Protests Erupt in Tehran's Bazaar

Iranian protestors try to erect barricades. Photo: Twitter
Iranian protestors try to erect barricades. Photo: Twitter
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Protests Erupt in Tehran's Bazaar

Iranian protestors try to erect barricades. Photo: Twitter
Iranian protestors try to erect barricades. Photo: Twitter

Protesters in Tehran's bazaar have chanted slogans denouncing the regime amid tight security measures on the 107th day of public protests in Iran.

Online account "1,500 Tasvir," which closely follows the Iranian protests, published a video showing a state of panic in the bazaar and chants of "death to the dictator" and "poverty, corruption, and high prices will overthrow the regime."

Social media activists had called for rallies in Tehran and other cities in Iran to protest the economic situation and reported that bazaar shop owners went on strike.

On Thursday, state media reported that Iran appointed a new central bank governor.

Iran's currency has lost a quarter of its value since the protests erupted three months ago, dropping to a record low in the unofficial free market as desperate Iranians buy dollars and gold, trying to protect their savings.

The new head of the central bank, Mohammad Reza Farzin, told state television on Friday that the central bank's most important responsibility is to control inflation and the foreign currency rate.

Farzin announced the bank's intervention in the market as he began his first official day at work.

Meanwhile, activists reported that at least one person was killed in Javanrud after security forces opened fire on people who gathered for a mourning ceremony making the fortieth day of the death of demonstrators in November.

People chanted "death to Khamenei" to resist security forces.

According to the Hengaw organization for human rights, security forces fired live ammunition and tear gas, killing one and injuring eight other people in a local cemetery.

A day earlier, Hengaw reported that 126 protesters were killed in Kurdish cities, including 19 children, since the outbreak of the protests.

Iran has been witnessing protests since September 16, following the death of Mahsa Amini, 22, who was killed during her arrest by the morality police.

The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) reported small gatherings in various cities in Iran and published videos of protesters chanting against the regime.

The 1,500 Tasvir observatory showed crowds in the center of Balochistan province chanting "Death to the dictator" in reference to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

The Balochs make up the majority of the impoverished province, which has a population of two million and has been suffering from discrimination, deprivation, and oppression for decades.

The protests are one of the boldest challenges facing the "guardianship of the jurist" regime since the 1979 revolution.

The authorities blamed the protesters, charging them with "destroying public property," and claiming they were trained and armed by enemies of the state and foreign countries.

On Tuesday, Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi said that his country would not show mercy to "enemies" of the regime.

HRANA said that 508 protesters had been killed as of Friday, including 69 minors. It added that 66 members of the security forces were also killed.

The organization estimated that the number of detainees reached 19,199 demonstrators.

According to the Oslo-based Human Rights Organization in Iran, 476 demonstrators were killed.

Iranian officials said that up to 300 people, including members of the security forces, have died in the unrest.

Last week, the Supreme Court accepted an appeal for a death sentence against rapper Saman Saidi Yassin but confirmed the same penalty against protester Mohamed Qabadlo.

Earlier this month, the court suspended the death penalty for protester Mahan Sedarat, accused of various crimes, including stabbing an officer and setting a motorcycle on fire.

On Saturday, the Iranian judiciary's spokesperson, Mizan, reported that the Supreme Court ordered a retrial of a defendant who had been sentenced to death.

Human rights organizations outside Iran reported that the Supreme Court accepted the appeal for a death penalty sentence against Sahand Noor Mohammadzadeh, who was accused of damaging public property.

Mizan reported that the court accepted his appeal and sent his case back for review based on new evidence.

Iranian courts have imposed death sentences in more than a dozen cases, based on charges such as "moharebeh" after convicting protesters of killing or injuring members of the security forces, destroying public property, and terrorizing the public, according to Reuters.

Last Tuesday, the Human Rights Organization in Iran, which tracks executions, warned that at least 100 protesters face the risk of execution, charges that carry the death penalty, or the possibility of death sentences being issued against them.



