Iranian Security Abducts Exiled Journalist’s Body From Airport

Antony Blinken, the Secretary of State, released a statement saying Washington would “continue to impose costs on individuals and entities in Iran who engage in the brutal repression of the Iranian people.”

The US Treasury, in a separate statement, said it was sanctioning officials in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, including its intelligence chief, and prisoner governors including Hedayet Farzadi, whom it named as warden of Tehran’s Evin prison, which has housed dual-national prisoners including still-held businessman Siamak Namazi. Heshmatollah Hayat Al-Ghaib, director-general for prisons in Tehran province, was also named.

The Treasury cited two officials in the south-east province of Sistan-Baluchistan, where Iranian security forces killed more than 80 Baluch residents during protests on September 30. Blinken’s statement cited Mohammed Reza Mirheydary, “chief of police in Isfahan Province…for his involvement in gross violations of human rights, namely the cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment of peaceful protestors during the November 2021 protests in Isfahan.” The Secretary of State noted that Mirheydary was now ineligible for entry into the US.

‘Disrupting communication’

The Treasury Department designated the Ravin Academy, which it said “trains individuals in cyber-security and hacking,” as well as Samane Gostar Sahab Pardaz, a company in the same field. Blinken’s statement alleged some trained at Ravin had “been involved in directly disrupting the communication of those protesting against the Iranian regime.”

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The designations allow the US authorities to seize any assets held in the US and to sanction anyone – American or third-party – dealing with them. US ‘maximum pressure’ sanctions already threaten punitive action against any person or entity worldwide in contact with the Iranian financial system.

Blinken gave Wednesday’s total number of designations as 14 individuals and three entities, so “demonstrating our commitment to use all appropriate tools to hold all levels of the Iranian government to account.”

In September the US designated several Iranian companies over involvement in alleged supply of drones to Russia, ten involved in Iran’s energy exports, and Iran’s ‘morality police’ following the September 14 death in custody of a young woman.

‘Hypocritical statements’

After being sanctioned last week by the European Union over the alleged supply of drones to Russia, Major General Mohammad Bagheri, chief of staff of Iran’s armed forces, suggested his seized assets should be used to “buy coal” for the coming winter – a reference to fears over diminished Russian energy supplies.

Analysts have pondered the likely effects of extending sanctions on talks, currently frozen, to restore the 2015 agreement – the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) – limiting Iran’s nuclear program. Iran’s Foreign Minister Amir-Abdollahian Wednesday said US officials were making “hypocritical statements in the media in a way that contradicts their diplomatic messages.”

Special envoy Rob Malley recently told CNN US policy was “not of regime change instigated from Washington.” Officials have said that while talks remain the best way to revive the JCPOA, this was not their “main focus.” There have been no reports lately of parallel talks for a prisoner-swap, possibly including Namazi, with some analysts suggesting contacts are on hold pending the US Congressional elections November 8.

Tasnim and Fars news agencies affiliated with the Revolutionary Guard said that 10-13 people were killed and about 15 wounded, but the later government media raised the death toll to 15.

According to these reports three or four people opened fire inside the shrine and two were arrested.

Tasnim quoted a security source who said those responsible were "Takfiri, Wahhabi elements," referring to Sunni extremists.

Nationwide protests are raging in Iran on Wednesday to mark the 40th day of Mahsa Amini’s death, who was arrested by the ‘morality police’ in mid-September and died in police custody.

The information from government-controlled websites cannot be independently verified and the possibility of a false-flag operation to blame the protesters and “enemies” of the Islamic Republic exists.

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Two days after saying Iran would “not remain indifferent” to such use, Amir-Abdollahian rejected “the baseless claims of some countries.” Addressing a press conference with visiting Belorussian Foreign Minister Vladimir Maki, Amir-Abdollahian said Ukrainian authorities should “present any evidence…in a bilateral meeting with the attendance of experts.”

Visiting Washington, Israeli President Isaac Herzog said Tuesday he would give the United States officials photographic proof of Russia using Iranian drones in Ukraine. Herzog’s office said this would involve visual evidence that fragments of drones were identical to those developed in Iran.

The US has already said it has evidence of Russia’s use of Iranian drones, sanctioning several Iranian companies in September. CNN October 18 displayed a drone, apparently intact, which it claimed Ukrainian forces had shot down and was a Mohajer-6 drone with the marking ER-860. The European Union and the United Kingdom last week sanctioned three Iranian commanders and a defense company.

‘Extreme and hasty views’

Amir-Abdollahian told Wednesday’s press conference the leaders “of a few countries in the EU” had “extreme and hasty views on regional and international developments.”

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France and the United Kingdom last week joined the US in presenting a letter to the United Nations Secretariat arguing that Iran’s alleged supply of drones to Russia contravened UN Security Council Resolution 2231, which endorsed the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement, the JCPAO (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action). Talks to revive the JCPOA, which the US left in 2018, are currently in abeyance.

Amir-Abdollahian said Iran had received a letter from the US over JCPOA restoration and that diplomacy was “going well.” Nonetheless, “some American officials” had made “hypocritical statement in the media in a way that contradicts their diplomatic messages.” The foreign minister called US sanctions – which Tehran is seeking removed as a quid pro quo for restoring JCPOA limits on its nuclear program – “economic terrorism.”

US officials, most recently Iran envoy Rob Malley, have been saying since early October that JCPOA revival was not their focus, and no messages were sent to Tehran. Some, including Russia’s ambassador to UN bodies in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov, have suggested any progress in talks would come after US Congressional election November 8.

