Microsoft chief calls 2024 vote 'Iran vs Trump' election

The charges brought against Behrouz Ehsani Eslamloo and Mehdi Hassani include "armed rebellion (baghi), waging war against God (moharebeh), spreading corruption on earth, membership in the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization, collecting classified information, and collusion against national security."

The Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) reported that the sentences were formally communicated to the men's lawyers.

Ehsani, 64, was arrested on November 28, 2022, at his home in Tehran and was subsequently transferred to Ward 209, the Ministry of Intelligence’s detention center in Evin Prison.

Hassani, 48, a married father of two, was arrested on September 9, 2022, in Zanjan while attempting to leave the country. He was also taken to the same intelligence agency's detention center in Evin Prison. Both men endured months of interrogation before being moved to the public ward of the prison.

Since the founding of the Islamic Republic, political activists and civil dissidents have been routinely arrested, tortured, and imprisoned. The situation has worsened since the nationwide protests, known as the Women, Life, Freedom uprising, which began in September 2022. The government has cracked down on civil and political activists, increasing the number of arrests and accelerating the issuance and execution of death sentences.

In recent months, the Islamic Republic sentenced two female political prisoners, Pakhshan Azizi and Sharifeh Mohammadi, marking the first death sentences for female political prisoners in 15 years.

Leila Morrovati, a political analyst based in Finland, told Iran International that the international community must take unified action to stop the wave of executions in Iran.

Last year, over 850 executions were carried out, and according to Iran Human Rights, Iranian authorities executed 249 people in the first six months of 2024.

"Now it is the responsibility of international organizations, especially governments, to take coordinated measures to prevent these executions. The global community must be made fully aware of what is happening in Iran," Morovati said.

Amnesty International’s latest annual report noted a rise in executions in Iran, stating that nearly 75% of all recorded executions globally in 2023 took place in the country. The report highlights that since the Women, Life, Freedom uprising, the Iranian authorities have increasingly resorted to the death penalty as a tool to impose control and suppress the growing unrest among the population.

Several have voiced their discontent over social media to fighters being brought to Iran and Iranian doctors sent to Lebanon to treat Hezbollah operatives in the wake of two targeted attacks this week.

One citizen, in a video sent to Iran International, commented: "The Islamic Republic blinded Iranian protesters and didn't allow them treatment, but treats Hezbollah's wounded in Iran."

This week saw two separate incidents in which the communication devices of scores of Hezbollah forces exploded, leading to hundreds of casualties and multiple deaths.

The Tuesday explosions targeting pager devices belonging to the Iran-backed militant group occurred in Beirut, killing at least 12 people and injuring around 2,800 others, with 300 reported in critical condition.

The following day, more explosions targeted Hezbollah's walkie-talkie devices in various cities across Lebanon. According to Lebanon's Ministry of Health, these incidents left at least 37 people dead and many injured.

While Israel has not commented, the blame has been laid at the Jewish state. Just minutes before the attack, Israel released news of having foiled a Hezbollah plot to assassinate a former security chief in Israel.

The two countries have been involved in daily bombardments since October 7 when Iran-backed Hamas invaded Israel. In allegiance with Hamas, Iran's biggest proxy has since fired over 6,000 projectiles towards Israel, leading to a conflict displacing around 200,000 people on both sides of the border.

In response to the explosions, Pirhossein Kolivand, head of Iran’s Red Crescent Society, announced that 95 of the injured had been transferred to Iran for further treatment.

Kolivand also confirmed that two groups of Iranian doctors, including eye specialists, had been dispatched to Lebanon. In another interview, he noted that 12 doctors, along with nurses and paramedics from the Red Crescent, were also deployed to assist in Lebanon.

The decision to treat the Hezbollah forces has been met with a flood of backlash on social media. Masih Alinejad, a prominent journalist and women’s rights activist, reacted on X: "The hypocrisy is glaring: the same regime that intentionally blinded peaceful Woman, Life, Freedom protesters in Iran is now offering medical care to Hezbollah operatives who lost their eyesight to pager explosions."

