Gunmen Kill IRGC Colonel, Basij Militant In Southeastern City Of Zahedan

Students at a university in Qom, which is the Shiite religious center in Iran disrupted a speech by the government spokesman, who had been booed and silenced on Monday at another university in Tehran. They chanted “Student Dies but does not accept humiliation!” and did not let Ali Bahadori Jahromi to speak.

Qom University students also chanted slogans against Iran’s state broadcaster when its notorious correspondent Yusef Salami was trying to report from the venue of the government spokesman's speech.

In the capital students of Tehran, Beheshti, Modarres, Khajeh Nasir, Sureh, Alzahra, Azad and Allameh universities chanted different anti-regime slogans including “Tehran has turned into detention center, Evin [prison] has turned into slaughterhouse” and “Death to Dictator!”

Students in Tehran's Allameh University chanted Tuesday as they gathered around a symbol of nearly 30 children killed in the past few weeks of the uprising against the Islamic Republic.

Videos show a group of students gathered for a protest near Emam Hussein Square in central Tehran, joined by other citizens who were chanting slogans.

Iranian students in Yazd, Shar-e Kord, Babol, Karaj, and several other cities also chanted radical slogans like “Death to this Leadership”, referring to Iran’s ruler Ali Khamenei, and “Don't call me seditionist! You oppressors are the seditionists.”

The civil disobedience movement of men and women eating together at canteens in defiance of the gender segregation rules also gained momentum on Tuesday. Most universities closed their cafeterias to prevent mixed-gender dining and students had lunch sitting on the ground outside.

Meanwhile, several women’s rights activists called on the people to gather at the main squares of different cities on Wednesday to commemorate the 40th day after the death of Mahsa Amini. Shia Muslims hold a commemoration ceremony on the seventh and fortieth day after the death of a person.

This has a big cultural significance in Iran and protests are expected to be large on Wednesday.

Earlier, the anonymous activist group calling itself ‘Youths of Tehran's Neighborhoods’ published a notice urging all Iranians to gather in their cities and towns around universities and markets around noon. The group has been the main engine driving nationwide protests each Saturday and Wednesday during October.

However, government’s official news agency IRNA claimed that the family of Mahsa Amini has announced they are not going to hold the 40th day ceremony, to prevent “any unfortunate incidents”, but people on social media say this is a disinformation to stop protests.

In the meantime, industrial and business strikes spread further on Tuesday. Iranian human rights activist Atena Daemi said in a tweet that “The Free Union of Iranian Workers has announced that the employees of Tabriz Tractor Factory have stopped working and joined the nationwide strikes.”

Another user has said that restaurants and cafeterias in the northern city of Rasht have gone on strike and will be closed on Wednesday as a sign of respect on the 40th day ceremony of Mahsa Amini.

A journalist also announced that the workers of Phase 2 of Abadan Refinery will start a new round of strike on Wednesday.

The workers of Bandar Abbas, Mahshahr, Assaluyeh, and Kangan refineries in the south are reportedly on strike as well.

Workers at South Pars Gas Complex, Fars Ghadir Neyriz Steel Company, Haft Tappeh Sugar Cane Factory, Mahshahr Tube Factory, Bushehr Petrochemical Complex, Kian Tire Factory, ‌Borujerd Textile Factory, Isfahan’s SNOWA company, Khuzestan National Steel Group, Aidin Chocolate Factory in Tabriz, as well as truck drivers continue their strikes.

People from various groups and strata of the Iranian society have announced calls for gatherings in numerous cities to mark the 40th day of Mahsa Amini’s death, which carries immense significance in the Iranian culture. 

Young grassroot activists in Tehran -- calling themselves Youths of Tehran’s Neighborhood (Javanan-e Tehran) -- that have mobilized thousands of protesters in several towns and cities since the current wave of protests began, published a notice on Tuesday urging all Iranians to gather in the their neighborhoods, around the universities and markets around noon. 

Young grassroot activists in Tehran -- calling themselves Youths of Tehran’s Neighborhood (Javanan-e Tehran) -- that have mobilized thousands of protesters in several towns and cities since the current wave of protests began, published a notice on Tuesday urging all Iranians to gather in the their neighborhoods, around the universities and markets around noon. 

"We back every measure against the tyrannical and corrupt Islamic regime, and we keep the fire of this revolution burning” in order to garner more support through participation of people inside and outside of Iran, they said. 

Holding rallies on the 40th day of people died during the Islamic Republic’s crackdown on protesters is reminiscent of a similar turn of events 44 years ago, during the revolution against monarchy that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynasty under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and the establishment of the Islamic Republic in 1979. Marking the 40th day for people who were killed during the revolution turned into fresh protests that fueled the movement.

The online campaign, which has so far been signed by over 115,000 people on worldwide nonprofit petition website change.org since it was started on Monday, is organized as a protest to a tweet by the envoy on Sunday that said Iranian protesters want respect from the Islamic Republic. The campaign also aims to remove Malley’s deputy Jarrett Blanc.

The campaigners say while Iranians are seeking a regime change, Joe Biden’s representatives refuse to recognize their demands and their policies are fixated on a nuclear deal with the Islamic Republic.

