President takes fire as Iran fast-tracks ‘cyber censorship’ bill

“Cluster munitions are inherently indiscriminate weapons that must never be used,” said Erika Guevara Rosas, Amnesty’s Senior Director for Research, Advocacy, Policy and Campaigns.

“By using such weapons in or near populated residential areas, Iranian forces endangered civilian lives and demonstrated clear disregard for international humanitarian law.”

According to Amnesty, Iranian ballistic missiles dispersed dozens of submunitions over the densely populated Gush Dan metropolitan area on 19 June, with additional strikes verified in Beersheba on 20 June and Rishon LeZion on 22 June. One of the submunitions struck the basketball court of a school in Beersheba. No injuries were reported, but remnants found at the scene matched cluster bomblets documented in the earlier Tel Aviv-area attack.

“Civilians, particularly children, are most at risk of injury or death from unexploded submunitions,” Guevara Rosas added.

Amnesty emphasized that the high dud rate of many submunitions leaves behind long-term threats. Some ordnance may remain explosive for years, posing risks to residents returning to affected areas.

Indiscriminate weapons and legal implications

Cluster munitions, which scatter small explosive devices over a wide area, are widely banned under the Convention on Cluster Munitions. Neither Iran nor Israel is party to the treaty. Amnesty urged both governments to accede to the convention.

International humanitarian law forbids indiscriminate attacks, particularly those involving weapons that cannot be precisely directed at a specific military target. Launching such attacks into areas where civilians are present constitutes a war crime.

Amnesty said the ballistic missiles used by Iranian forces attacks were inaccurate by design. Previous assessments of similar strikes, including those launched in October 2024, found targeting errors averaging more than 500 meters.

The organization also cited past incidents suggesting Iran’s possession and testing of cluster submunitions. A similar munition landed in Gorgan, northern Iran, in September 2023 after what the Iranian Defense Ministry described as a failed weapons test. Though the ministry denied testing cluster ordnance, photographs published by state-aligned media closely resemble the bomblets found in Israel last month.

No Iranian response

Amnesty said it submitted formal inquiries to Iranian authorities on July 15 regarding the use of cluster munitions. No response had been received at the time of publication.

The 12 Day War between Iran and Israel in June resulted in the deaths of at least 1,062 people in Iran, including 786 military personnel and 276 civilians, according to the Iranian government spokesman.

"We have presented 1,062 martyrs in this war, including 102 women and 38 children," Fatemeh Mohajerani said in her weekly press briefing. She added that five paramedics, five nurses, and seven emergency responders were also among the casualties.

In Israel, at least 29 people, including women and children were killed as reported by the Israeli Health Ministry.

In a letter to the United Nations, 301 rights defenders organized by Justice for the Victims of the 1988 Massacre in Iran (JVMI) urged immediate action to stop what they described as an “escalating wave of political executions and entrenched impunity.”

“The risk of another mass atrocity, reminiscent of the 1988 massacre, is alarmingly real,” the letter read.

The warnings follow a series of troubling signals from Iranian authorities in the aftermath of the 12-day war with Israel in June.

Iran’s judiciary chief, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, said Wednesday that about 2,000 people had been arrested during and after the conflict, with some detainees accused of collaborating with Israel potentially facing the death penalty.

“In our law, anyone who cooperates with a hostile state during wartime must be arrested and prosecuted,” he told state TV.

Re-run of a crime?

Iran’s IRGC-linked Fars News Agency has gone further, explicitly calling for mass executions “in the manner of 1988” for those allegedly aiding Israel through espionage or arms smuggling.

Earlier this month, UN experts also sounded the alarm, urging Iranian authorities to halt what they described as a post-war crackdown marked by executions, arbitrary detentions, and censorship.

In the summer of 1988, thousands of prisoners—many already serving sentences for dissent—were executed in secret after a fatwa by then-Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, following a surprise cross-border attack by the armed opposition group MEK from Iraq, just days after Iran accepted a UN ceasefire to end the eight-year war with its neighbor.

Amnesty International estimates the death toll at no fewer than 5,000.

Victims were buried in unmarked graves, and families were never formally notified. Iran has never acknowledged the full extent of the killings, while survivors and families continue to face harassment and denial of burial rights.

“Maintaining national cohesion, as emphasized by the Supreme Leader, can include changing certain social approaches of the establishment and prioritizing public satisfaction in a way that is tangible for the people,” former foreign minister Ali-Akbar Velayati posted on X on Monday.

“The people have proven themselves—now it is the officials’ turn. Outdated methods will no longer be effective for the post-war society," he added, without detailing the nature of the proposed reforms.

Will to change?

The reformist daily Shargh was quick to highlight the significance.

“This message is not only a confirmation of the need for transformation but could also be a sign of a serious resolve to begin a new chapter in policymaking and decision-making in Iran,” an editorial read.

It suggested Velayati’s comments “may indicate a high-level political will to move toward structural reforms.”

Velayati’s words carry unusual weight because he remains one of the most trusted figures in Khamenei’s inner circle.

His shift in tone—departing from Tehran’s usual confidence in its popular legitimacy—has been read by some as a sign of deeper anxiety following the recent 12-day war with Israel.

Losing grip?

That conflict briefly united many Iranians in the face of an external threat. But now, with the ceasefire holding, there are signs that public frustration is again surfacing—especially as calls for reform remain unanswered.

“The firm stance of the people against Israel came from their concern for their homeland, not satisfaction with the Islamic Republic,” civil engineer Milad Salehi commented on Velayati’s post—which drew more than a thousand comments.

