US Reiterates Support For Protests In Iran, Says JCPOA Not ‘On Agenda’

Monique Ryan told Iran International’s correspondent that the government of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese should also work with other UN states to remove Iran from United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) amid the Islamic Republic's crackdown on the current uprising spearheaded by Iranian women and ignited by the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini. 

Expressing grave concern over “what has been done to young people in Iran by the government,” she praised the courage of people “for standing up for their rights.” She added, “Being physically punished for that is deeply shocking and very concerning for all Australians.” 

Referring to a letter to the Albanese Government signed by her as well as several other lawmakers, she said they called on Canberra to act “more forcefully to express the repugnance felt by the Australian people towards the recent treatment of peaceful demonstrators."

She said they specifically requested Magnitsky-style targeted sanctions including financial asset freezes and travel bans against members of the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), key security officials and the so-called morality police. “We also asked the government to declare the IRGC as a terrorist force as has been done in the US and Canada,” she said, adding that they also called on the government to join other states to remove Iran from the UN Commission on the Status of Women.

Disobeying the Islamic Republic's restrictions for female athletes, she made history by representing Iran unveiled in support of anti-hijab and antigovernment protests that have been raging across the country since mid-September, when 22-year-old Mahsa Amini was killed in custody of hijab police.

Worried that she would be arrested upon arrival, people had organized a huge gathering to welcome her early on Wednesday morning when she was scheduled to arrive back in the country. But, reports came late on Monday that her travel documents were confiscated by officials, who are part of all Iranian sport delegations abroad to monitor and control the behavior of athletes. For some hours, unconfirmed reports said she was prevented from leaving the hotel where the Iranian delegation were staying in Seoul. 

The latest on her whereabouts was a post on her Instagram page, in which she said she is on her way back home as scheduled, explaining that she had to appear for the final without head covering due to miscalculations of the final schedule. People on social media do not seem to believe such claims as they are accustomed to fabricated justifications and forced confessions extracted by the Islamic republic’s authorities. 

Emphasizing that they are monitoring the case of the Iranian rock climber, the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) said, "There is a lot of information in the public sphere regarding Elnaz Rekabi and as an organization we have been trying to establish the facts. We have also been in contact with Ms. Rekabi and the Iranian Climbing Federation.”

In 2019, boxer Sadaf Khadem attended a boxing match with the Iranian flag and without a headscarf. She had to cancel her return flight to Tehran after a warrant was issued for her arrest.

On Tuesday, the workers of Haft-Tappeh Sugarcane complex in the southwestern Khuzestan province joined the strikes in oil, gas, and petrochemical sectors in southern Iran. 

Workers of several phases of South Pars Gas-Condensate field, Bushehr Petrochemical Company and Hengam Petrochemical Company -- both of which operate at Asalouyeh Complex -- Abadan Petrochemical company and refinery, Mahshahr’s refinery and Pipe Mill Plant, as well as Neyriz Ghadir Steel Complex off the coasts of the Persian Gulf have been on strikes in solidarity with the protests across Iran, ignited by the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini. 

At least 100 striking employees of Assalouyeh petrochemical plant have been arrested in the past few days while many are threatened with being fired or replaced by Chinese workers if they do not break their strike. 

The government has blocked access to mobile Internet to prevent videos of the strikes from being posted on social media. 

Security agents have summoned many workers to force them into confessing that the strikes are because of long overdue wages, and not in support of the antigovernment and anti-hijab protests. Although it is a fact that many of the workers have not been paid for months, they have repeatedly announced that their strike is in opposition to the heavy-handed crackdown on protesters. 

Protests started Monday morning in several universities across the country. According to social media videos, the clashes at the Social Sciences Faculty of the University of Tehran were so violent that people compared them with the incidents at the Sharif University earlier in October in which a large number of students were beaten and arrested. 

Security forces in the University of Mazandaran in northern Iran violently cracked down on a demonstration by students who were chanting to gather support for the protests. 

Azad University of Shahr-e Kord, the capital city of Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province, the Art University of Tabriz in northwestern Iran, the Persian Gulf University in the southern province of Bushehr and Ardabil University of Medical Sciences were also scenes of gatherings by students who were chanting antigovernment slogans. 

Later Monday evening, security forces were reported to have attacked women’s dormitories in the city of Rasht in northern Gilan province, beating and terrifying the students. 

In addition to university students, high schoolers have also joined the protests – sparked by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old girl from the Kurdish majority city of Saqqez. 

Schoolgirls have become especially engaged in the protests since the death of a student, identified as Asra Panahi, who died of internal bleeding after she was beaten by Basij paramilitary forces who attacked their school in the city of Ardabil. School officials tried to force the students to sing the propaganda song “Hello Commander” in praise of Iran’s ruler Ali Khamenei, but when some students refused, government agents showed up, beating and assaulting the girls. Another student is reportedly hospitalized in critical condition.

In several cities, including the capital Tehran and Karaj, schoolgirls are seen spraying black paint on pictures of Supreme Leader Khamenei, and replacing it with a photo of Mahsa Amini. 

The nationwide protests are backed by many workers in the oil industry who have been holding strikes for at least a week now. At least 100 striking employees of Assalouyeh petrochemical plant off the coasts of the Persian Gulf have been arrested in the past few days while many are being threatened to be fired if they do not break their strike. Despite the threats, more sections of the company announced on Monday that they will join the strikes on Tuesday. 

The streets in many cities were also the battleground between people and security forces on Monday from noon through the night, with reports of bloody skirmishes in the city of Abdanan, located in the south of Ilam province, and Piranshahr in in West Azarbaijan province as well as Zahedan, the capital of Sistan and Baluchestan Province.

A video from the central province of Esfahan showed a man throwing a Molotov cocktail at the entrance of the seminary of the city of Fouladshahr.

In a joint statement on Monday, they expressed deep concerns about the Iranian authorities’ mobilization of their well-honed machinery of repression to ruthlessly crackdown on the current uprising, sparked by the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini.

Stressing the urgency for the establishment of an independent, investigative and accountability mechanism, they said The United Nations Human Rights Council should act promptly considering the gravity of crimes under international law and other serious human rights violations committed in Iran and the prevailing systemic impunity.

According to evidence gathered by a number of the signatories of the statement, there is a harrowing pattern of Iranian security forces deliberately and unlawfully firing live ammunition and metal pellets, including birdshot, at protesters and bystanders including children.

Voicing concerns over the growing numbers of protesters and bystanders killed, they said the number of casualties is likely to be much higher than the reported 200 deaths, including at least 23 identified children.

Since 18 September 2022, over one thousand protesters, human rights defenders, civil society activists, journalists, university students and school children have been arbitrarily arrested and detained, some already charged with “acting against national security,” describing the “cycle of deadly repression” alarmingly similar to previous waves of mass protests including in December 2017-January 2018, November 2019, July 2021, November 2021 and May 2022.