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UPDATE: 3:00 PM
Houthi Leader Acknowledges Casualties from Coalition Attacks, Claims Retaliatory Strikes
Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, the leader of the Houthi militia group backed by the Iranian regime, admitted on Friday, April 5, to casualties among his fighters due to attacks by coalition forces. Speaking about the consequences of the assaults, he revealed, “In 424 airstrikes and missile attacks by the United States and the United Kingdom on our positions in Yemen, 37 have been killed and 30 injured.”
Al-Houthi made these remarks during a televised program where he also asserted that his militia had targeted 90 ships in the Red Sea thus far. This claim emerged as General Alexus Grynkewich, the commander of US Air Force operations in the Middle East, declared on Thursday that the US’s continuous retaliatory strikes against the Iran-backed militia group had certainly influenced their behavior. He noted a slowdown in their operations compared to previous activities.
Iran Reaches Highest Number Of Executions In Nearly A Decade
Iran — already notorious for its high rate of executions — has ramped up its use of the death penalty, according to an Amnesty International report published Thursday. Amnesty found that Iran executed 853 people in 2023, the highest number recorded since 2015, and that more than half of those executions were carried out for offenses related to Iran’s renewed war on drugs.
In one case, Hossein Ali Dil Baluch, who was 27 and a member of the Baluch minority, which is disproportionately represented in death penalty cases, was secretly executed for a drug-related offense on Oct. 19, according to the report. He was taken in the middle of the night from the public section of prison without prior notice, despite the Revolutionary Court advising that he be referred to the Commission on Pardons and Commutations for his death sentence to be commuted to life imprisonment.
Following Release Of Additional Iran Sanctions Waivers, Scott Leads Republicans In Demanding Transparency From Biden Administration
WASHINGTON — In response to the Biden administration’s recent decision to release yet another Iran sanctions waiver, potentially worth billions of dollars, Senator Tim Scott (R-S.C.), Ranking Member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee and member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is continuing to lead efforts to hold the administration accountable and demand transparency for the American people on U.S. enabled payments to Iran, the leading state sponsor of terrorism. In a letter to Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, 13 Republican senators raised concerns that the latest waiver makes sanctioned Iranian funds, which could be used to fund terrorism, more accessible to the Iranian regime and disregards congressional intent calling for severe restrictions on payments to Iran.
US Academics Urge Biden to Confront Iran With Aim of Stopping Middle East Chaos
A sizable list of US academics is urging President Joe Biden to take a firmer stance against Iran and come out in support of democratic resistance aimed at overthrowing the country’s autocratic government in response to the chaos enveloping much of the Middle East after 7 October.
The date, which marked a deadly attack by Hamas militants against civilian and military targets in Israel, has also come to signify the beginning of a new era for the Middle East which has been thrown into disarray by the outbreak of war in the Gaza Strip. Violence stemming from the conflict has already spread to nearby Jordan and Lebanon, while in the Red Sea militants linked to Houthi rebels in Yemen have attacked merchant ships bound for Israel and other vessels including US warships.
Summary Of Protests And Strikes In Iranian Cities In March 2024
The number of protests in March 2024 was at least 220 cases in Iran. This month saw 23 fewer protests compared to February 2024. The decrease in protests this month was due to the New Year holidays (13 days) as well as the month of Ramadan. The majority of protests this month were related to workers. The breakdown of protests is as follows:
Workers: 90 strikes
Retirees: 83 strikes
Nurses: 11 strikes
Truck drivers: 6 strikes
Farmers: 1 strike
Market traders: 1 strike
Other segments: 28 strikes
Total: 220 strikes
Iran’s Execution Surge: A Horrifying Rise in State-Sanctioned Killing
Amnesty International has released a scathing report, “Don’t Let Them Kill Us”: Iran’s Relentless Execution Crisis since the 2022 Uprising, exposing a dramatic increase in executions in Iran. In 2023, the Iranian regime executed at least 853 people, marking the highest number in eight years. This report paints a grim picture of a multi-pronged attack on human rights, with the death penalty used as a tool for both political repression and a harsh response to drug offenses.
The report lays bare the alarming scale of executions in Iran. With a staggering 48% increase compared to 2022 and a 172% jump from 2021, 2023 witnessed the most executions since 2015. This trend continues into 2024, with at least 95 executions documented by March. Amnesty International emphasizes that these numbers likely underestimate the true scale of the issue, as Iranian authorities refuse to release official statistics.
The Fallout of Warmongering: Iran Regime’s Miscalculations and Consequences
Shortly after Iran experienced nationwide protests in 2022, the regime’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, perceived the weakness and vulnerability of his regime in facing the people while losing its legitimacy. He felt a pressing need to inflame the destructive flames of war in Gaza to quell the explosive conditions within Iranian society and thwart potential uprisings.
