Argentina Requests Interpol Arrest Of Iranian Minister Over 1994 Bombing

Project Nour, the regime’s new hijab enforcement plan, has seen Iranian authorities escalate their physical efforts to enforce the Islamic Republic’s strict hijab laws. It has led to a surge in violent crackdowns targeting women on Iranian streets.

Earlier this week, Ahmad-Reza Radan, Iran's Chief of Police and commander of the country's Law Enforcement Command, announced that the police would continue the “Project Nour” with the support of the parliament, the government, and the judiciary, with "strength and precision."

In 2010, Radan was sanctioned by the US, EU and the UK for serious human rights violations and his role in the deadly and violent repression of protests during Iran’s 2009 green movement.

As reported by state-run IRIB, Radan thanked his colleagues “who are diligently involved in implementing this plan and are pursuing it with a jihadistic spirit.”

In another significant escalation, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) also announced its participation in the enforcement efforts, forming groups known as "Mehr Ambassadors" to uphold the strict Islamic dress code for women.

Hassan Hassanzadeh, Tehran’s IRGC commander, emphasized that the group’s rigorous training aims to enforce hijab regulations with heightened intensity in public spaces.

Hassanzadeh was sanctioned in 2022 by Western countries for his role in the violent crackdown on nationwide anti-regime protests – often called the Women, Life, Freedom uprising, sparked by the killing of Mahsa Jina Amini in police custody.

Since the launch of the “Nour” project, reports have emerged detailing disturbing instances of police officers extorting money from women in exchange for leniency, alongside allegations of theft and sexual harassment.

The situation has raised alarm both domestically and internationally, with human rights organizations, student groups and prominent activists decrying the Iranian authorities’ violations of basic freedoms and human rights.

Despite the Iranian officials' scrambling to soften criticism of the hijab crackdown, speeches by Supreme Leader Khamenei and President Ebrahim Raisi triggered a new round of suppression on unveiled women.

The regime’s enforcement campaign has also drawn condemnation from other quarters, including “The Laleh Park Mothers” also known as “Mourning Mothers” – a group of Iranian women whose family members were killed during the 2009 protests.

In their statement, issued on Monday, they condemned the renewed assault on women's freedoms, accusing the government of resorting to brutality to deflect attention from its failures.

"...with the order of Ali Khamenei with the plan of chastity and hijab in the name of “Nour", the war against women is more than intense,” the statement read.

Iran analyst and journalist Morad Vaisi posited that the recent efforts are the regime's attempt to reclaim control over women's rights, stating, “Women occupied many strongholds in the past years and forced the Islamic Republic to retreat, now the regime wants to take these strongholds back from women. Also, Khamenei has a grudge against women and feels inferior.”

According to the US Treasury Department, these entities were involved in "malicious cyber-activity" to the benefit of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps' Cyber-Electronic Command (IRGC-CEC).

“Iranian malicious cyber actors continue to target US companies and government entities in a coordinated, multi-pronged campaign intended to destabilize our critical infrastructure and cause harm to our citizens,” said Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson.

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller also said in a statement that Washington “will not tolerate malicious cyber activities victimizing US companies”.

In a parallel move, the US Justice Department and the FBI unsealed an indictment against the four individuals, accusing them of participating in a coordinated hacking initiative starting around 2016 through April 2021. Attorney General Merrick Garland highlighted the extensive nature of the cyber operations directed at American firms and crucial government departments.

The Treasury's statement emphasized the role of the IRGC-CEC in orchestrating the cyber offenses through a network of front companies. One such company, Mehrsam Andisheh Saz Nik, was among those sanctioned. The Treasury underscored that many in Iran might not realize these companies are fronts used to support the military's cyber operations.

The sanctions imposed will freeze any US assets held by the implicated parties and prohibit any transactions between them and US citizens, effectively cutting them off from the American financial system.

Last week, the US and UK unveiled comprehensive sanctions targeting Iran's drone program, in response to Iran's missile and drone strikes on Israel earlier this month.

According to Kolbar News, the demonstration, held on Tuesday, saw citizens gathering in front of the governor's office, vocally opposing what they called "killer police." The protestors then entered the building, demanding answers and accountability for the police action.

The incident occurred on Monday evening when officers from Bandar Abbas opened fire on a vehicle carrying fuel without any prior warning. The attack resulted in the death of 20-year-old Amir Mohammad Chatr Sahar and left another man injured. Chatr Sahar was known to be from the Jamal Ahmad area of Bandar Abbas where around half the population lives in poverty, but details about the injured party remain undisclosed.

