THIS PAGE WILL BE UPDATED WITH THE LATEST NEWS
UPDATE: 9:30 PM CET
Iran Uprising at a Glance
Based partially on reporting by PMOI (MEK) Network in Iran
Sunday, April 30, 2023 – 8 PM GMT + 1
- Days: 227
- Protests: 282 cities
- Fatalities: 750+ estimated deaths, 675 identified by MEK
- Detentions: 30,000
Iran’s nationwide uprising witnessed its 227th day on Sunday. According to reports by the Iranian opposition, Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), various protest rallies took place across the country.
April 30 – Bandar Mahshahr, southwest #Iran
More footage of workers of the Razi petrochemical complex on strike, joining the nationwide campaign of industrial workers going on strike.#IranNationWideStrikes #اعتصابات_سراسری pic.twitter.com/IOd1pO5GTm— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) April 30, 2023
Workers of the Razi petrochemical complex in Bandar Mahshahr, southwest Iran, went on strike on Sunday, joining the nationwide campaign of industrial workers going on strike. In addition, workers of various industrial projects near the Jafir area in Khuzestan Province, southwest Iran, went on strike on Sunday, joining their colleagues in at least 110 other such industrial sites in 38 cities across 13 provinces throughout Iran.
April 30 – Jafir, Khuzestan Province, southwest #Iran
Workers of various industrial projects in this area are on strike, joining the #IranNationwide Strikes campaign of Iranian workers demanding higher salaries.#IranProtests #اعتصابات_سراسریpic.twitter.com/tKC0ukN6bL— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) April 30, 2023
In other reports, workers of the Yazd Tire Industrial Complex held a gathering in the city of Yazd, central Iran, and protested for their rights. In the capital, Tehran, employees of the city Traffic Control held a protest gathering outside the City Council demanding their rights.
April 30 – Tehran, #Iran
Employees of the Tehran Traffic Control are holding a protest gathering outside the City Council demanding their rights.#IranProtests pic.twitter.com/0yAgsykegs— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) April 30, 2023
Pensioners and retirees of the regime’s Social Security Organization in the cities of Tehran, Isfahan, Rasht, Arak, Ahvaz, and Kermanshah held rallies on Sunday. They protested high prices, poverty, corruption, inflation, poor living conditions, and officials’ refusal to address their demands.
April 30 – Kermanshah, western #Iran
Pensioners and retirees of the regime's Social Security Organization are protesting high prices, poverty, corruption, inflation, poor living conditions and officials' refusal to address their demands.#IranProtests2023 pic.twitter.com/LZAWACpVIw— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) April 30, 2023
April 30 – Ahvaz, southwest #Iran
Pensioners and retirees of the regime's Social Security Organization are protesting high prices, poverty, corruption, inflation, poor living conditions and officials' refusal to address their demands.#IranProtests2023 pic.twitter.com/HGnpnxxClu— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) April 30, 2023
April 30 – Rasht, northern #Iran
Pensioners and retirees of the regime's Social Security Organization are protesting high prices, poverty, corruption, inflation, poor living conditions and officials' refusal to address their demands.#IranProtests2023 pic.twitter.com/SbPu5VKsDE— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) April 30, 2023
Nurses in Shiraz, south-central Iran, held a gathering on Sunday, protesting the regime’s unjust policies that are depriving them of their deserved paychecks and pensions.
April 30 – Shiraz, south-central #Iran
Nurses held a gathering protesting the regime's payment methods that are depriving them of their basic rights.#IranProtestspic.twitter.com/QvfmUSxKb5— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) April 30, 2023
A group of seasonal and daily workers of a local petrochemical complex in Qeshm, southern Iran, held a gathering on Sunday to mark International Workers Day.
April 30 – Qeshm, southern #Iran
A group of season and daily workers of the local petrochemical complex held a gathering to mark #InternationalWorkersDay. pic.twitter.com/LoHkPwZ1sF— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) April 30, 2023
Regime operatives launched a chemical gas attack on Sunday targeting the all-girls Dr. Spervarin High School in Karaj, west of Tehran, leaving many students poisoned and in need of medical care.
