THIS PAGE WILL BE UPDATED WITH THE LATEST NEWS
UPDATE: 8:30 PM CEST
Orders of Banning Women from Entering Stadium Came from Tehran, Local Officials Say
Ali Akbar Hashemi Javaheri, Director General of the Sports and Youth Department in Khorasan Razavi Province said: “As you are aware, in such competitions, the number of spectators and other issues will be coordinated from Tehran. We were executing the decisions that were made in Tehran. We and the Provincial Security Council all listened and carried out the orders that came from Tehran.”
Earlier, the regime’s Supreme Leader’s representative in Mashhad, Alam al-Hoda, had incited the regime’s mercenaries to suppress women during a speech at the city’s Friday Prayer Sermon.
“If a group of girls and boys gather on the sidelines of a sports program, if this group of girls and women get excited, clap, whistle, and jump in the air, this becomes vulgarity and vulgarity is a manifestation of sin,” Alam al-Hoda had said.
UPDATE: 5:30 PM CEST
300 Iranian Cities Are Dealing with Water Stress
According to the state-run newspaper Etemad on March 30, the Iranian regime’s Minister of Energy, Ali Akbar Mehrabian, announced that about 300 cities, including some large cities and provincial capitals, are in a state of water stress.
Last year, the regime’s former energy minister promised to reduce water tensions in these cities with a budget of 3,200 billion tomans, which seems to have not been resolved.
According to reports, the last water year in Iran was the least rainy in the last fifty years. The consequences of this problem in large cities are exacerbated by the inefficiency of water supply for urban and agricultural consumption. According to statistics provided in February 2022, the water outflow of dams has decreased by 24%.
U.S. Imposes Sanctions on Key Actors in Iran’s Ballistic Missile Program
WASHINGTON, March 30 (Reuters) – The United States on Wednesday imposed sanctions on an Iran-based man and his network of companies it accused of helping Tehran obtain materials for its ballistic missile program, acting after missile attacks by suspected Iranian-backed proxies on countries in the region.
In a statement issued as talks on reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal have stalled, the U.S. Treasury Department said it acted after Iran’s missile attack on Erbil in Iraq and an “Iranian enabled” Houthi missile attack against a Saudi Aramco facility this month, as well as other missile attacks by Iranian proxies against Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
UPDATE: 11:00 AM CEST
Iran Lacks 100,000 Nursing Staff, Official Admits
According to Abbas Ebadi, Deputy Minister of Nursing at the Ministry of Health, due to the lack of recruitment of nursing staff in recent years, there is a shortage of at least 100,000 nurses in the country.
In a meeting with nurses in Dezful city, South Iran, he admitted that measures taken in the field of providing nurses’ livelihoods and helping to eliminate the shortage of manpower in recent years have been insufficient.
In order to reduce the nurses’ protests, he vowed: “We hope that the Nursing Services Tariff Law, while helping to implement justice in payments, will reduce the complaints of nurses in this area to some extent.”
Saudi’s Unilateral Yemen Cease-fire Offer Rejected by Rebels
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The Saudi-led coalition fighting rebels holding Yemen’s capital planned a unilateral cease-fire to begin early Wednesday ahead of the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. The Houthis rejected the proposal as “meaningless” without the coalition fully reopening the country’s ports.
The coalition planned to begin the unilateral cease-fire at 6 a.m. (0300 GMT) to facilitate negotiations in the kingdom that Yemen’s Houthi rebels are boycotting.
Saudi Oil Chief Says Energy Security Imperiled by Attacks
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Saudi Arabia’s oil chief said markets are going through a “jittery period” and reiterated Tuesday that the kingdom’s ability to ensure energy security is no longer guaranteed.
Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said cross-border attacks have put to question “our ability to supply the world with the necessary energy requirements.” The attacks have been carried out by Yemen’s rebel Houthis, who are supported by Iran.