“Iranians of all ages and social groups are protesting to replace the Islamic Republic, a religious dictatorship, with a democratic and secular form of government. Yet, President Biden’s Iran Envoy, Robert Malley, is misrepresenting the nature of the protests, pushing for negotiations with the Islamic Republic,” the campaign stated. 

Malley minimized the Iran protest movement by portraying it as merely a quest by Iranians to have the government in Tehran “respect their human rights and dignity”, ignoring their call for change, Alinejad said. 

Redeeming his remarks, Malley told Iran International on Monday that that his Sunday tweet on Iran protests, which led to negative reactions, “was poorly worded.”

“It is not up to me; it is not up to the US government what the brave women and men who have been demonstrating in Iran want. It is up to them,” Malley said. 

Addressing the Haaretz Democracy Conference on Monday, Zelensky said that the Islamic Republic would have not been able to send equipment to Russia if Israel had not decided to stay neutral in the Ukraine war.

“In eight months of full-scale war, Russia has used almost 4,500 missiles against us. And their stock of missiles is dwindling. Therefore, Russia went looking for affordable weapons in other countries to continue its terror. It found them in Iran,” noted Zelensky.

The Ukrainian president further noted that “I have a question for you – how does Russia pay Iran for this, in your opinion? Is Iran just interested in money? Probably not money at all, but Russian assistance to the Iranian nuclear program. Probably, this is exactly the meaning of their alliance.”

Although Zelensky did not offer any evidence, Russia has built Iran’s sole nuclear power plant in Bushehr and has a contract to expand the plant with the addition of two new reactors at a cost of $10 billion.

Zelensky’s comments come as the Ukrainian Defense Ministry's Intelligence Directorate said Monday that Russia's mobilized soldiers are being provided with Iranian-made body armors and helmets, and new groups of “advisers” are also arriving in Russia to train them on the use of a new and more lethal type of drones, Arash UAVs.

Major General Kyrylo Budanov stated that “Russian forces have used most of their cruise missile arsenal and only have 13 percent of their pre-war Iskander, 43 percent of Kaliber, and 45 percent of Kh-101 and Kh-555 pre-war stockpiles left.”

Budanov added that with the supply of cruise missiles dwindling Russian military relies on Iranian drones, but Tehran can send 300 drones per shipment as it takes a long time to manufacture the drones.

In remarks reported Monday, Iran’s foreign minister appeared to accept as possible, despite past denials, that Moscow had used Iranian drones in Ukraine.

“If it is proven to us that Iranian drones are being used in the Ukraine war against people, we should not remain indifferent,” Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said, as reported by Reuters.

The Iranian foreign ministry website and official news agencies last Friday reported Amir-Abdollahian denying claims at a European summit last week that Iran had supplied Russia with military drones deployed in the Ukraine war.

Last week, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba officially asked for air defense systems and training from Israel’s Foreign Ministry in the face of attacks launched by Iranian Shahed drones. Yet, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz stressed “that we are not selling weapons to Ukraine.”

However, Israeli Prime Minister told Jerusalem Post on Sunday that Tel Aviv is increasingly concerned by the “dangerous closeness” between Moscow and Tehran over the supply of Iran-made drones to attack Ukraine.

Lapid said Israel is holding daily assessments to review its position on the conflict, adding that “It’s not something we are going to ignore or do nothing about… so what we need to do is reassess on a daily basis and react.”

Meanwhile, US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Monday that Iran was making the world less safe by supplying Russia with drones to be used against targets in Ukraine.

The US has been “trying for a while now to have a nuclear agreement with Iran so that we can make the world a safer place and now they're going off aiding the Russians and making the world a less safe place,” added Pelosi.

With the long suspension of negotiations to revive the 2015 nuclear agreement, Iran is now accused of involvement in the Ukraine war. On the other hand, Tehran’s crackdown on domestic protests is also drawing attention from the international community raising the possibility of more isolation and sanctions for Iran.

An Iranian daily on Tuesday said that the developments of the war in Ukraine are in an alarming way to the detriment of Iran.

Aftabnews warned the Iranian government that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is an aggressive move to occupy an independent UN member state and the governments that support the aggressor will be considered violators of international law.

“It is said that the United States and three European countries have interpreted the provision of drones by Iran as a violation of UN Resolution 2231. If proved after investigations, it will justify and legitimize the activation of the snapback mechanism against Iran in the JCPOA agreement,” Aftabnews added.

If the snapback mechanism would be triggered, Iran will return to Chapter Seven of the UN Charter and all sanctions in place before the 2015 nuclear deal would be automatically reimposed on Iran.

Australian academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert, who was jailed in Iran for over 800 days from 2018 to 2020, said on Monday she “can confirm that the two New Zealand travel bloggers, Topher Richwhite and his wife Bridget Thackwray of 'Expedition Earth,' are missing, believed to be arrested in Iran.”  

She added that it has been about three months since Topher and Bridget went missing, adding that the Islamic Republic has arrested more than a dozen foreigners in the past six months alone. 

"Quiet diplomacy never works to the detainee's advantage in such cases,” she said, calling on New Zealand’s media to “make some noise” about it. 

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. 

The experienced trekker, a former paratrooper and fervent soccer fan, 41-year-old Santiago Sánchez, was last seen in Iraq after hiking through 15 countries. He had been extensively sharing his journey on a popular Instagram account over the last nine months before he entered Iran, stirring fears about his fate.

The Islamic Republic 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.