Even before the war, the state’s grip on some aspects of public life—most notably enforcement of the mandatory hijab—had already begun to slip.

In recent weeks, Iran’s reformists have demanded steps such as easing internet restrictions, relaxing hijab enforcement, releasing political prisoners, and curbing hardline institutions like the state broadcaster and the Guardian Council.

But the leadership has instead retrenched: Khamenei recently reappointed 99-year-old ultra-conservative Ahmad Jannati to head the Guardian Council, while Friday Prayer leader Kazem Seddiqi returned to the pulpit despite a corruption scandal involving his family.

'Too little too late'

Such moves have deepened skepticism even among moderate voices who backed Masoud Pezeshkian as a “last hope for change” in the face of widespread indifference.

“In a country where the president … cannot, even after a year, fulfil the simplest of his campaign promises … reform is not a matter of time; it is impossible,” outspoken IT professor Ali Sharifi-Zarchi posted on X.

“Iran’s political structure must change,” he added, quoting Pezeshkian’s post.

Mohsen Mahdian, a mechanical engineer, captured that mood with a stark metaphor under Velayati’s post: “When the pillars of a house start to collapse... it must be demolished and rebuilt."

"The time for change and reform was years ago—but you turned a deaf ear back then.”

Crowds chanted “Shameless, shameless” after the crackdown, according to footage sent to Iran International.

Residents rallied outside the Sabzevar governorate, denouncing outages that have paralyzed daily life amid extreme heat. Videos show men and women shouting, “If we don’t get our rights, we won’t leave,” along with “Only the streets will give us our rights” and “Water, electricity, life—our absolute rights.”

Officials have blamed the crisis on “unprecedented drought.” Iran is experiencing its second-driest year in five decades, with rainfall down 43% from last year. Major dams, particularly those supplying Tehran, are at critically low levels.

In Tehran, residents in districts including Pounak, Amirabad, and Pardis shouted “Death to Khamenei” and “Death to the dictator” from their windows during extended outages. In Sadra, near Shiraz, demonstrators echoed the same chants late Tuesday.

In an unusual move, Tehran’s Water Company announced plans to distribute plastic-bagged water—then withdrew the statement hours later without explanation.

Government data shows 24 of Iran’s 31 provinces are under water stress, affecting cities such as Tehran, Mashhad, Tabriz, and Isfahan.

On Wednesday, amid rising public anger, authorities declared a holiday in 23 provinces, citing “heat and energy management.” Other regions cut working hours to mornings only.

Years of sanctions, aging infrastructure, and mismanagement have strained Iran’s energy systems, with summer blackouts a recurring pattern.

But conditions appear to have worsened following last month’s 12-day war with Israel. Iranians report more frequent and severe outages on the back of a surge in use as more people were forced to stay at home amid the government shutdowns.

Hardline Tehran MP Amirhossein Sabeti warned Wednesday that without major water savings, shutdowns may extend through summer, potentially closing the capital for up to four days a week.

“If necessary, every week may be off from Tuesday or Wednesday [until Saturday],” he said, suggesting the goal is to drive residents out of the city to cut demand.

The IRGC-linked Moj News acknowledged the toll of the crisis, warning that shortages are damaging mental health, fraying family life, and fueling tensions between communities.

The outlet said growing competition for access to water is already triggering local disputes, and without urgent management, broader social unrest could follow.

“The issue with Trump and Netanyahu is not assassination, but the implementation of justice,” Kayhan wrote Wednesday, also referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in an interview with Fox News on Tuesday that the Islamic Republic does not seek to kill anybody abroad.

"This is not our policy to kill anybody outside Iran, let alone the president of another country," he said, though clerics have issued fatwas calling for his death.

A hardline Iranian cleric close to Iran’s Supreme Leader called on Muslims to kill US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in June in response to their threats against Khamenei.

The call came days after Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi and Ayatollah Hossein Nouri Hamedani issued separate fatwas against Trump and Netanyahu.

Shirazi said in his statement: “Any regime or individual threatening the leaders of the Islamic Ummah (nation) and acting on those threats qualifies as a mohareb.”

Kayhan described both Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as corruptors on earth and mohareb (enemy of God), terms which if invoked in fatwas or decrees under Shi'ite jurisprudence make it religiously obligatory for devout Shi'ite Muslims to act.

The penalty for the crimes in the Islamic Republic's theocratic system is death.

Kayhan also denounced Araghchi’s comment that “this has never been Iran’s policy to wipe out Israel from the map,” calling the comment “against the country’s official and strategic positions.”

The paper cited statements by the Islamic Republic’s founder, Ruhollah Khomeini, who said Israel “must vanish from the page of time,” as well as Khamenei’s 2015 vow that “Israel will not see the next 25 years.”

The backlash follows criticism from the Revolutionary Guards-affiliated Fars News Agency, which said Araghchi’s recent remarks admitting damage to the country's nuclear facilities and enrichment risked projecting weakness in the wake of the war with Israel.

“Our facilities have been damaged – seriously damaged,” Araghchi said in his interview after US strikes on the country's three main facilities were said to have "obliterated" Iran's nuclear program, according to Trump. “The extent of which is now under evaluation … enrichment has currently ceased."

Fars also faulted him for dismissing clerical fatwas targeting Trump, saying that to deny it undermines national resolve.

In January, Iran's President, Masoud Pezeshkian, said that Iran “never attempted” to kill Trump, “and we never will.”