Journalist Union Urges Iran To Cease Targeting Journalists Following London Stabbing

The Iranian authorities’ actions come as the Islamic month of Ramadan and the death anniversary of the first Imam coincided with the Persian New Year celebration of Sizdah Be-dar.

After contradictory statements from the government ahead of the holiday, authorities blocked access to parks and roads to recreational spots around rivers and lakes and forests, using concrete blocks and heaps of earth – common picnic locations where Iranians usually gather on this day.

In some places police also actively interfered with those who had ventured out to picnic despite the warnings and even clashed with them. A video posted on social media shows the police using tear gas to disperse the picnickers in Masouleh. Infuriated Iranians in the touristic town in northern Iran eventually drove them out by booing and shouting “scoundrels” at them.

Police are booed after firing tear gas at picnickers in Masouleh.

Although the Sizdah Be-dar picnic is traditionally celebrated during daytime, Iranians in some areas waited until the evening to get out, as authorities had announced that parks and public gardens would be open after iftar – the evening time of breaking the fast.

At Tehran’s Gheytarieh Park the police assaulted street musicians who were playing music and took them away while angry people booed them.

Police forcefully remove street musicians from Gheytarieh Park in Tehran.

In many areas the Basij paramilitary and vigilantes patrolled the picnic spots in vehicles, playing loud mourning songs on megaphones to intimidate and threaten the picnickers to leave the area. A video posted on social media shows them threatening picnickers at a beach in Langaroud in northern Iran with one of them shouting “This is the city of Imam Hussain, pick up your stuff and leave” into a megaphone.

Paramilitary Basijis threatening picnickers in Langaroud in northern Iran

The 13th and final day of the Persian New Years holidays is called Sizdah Be-dar and is always celebrated with a picnic. Sizdah Be-dar is often thought to mean “casting off [the inauspiciousness] of thirteen]” but can also mean “spending the thirteenth in the valleys”.

Video sent to Iran International shows a police car blocking the road to a picnic spot.

Since the Islamic Revolution of 1979, the regime has reluctantly tolerated the country’s ancient New Year (Norouz) festival which is celebrated on the day of the Spring Equinox. But the religious establishment has been against the celebration of others such as Charshanbeh Souri bonfire night on the last Tuesday of the old year and Sizdah Be-dar. Authorities, accordingly, have often tried to prevent these festivities, both of which are celebrated outdoors joyfully by Iranians.

Islamists play loud mourning songs on a road in the northern province of Gilan.

To the regime, Chaharshanbeh Suri is viewed as a pagan relic because of its association with fire and Sizdah Be-dar, which was renamed as Nature Day after the Islamic Revolution of 1979, promotes superstition.

Be that as it may, the celebration of Sizdah Be-dar is so popular that it has remained a public holiday in the official calendar as most Iranians, even many religious families, have not forsaken their beloved ancient and pre-Islamic festivals and continue to celebrate them, sometimes even alongside religious occasions.

Iran-backed Hamas from Gaza invaded Israel on October 7, sparking the bloodiest Gaza war since Hamas took over the strip in 2007. Most recently, according to the Israel Defense Forces, a drone believed to be launched from Iraq hit a hangar in a naval base in Eilat early Monday morning.

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, representing various IRGC-backed factions, claimed responsibility for the attack, describing it as targeting a "vital target" in Israel.

The city of Eilat has been subjected to attacks by other Iran-backed groups amidst the conflict in the Gaza Strip, including Yemen’s Houthis and a Syria-based group linked to Lebanon’s Hezbollah. Last month, a missile from Yemen breached Israel's Iron Dome air defense system, landing near Eilat.

In response, sources suggest that Israel was behind the attack on the Islamic Republic's consulate building in Damascus on Monday, resulting in the deaths of senior commander Mohammad Reza Zahedi and other IRGC officials.

While Israel never comments on such allegations, Iran's state media reported that the operation in Damascus also claimed the lives of six Syrian citizens in addition to seven IRGC members.

According to the report, at least 13 people lost their lives in Israel's strike on the Islamic Republic's consulate building in Damascus.

Meanwhile, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Israel’s goal is to “act everywhere, every day to prevent the force build-up of our enemies.”

“We are in a multi-front war, in offense and defense. We see evidence of this every day, including in recent days,” he said at a meeting of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.

Gallant said Israel is also working “to make it clear to everyone who acts against us, all over the Middle East, that the price for acting against Israel will be a heavy price.”

Abram Paley commenced his journey in Armenia where talks focused on border security, sanctions enforcement, human rights, and US concerns about Iran's military support to Russia.

“Productive meetings in Tbilisi with the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, the National Bank of Georgia, and the private sector on Iran, human rights, and the importance of continued sanctions enforcement,” Paley wrote in a post of X of his trip to Georgia.

The tour concluded with a final stop in Baku, Azerbaijan, where the focus remained on Iran's aggression. Just last year, an Iran-backed plot was foiled to attack Israel's embassy in Baku.

Hours before Paley's visit, Azerbaijani law enforcement and border guard agencies announced significant seizures of smuggled drugs from Iran, with operations ongoing since the beginning of the Iranian New Year. Several individuals, including an Iranian citizen, have been detained in connection with the operations.

