Iran Sanctions British Officials, Media Outlets Over ‘Incitement’

At the same time, strikes by oil and petrochemical workers that started last week has spread to more plants, including contract workers at the South Pars natural gas fields that produce around 70 percent of the country’s energy needs.

Anonymous activists that have been calling for protests in October, urged people to come out into the streets on Wednesday and again Saturday. The activists call themselves Tehran Youth, or in other cities by the same template, such as Esfahan Youth.

They also urged the people to protest in their own neighborhoods, as opposed to concentrated large demonstrations. The tactic is meant to leave security forces guessing about the next hot spot and shift the protests from one location to another.

Early Wednesday evening protests were reported in Tehran, Esfahan, Arak and several western cities with Kurdish-majority population and in the south. The government shut down mobile Internet access, which greatly reduced the number of videos and photos being posted on social media.

Meanwhile, protests do take place every day in different cities. Demonstrations continued in several cities such as Ahvaz Tuesday night and in some areas of Tehran such as Ekbatan, where small groups protested while others joined in the chanting from their apartment windows.

In Tehran’s Gisha neighborhood someone even brought a loudspeaker out to lead the chanting.

In addition to universities, high school students also continue sporadic protests, even after security forces showed they are willing to raid schools and beat up children. Last week, one schoolgirl died in the norther city of Ardabil after being assaulted by plainclothes Basij enforcers under the command of the notorious Revolutionary Guard.

We provided live updates below as we receive news and videos from Iran. Our live coverage ended at 24:00 local time.

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Two women standing on a street in the Ekabatan district of Tehran and giving hugs to passerby. The action is called "A hug for a sad nation".

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Protest in Bandar Abbas, a port city on the Persian Gulf.

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Protesters in a street in southern Tehran. The voice in the video calls on residents to come out, telling them not to be afraid.

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A short video just received shows protests in a street in Esfahan.

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Text messages from the working class Nazi Abad district of Tehran speak of fierce clashes between protesters and security forces, who are using 'bird shots' from shotguns and tear gas.

There are no images available yet from Nazi Abad but below is a photo showing what happens when people are shot with these special shotgun pellets.

The Ekbatan district also witnessing large protests, but no videos available yet.

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Protesters chanting "Death to Khamenei" in Kermanshah, western Iran, while they lit fires in the streets to prevent movement of security forces and as a precaution against tear gas.

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News on verified Twitter accounts say fierce protests have been going on in the central city of Esfahan between demonstrators and security forces, although there are no videos yet. The video below shows protesters in a small town in Esfahan province.

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Protesters blocked roads in Mashhad and cars are honking to show support for those in the streets.

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People in the Narmak district of Tehran came out to protest during the day on Wednesday even before 6 pm time announced by activists.

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Demonstrators on the streets of Arak, central Iran Wednesday evening.

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A short video from Karaj, a city 30 miles west of Tehran shows protesters marching in the streets.

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Protest in the southwestern city of Ahvaz, capital of the oil-rich Khuzestan province. Demonstrators are chanting, "From Ahvaz to Tehran, my life for Iran".

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People protesting in Kamyaran, in western Iran, chanting against dictatorship.

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Student protest in Zahedan medical university earlier in the day.

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Protest in the western city of Sanandaj Wednesday evening.

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Cars on a boulevard in Tehran honking their horns as a sign of support for protesters on foot, early Wednesday evening.

During his meeting with a group of people who were called “academicians” he once again seemed ignoring available information on the ground accusing the “enemies” of being behind the demonstrations at universities.

He claimed that some threaten the professors on the phone not to show up, but that professors are not “the perpetrators”; the one behind the scenes is important. He added that “enemies of the country” are after “crippling, closing down and ruining the universities.”

Interestingly, Khamenei also acknowledged that there are serious problems in the country. He admitted that the elites are leaving Iran, and some “prominent” ones who studied abroad, returned hoping to be able to work, but when they realized it is not possible to live in Iran due to “hurdles,” they left.

His comments come as on Wednesday students at different universities in Iran kept up their anti-regime protests.

Students of Al-Zahra University of Tehran wrote slogans against Khamenei on the doors and walls of classrooms.

A photo has also been sent to Iran International, which shows another slogan written on a board at Esfahan Art University reading “Dear student and teacher, the ink of your pen is blood.”

Meanwhile, hardliners intensified threats against dissidents on Wednesday. Hossein Shariatmadari editor of Kayhan newspaper in an editor’s note rejected any negotiations, calling the protesters “a handful of rioters, murderers and mercenaries have attacked people's lives and property. There is nothing but destruction, arson, murder, and crime in their vocabulary.”

Kayhan is published under the supervision of Khamenei's office.

Another hardliner paper Javan, which is affiliated to the Revolutionary Guard, lashed out at the popular football star Ali Daie for challenging Iranian lawmakers to tell the truth and be accountable for the death of a teenage girl who lost her life when regime thugs in a school in Ardabil beat her. Daie himself was born in Ardabil.

Daie , who was an international football star, is one of the most popular figures in Iran, but Shariatmadari threatened him with prosecution, confiscation of property and even death. It claimed that Daie is “deceived” and asked him not to get involved in such issues.

Daie earlier had rejected the allegations of the regime that the young Iranian girl had committed suicide or was suffering from heart disease.

The daily also called another Iranian football legend Ali Karimi “uneducated” and Mehrdad Pouladi, the former national player a “tramp” because of their anti-regime comments.

These sort of statements by hardliners will lead to more popular anger against the regime.

