taking place in the last three months of the year. Clearly, this alarming death toll is geared towards frightening the restive population into passivity.
In a further sign of the regime’s desperate plunge into misogynist immorality, last week a young woman, Roya Heshmati, 33, was sentenced to the vicious punishment of 74 lashes, on the fictitious charge of improper veiling. The judiciary’s news agency, Mizan, said: “The sentence was carried out in accordance with the law and the holy Sharia. The specific areas (for flogging punishment) have been clearly specified in the law and the verdict.”
UPDATE: 8:00 AM
Iran’s Regime Is Purging Candidates Ahead of Sham Parliamentary Elections
As Iran’s regime nears its sham parliamentary elections, scheduled for March, the process of purging the key regime figures from running for office has reached a point that even the regime newspaper Ham-Mihan wrote on January 7, “No news has had as strong a reaction as the disqualification of Seyyed Mahmoud Alavi, the former Minister of Intelligence… How is it possible that the highest-ranking official of the Ministry of Intelligence, who played a role in confirming or disqualifying candidates in the previous elections, is now disqualified and eliminated from the parliamentary elections?”
On January 4, the spokesperson of the Guardian Council announced the disqualification of 26 members of the current Majlis (parliament) and key figures of the regime, another scandal that is trying hard to purge its ranks from officials that are not completely aligned with the vision of its supreme leader Ali Khamenei.
US, UK Forces Repel ‘Largest Attack’ by Houthis in Red Sea
“This is an unsustainable situation,” Shapps told reporters, adding “watch this space” with regards to further possible action by Britain and its international partners.
“This cannot continue and cannot be allowed to continue.”
Iran’s Regime Faces Deepening Dilemmas As It Nears Parliamentary Elections
Less than two months before Iran’s parliamentary elections, the regime’s Guardian Council sealed the fate of disqualifications. This process was evident from the outset. The regime aimed to purge any dissenting voices against its rule from the election atmosphere, allowing only those with unwavering allegiance to the regime’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei to enter the parliament.
And the dictatorial rule’s nature did not even tolerate the outer circle of its supporters. This discernible purification procedure appeared for the first time in the 2018 elections, resulting in the parliament being dubbed the ‘revolutionary parliament’ by Khamenei.
The elimination of the so-called reformist faction had unforeseen consequences for the Mullahs. While eliminating the so-called reformist faction, present since Mohammad Khatami’s presidency in 1997, the regime faced societal reactions, notably in the form of protests in 2018, 2020, and 2022.
US Shuts Off Iran’s Route To Bypass Sanctions Through Iraq
Ali Shariati, a member of the Chamber of Commerce, stated that the United States has told Iraqi bank officials that the issue of bypassing the sanctions by Iranian traders must come to an end.
In an interview with the regime’s Entekhab website, Shariati emphasized that the circulation of Iraqi dollars in the economy and the bypassing of sanctions by “semi-governmental traders” of Iran through the transfer of Iraqi tar via swap has prompted the United States to intervene in this matter.
Shariati also commented on the new directive of the Iraqi government regarding the prohibition of financial transactions with Iran for banks and exchange offices. He stated that this event has been happening for several months now and its punitive measures have become more serious since January 1st.
3 Hezbollah Members Killed In Israel Strike In South Lebanon
According to Reuters, on Tuesday, January 9, three Hezbollah members were killed in an Israeli attack on a vehicle in Ghandouriyeh, a municipality in the Bint Jbeil District in southern Lebanon. Reuters mentioned that no information has been communicated about the identities of these three individuals. On Monday, January 8, Wissam (Jawad) al-Tawil, a senior Hezbollah commander, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on southern Lebanon.
Tawil had recently been appointed as a “field commander” for Hezbollah and played a pivotal role in the organization’s operations in southern Lebanon. It is said that he was the commander responsible for a missile attack on the Maroun airbase in northern Israel.
Zurich—January 8, 2024: MEK Supporters Organized an Exhibition in Solidarity With the Iran Revolution
Zurich, Switzerland — January 8, 2024: Freedom-loving Iranians and supporters of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) organized a photo exhibition in sub-zero freezing weather in solidarity with the Iranian Revolution. This exhibition served as a tribute to the martyrs of the nationwide Iranian uprising especially Mohammad Hosseini and Mohammad Mehdi Karami on the anniversary of their execution by the mullahs’ regime.
Germany—January 6, 2024: MEK Supporters Rallied in Solidarity With the Iran Revolution in Berlin and Bremen
Germany, Berlin and Bremen—January 6, 2024: Freedom-loving Iranians and supporters of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) organized rallies in solidarity with the Iranian Revolution.
Also, read Iran News in Brief – January 10, 2023