A group of disabled locals in the city of Torbat-e Jam in northeast Iran gathered outside the regime’s Welfare Organization on Sunday, protesting the violation of their rights.
April 30 – Torbat-e Jam, northeast #Iran
A group of disabled locals held a gathering outside the regime's Welfare Organization protesting the violation of their rights.#IranProtests pic.twitter.com/tztS1WtGbp— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) April 30, 2023
Locals in the Ekbatan district of the Iranian capital, Tehran, were chanting anti-regime slogans on Saturday night.
April 29 – Tehran, #Iran
Locals in the capital's Ekbatan district were chanting anti-regime slogans, including:
"Down with Khamenei, the murderer!"#IranRevolution pic.twitter.com/ZhtggYGb5U— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) April 29, 2023
UPDATE: 2:30 PM CET
New Executions Reported in Iran
Today, April 30, the Iranian regime’s Judiciary executed four Baloch citizens in the prisons of Southeastern Iran. According to a local human rights organization, two people were executed in Iranshahr and two others in Zahedan. One of those executed in Zahedan was married and had six children.
According to a Kurdish human rights organization, three prisoners in Mahabad Central Prison identified as Salahuddin Rahmanpour, Hoshiar Mish Bahar, and Osman Alinejad have committed suicide in protest against the authorities’ refusal to finalize their status in prison.
Be Tough in Seizing Iran Oil, Bipartisan Senators Urge Biden
WASHINGTON (AP) — A dozen senators are making a bipartisan appeal to President Joe Biden to reinvigorate the power of U.S. authorities to seize Iranian oil assets under an enforcement program they say has been allowed to languish.
Despite existing sanctions, Iranian oil exports jumped 35% last year and proceeds are being used to sponsor attacks on U.S. citizens and service members as well as allies, the senators said in a letter to the president.
Brinkmanship at sea was on display Thursday when masked Iranian navy commandos seized a U.S.-bound oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman, one of several vessels it has taken as bargaining chips in negotiations with the West. Without providing evidence, Tehran said the tanker had run into an Iranian vessel.
Another Member of Ebrahim Raisi’s Cabinet Impeached
According to state media, Reza Fatemi Amin, the Minister of Industry, Mining and Trade was impeached today by the tightly vetted parliament.
The state-run Tejarat news reported: “After a lot of tension, the impeachment hearing of the Minister of Industry, Mining, and Trade began this morning, and after an hour’s break, the representatives returned to the parliament to continue the meeting. At this session, Ebrahim Raisi and Reza Fatemi Amin confirmed the narrative about some SUVs being distributed among the representatives but declared that it was related to the previous administration and that the parliament was not under the burden of this rent. At the end of the impeachment hearing of Fatemi Amin, 137 representatives voted for his dismissal, and 101 voted against it. The vote did not prevent Raisi’s darling from mounting off the government train.”
UPDATE: 11:00 AM CET
Iranian Regime Shows Indication of Increasing Social Oppression
In an effort to increase social pressure, the IRGC-run Fars News Agency claimed that the continuation of the seizure and sealing of shops is a public demand.
According to the news agency, about one million people have signed petitions to support the effort. A police department report shown to the agency lists the malls and restaurants that have been sealed during this period. The source announced that approximately 1,800 food and beverage units were inspected between April 15 and April 27 allegedly “in response to people’s concerns and demands in dealing with hijab violations and inappropriate clothing, which has been causing concern among the public recently.”
Iran Believed To Be Developing ICBM to Target America
Iran’s missile program has received considerably less attention than its nuclear program; however, it could directly threaten the U.S. homeland. The Iranians have disguised their quest for an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) under the guise of its drive for space technology, not unlike the Soviets with Sputnik in 1957.
“The IRGC space program, which is separate from the state-run space program, adds complexity to this picture. The IRGC space program initially did serve, more or less, as a cover for developing long-range missile technologies, but it appears to have a larger purpose recently,” the U.S. Institute for Peace said last June. “Regardless of Tehran’s intent, international concerns will probably grow as Iran develops more capable rockets for satellite launching for fear that they these could be re-purposed as long-range ballistic missiles.”