The event highlights ongoing issues in other provinces like Sistan-Baluchestan, where the annual shooting of fuel smugglers by military forces claims the lives of hundreds. Reports suggest that between March 20 and 30 alone, 27 fuel smugglers died by security forces, road accidents, and vehicle fires. Victims were typically young, between 18 and 28 years old.

In 2023, at least 172 Baluch fuel smugglers were reported dead with 42 others injured, reflecting a dire economic crisis that compels many in Iran's poorest provinces to engage in fuel smuggling to neighboring countries like Pakistan. The activity offers a vital, albeit risky, source of income due to higher fuel prices across the border.

Human rights organizations and activists continue to criticize the Iranian government for its discriminatory policies towards minority-dominated provinces such as Sistan-Baluchestan and Kordestan. These areas suffer from a lack of employment opportunities and governmental neglect, factors which significantly contribute to the prevalence of fuel smuggling.

The minister for external economic relations, Yun Jong Ho, left Pyongyang on Tuesday by air leading a ministry delegation to visit Iran, the North's KCNA news agency said. It gave no other detail.

Iranian government media have not reported on the visit on Tuesday.

North Korea and Iran have long been suspected of cooperating on ballistic missile programs, possibly exchanging technical expertise and components that went into their manufacture.

Iran has provided a large number of ballistic missiles to Russia for use in its war with Ukraine, Reuters reported in February.

North Korea is also suspected of supplying Russia with missiles and artillery, although both countries have denied the allegation. Observers often mention a Russia, China, Iran and North Korea axis.

Yun has previously worked on the country's ties with Syria, according to South Korean government database.

Yun has been active in the country's increasing exchanges with Russia, earlier this month leading a delegation to visit Moscow, according to KCNA.

The drone and rocket fire were the first such incidents since a near three-month pause in what had been almost daily attacks that culminated in the January killing of three US soldiers at the Tower 22 outpost in Jordan.

Meanwhile, the Biden administration on Tuesday announced criminal charges and sanctions against four Iranians over an alleged multi-year cyber campaign targeting more than one dozen American companies, the Treasury Department and the State Department said.

Sanctions were also announced against two companies, Mehrsam Andisheh Saz Nik and Dadeh Afzar Arman, that according to the Treasury Department employed the individual defendants and were front companies for Iran's Revolutionary Guard cyber command.

“The IRGC-CEC is one of the Iranian government organizations that has been responsible for, through a series of front companies, malicious cyber activity against the US and several other countries…The United States will not tolerate malicious cyber activities victimizing US companies,” the State Department said in a statement.

With US-Iran tensions soaring after the Jordan attack in January, and some calls from Republican lawmakers in Washington for a direct US response against Iran, a senior Iranian commander had called on militia to halt their attacks at the end of January.

The US retaliated against the attack in Jordan in early February, hitting multiple bases of Iranian proxies in Syria and Iraq,

Speaking at the Pentagon, Air Force Major General Patrick Ryder, a spokesperson, did not speculate about what triggered the renewal in attacks. But he called on Baghdad to act.

"These attacks put coalition and Iraqi personnel at risk. We call on the government of Iraq to take all necessary steps to ensure the safety of U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria against attacks from these groups," Ryder told a news briefing.

"If these attacks continue, we will not hesitate to defend our forces, as we have done in the past."

The US has some 2,500 troops in Iraq and 900 in eastern Syria on an advise-and-assist mission.

Although Washington has sanctioned many individuals and entities engaged in nefarious activities on Iran’s behalf, the Biden administration has not enforced the oil sanctions against Tehran, which is the main source of its income.

The United States helped Israel shoot down a massive wave of Iranian drone and missiles on April 14 fired by Tehran in retaliation for an April 1 Israeli strike against an Iranian diplomatic facility in Syria.

Washington has blamed Iran in the past for funding and directing militia in Iraq and Syria that attack US forces.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, wary of his country becoming a battleground for fighting between the United States and Iran, met President Joe Biden earlier this month to turn a new page in US-Iraqi relations despite soaring regional tensions.

The US invaded Iraq in 2003 and toppled strongman leader Saddam Hussein, withdrawing in 2011 before returning in 2014 at the head of an international military coalition at the Baghdad government's request to help fight Islamic State insurgents.

With reporting by Reuters