In 2022, during protests over the killing of Mahsa Amini, Iranian security forces were accused of deliberately targeting protesters’ eyes, blinding many of them, in addition to killing over 550, including women and children.

Ehsan Karami, a former TV host and actor, voiced his frustration online: "Why should the people of Iran bear the cost of transferring and treating these individuals, who will undoubtedly receive the best medical care? Rubber bullets and eye removal are the share of Iranian youth, while exclusive flights and special treatment in Tehran are reserved for Hezbollah’s freeloaders."

Sociologist Majid Mohammadi also weighed in, saying: "Netanyahu played the role of God for those seeking justice for the brutal shootings by Basij militia and Special Units that targeted the eyes, hands, and legs of protesters in the Mahsa movement. Three thousand members of Hezbollah and their associates have suffered eye injuries (with 500 blinded), and many have had their fingers and hands amputated. Netanyahu brought smiles to the faces of the families of Iran’s martyrs."

A user identified as Leadsoldier highlighted the contrast between how Hezbollah fighters are treated compared to Iranian citizens: "While our brave young freedom fighters are wandering from place to place seeking treatment for their eye injuries, Hezbollah’s freeloading terrorists receive free care in the best hospitals in the country. This injustice weighs even heavier when we witness the meager income and unbearable pressure on our nation's nurses and medical staff."

International human rights organizations have also brought attention to the issue of eye injuries sustained by Iranian protesters. The Human Rights Center at UC Berkeley earlier verified that at least 120 people had lost some or all of their vision when Iranian security agents used shotguns, paintball guns, and tear gas canisters to suppress protests in 2022. While the Center stopped short of declaring that blinding protesters was a coordinated policy, the evidence indicated that many victims were shot in the face at close range.

The Iran Human Rights Organization (IHR) also corroborated the findings, stating that security forces “systematically” targeted the eyes of protesters, particularly women, during the protests. An IHR report confirmed 138 cases of eye injuries, including eight children under 18. The majority of the injuries resulted from pellets, with others caused by paintball guns and tear gas cartridges.

Iran is also in the midst of a dire health crisis with shortages of medicine and healthcare practitioners who are fleeing the country in droves in search of better working conditions and salaries.

“Tehran is facing problems that leave us no solution other than the relocation of the [political and economic] center,” he said during a visit to the Revolutionary Guards’ contracting arm, the Khatam ol-Anbiya Headquarters, earlier this month.

Pezeshkian highlighted several pressing issues, including water shortages, land subsidence, and air pollution, all of which have worsened over the years. “The fundamental solution is to relocate the country’s political and economic center,” he stated, suggesting the southern regions, where access to the waters of the Persian Gulf is more convenient, as a viable alternative.

This is not the first time government officials have brought up the need to relocate the capital. Iran has conducted at least six studies on relocating its capital since 1989.

The Parliament passed a law in 2014 that mandated the government to investigate the possibility of relocating the government from Tehran.

The Ministry of Roads and Urban Development was tasked with conducting a feasibility study. The study's findings were to be reviewed by a council comprising the president and relevant ministries. However, the council's sessions were halted by the pandemic in 2020 and have yet to resume.

The ministry’s study had concluded that relocation of the government was not an answer to the capital’s problems which would persist even if civil servants and their families were relocated and suggested administrative decentralization as an alternative.

Most critics agree with Pezeshkian that the Iranian capital is suffering from too many problems including a high risk of a major earthquake. The majority, however, have also reminded him that a highly ambitious project such as relocation requires huge resources that the country is simply unable to afford in the current circumstances.

Iran has yet to make sufficient investments in the oil and gas sectors, as well as other industries in the oil-rich southern regions, where many people live in poverty. This point was highlighted by the conservative Asr-e Iran news website in an article responding to Pezeshkian’s proposal to consider these southern areas as an alternative to Tehran.

“How can we provide the necessary infrastructure for millions in this region? Relocating large factories and establishing the required infrastructure for workers and employees demands significant capital. Additionally, these individuals would need to be persuaded to move to the south,” Asr-e Iran news website told Pezeshkian.

