TOP STORIES
U.S. Navy destroyer shot down drones and a missile launched by Yemen's Houthi rebels toward the vessel in the Red Sea, officials said Wednesday, as the Indian navy released images of it fighting a fire aboard a container ship earlier targeted by the Houthis. The U.S. military's Central Command said the Houthi's Tuesday assault had targeted the USS Carney, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer that's been involved in the U.S.-led campaign against the Iran-backed Yemeni rebels, who call their attacks a response to Israel's war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. In a third suspected Houthi attack, the British military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center reported an unspecified incident Wednesday 57 nautical miles south of Aden, on the southern Yemeni coast. Private security firm Ambrey said an explosion was reported near a vessel, but there were few other details immediately available.
Since the 2022 death of Jîna Mahsa Amini, a young Kurdish woman held in police custody for wearing her hijab inappropriately, Iranian demonstrators have protested against the repressive regime and the surge of executions of ethnic and religious political dissidents. In the first 11 months of 2023, Iran had executed 746 people, prompting United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to observe that Iran was carrying them out “at an alarming rate.” So far in 2024, Iran has executed at least eight Kurdish political prisoners, including four on Jan. 29, 2024, who were convicted on dubious charges such as waging war against God and corruption on Earth. As a Kurdish-born scholar and a professor of Middle Eastern studies at the University of Central Florida, I have previously written about the “Women, Life, Freedom” movement and the Kurdish female fighters who focus on the protection of women’s rights and protests by the Iranian people against their government.
Iran To Unload Crude From Seized Tanker Advantage Sweet, Fars Says | Reuters
Iran will unload about $50 million worth of crude from the Advantage Sweet, a Marshall Islands-flagged tanker seized by Iran's army in April 2023, the semi-official Fars news agency reported on Wednesday. The unloading of the cargo follows a court order by Iran's judiciary which stated the move is in retaliation to U.S. sanctions preventing the sale of critical medicine for Iranian victims of a rare skin disease. Advantage Sweet is a Suezmax crude tanker that had been chartered by U.S. firm Chevron.
UANI IN THE NEWS
Watchdog: Illicit Iranian Oil Sales Spike Under Biden | Newsmax
Iran set export records by selling $90 billion in U.S.-sanctioned oil, according to watchdog United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), which highlighted the Biden administration's "hesitance to enforce oil sanctions on Iran." Iran's biggest buyer is China, which buys four of five barrels exported by Iran despite the sanctions imposed in 2019. Iran's illicit oil sales are funding terrorists in the Middle East, including the Houthis of Yemen, who actively target Western cargo ships in the Red Sea. "It is crucial that the United States prioritizes the identification and sanctioning of these vessels to effectively crack down on Iran's illicit oil trade," UANI Chief of Staff Claire Jungman told the Washington Free Beacon. "Immediate, decisive action is required to reinforce the sanctions framework and prevent the further erosion of global security. The time for half-measures has passed."
A Look - A Conversation with Jason Brodsky | VOA
UANI Policy Director Jason Brodsky on U.S.-Iran policy.
SANCTIONS, BUSINESS RISKS, & OTHER ECONOMIC NEWS
Many Iranians Struggle With Poverty As They Greet Norouz | Iran International
Two weeks before the Norouz (Nowruz) Iranian New Year, reports received by Iran International indicate a significant drop in people’s purchasing power and the elimination of many food items in their diets. According to what audiences have reported to Iran International, items such as red meat, chicken, fish, rice, and dairy products had the highest share among the goods removed from households' consumption baskets. Iran’s currency, rial, has lost 20 percent of its value since early January, which directly contributes to rising prices of wheat, rice and animal feed that to a large degree are imported and subject to currency fluctuations. Annual inflation in Iran has hovered at or above 40 percent since 2019, one year after the United States withdrew from the 2015 JCPOA nuclear deal and imposed sanctions on the main source of Tehran’s revenues; oil exports. The already weak economy, over-burdened by government control and limited international trade, has shrank further in the past five years.
