Hanging Judge Confirms Massacre Of Political Prisoners In Iran In 1980s

However, an Iranian lawmaker said that Putin is scheduled to visit Iran to follow up on the plans to further economic cooperation.

The head of the Iranian parliament's economic committee, Mohammad-Reza Pourebrahimi, said on Tuesday that planning for the expansion of economic ties between Tehran and Moscow will be on the agenda of the talks between the two presidents. 

Noting that Russians are now more keen on economic collaborations with Iran than in the past, referring to the restrictions imposed on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine. “The sanctions on Russia by the US and Europe made it more and more in need of economic cooperation with Iran.”

After the 16th meeting of the Astana process in Kazakhstan's capital Nur Sultan in July 2021, Turkey, Russia and Iran pledged to maintain cooperation in Syria to bring the warring sides together to find a permanent solution to the decade-long war.

Initiated by Turkey, Iran and Russia, the Astana meeting is focused on the constitutional system, political transition, security and resettlement. The first Astana meeting was held in Turkey in January 2017 to facilitate United Nations-sponsored peace talks in Geneva.

Late in June, Raisi and Putin held a meeting during their visit to Ashgabat, the capital of Turkmenistan, on the sidelines of the 6th summit of the heads of state of the Caspian Sea littoral states.

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Monday that Russia wants to obtain hundreds of drones from Iran, both for surveillance and attack, to use in its war in Ukraine.

In a tweet on Monday, Pahlavi highlighted “43 years of Iranian women’s fight to reclaim their obvious and basic rights,” especially the freedom to choose what to wear. 

“Iranian men should also stand shoulder to shoulder with women in the front lines of this struggle,” he added in his post that ended with a hashtag to support Iranian women who are protesting against the compulsory Islamic dress code or hijab. 

Social media posts from Iran indicate many women left home Tuesday without hijab in response to calls from activists to defy the government’s forced dress code.

Women’s rights and political activists had called for civil disobedience on July 12 with the hashtag of ‘No2Hijab’ in response to a government announcement for a day of ‘hijab rallies’ at stadiums and other venues “to honor, celebrate, and promote” the Islamic notion of the hijab (cover) for women.

For the past few weeks the government has increased harassment of women for their insufficient hijab and many have been detained by special police patrols. This has led to more tension amid economic hardship for 90 percent of the population on fixed income, while inflation has reached 55 percent and food prices have risen by more than 80 percent, according to May-June official reports.

Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanan responded on Tuesday to an opinion article Biden published in the Washington Post July 9, where he said the US will increase pressure on Tehran until it agrees to restore the 2015 nuclear deal known as JCPOA.

“Emphasis by Mr. Joe Biden to continue the economic and diplomatic maximum pressure policy on Iran contradicts America’s stated goal to restore the 2015 agreement and follows the failed path of the Trump administration against the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

Meanwhile US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan Monday said that Russia wants to obtain hundreds of drones from Iran, both for surveillance and attack, to use in its war in Ukraine.

He said the US has information that Iran is preparing to train Russian personnel to use its drones perhaps as early as this month, but it is not clear if any UAVs have been delivered to Russia.

“Our information indicates that the Iranian government is preparing to provide Russia with up to several hundred UAVs, including weapons-capable UAVs on an expedited timeline,” Sullivan told reporters at the White House, referring to unmanned aerial vehicles.

This is not the first time that the possibility of Iranian weapons going to Russia has come into the open since the invasion of Ukraine began. The Guardian reported April 12 that according to members of Iranian-backed Iraqi militias and regional intelligence services Russia was receiving munitions and military hardware sourced from Iraq, with the help of Iranian weapons smuggling networks.

The report also said that Iran provided a Bavar 373 missile system, similar to the Russian S-300 to Russia and returned an S-300. The Guardian quoted a source “who helped organise the transport.”

The Russian embassy in Tehran denied that Iran was involved in supplying weapons from Iraq to Russia. “The information that appeared in some media about the supply of Iranian weapons to Russia is fake and does not correspond with reality,” the embassy said in a tweet on April 24.

While the Iranian foreign ministry spokesman responded to Biden’s op-ed, he did not mention Sullivan’s accusation of drone transfers to Russia. Some government-controlled media did carry the news about the remarks but did not mention any official reaction on Tuesday.

Iran has not condemned Russia’s invasion and has only called for diplomacy to end “the conflict”. Media in Tehran do not use the word invasion when talking about the war.

The US accusation will have repercussions within Iran’s political scene. Many former officials and pundits have been criticizing Tehran’s close ties with Moscow and its reliance on Russia while nuclear talks with the United States have stalled.

Iran’s economy is in crisis as US sanctions continue and critics say that instead of a deal with Washington, the government increasingly draws closer to Moscow.

In a video message released on Monday, Olivier Vandecasteele’s family said “Even though he’s innocent, he has been rotting away for nearly five months in total solitary confinement.”

“Today Olivier needs your support... It is unthinkable for our family that our democratic Belgium isn’t doing everything necessary to get innocent prisoners out of countries like Iran,” his sister Nathalie said in the video. 

She said her brother had received two consular visits that revealed he suffered major weight-loss and a foot infection, adding that “He has spent two months without even a mattress, in a cell lit up around the clock, and being subjected to daily psychological pressure from interrogators.”

Imploring authorities to get Olivier freed, his mother, who barely manages to fight back tears, said, “Since he finished his studies, he has been far from us to help others. Now, help us to get him out of there and bring him home so we can hug him close.”

Numerous people and groups from around the world have been warning about a prisoner exchange treaty between Belgium and Iran that was passed by the Belgian parliament’s foreign relations committee and will go to the full 150-member chamber July 14. 

A draft law could lead to the release of Assadollah Assadi, an Iranian diplomat serving a 20-year prison sentence in Belgium for planning a terror attack in Paris four years ago.

In a statement released on Monday, Cannes organizers said, “The Festival de Cannes strongly condemns these arrests as well as the wave of repression obviously in progress in Iran against its artists.”

Panahi, who has won numerous awards, including the Golden Leopard at Locarno Festival, the Golden Lion in Venice, and the Silver Bear at the Berlinale, was arrested Monday as he was protesting the detention of two other award-winning filmmakers Mohammad Rasoulof and Mostafa Alehahmad. 

The Berlinale, the European Film Academy and the International Coalition for Filmmakers at Risk have also spoken out against their arrest. 

“We are deeply concerned about the arrest of Mohammad Rasoulof and Mostafa Al-Ahmad. It’s shocking that artists are taken into custody because of their peaceful endeavors against violence,” Berlinale organizers said. 

Rasoulof – another prominent filmmaker with several international awards such as the Golden Bear – and Alehahmad – who is known in international film galas for his short works -- were arrested July 8 as part of the Iranian crackdown on the signatories of a collective statement titled “Lay down the gun” issued by more than 100 film industry personalities in the end of May.

The statement called on military and security forces who “have become tools for cracking down on the people,” not to suppress protesters during a wave of protests across Iran that were triggered when a 10-story building collapsed in Abadan, leaving at least 40 people dead and dozens missing.