Tehran Lawmaker Rebukes Russia For Using Iran As ‘Playing Card’
A member of the Iranian parliament's national security commission has asserted that Russia cannot treat Iran as a mere "trump card or playing card."
A member of the Iranian parliament's national security commission has asserted that Russia cannot treat Iran as a mere "trump card or playing card."
Ebrahim Azizi underscored that the resilience of Russia's "glass palace" is directly linked to Iran's power and influence in the region.
Tehran and Moscow have been close political and military allies in the Middle East and the wider region for the past decade.
The declaration comes in response to Moscow's public endorsement of Arab claims to three strategically important Iranian islands in the Persian Gulf.
In a joint declaration issued in Morocco, Russia and the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) openly expressed their support for the United Arab Emirates, which lays claim to sovereignty over the islands. The ongoing discord surfaces every time during joint summits between the GCC and the Russian Federation, operating within the framework of Russian-Arab Cooperation.
Criticism has emerged from various quarters in Iran, including the media, opposition activists, and the general public, who perceive the regime's response to Russia's alignment with Arab states as inadequate.
Despite historical and geographical evidence validating the islands' connection to Iran, the United Arab Emirates consistently asserts its claim, characterizing the situation as the "continued occupation by the Islamic Republic of Iran."
Originally under British control in 1921, the islands took on new significance when, on November 30, 1971, just two days before the UAE officially federated, the Iranian navy secured control. Presently, Iranian forces maintain control of the islands, with only Abu Musa hosting a population of fewer than two thousand civilians.
Russia's alignment with Arab states has ignited discussions within Iran about the potential exploitation of Moscow's ties with Tehran in recent years, raising concerns about the geopolitical implications of the alignment.
Human Rights Activists in Iran (HRA) published its annual report for 2023 on December 28, in which diverse cases of human rights violations were detailed and categorized.
Spanning January 1 to December 20, 2023, the publication is the result of the collection, analysis and documentation of 9,656 human rights reports from 111 media and legal sources.
Crackdown On Labor Activists
According to the report, at least 2,021 protest rallies were held in Iran in 2023, the majority of which were trade union and labor demonstrations, including 111 labor strikes. Security and intelligence agencies used intimidation, arrests and prosecutions to intimidate labor activists.
Over the past months, protests and strikes have continued in different sectors as the Islamic Republic grapples with growing unrest fueled by unmet demands from retirees and workers.
Toward the end of December, workers at the Esfahan Steel Company halted operations, conveying their discontent through organized gatherings and chanting slogans.
Amidst the labor unrest, the regime-run Statistics Center of Iran (SCI) reported a household inflation rate of 45.5%. Alarmingly, one-third of the country is experiencing inflation rates exceeding 50%, as indicated by the same report.
Ongoing Repression Of Ethnic, Religious Minorities
The HRA 2023 report also stated that 324 people were arrested over their ethnic activism, 19 of whom were given 984 months of imprisonment by the Islamic Republic’s judiciary. In comparison with 2022, the numbers show a 44-percent increase in arrests and a 31-percent increase in prison sentences given to ethnic activists in Iran.
142 people were arrested for religious reasons and a total of 5,113 months of imprisonment were handed down to members of religious monitories in Iran. The HRA went on to say, that 85 percent of the reports regarding rights violations of religious monitories concern the Baha’i community.
In November, the Court of Appeals in northern Mazandaran province sentenced 14 Baha’i citizens to imprisonment and fines.
The Baha’i faith is not recognized as a legitimate religion by Iran’s Shiite clerical regime, leading to systematic and longstanding violations of the rights of Baha’is in the country.
Approximately 300,000 Baha'is reside in Iran, and they frequently document a pattern of regular rights violations. The violations encompass harassment, forced displacement from their residences and businesses, and unequal treatment regarding government employment and access to higher education.
Regime Targets Women Activists
Women activists were also severely targeted by the Iranian government in 2023. HRW reported that 44 women were arrested for their activism for women’s rights and 3,176 were prosecuted by the government over their refusal to wear compulsory hijab.
26 cases of rape and sexual harassment and 82 cases of murdering women were also documented by HRW. The report also stipulated that the Iranian government systematically deprives LGBT and queer groups of their rights.
In September, the Iranian parliament greenlit a bill titled “Protection of Family Through Promotion of Hijab and Chastity Culture.” Initially introduced by the government and subsequently amended by hardliner lawmakers, the legislation outlined penalties, including substantial fines, for women diverging from the prescribed Islamic dress code.
Freedom Of Speech Violations & Academic Repression
Violating freedom of thought and speech, the Iranian regime arrested 3,130 people in 2023 and handed down 25,124 months of imprisonment, according to the HRA report.
Human Rights Activists in Iran also documented 3,067 cases of university students being summoned to “disciplinary committees” at their academic institutions and 23 cases of interrogations by judiciary and intelligence entities outside universities. School students were targeted by a campaign of mysterious chemical poisoning in late 2022 and early 2023. Six thousand such cases of poisonings were reported in 2023.
Many Iranians suspect the mysterious poisoning incidents that affected tens of thousands of students across the country following anti-government protests were orchestrated as revenge by the regime or the religious hardliners it protects. This was perceived as a measure to intimidate and subdue the youth involved in the protest movement. The poisonings began in Qom on November 30, 2022, spreading nationwide until April, leading to hospitalizations and at least one reported death.
The Islamic Republic’s Juggernaut of Executions
HRA also noted that 746 people were executed in Iran in 2023, with 6 being executed in public, with 56 percent of the executions carried out over drug-related crimes and 35 percent over murder.
The United Nations, the European Union, and human right activists and groups have repeatedly voiced concern over the Islamic Republic’s execution juggernaut and its near-record killing spree in 2023.
In October, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres highlighted a surge in executions in Iran in a report submitted to the 78th session of the General Assembly.
A comparison with HRW’s 2022 report it becomes apparent that the Islamic Republic has intensified its crackdown against religious, ethnic and gender minorities, and also political and labor activists in 2023.
Ukraine’s military chief, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, said Friday that the Ukrainian air force intercepted 87 of the ballistic and cruise missiles and 27 of the Shahed-type drones overnight. The aerial attack that began Thursday and continued through the night, hitting six cities, including the capital, Kyiv, and other areas from east to west and north to south Ukraine.
Air Force commander Mykola Oleshchuk wrote on his official Telegram channel that it was “the most massive aerial attack” since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.
At least 88 people were injured and an unknown number were buried under rubble during the roughly 18-hour onslaught, Ukrainian officials said. Among the buildings reported to be damaged across Ukraine were a maternity hospital, apartment blocks and schools.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on X, “Today, Russia used nearly every type of weapon in its arsenal.”
Air Force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat said on air that an attack of this scale "has not been seen for a long time." According to the Ukrainian air force, the previous biggest assault was in November 2022 when Russia launched 96 missiles against Ukraine.
Western officials and analysts have recently warned that Russia had limited its cruise missile strikes in recent months in an apparent effort to build up stockpiles for massive strikes during the winter.
Iran has supplied hundreds of the kamikaze Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) to Russia since mid-2022, which Moscow has used extensively to target civilian infrastructure and cities.
The drones are also used during massive missile attacks to overwhelm Ukrainian air defenses. The drones are relatively cheap, costing around $20,000 each and Ukraine sometimes has to fire much more expensive anti-air missiles to bring them down.
