THIS PAGE WILL BE UPDATED WITH THE LATEST NEWS
UPDATE: 9:00 PM
Iranian Police Officials Admit High Toll in New Year Road Accidents
Traffic police chief Hassan Momeni acknowledged a surge in road accidents during the Iranian New Year holiday period, revealing alarming statistics. From March 14 to April 2, a staggering 813 fatalities were reported in road accidents, with an additional 21,441 individuals sustaining injuries. Among the recorded accidents, 667 were fatal, 17,056 were injury-causing, and 83,939 resulted in damage.
A day earlier, Sadegh Salimi, head of urban traffic police, disclosed that out of over 97,000 recorded accidents during the holiday period, 769 individuals lost their lives. On average, 49 fatalities and 1,115 injuries occurred daily. Approximately one million travelers have yet to return to their hometowns, including 600,000 Tehran residents.
The highest congestion of travelers was observed in Mazandaran, Gilan, East Azerbaijan, Razavi Khorasan, and the southern coastal strip (Khuzestan, Bushehr, and Hormozgan).
State-affiliated news agency, Rokna, highlighted the record casualties during Nowruz travels attributed to domestically manufactured vehicles, particularly Iran Khodro and SAIPA. Over 20,000 casualties were reported in 20 days.
The report underscores decades of concerning mortality and disability statistics in Iran’s road accidents, primarily due to the unsafe nature of domestic and non-standard vehicles. According to Rokna, domestic vehicles accounted for 86% of accidents, while foreign vehicles contributed 14%.
UPDATE: 6:30 PM
Iranian Bank Employees Launch Strike Over Economic Grievances
Bank employees across Iran launched a strike on Wednesday, April 3, in protest against the deteriorating economic conditions and the mismanagement by the incompetent authorities of the regime. The strike began at 11 a.m. with employees declaring that if their demands are not addressed, they will expand their strike actions.
#Iran News in Brief
Bank employees across Iran launched a strike on Wednesday, April 3, in protest against the deteriorating #economic conditions and the mismanagement by the incompetent authorities of the regime. The strike began at 11 a.m. with employees declaring that if their… pic.twitter.com/Q8S4sHYp3u— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) April 3, 2024
Iran’s National Airline Being Run By Revolutionary Guard Commander
Iran’s national airline is run by a senior commander from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), The Telegraph can disclose. It comes amid calls for Brussels to stop the airline from flying to Europe as part of a sanctions package over Tehran’s shipment of missiles and military hardware to its Middle Eastern proxies and Russia.
Intelligence obtained by the National Council of Resistance of Iran, the country’s exiled opposition movement, has found Brigadier Shamseddin Farzadipour to be controlling Iran Air.
Josep Borrell, the European Union’s top foreign diplomat, has so far resisted pressure from France, Germany, and the Netherlands, as well as the United States, to ramp up measures against Iran, arguing new sanctions would harm diplomatic outreach to Tehran.
UPDATE: 9:00 AM
PMOI Resistance Units Across Iran Spread The Message of “Women, Resistance, Freedom”
In a noticeable escalation of Iranian resistance activities, many Iranian cities have witnessed an intensive movement by PMOI Resistance Units, reflecting an unabating determination to confront the mullahs’ regime. These activities, varying from distributing banners to writing slogans on walls, embody the spirit of uprising and resistance against the repressive policies and regional interventions of the Iranian regime.
In the capital, Tehran, the events were distinguished by distributing banners bearing the image and slogans of Iranian Resistance leader Masoud Rajavi, announcing “the uprising” on the forty-third anniversary of the longest and most complex resistance movement in Iran’s history. These banners, carrying messages like “No to the Shah and no to the Mullahs,” call for renewing the determination to liberate the Iranian people from the clutches of the current regime and rejecting the return to the previous dictatorial regime.
March 2024 Report: Exposing Iran’s Crimes Against Humanity
The month of March saw a milestone session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva with regard to the violations of human rights in Iran, in addition to several reports by human rights organizations shedding light on the Iranian regime’s crimes against humanity and violations of the rights of Iranian women and girls. The UN Special Rapporteur on human rights violations in Iran, Professor Javaid Rehman, reached significant conclusions at the end of his six-year mandate indicating the need for international investigations into the massacre of political prisoners in Iran in 1988. In his report to the Human Rights Council, he urged the international community to call for accountability with respect to long-standing emblematic events that have been met with persistent impunity, including the enforced disappearances and summary and arbitrary executions of 1981 and 1988 and the protests of November 2019.
Iranian Official Calls for Change to Avoid Regime’s Fall
The precarious state of the Iranian regime has reached a point where numerous current officials feel compelled to voice their concerns, with some even issuing warnings to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei about the imminent downfall of the regime.
In an interview with the state-run website Fararu, Heshmatollah Falahatpishe, former Chairman of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of the Parliament, delved into the internal and external crises gripping the regime.
He scrutinized the regime’s foreign policy, particularly its tendency to interfere in the affairs of other nations, asserting:
“The forthcoming Parliament will witness factions vying with each other to radicalize foreign policy. Representatives will shy away from questioning expenditures in foreign interventions like Syria. Discussion on Iran’s one-sided relationship with Russia, which has undermined our nation’s standing in international circles, will be notably absent.”
Death of Quds Force Commander Zahedi in Israeli Strike Deals Blow to Iran
Iran’s state-run media reported the death of Mohammad Reza Zahedi, one of the top commanders of the Quds Force, along with his deputy Mohammad Hadi Hajirahimi, in Israeli airstrikes on the regime’s consulate building in Damascus, the capital of Syria, on Monday evening, April 1st.
In an announcement, the IRGC General Public Relations confirmed the deaths of seven of its forces in the Israeli attack on the consulate building and released their names. According to the IRGC announcement, Mohammad Reza Zahedi, Mohammed Hadi Haj Rahimi, Hossein Amanollahi, Seyyed Mehdi Jalalati, Mohsen Sedaqat, Ali Agha Babaei, and Ali Salehi Ruzbahani were the seven individuals killed in the attack.
Tasnim news agency reported that the consulate building, near the Islamic Republic of Iran embassy in Damascus, was completely destroyed in the attack. AFP had previously reported that at least eight people were killed in the Israeli airstrikes on the building.
Questionable Motives Behind Iran’s Death Sentence for Police Officer Who Killed Protester
International media including Agence France Presse reported on Wednesday that an Iranian police officer, Jafar Javanmardi, had been sentenced to death over the killing of a protester during the country’s nationwide uprising in late 2022. The victim, Mehran Samak, expressed support for the anti-government protest movement on November 30 of that year by honking his vehicle’s horn to celebrate Iran’s national soccer team losing to the US at the World Cup. In direct response to that gesture, Javanmardi reportedly fired at least one blast of pellets from a shotgun, killing Samak.
Reports of Javanmardi’s sentencing did not make it clear whether or not he was the only officer involved in the incident. Neither did they specify what evidence the court used to ascertain that he alone was responsible for the killing. This is arguably noteworthy because since the end of 2022, a number of protesters have been held responsible for the deaths of security officials, only for questions to arise from defense attorneys and human rights advocates about the fairness of their trials and the veracity of the evidence used in securing convictions.
Portsmouth, England—April 2, 2024: Freedom-Loving Iranians Organize an Exhibition to Support the Iranian Revolution
Portsmouth, England—April 2, 2024: Freedom-loving Iranians, and supporters of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) organized a book exhibition, and petition collection in support of the Iranian Revolution, political prisoners, and to stop torture and executions.