MISSILE PROGRAM
Iran Showcases Shahed Drones, Missiles At Qatar's Defense Exhibition | Al-Monitor
Iran is showcasing its growing arsenal of weaponry, some of it is being used in Russia's war in Ukraine, at a major maritime defense exhibition in Qatar this week. Officials from Iran, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan and other countries in the region are participating in the Doha International Maritime Defense Exhibition and Conference (DIMDEX), which began on Monday and will conclude Wednesday. The event was inaugurated by the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. More than 150 companies and government entities were listed by DIMDEX as exhibitors. The companies work in a variety of sectors, including defense, engineering, aerospace, energy and technology. Russia, Italy, Oman, Pakistan and the United Kingdom sent warships to DIMDEX, according to the event’s website.
TERRORISM & EXTREMISM
Ofcom Upholds Iran International Complaint Against Al Jazeera | Iran International
The UK's media regulator, Ofcom, has upheld a complaint by Iran International against Al Jazeera over allegations made against Iran International by a Tehran-based “analyst”, who is considered a regime insider. In a video interview with Al Jazeera’s News Hour on January 7, 2023, government mouthpiece Mohammad Marandi defended the executions of Mohammad Mehdi Karami and Mohammad Hosseini, both accused of participating in anti-government protests and allegedly being involved in the killing of Basij member, Ruhollah Ajamian. A figure close to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Marandi accused London-based Persian networks such as Iran International, of provoking unrest in Iran during the Woman, Life, Freedom movement, further claiming these media “have repeatedly called, … have legitimized and praised beating police officers, burning them alive and murdering them.” Following Marandi’s remarks, Iran International filed a complaint with Ofcom about Al Jazeera, arguing that “it was treated unjustly or unfairly in the program as broadcast.”
PROTESTS & HUMAN RIGHTS
An Iranian singer who won a Grammy presented by U.S. first lady Jill Biden has been sentenced to more than three years in prison over his anthem supporting the 2022 protests over the death of Mahsa Amini. Shervin Hajipour posted on Instagram on Friday, the same day that Iran held its parliamentary election, what appeared to be part of the judgment against him. It said Hajipour received a three-year, eight-month sentence on charges of “propaganda against the system” and “encouraging people to protest.” The court issued its sentence in part because it found he hadn't properly expressed regret over publishing the song. It also imposed a two-year travel ban and ordered him to create a song about “U.S. crimes," as well as make posts about those crimes online. “I will not mention the name of the judge and the prosecutor so that they don’t get insulted and threatened, because insults and threats are not in the religion of humanity,” he wrote. “Finally, one day we will understand each other. Until then.” Hajipour already had served some prison time, but was out on bail pending the court's decision. It was unclear if he had already reported to serve his sentence.
Iran Ramps Up Executions As Western Countries Divert Focus Towards Gaza | Euronews
Iran continues to execute ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’ protesters as Western countries fail to exercise the same pressure on the country’s government they did in late 2022 and early 2023. The nationwide mass protests sparked by the death of Iranian woman Mahsa Amini in September 2022 have been followed by the second-highest number of executions in the country in more than 20 years, according to a recent report. The 2023 annual report on the death penalty in Iran by the NGO Iran Human Rights found that there were a total of 834 executions last year in the country, representing a 43% increase from 2022. Only 15% of these executions were announced by authorities, while 85% were not reported by official sources. Eight protesters were among the executed last year, six of whom were arrested in relation to the “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests. According to Iran Human Rights, they were sentenced to death in “grossly unfair trials without due process.”
Iranian authorities are waging a large-scale campaign to enforce repressive compulsory veiling laws through widespread surveillance of women and girls in public spaces and mass police checks targeting women drivers, said Amnesty International ahead of International Women’s Day. Tens of thousands of women have had their cars arbitrarily confiscated as punishment for defying Iran’s veiling laws. Others have been prosecuted and sentenced to flogging or prison terms or faced other penalties such as fines or being forced to attend “morality” classes. Testimonies from 46 individuals – 41 women, including a trans woman, one girl and four men – collected by Amnesty International in February 2024, coupled with a review of official documents including court verdicts and prosecution orders, indicate that a plethora of state agencies are involved in persecuting women and girls for simply exercising their rights to bodily autonomy and freedom of expression and belief. The organization has released excerpts of 20 of the testimonies to provide a glimpse into the frightening daily reality faced by women and girls in Iran.