UPDATE: 9:00 AM CET
Iranian Women Attacked for Trying to Watch Football Match
On Tuesday, March 29, the Iranian regime prohibited women to attend a football match between Iran and Lebanon in Mashhad, Northeast Iran. According to reports, security forces attacked women and girls who had gathered in front of the city’s football stadium with pepper spray and tried to disperse the crowd. Defying FIFA rules, women in Iran have systematically not been allowed to participate in matches.
Eliminating Subsidies for Medicine Can Create a Dangerous Crisis for Iran’s Regime
The Iranian regime’s Majlis (parliament) passed a motion agreeing with eliminating the subsidized currency (the U.S. dollar exchanged at a cheaper price of 42,000 rials) in this fiscal year’s budget despite prior warnings about the possible skyrocketing inflation and eventual economic crisis. The market exchange rate is around 270,000 rials per dollar.
Contradictory remarks by officials of the regime’s Health Ministry over eliminating the subsidized dollar used to import medicine at cheaper prices have been causing grave concerns among ordinary Iranians over the rapid increase in the cost of medicine across the board.
Iran’s Groundwater, Devastated by the Mullah’s Regime
Life would not be possible without groundwater, and the most barren areas of the world depend on it, one way or other. Groundwater supplies a large proportion of the water used for drinking, sanitation, food production, industrial processes, etc. It is also critically necessary for the healthy functioning of ecosystems, such as wetlands and various bodies of water.
As a result, every country must protect its water resources against improper exploitation and more than the amount of water provided by rain and snow, as well as against industrial pollution. Otherwise, this could lead to the depletion of these resources.
Nowruz to Nowruz, One Execution per Day in Iran
On March 18, 2022, on the eve of the traditional Iranian celebration Nowruz, Iranian dissidents declared the Tehran regime had hanged at least 365 inmates since March 21, 2021. These executions are in addition to those who lost their lives due to torture or arbitrary murders practiced by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), State Security Forces (SSF), or the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS). According to the Iran Azadi website, the regime in Iran executed political prisoners, women, elderly inmates, and juvenile offenders. According to rights activists, authorities in Iran executed at least five political prisoners in the past 12 months.
Key Sections on Iran’s 1988 Massacre in Amnesty International’s Annual Report
“Ebrahim Raisi, rose to the presidency in June instead of being investigated for crimes against humanity related to the mass enforced disappearances and extrajudicial executions of 1988, reflecting systemic impunity in Iran”
This is quoted from Amnesty International’s annual report on the human rights situation in the world in 2021 in the section on human rights violations in Iran.
Sweden, March 29, 2022: Freedom-loving Iranians, MEK Supporters Rally in Front of Stockholm Court
Sweden, March 29, 2022: Freedom-loving Iranians, supporters of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), rally in front of Stockholm court. MEK supporters are seeking justice for 30,000 political prisoners executed by the mullahs’ regime in the 1988 massacre. At the same time as the rally, the 77th session of the trial of the executioner Hamid Noury, one of the executioners of the 1988 massacre of political prisoners in Gohardasht prison, was held in the Stockholm District Court.
Iran: Coronavirus Death Toll Surpasses 527,500 Coronavirus Infection Is on the Rise Again
The People’s Mojahedin Organization announced on Tuesday, March 29, 2022, that the Coronavirus death toll in 547 cities across Iran was more than 527,500. The number of victims Tehran has reached 124,175, Khorasan Razavi 42,015, Isfahan 36,780, Khuzestan 31,710, Fars 20,345, West Azerbaijan 19,948, Mazandaran 18,760, East Azerbaijan 18,328, Gilan 18,075, Lorestan 17,090, Alborz 15,483, Kerman 14,472, Sistan and Baluchestan 14,420, Qom 13,985, Golestan 11,285, Kermanshah 9,844, Hamedan 9,843, Central Province 9,533, Hormozgan 8,715, Yazd 8,673, Kurdistan 8,597, Semnan 6,895, Ardabil 6,811, North Khorasan 6,793, Qazvin 6,358, Bushehr 5,884, Ilam 5,023, South Khorasan 4,766, and Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari 4,080.
Read more: Iran News in Brief – March 29, 2022