‘Various malign actors’

Ned Price, the US State Department Spokesman, said Tuesday that material presented at the UN Security Council by a UN expert over the alleged Russian use of Iranian drones “primarily was not US information,” and that the UN had obtained the information on its own. Price said there was “clear, unmistakable evidence of Iran’s support to various malign actors, from the Houthis [Ansar Allah in Yemen] to Russia to others in conflict zones around the world, of UAV [drone, unmanned aerial vehicle] technology.” The spokesman said Washington was “looking at what more we can do using our own authorities and what more collectively we can do with partners and allies around the world to hold Iran accountable…”

Iran’s drone program developed due partly to a lack of an effective air-force given international sanctions. The Shahed-129 may have been a copy of the Hermes 450, a drone made by Israel, which along with Turkey leads Middle East UAV production. Both the US and Turkey have supplied drones to Ukraine.

New Zealand's Foreign Ministry announced the news on Wednesday without any further details about the two travel bloggers, identified as Topher Richwhite and his wife Bridget Thackwray of 'Expedition Earth'.

Also on Wednesday, the New Zealand government updated its travel warnings for Iran and urged New Zealanders currently there to leave the country, which is convulsed with antigovernment protests ignited by the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini. Wellington also reiterated its call for restraint by the Islamic Republic’s authorities in responding to the demonstrations, and for greater protection of women's rights and freedom of expression.

Amid nationwide unrest and widespread arrests, several foreigners visiting Iran have disappeared, confirming earlier reports that the Islamic Republic is taking foreign citizens hostage.

Earlier in the day, The Associated Press reported that a Spanish man trekking from Madrid to Doha for the 2022 FIFA World Cup has not been heard from since the day after he crossed into Iran three weeks ago.

Tehran claims it has detained over a dozen foreign nationals since the current wave of protests began, and authorities keep repeating that the turmoil is incited by other countries. During a weekly press briefing, Iran’s judiciary spokesperson Masoud Setayeshi said more foreign nationals have been arrested in what he calls, the “case of the French spies,” adding that the newly detained individuals have been accused of “conspiracy and collusion”.

Other platforms including Facebook, Twitter and Telegram were banned after the 2009 Presidential election and in the aftermath of the November 2019 protests.

Despite the bans, Iranian officials, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei are present on social media and some have more than one account on every platform. Other Iranians also continue to use social media apps by paying for VPNs [Virtual Private Networks] that allow them to circumvent the ban.

Social media has revolutionized the authoritarian information space in Iran. The government has lost its monopoly on information and desperately tries to control the Internet. Social media has become a town square where citizens gather to criticize and berate the clerical regime.

Abbas Abdi, a reformist pundit who is allowed to express mild criticism of the regime has written to urge the government to follow what people say on social media, because that is where most people are talking. Mentioning the fact that President Ebrahim Raisi has visited all of Iran’s 31 provinces to see how people live and hear their complaints, Abdi told the government in a social media post that they are missing the chance to hear the people in the “largest Iranian province” – social media.

He likened social media to an underprivileged province, saying, "Social media in Iran is like a province with a population of 50 million."

Abdi then reminded the government that "Around 75 percent of Iranians over the age of 18 years use at least one of social media platform, and there are others who simply use the Internet for searching or emailing." He added that "Some 64 percent of these people are on WhatsApp, 45 percent on Instagram, and 36 percent on Telegram."

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The commentator highlighted that "This is the statistics from six months ago. Currently, more people are using social media, 20 percent of them for business," and pointed out that the number of social media users is even higher among the youth” with 83 percent using apps for messaging, fun or business.

Abdi further reminded that many Iranians' livelihood depends on their presence on social media while the government has banned these platforms and created problems for many Iranians. He wrote: "The government's reason for blocking social media is that it says 90 percent of Internet content in Iran is under the control of the enemies…If 90 percent of those on social media are your enemies, then, whose government are you?"

Abdi then stated that "At least 20 percent of those on social media in Iran earn their daily” by ecommerce and he asked the government: "Do you know that you are preventing 10 million people from having an income? Do you understand that Iran is suffering from a 40-percent inflation rate? How should these people make a living?"

On 25 October, Iranian sociologist Hossein Abolhassan Tanhaei wrote in an article, which was also posted in a series of tweets, that the government's plan to give discriminatory access to the Internet to various groups of Iranians and prevent each group from accessing certain information "will lead to public anger by giving everyone a reason to believe they have been subject to discrimination."

Tanhaei wrote that currently, people have very little trust in the government and this feeling of discrimination will trigger public anger. Like Abdi, Tanhaei also noted that Iranians running their business on social media platforms will be affected by restricted access more than everyone else, and they will show the most serious reaction to the government's plan.

On 22 October, clerics at the Qom Seminary wrote a letter to Raisi demanding a permanent ban on WhatsApp, Instagram and Telegram. Meanwhile, according to reformist daily Arman Melli, the Friday prayer imam of Mashad Ahmad Alamolhoda, Raisi's father-in-law, also called for a ban on Instagram. This comes while, according to the head of Iran's passive defence organization Gholamreza Jalali, "Iranian officials have unrestricted access to Instagram."

According to Jalali, the final decision about the ban on social media will be made by the Supreme Council of National Security, which operates under the President to carry out direct orders coming from Khamenei. Even before the "final" decision is made, Behrouz Mohebbi, an Iranian lawmaker close to Khamenei's senior adviser Ali Larijani told Arman Melli on Monday that "The government will most certainly not lift the ban on WhatsApp and Instagram as these platforms are supervised by the enemies of the Islamic Republic."