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.



Israel PM Says in ‘Profound Shock’ over Hostage Videos

 Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during an event at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Jerusalem on July 27, 2025. (AFP)
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during an event at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Jerusalem on July 27, 2025. (AFP)
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Israel PM Says in ‘Profound Shock’ over Hostage Videos

 Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during an event at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Jerusalem on July 27, 2025. (AFP)
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during an event at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Jerusalem on July 27, 2025. (AFP)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with relatives of two hostages held in Gaza seen in videos released by Palestinian armed groups, expressing his "profound shock" over the images, his office said.

Since Thursday, Hamas and its ally Islamic Jihad have released three clips showing two hostages taken during the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that triggered the ongoing war in Gaza.

The images of Rom Braslavski and Evyatar David, looking emaciated after nearly 22 months of captivity, have sparked strong reactions among Israelis, fueling renewed calls to reach a truce and hostage release deal without delay.

"The prime minister expressed profound shock over the materials distributed by the terror organizations Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and told the families that the efforts to return all our hostages are ongoing, and will continue constantly and relentlessly," said a statement from Netanyahu's office released late Saturday.

Earlier in the day, tens of thousands of people had rallied in the coastal hub of Tel Aviv to urge Netanyahu's government to secure the release of the remaining hostages.

In the footage shared by the Palestinian groups, 21-year-old Braslavski, a German-Israeli dual national, and 24-year-old David both appear weak and malnourished.

The videos make references to the dire humanitarian conditions in Gaza, where UN-mandated experts have warned a "famine is unfolding".

Israeli newspapers dedicated their front pages on Sunday to the plight of the hostages, with Maariv decrying "hell in Gaza" and Yedioth Ahronoth showing a "malnourished, emaciated and desperate" David.

Right-wing daily Israel Hayom said that Hamas's "cruelty knows no bounds", while left-leaning Haaretz declared that "Netanyahu is in no rush" to rescue the captives.

Netanyahu, according to his office, spoke "at length" with Braslavski and David's families on Saturday, decrying "the cruelty of Hamas".

He accused the group of "deliberately starving our hostages" and documenting them "in a cynical and evil manner".

Israel, meanwhile, "is allowing the entry of humanitarian aid to the residents of Gaza", Netanyahu said.

Reiterating Israel's stance that it was not to blame for the humanitarian crisis, Netanyahu said "the terrorists of Hamas are deliberately starving the residents of the Strip" by preventing them from receiving the aid that enters Gaza.

The Israeli premier, who has faced mounting international pressure to halt the war, called on "the entire world" to take a stand against what he called "the criminal Nazi abuse perpetrated by the Hamas terror organization".

Braslavski and David are among 49 hostages seized during Hamas's 2023 attack who are still being held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.

Most of the 251 hostages taken in the attack have been released during two short-lived truces in the war, some in exchange for Palestinians in Israeli custody.

The Hamas attack resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to a tally based on official figures.

Israel's campaign in Gaza has killed at least 60,430 people, also mostly civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory's health ministry, deemed reliable by the UN.

Israel has heavily restricted the entry of aid into Gaza, already under blockade for 15 years before the ongoing war.

Overnight from Saturday to Sunday, air raid sirens sounded in Israeli communities near the Gaza border, with the military saying that "a projectile that was launched from the southern Gaza Strip was most likely intercepted".