THIS PAGE WILL BE UPDATED WITH THE LATEST NEWS
UPDATE: 10:00 PM CEST
Lake Urmia Is Diminishing, State Official Admits
Javad Mohammadi, deputy director of operations at West Azerbaijan’s water company, acknowledged the further diminishing of Lake Urmia, saying: “The extent of Lake Urmia has decreased by 1,226 square kilometers compared to the same period last year.”
“The water level of Lake Urmia has considerably changed from the same time last year and its current level is 68 cm less than the same time last year,” he added.
Calls for Justice in Iran Continues to Echo in Stockholm
Today, while Hamid Noury, a former prison guard stood trial before the Swedish Justice system, Iranians and relatives of the massacred political prisoners in 1988 in Iran, held a demonstration in Stockholm and called for the trial of the regime’s Supreme Leader Khamenei, president Ebrahim Raisi and Chief Justice Mohseni Ejei for committing genocide and crimes against humanity.
UPDATE: 7:00 PM CEST
Tehran-backed Militants in Syria Have Started UAV Training, Lebanese Paper Reports
The Lebanese daily Al-Nahar reported on March 29: “The Iranian regime’s militias in Syria have suddenly started training to use UAVs in Deir ez-Zur. The recent change is taking place after the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the relocation of many militants between Deir ez-Zor and Raqqa, as well as the deployment of reinforced units to some axes where Russian-affiliated forces were previously stationed. The IRGC’s Quds Force, which is on the US list of terrorist organizations, is behind the training.”
Iran Is The Most Serious Regional Threat, US Admiral Says
“From a regional perspective, Iran is the most serious threat,” said Admiral Brad Cooper, commander of United States Naval Forces Central Command on March 28.
“One of the best things that all countries agree on is to integrate air defense in the region,” he said. “I think this is the biggest opportunity. I think another way to deal with it is to increase maritime security.”
Discussing the regime’s threat more in detail, he added: “We saw the work of these proxy groups last week in Saudi Arabia on a completely different level… We seized about 9,000 weapons, a large number of missile parts, and a variety of smaller parts last year. They were each supposed to go to the battlefield in Yemen, but they will not go there anymore.”
Iraq’s Kurds Face Iranian Resistance to Energy Development, PM Says
DUBAI, March 29 (Reuters) – The development of oil and gas in Iraq’s northern Kurdish region may not be in the interest of major regional energy producer Iran, Kurdish Prime Minister Masrour Barzani said on Tuesday.
Attacks on the region’s capital Erbil and the federal government’s legal actions have demonstrated the resistance to development in the energy-rich region. Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said early this month it struck Israeli “strategic centres” in Erbil in retaliation for an Israeli air raid that killed two of its members in Syria. But most of the 12 missiles fired into the Kurdish capital hit the villa of a Kurdish businessman involved in the autonomous region’s energy sector.
UPDATE: 2:00 PM CEST
U.S. Uses New Mideast Forum to Address Iran Deal Concerns
The U.S. said it would work with Middle Eastern states against threats from Iran as it sought to reassure allies concerned about efforts to revive Tehran’s nuclear deal.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken joined a meeting on Monday hosted by Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid and attended by counterparts from the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Egypt, and Morocco. The grouping represented a “new regional architecture” that would deter “common enemies” such as Iran and its proxies, and become a permanent forum, Lapid said at a joint news briefing.
Iranian Regime’s Foreign Minister Still Under Fire for Statements About Yielding on FTO Precondition
A state-run website called “Eslahat Press” (Persian for ‘Reform Press’) wrote on March 28: “A team which is critical of the current nuclear talks, led by former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili, is trying to make sure that the negotiations for the revival of the JCPOA will not succeed or they will be steering the developments towards Amir-Abdullahian’s impeachment.”
According to the source, Ali Khezrian, a member of the Iranian regime’s parliament, described the foreign minister’s remarks on the US State Department’s FTO as ‘gulfing between the interests of the IRGC and the people’ and said: “We’re not talking about personal interests here. At the end of the day, this (waiving Tehran’s demand about the IRGC removal from FTO) is against the national interest, and this just reinforces the enemy’s agenda to create a gap between the pillars of the system and the people, and this has been a very wrong statement.”
Canada To Call for Better Global Air Investigation Rules
Canada is expected to urge a virtual safety forum on Tuesday for improved global rules governing air accident investigations, citing the 2020 downing of the PS752 Ukrainian jetliner.
Omar Alghabra, Canada’s transport minister, plans to tell the Safer Skies forum that the guidelines must be reformed in cases where the main country investigating a crash caused or participated in downing an aircraft.
Hosted by Transport Canada and the Safer Skies Consultative Committee, the forum will see international representatives from the civil aviation industry mitigate airspace risks over conflict zones.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Evacuate Homes Near Nairab Airport in Syria’s Aleppo
Iranian Revolutionary Guards commanders and Syrian regime officers informed locals living in neighborhoods close to the Nairab military airport in Aleppo governorate to evacuate their homes for “security reasons.”
The clearing of civilians coincided with military measures and activities carried out by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and its loyalist militias in the northern and northeastern regions.
Exclusive Iran Struck Iraq Target Over Gas Talks Involving Israel – Officials
BAGHDAD/ANKARA, March 28 (Reuters) – A nascent plan for Iraq’s Kurdistan region to supply gas to Turkey and Europe – with Israeli help – is part of what angered Iran into striking the Kurdish capital Erbil with ballistic missiles this month, Iraqi and Turkish officials say.
The March 13 attack on Erbil came as a shock to officials throughout the region for its ferocity and was a rare publicly declared assault by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).
UPDATE: 8:30 AM CEST
How the Revolutionary Guards Became the Sticking Point in the Nuclear Talks
A few weeks ago, the parties engaged in the ongoing talks over the Iranian regime’s nuclear program were regularly talking about being very close to a final agreement, taking the final steps, a return to the nuclear deal is imminent, etc.
But the past two weeks, optimism over a nuclear deal has fizzled, and according to news reports and statements made by the parties involved, the key point of tension is the removal of the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) from the U.S. list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO).
Iranians Tangled in Regime-created Economic Hardships
Since the mullahs’ regime seized power in Iran following the 1979 revolution, the country has been on a path of negative growth and economic decline. The regime has been plundering the nation’s wealth and resources and devastating industrial production and growth to further its own objectives. The regime’s economic bankruptcy has reached a point where its media and economic experts are acknowledging the economic hardships the government and the people must face with the new yearly budget.
Zinat Mazidi, 20, Murdered by Father in South Iran
Zinat Mazidi was from Dehno village, in Zarrin Dasht, in Fars province, southern Iran. The news of this femicide circulated on social media on March 26.
Iran: The Cost of Housing Has Made People Poorer
If we look at the challenging conditions of the Iranian people these days, we see that most people are struggling to make ends meet and trying to make ends meet by resorting to low-quality and cheaper foods. Many families have eliminated meat and fruit from their diet and consume cheap vegetables instead because they cannot afford to buy meat and fruit.
Many others give up buying new clothes and put on their old-fashioned clothes. However, providing shelter for every family breadwinner is not a luxury that one could ignore unless we expect people to return to living in tents and caves. Nowadays in Iran, however, housing has become a luxurious commodity that most people cannot afford.
Read more: Iran News in Brief – March 28, 2022