Furthermore, he sought to utilize this warmongering strategy to address internal crises and disputes among the regime’s leaders and officials. Matters such as the previous parliamentary and assembly of experts elections, as well as the issue of his succession, loomed on the agenda. Without addressing them amidst an external crisis, new internal conflicts could arise within the regime.
According to the expectations of officials and experts close to him, this war was anticipated to follow the pattern of the 2006 Lebanon War (July 12, 2006 – August 14, 2006) lasting around one month, or the 2014 Gaza War (July 8 – August 26, 2014) lasting approximately seven weeks.
UPDATE: 9:30 AM
Iranian Regime Officials Warn About Khamenei’s Hollow Decision-Making Structure
In a stark exposition of the current state of Iran’s political landscape, the governmental newspaper Etemad has illuminated the metaphorical “taxidermy” of the country’s electoral system and parliamentary representation under the current regime. Before the widely boycotted parliamentary elections, Etemad articulated a concerning scenario, writing, “What is recently evident in the country’s electoral scene, from the process of disqualifications in the Assembly of Experts and the parliament, testifies to a danger beyond mere stage-setting and ‘taxidermy’ of the 2021 presidential elections… It has gone beyond merely hollowing out the interior and empty volumes, insisting that not even the appearance is to be preserved.”
Iranian Youth Must Wait 100 Years to Become Homeowners
Passing the 100-year waiting period for buying a home; becoming homeowners has fallen out of orbit.
In a new report, Etemad newspaper has addressed the issue of housing, stating that workers, employees, retirees, and teachers who receive minimal wages and salaries, along with 12 million Iranian youths on the brink of marriage, are in a situation where the minimum waiting period to buy a home has reached up to 100 years.
On Wednesday, April 3, the state-run Etemad newspaper, has written that the investment slope in the housing sector has been declining since 2021.
The newspaper, referring to a severe decline in housing transactions, has announced that a significant portion of the population is unable to buy homes because with these wages, they have fallen below the poverty line.
Treasury Targets Network Facilitating Shipments Valued in Hundreds of Millions for Iranian Military
WASHINGTON — Today, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is taking additional action against Iranian military revenue generation, targeting Oceanlink Maritime DMCC for facilitating the shipment of Iranian commodities on behalf of Iran’s Armed Forces General Staff (AFGS) and Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics (MODAFL). OFAC is also identifying 13 vessels managed by Oceanlink Maritime DMCC as blocked property. The Oceanlink Maritime DMCC-managed vessel HECATE recently loaded Iranian commodities valued at over $100 million dollars via a ship-to-ship (STS) transfer from another sanctioned tanker, the DOVER, on behalf of Iran’s Sepehr Energy Jahan Nama Pars (Sepehr Energy), which OFAC sanctioned in November 2023 for its role selling Iranian commodities for the AFGS and MODAFL.The Conditions Of Iran’s Housing Market Continue To Deteriorate
The latest reports by the Central Bank of Iran and the website Donyay-e Eghtesad show a significant rise in housing prices in Tehran along with a noticeable decline in transactions within this sector.
According to official data published by the Iranian Statistics Center on March 18, the average housing price in Tehran reached 833 million rials per square meter. This figure represents a significant increase from the previous year, when prices rose by 168.72 million rials per square meter, indicating a continuing upward trend in the housing market.
Experts believe that this trend of rising prices could further reduce housing transactions. Central Bank data for the 11-month period from 2022 show that the volume of housing transactions has reached its lowest level since 2016 and even earlier. By comparison, data from 2022 versus 2017 shows a 75% decline in housing transactions, a decline that industry professionals expect will continue.
Samaneh Asghari Imprisoned In Tehran To Serve One-Year Term
Women and children’s rights activist Samaneh Asghari was transferred to Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison to serve her one-year prison term.
Women and children’s rights activist Samaneh Asghari was transferred to Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison to serve her one-year prison term.“The one-year prison term for my wife was implemented today Wednesday, April 3, after she went to the Shahr-e Rey Court and was transferred to Evin Prison,” her husband announced.
Samaneh Asghari was arrested in September 2023 by security forces in her Tehran home and released on bail from Qarchak Prison in Varamin after twenty days.
Paris—April 3, 2024: MEK Supporters Organized an Exhibition in Solidarity With the Iranian Revolution
Paris, France—April 3, 2024: Freedom-loving Iranians and supporters of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) organized an exhibition and book table in solidarity with the Iranian Revolution.