MILITARY/INTELLIGENCE MATTERS & PROXY WARS
Iran-Backed Militias In Iraq Claim To Target Israel With Kamikaze Drone | Jerusalem Post
Iran-backed militias in Iraq claimed that they launched a kamikaze drone toward northern Israel on Tuesday night, although no unusual incident of the sort was reported. The militias claimed that they were trying to target a power station in Haifa. The militias have made several such claims since the war began and some drones have been launched from Syria and Iraq toward Israel although they have all either been intercepted or fell in open areas.
IRANIAN INTERNAL DEVELOPMENTS
In Rare Intervention, Zarif Laments Weakening Of Iran’s Foreign Ministry | Amwaj Media
The story: Stepping into the limelight after a longer period of relative silence, former foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif (2013-21) has criticized what he describes as “disorder” in Iran’s foreign policy. The ex-chief diplomat has also lamented the claimed weakening of the official diplomatic apparatus within the Iranian state bureaucracy—adding to a chorus of concerns about the foreign ministry losing its authority under Zarif’s successor, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian. The coverage: In an interview with the Payame Ma newspaper published on Mar. 4, Zarif asserted that there is “disorder” in the decision-making process and leadership of Iran’s foreign policy. Zarif charged that no state entity “is prepared to coordinate” with the foreign ministry when it comes to conducting foreign relations—“particularly in regard to [our] neighbors.” The latter appears to refer to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which greatly shapes policy towards countries such as Afghanistan and Iraq.
Khamenei Praises 'Epic' Elections Amidst Historic Low Turnout | Iran International
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei hailed Iran’s elections as "great and epic" on Tuesday, despite the boycott by a large majority of voters and the lowest turnout in the history of the Islamic Republic. “The Iranian nation did a jihad and fulfilled their social and civil duties,” he said, and as usual, accused “enemies” of trying to dissuade Iranians from voting. However, he claimed that they were defeated by the people’s “epic turnout and jihad.” “Don’t the sixty percent who did not vote count as Iranians?”, former reformist lawmaker Mahmoud Sadeghi tweeted after Khamenei’s remarks. According to official figures, 61.1 million Iranians were eligible to vote, and 41 percent turned out at polling stations including at least 5 percent who cast void and blank votes. However, they were so many electoral gimmicks before and during the election day that few believe even the modest turnout numbers claimed by the government. Blank and void votes are usually cast by those who may have been rounded up and forced to vote against their wish such as government employees, soldiers, and athletes, and could be interpreted as “protest votes."
IRANIAN REGIONAL AGGRESSION
Iran Seeks To Project Its Regional Power To Mediterranean – Analysis | Jerusalem Post
In an interesting speech recently, Iranian military advisor Yahya Safavi said that Iran is seeking to create “strategic depth” in the Mediterranean. This appears to admit Iran’s larger ambitions in the region. Iran has already taken over swaths of Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon using proxies and has operationalized the Houthis in Yemen to attack ships in the Red Sea. Iran also backs Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas. Now, it appears to have even larger ambitions. Safavi is a former Iranian military commander in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. He also works as a military advisor now to the Iranian regime and has an academic role at several universities. As such, he is very much central to the Iranian security apparatus and its strategic thinking in the region. According to an article in Iran’s Tasnim News about his recent comments, he was speaking at a conference celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Imam Hossein University. He was discussing the university’s important role in Iran. Founded in 1986 by a commander of the IRGC, the university has thousands of students and is an important institution for the state.
GULF STATES, YEMEN, & IRAN
At Saudi OIC Summit, Iran Seeks Islamic World's 'Decisive' Action Against Israel | Al-Monitor
Iran's foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, called on Islamic leaders to adopt "practical, decisive and effective measures" against Israel and in support of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, as he addressed a meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in the Saudi city of Jeddah on Tuesday. In a speech aired live by Iran's state broadcaster, Amir-Abdollahian reminded the OIC of the "immediate necessity to avert a catastrophe against the Palestinian nation." The meeting was held as a result of a formal request from Tehran, which has been pursuing a diplomatic campaign against Israel after the latter unleashed a deadly war on Gaza in response to an attack by Iran-backed Hamas militants on southern Israeli communities in October. According to Amir-Abdollahian, leaders of Islamic nations ought to move beyond "mere condemnations" in this "historical test" and meet the "minimum" obligation in response to expectations from Palestinians by cutting off all economic, trade and diplomatic relations with Israel.