NATO and Ukraine to Hold Emergency Talks after Russia’s Attack with New Hypersonic Missile

A missile shrapnel lies on the grass in front of damaged rehabilitation center for people with disabilities, following a Russian attack in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, on November 22, 2024. (AFP)
A missile shrapnel lies on the grass in front of damaged rehabilitation center for people with disabilities, following a Russian attack in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, on November 22, 2024. (AFP)
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NATO and Ukraine to Hold Emergency Talks after Russia’s Attack with New Hypersonic Missile

A missile shrapnel lies on the grass in front of damaged rehabilitation center for people with disabilities, following a Russian attack in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, on November 22, 2024. (AFP)
A missile shrapnel lies on the grass in front of damaged rehabilitation center for people with disabilities, following a Russian attack in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, on November 22, 2024. (AFP)

NATO and Ukraine will hold emergency talks Tuesday after Russia attacked a central city with an experimental, hypersonic ballistic missile that escalated the nearly 33-month-old war.

The conflict is “entering a decisive phase,” Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Friday, and “taking on very dramatic dimensions.”

Ukraine’s parliament canceled a session as security was tightened following Thursday's Russian strike on a military facility in the city of Dnipro.

In a stark warning to the West, President Vladimir Putin said in a nationally televised speech to his nation that the attack with the intermediate-range Oreshnik missile was retaliation for Kyiv’s use of US and British longer-range missiles capable of striking deeper into Russian territory.

Putin said Western air defense systems would be powerless to stop the new missile.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov kept up Russia's bellicose tone on Friday, blaming “the reckless decisions and actions of Western countries” in supplying weapons to Ukraine to strike Russia.

"The Russian side has clearly demonstrated its capabilities, and the contours of further retaliatory actions in the event that our concerns were not taken into account have also been quite clearly outlined," he said.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, widely seen as having the warmest relations with the Kremlin in the European Union, echoed Moscow's talking points, suggesting the use of US-supplied weapons in Ukraine likely requires direct American involvement.

“These are rockets that are fired and then guided to a target via an electronic system, which requires the world’s most advanced technology and satellite communications capability,” Orban said on state radio. “There is a strong assumption ... that these missiles cannot be guided without the assistance of American personnel.”

Orban cautioned against underestimating Russia’s responses, emphasizing that the country’s recent modifications to its nuclear deployment doctrine should not be dismissed as a “bluff.” “It’s not a trick... there will be consequences,” he said.

Separately in Kyiv, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský called Thursday's missile strike an “escalatory step and an attempt of the Russian dictator to scare the population of Ukraine and to scare the population of Europe.”

At a news conference with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, Lipavský also expressed his full support for delivering the necessary additional air defense systems to protect Ukrainian civilians from the “heinous attacks.”

He underlined that the Czech Republic will impose no limits on the use of its weapons and equipment given to Ukraine.

Three lawmakers from Ukraine's parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, confirmed that Friday's previously scheduled session was called off due to the ongoing threat of Russian missiles targeting government buildings in central Kyiv.

In addition, there also was a recommendation to limit the work of all commercial offices and nongovernmental organizations "in that perimeter, and local residents were warned of the increased threat,” said lawmaker Mykyta Poturaiev, who added this is not the first time such a threat has been received.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office continued to work in compliance with standard security measures, a spokesperson said.

Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate said the Oreshnik missile, whose name in Russian means “hazelnut tree,” was fired from the Kapustin Yar 4th Missile Test Range in Russia’s Astrakhan region, and flew 15 minutes before striking Dnipro. The missile had six nonnuclear warheads each carrying six submunitions and reached a spoeed of Mach 11, it said.

Test launches of a similar missile were conducted in October 2023 and June 2024, the directorate said. The Pentagon confirmed the missile was a new, experimental type of intermediate-range missile based on its RS-26 Rubezh intercontinental ballistic missile.

Thursday's attack struck the Pivdenmash plant that built ICBMs when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union. The military facility is located about 4 miles (6 1/2 kilometers) southwest of the center of Dnipro, a city of about 1 million that is Ukraine’s fourth-largest and a key hub for military supplies and humanitarian aid, and is home to one of the country’s largest hospitals for treating wounded soldiers from the front before their transfer to Kyiv or abroad.

The stricken area was cordoned off and out of public view. With no fatalities reported from the attack, Dnipro residents resorted to dark humor on social media, mostly focused on the missile’s name, Oreshnik.

Elsewhere in Ukraine, Russia struck a residential district of Sumy overnight with Iranian-designed Shahed drones, killing two people and injuring 13, the regional administration said..

Ukraine’s Suspilne media, quoting Sumy regional head Volodymyr Artiukh, said the drones were stuffed with shrapnel elements. “These weapons are used to destroy people, not to destroy objects,” said Artiukh, according to Suspilne.