Earlier, Deputy Commander of Police Force Qassem Rezaie also said that “chaos, unrest and damage to the people” is a redline for the police and law enforcement agents will no longer show restraint against “norm breakers, rioters and the dissent.”

Rezaie repeated the cliché remarks of regime officials, especially Khamenei, blaming the protests on the “sworn enemies.” He said they are after creating “sedition” in the country by “exaggerating the problems” to “deceive” some people.

On Tuesday, Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi, who is wanted by the Interpol in connection with the murder of 85 people at a Jewish center in Argentina back in 1994, also linked the current protests to “enemies”.

He once again blamed the riots on “the adversaries’ news channels”, referring to Persian speaking foreign-based television stations beaming programs into Iran, claiming they are trying “to create chaos, but to no avail.”

According to reports obtained by Iran International, Iranian plainclothes agents raided a girls' high school in Ardabil, northwest of Iran and an Azari speaking city October 12, injuring at least 10 students and arresting seven others. 

One schoolgirl, identified as Asra Panahi, died of internal bleeding. Reportedly, the government was trying to force the schoolgirls to participate in a pro-regime rally to force the students to sing the propaganda song “Hello Commander” in praise of Iran’s ruler Ali Khamenei, but when some students refused, Basij militias showed up, beating and assaulting the girls. 

Human rights activist Yashar Hakkakpour has told VOA that in addition to Asra Panahi, two other students, identified as Aytak Mikaili and Hana Dourdouzani, were also killed during the clampdown on the schoolgirls. He claimed that the girl who is now hospitalized in ICU is Anita Khojasteh. He added that 80 students were taken to hospital in 11 ambulances following the attack by the regime’s agents.

Hardliner news agencies published video of an interview with the uncle of the dead girl, who said she had died of a congenital heart condition at home.

School children have been also protesting forced hijab after Mahsa Amini was killed in ‘morality’ police custody in mid-September. An unknown number of school students have been arrested and sent to what the government says are “psychological” rehabilitation centers, which no one has ever heard about.

On Sunday, October 16, the Coordination Council of Iranian Teachers’ Trade Associations called for the resignation of the Islamic Republic’s Education Minister Yousef Nouri amid arrests and killings of many students across the country.

Amid nationwide protests that have even mobilized Iranian high school students, the Islamic Republic authorities are removing photos of the Supreme Leader from classrooms in fear of students damaging the portraits. 

In a letter addressed to the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres released to the media October 18, Pahlavi requested his support for the establishment of a commission of inquiry at the UN human Rights Council for investigating the responsibility of officials. 

He noted that the world has witnessed in recent days the disturbing crimes being committed against protesters whose movement began “demanding justice for the brutal murder of Mahsa "Zhina" Amini by the so-called morality police for having allegedly failed to observe misogynistic regulations on compulsory observance of the hijab head covering.”

The UN’s failure to establish such a commission to hold accountable “those who order and instigate such abuses... will only perpetuate the culture of impunity,” he said, adding “The Iranian people deserve no less than other victims in the world who have had the benefit of a proper investigation of atrocities committed against them.”

He highlighted that “The Iranian courts can hardly deliver justice when they themselves are an instrument of repression, prosecuting the innocent while allowing those committing atrocities to escape accountability.”

“The day will soon come when the perpetrators of these crimes will be prosecuted either before the impartial courts of a democratic Iran, or the International Criminal Court," Pahlavi said, noting that a UN Commission of Inquiry “would help set the stage for that day.”

However, the vehicle carrying her didn’t stop and passed through the large crowd of well-wishers who were shouting her name.

Shortly after, state media published a video interview of Rekabi in the airport arrival hall, in which the athlete called her move to appear without hijab “inadvertent,” but many believe she has made the statements under the pressure of regime agents.

People on social media say the regime tried “to break this brave woman,” force her “to repudiate her own convictions, and discredit” her among hundreds of thousands of young girls who admire her but as always, “they failed.”

It was on Sunday that Rekabi participated in the finals of the Asian Championship without the mandatory hijab, and her action quickly made headlines as she had already broken the taboo very publicly.

She disobeyed the Islamic Republic's restrictions for female athletes, she made history by representing Iran unveiled, in what was seen as 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 the custody of hijab police.

After the coverage of Elnaz Rekabi's move, a story was published on her Instagram page, in which she apologized for what happened and said her hijab had “unintentionally caused a problem.”

Before publishing this story there were many reports about her “disappearance”, and after the publication, many called it a “forced confession.”

In the past days, some media reported the arrest of Davoud Rekabi, the rock climber's brother, as well as her sister by the Revolutionary Guard.

On the other hand, based on information received by Iran International, Rakabi's cell phone is not in her possession any longer.

Rekabi’s move was widely covered by the international media. The Guardian and the Financial Times published photos of Elnaz Rekabi on their front pages and wrote about her uncertain fate.

Various international figures also praised the action of the Iranian athlete. Chris DeBerg, the famous British-Irish singer, republished Iran International's news about Rekabi's action, and wrote in her support, “Well-done Elnaz!”

Jessica Chastain, a famous Hollywood actress, also reposted a post about Rakabi and wrote, “Iranian athlete Elnaz participated in an international competition without the mandatory hijab as a sign of protest and solidarity with the women of her country.”

About 30 Iranian athletes in recent years have defected from national teams and sought asylum in other countries due to a lack of attention, threats, and corruption in their federations as well as Iran’s policy of not allowing athletes to compete against Israelis. For women, mandatory hijab is also an issue.

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.

Earlier this week, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei called on sports people to adhere to “religious beliefs,” reiterating that not competing with Israeli athletes is a victory.