UPDATE: 9:00 AM CET
Iran’s Protests Continue With Brave Baluchis Renewing Major Anti-Regime Rallies
Protests by people from different walks of life in Iran are continuing on this 226th day of the nationwide uprising following a busy day of demonstrations and protests by the brave Baluchis in the cities of Zahedan and Fanuj in Sistan & Baluchestan Province of southeast Iran. Thousands of courageous locals in Zahedan took to the streets following their weekly Friday prayers and launched a major anti-regime demonstration with slogans specifically targeting the mullahs’ top echelons. In the town of Fanuj people are angry and continued their protests in response to the regime’s security forces attacking a number of locals and opening fire on protesters. At least seven people were killed and injured by the regime’s criminal forces.
Women Workers in Iran Facing Risks, Unemployment, and Inequality
May 1st is a recognized public holiday in numerous countries worldwide, commemorating the struggles and sacrifices of workers and laborers. Traditionally, this day is marked with demonstrations where workers voice their concerns about working and living conditions through slogans. Unfortunately, under the clerical regime in Iran, May 1st is not an official holiday, and the regime suppresses any demonstrations or protests. In fact, the clerical regime’s policies have intensified poverty, especially for women workers in Iran. During its 44-year reign, the mullahs’ regime in Iran has implemented various anti-worker policies that have worsened workers’ living standards. These policies include dismissing official workers, promoting temporary and white-signed contracts, laying off the labor force in factories and workshops, and suspending production.
Revealed: Secret Files Show Iran’s Globetrotting Killers Have Seized Its Economy
An Iranian general, Qasem Soleimani, was leaving Baghdad airport on January 3, 2020, when his car was hit by American-guided missiles fired from a drone. There was little left of him or his entourage: his remains could be identified only by the ruby ring he wore on his left hand.
Donald Trump, then president, ordered the killing. Soleimani was the right-hand man of the “supreme leader”, Ali Khamenei, and commanded Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a shadowy organisation accused of terrorising the West and targeting Iranian dissidents around the world. “He was the right fist of the Ayatollah,” Lindsey Graham, a Republican congressman, proclaimed after the missile strike: “We took the Ayatollah’s arm off.”
Obtained by the People’s Mojahedin Organisation of Iran (MEK), the documents’ authenticity is hard to verify. But, for independent experts, the tone and style of writing was typical of Iran’s institutional bureaucracy.
Evidence of the IRGC’s growing economic management role is certain to fuel concerns over Tehran’s ambitions: “All business with the mullahs feeds the IRGC, internal repression and terror, regional warfare and the programme to acquire nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles,” said Shahin Gobadi, a spokesman for the MEK.
Iran Regime’s Economic Ties With China: A One-Sided Relationship
Iran’s regime and China’s economic relations have been a topic of discussion for some time. Although economic relations between countries typically bring some benefits to their people, it is difficult to make the same claim for Iran’s regime. The regime’s destructive nature casts doubt on the potential advantages of any foreign relations.
China’s economic relations with Iran date back to the 1980s. In recent years, these relations have grown stronger as China has become the regime’s biggest trading partner. In 2022, China’s trade with the regime amounted to around $15 billion. The two countries have also signed a 25-year comprehensive strategic partnership agreement, which includes economic cooperation and infrastructure development.
Reza Pahlavi’s Visit to Israel on 16 July Sparks Outrage in Iran
In a move that gave the clerical regime a chance to breathe a sigh of relief and reassemble its scattered forces that had been shaken under the steps of popular protests and activities of centers of rebellion (as it claimed), Reza Pahlavi, son of the deposed Shah, recently traveled to Israel at the invitation of the Israeli Minister of Intelligence and participated in official programs of Holocaust commemoration.
Taking advantage of Pahlavi’s visit to Israel, the Iranian regime effectively seized the opportunity to suppress protests across the country and tried to discredit these anti-government protests that began in September 2021 by lying and attributing them to foreign countries, including Israel. This method is similar to that of the former Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi and the mercenaries of the mullahs who claimed that the October uprising in Iraq was supported and backed by the US embassy.
Also, read Iran News in Brief – April 29, 2023