The Entekhab news website emphasized the financial constraints facing Pezeshkian, reminding him that his government is grappling with the budget deficit inherited from his predecessor, Ebrahim Raisi. The government has even had to withdraw funds from the National Development Fund to address its daily challenges.

“Mr. President said we couldn’t ask people to relocate while we remain here ourselves. My question is, where do you want to go?” Gholam-Hossein Karbaschi, a former reformist mayor of the capital, asked Pezeshkian, advocating for administrative decentralization and federalism.

“We have a centralized government, authoritarian in fact, that has concentrated all administrative, political, cultural, and economic decision-making in Tehran,” Karbaschi said.

As an example of such centralization, he pointed out that applications for launching a local newspaper or news website in a remote area of the country must be sent to the Islamic Guidance Ministry in Tehran by the local authorities for a decision.

“Our province governors must have authority if they are like presidents of the province,” Karbaschi said while emphasizing that governors have very little authority and have to let all decisions be taken in Tehran.

"The FBI has learned additional details about Iran’s efforts to sow discord and shape the outcome of U.S. elections," the statement said.

"Iranian malicious cyber actors in late June and early July sent unsolicited emails to individuals then associated with President Biden’s campaign that contained an excerpt taken from stolen, non-public material from former President Trump’s campaign as text in the emails," it added.

The investigation comprised the the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

"Wow, just out! the FBI caught Iran spying on my campaign and giving all of the information to the Kamala Harris campaign," Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Wednesday evening.

"Therefore she and her campaign were illegally spying on me. To be known as the Iran, Iran, Iran case! will Kamala resign in disgrace from politics? Will the communist left pick a new candidate to replace her?"

Iranian officials have long called for revenge on Donald Trump who was responsible for the assassination of Quds Force Commander Qassem Soleimani, killed in an airstrike in Iraq.

Iran was also alleged to have meddled in the 2020 presidential election, and US investigators said two Iranian hackers stole confidential US voter information from at least one election website.

They posed as members of the Proud Boys fascist militant group to send threats to Democrats, according to the indictment documents.

Then, according to the FBI, in 2022, Iranian hackers used similar tactics to target voters in the month before the elections.

The museum, overseen by Tehran's municipality, is now embroiled in a scandal that raises questions about corruption and negligence at the highest levels.

Naser Amani, a member of Tehran's city council, revealed the situation on Monday, estimating that just one of the missing works alone was valued at 300 billion rials (approximately $500,000).

During a city council session, he announced that 30 priceless paintings had vanished after being loaned out for a supposed exhibition—an exhibition that never took place.

Amani’s revelations have stirred outrage as the council member underscored the municipality's legal responsibility to protect public assets. Despite repeated inquiries, officials have failed to provide any explanation or accountability.

"We’ve tried to follow up on this, but not only have we not received a report, no one has provided a clear answer about where the valuable artworks are,” Amani lamented.

This latest scandal is far from an isolated incident. Iran has seen a pattern of negligence and outright theft involving its artistic and historical treasures under the Islamic Republic’s governance. From carpets stolen from the Sa’dabad Palace to now-missing paintings, critics argue that corruption and a lack of oversight are enabling the plunder of Iran’s cultural heritage.

The report brings further attention to the gravity of the issue, noting that while 14 of the artworks have already been sold in Dubai, home to as many as half a million Iranians, there may still be hope for the remaining 16 pieces which have not yet surfaced in any known markets. The question remains, however: where are these priceless works, and in whose hands have they fallen?

"Most of the artworks have been sold at prices significantly lower than their real value and the Iranian art market prices,” added the Sanadegi publication.

The sale of Iranian cultural artifacts in foreign markets has long been a point of contention. Many believe that these "disappearances" are not just the result of bureaucratic mismanagement but could be linked to operations involving the black market.

Some users on social media have even accused officials of profiting from the sales, suggesting a deliberate neglect of the country's cultural assets.

The fate of the 30 missing paintings is just one chapter in a broader narrative of how Iran’s cultural heritage is being systematically undermined. The theft of 48 handwoven carpets from Sa’dabad Palace between 2013 and 2016 is another glaring example of the government's inability—or unwillingness—to protect national treasures.