Relations between Iran and Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan are complex and influenced by various factors including historical, cultural, and geopolitical dynamics. Iran enjoys relatively stable relations with Armenia, with economic cooperation and cultural ties being prominent features. Similarly, with Georgia, Iran maintains cordial relations, focusing on economic cooperation, energy transit, and cultural exchanges.

However, Iran's relations with Azerbaijan have been strained due to issues such as border disputes, security concerns, and differing geopolitical alignments. Since Azerbaijan opened its embassy in Tel Aviv last year, tensions have risen. Border closures and occasional tensions have occurred between Iran and Azerbaijan, particularly concerning the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and Azerbaijan's relations with Iran's regional rivals.

A report published by the Vokalapress website, a specialized news platform focusing on the legal profession of judicial lawyers in Iran, disclosed a list of lawyers who encountered summonses, arrests, criminal convictions, or prolonged imprisonment over the past year (ending in March).

Notable among the lawyers listed are Nasrin Sotoudeh and Saleh Nikbakht.

Nasrin Sotoudeh, a renowned human rights lawyer in Iran, has represented various opposition activists, politicians, and women arrested for violating Iran's mandatory hijab law.

In 2021, she was recognized as one of Time's 100 Most Influential People in the World. Despite her contributions to human rights advocacy, Sotoudeh has faced harassment and was released on a medical furlough in July 2021.

Saleh Nikbakht, known as the family attorney of Mahsa Amini, received a severe sentence from an Iranian court for allegedly engaging in “propaganda against the regime.”

Amini's case garnered attention after she died from severe head injuries sustained while in detention for a hijab defiance. Nikbakht's summons came six months after Amini's death.

The report emphasizes the precarious position of lawyers, who encounter various risks and dangers, including prosecution, arrest, psychological and physical violence, harassment, and threats against their families.

The government's crackdown on civil, political, and protest activists has intensified following nationwide protests against the regime in September 2022, highlighting the broader context of repression faced by those advocating for human rights and justice in Iran.

In a message released Tuesday, Khamenei said, “The nefarious regime will be punished by our brave men. We will make them regret this crime and other ones like it, by God's will.”

His message came a day after an airstrike leveled Tehran’s consulate, next to the embassy building in Damascus’s Mezzeh district, killing Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a senior commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Quds Force, the extraterritorial wing of the IRGC. General Mohammad-Hadi Haji-Rahimi, a deputy of Zahedi, and five other officers were also killed. 

Iran's state broadcaster announced that in addition to seven members of the Revolutionary Guards, six Syrians were also killed. At least one member of the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah was also killed in the strike, two security sources in Lebanon told Reuters.

Israel has not commented on the allegations. However, Iran International sources in Israel have revealed that the country has attacked Tehran’s consulate in response to the continuous and repeated attacks by the Islamic Republic and its proxy forces against Israel, including the drone strike on the Eilat naval base.

A drone, apparently launched from Iraq, struck a hangar in a naval base in Israel’s southernmost city of Eilat early Monday morning, the Israel Defense Forces said. The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group representing several IRGC-backed factions, said it had struck a “vital target” in Israel “with appropriate weapons,” without elaborating further. Eilat has come under attack by other Iran-backed groups amid the war in the Gaza Strip, including Yemen’s Houthis and a group in Syria linked to Lebanon’s Hezbollah. Last month, a missile fired from Yemen landed outside the southern town of Eilat, penetrating Israel's Iron Dome air defense system which had failed to intercept targets fired to its southern front. 

A senior Israeli government official, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said those hit had "been behind many attacks on Israeli and American assets and had plans for additional attacks." The embassy "was not a target", the official said.

The bombing was by all accounts an unprecedented escalation of hostilities that broke out on October 7, when Iran-backed Islamist militia Hamas invaded Israel, killed 1,200 mostly civilians and took 250 hostages. Israeli intelligence analyst, Ronen Solomon, from Intellitimes, says the target was indeed not diplomatic, but says the property was actually used as an IRGC-HQ to host staff members from the Revolutionary Guards.

Conflict has rippled across the Middle East since the start of the Gaza war. Up until now, Tehran has cautiously steered clear of direct confrontation with Israel while supporting allies engaged in attacks on Israeli and US targets.

Khamenei’s threat was echoed by senior Iranian officials, including President Ebrahim Raisi. He called the attack a “flagrant violation of international regulations,” vowing that it “will not go unanswered.” And Parliament Speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf talked of “severe punishment.”

Khamenei's political advisor Ali Shamkhani, in a post on X, said the United States "remains directly responsible whether or not it was aware of the intention to carry out this attack". According to Axios, the US has told Iran that it "had no involvement" or advanced knowledge of the strike on the diplomatic compound.

On Monday night, Raisi presided over the meeting of the Supreme National Security Council. According to a statement by the council, “appropriate decisions were made” regarding the deadly attack. 

A large number of hardliners are calling for attacks on its embassies. Just last year, an Iran-backed plot to attack the Israeli embassy in Baku was foiled in a joint effort by Israeli and Azeri security.

Iranian officials frequently issue belligerent rhetoric, and chants of "Death to Israel" remain a common feature of state-sponsored events. According to Khamenei’s prophecy, Israel has 17 years left until its downfall.

However, the latest saber-rattling by Khamenei serves as a go-ahead for a direct attack on Israeli targets, exposing decades of animosity that had largely remained in the shadows.