<div>
Tehran, home to more than 10 million people, stands on the brink of a catastrophic water shortage amid Iran’s most severe drought in decades. In 2025, the capital has seen a 100% drop in precipitation compared to the previous year — an unprecedented collapse that has left the region’s reservoirs nearly empty. Iranian officials are now warning that, absent immediate rainfall, parts of the city may face forced evacuation within weeks.
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At the center of the crisis is the Amir Kabir Dam, once a cornerstone of Tehran’s water supply. Today, it holds only <a href="https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iran/07112025">14 million cubic meters of water</a> — just 8% of capacity — enough to sustain the city for about two weeks under current conditions. Tehran depends on five primary dams — Lar, Mamlu, Amir Kabir, Taleqan, and Latyan — but together they are only <a href="https://www.thestar.com.my/news/world/2025/11/07/tehran039s-main-dams-only-11-pct-full-amid-severe-drought#goog_rewarded">8%</a>. Excluding the newly added Taleqan Dam, that figure plunges to 5%, according to Mohsen Ardakani, head of Tehran’s Water and Wastewater Company.
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Tehran’s environmental collapse is only one part of a broader national emergency. <a href="https://www.ncr-iran.org/en/news/human-rights/stop-executions-in-iran/irans-regime-executes-14-on-oct-14-over-2000-killed-under-pezeshkian/">According</a> to the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), more than 2,000 people have been killed in just 14 and a half months of Pezeshkian’s repressive presidency, as the regime tightens its grip.
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Tehran province received only 159 millimeters of rainfall in the last water year, the lowest in a century, and has had no measurable rain since September 23. Current dam reserves have dropped to 252 million cubic meters, down from 420 million cubic meters in previous years, and weather forecasts indicate no significant rainfall is expected before December. Even after tapping underground aquifers to maintain a minimal supply, the crisis remains “critical,” Ardakani warned.
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The Karaj Dam, another key source, is currently at 7% capacity, and clean water could be exhausted within two weeks, according to Mehdi Maghsoudi, director of Karaj Water Affairs.
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<div>
President Masoud Pezeshkian admitted, “If it does not rain, we will have to start restricting water supplies in Tehran next month. If the drought continues, we will run out of water and be forced to evacuate the city.”
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<div>
With the capital consuming about three million cubic meters of water per day, Tehran has little margin for error. The convergence of drought, state failure, and brutal governance paints a grim picture of a nation on the brink — where both the land and its people are being drained dry.
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Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamanei

Iran’s Despotic Government May Have To Evacuate Tehran Because Of Water Shortage

drought

Iran

Natural Disaster

World

In 1979, Iran’s revolutionaries — an <a href="https://institute.global/insights/geopolitics-and-security/ideology-and-irans-revolution-how-1979-changed-world">alliance</a> of Marxists and Islamists — rose on promises of justice and equality. They <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2014/2/5/the-ayatollahs-unkept-promises">pledged</a> to give citizens free water, free electricity, and free housing. The slogans captured a nation’s imagination, uniting two ideologies that despised each other but shared the same illusion: that moral purity and government control could replace economic discipline. Within years, the illusion <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/08/30/world-news/islamic-republic-close-to-collapse-in-iran-civil-war-possible-report/">collapsed</a>. Inflation exploded, jobs vanished, and the regime they created silenced its own believers.
Half a century later, in a different world and under a different flag, the same rhetoric echoes in New York City.
Assemblyman <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/zohran-mamdani">Zohran Mamdani</a>, now running for mayor, calls for “people-powered politics” and promises “free” public services — fare-free buses, frozen rents, and new programs that would expand government dependency under the banner of compassion. It’s a playbook familiar to anyone who has studied <a href="https://diamond-democracy.stanford.edu/speaking/speeches/when-does-populism-become-threat-democracy">revolutionary populism</a>: identify inequality, moralize the problem, and promise paradise without explaining the cost.
Analysts <a href="https://ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/traffic_and_transit/2025/07/10/free-buses-could-slow-speeds-and-cost-more-">estimate</a> that making city buses free would erase about $700 million a year in fare revenue. Replacing that money would either require massive new taxes or more state debt. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) already <a href="https://ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/traffic_and_transit/2025/07/10/free-buses-could-slow-speeds-and-cost-more-">loses</a> roughly $1 billion annually to fare and toll evasion, including more than $500 million on buses alone. The Independent Budget Office <a href="https://comptroller.nyc.gov/reports/comments-on-new-york-citys-executive-budget-for-fiscal-year-2025-and-financial-plan-for-fiscal-years-2024-2028/#:~:text=With%20these%20adjustments%20based%20on,$13.00%20billion%20in%20FY%202028.">projects</a> multi-billion-dollar city deficits through 2028. To date, Mamdani has offered no serious proposal to offset the hundreds of millions in lost revenue.
That mindset is not new. In 1979, Iran’s revolutionaries <a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/18468/#:~:text=In%201979%2C%20Ayatollah%20Khomeini%20gave%20his%20first,disappeared%20from%20the%20public%20archives%20in%20Iran.">said</a> oil revenues would pay for everything; in 2025, New York’s progressives say “the rich” will. The numbers never add up, but the slogans keep working because they appeal to emotion, not reason.
<div id="attachment_995421" style="width: 749px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-995421" class="size-large wp-image-995421" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/GettyImages-2659698-739x576.jpg" alt="The Iranian Islamic Republic Army demonstrates in solidarity with people in the street during the Iranian revolution. They are carrying posters of the Ayatollah Khomeini, the Iranian religious and political leader. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)" width="739" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/GettyImages-2659698-739x576.jpg 739w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/GettyImages-2659698-300x234.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/GettyImages-2659698-768x599.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/GettyImages-2659698.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 739px) 100vw, 739px" />Keystone/Getty Images</div>
Adding to the picture, the Washington-based lobbying group <a href="https://www.meforum.org/mef-observer/how-the-iranian-regime-seeks-to-build-its-power-upon-american-naivete">NIAC</a>, often criticized for mirroring Tehran’s foreign-policy positions, recently <a href="https://x.com/NIACouncil/status/1982919590310011092">announced</a> its official endorsement of Mamdani. The symbolism is striking: the same organization that has long echoed and defended the Islamic Republic now throws its support behind a socialist-leaning candidate in America’s financial capital. The thread that connects them is ideological, a shared belief that moral virtue justifies economic fantasy.
This convergence of left-wing utopianism and moral absolutism should alarm anyone who cares about the survival of pragmatic politics. When ideology replaces arithmetic, cities fall into the same trap that ensnared nations. The faces and languages change, but the structure remains: emotional populism promising equality through control.
Iran’s tragedy began with chants about justice and dignity. Within a decade, the alliance between communists and clerics disintegrated, replaced by censorship, executions, and an economy under siege. The rhetoric of equality gave way to ration cards and ideological policing.
New York is obviously not Tehran. But when candidates promise unlimited benefits and moral purity while ignoring budgets, they are playing the same dangerous tune. No city, no matter how rich, can outspend reality. Populism always runs on borrowed time and borrowed money.
The warning isn’t about religion or class. It’s about patterns. In every era, radicals on the Left promise that compassion can be legislated and that economics will obey moral will. It never does. When leaders treat economics as politics and politics as faith, collapse follows.
In 1979, Iran’s revolutionaries told people to look up, and many claimed to see Ayatollah Khomeini’s face in the moon. The illusion was complete. New Yorkers shouldn’t make the same mistake on the skyline. Charisma is not competence, and utopia is never free.
* * *
Dr. Aidin Panahi is an Iranian-American research professor, energy expert, and political activist. He is the co-founder of the “From Boston to Iran” initiative, and his analyses on security and policy issues have appeared in outlets including The Jerusalem Post, Washington Times, the Jerusalem Strategic Tribune, Middle East Forum, Homeland Security Today, and Visegrád24. X: @Aidin_FreeIran
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
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NYC Early Voting Surges Ahead Of Nov. 4 Mayoral Election

Iran Tried Mamdani’s Ideas 45 Years Ago — It Ended In Ruin

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

Democratic Socialism

Islamists

Marxism

Mayor

New York City

Zohran Mamdani

In a Manhattan courtroom this week, justice caught up with two Russian mobsters who tried to carry out a <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/two-russian-mob-leaders-sentenced-25-years-prison-murder-hire-targeting-journalist-behalf">murder-for-hire</a> on behalf of the Iranian regime in New York City.
Rafat Amirov and Polad Omarov — professional criminals with ties to the Russian underworld — each <a href="https://www.courthousenews.com/mobsters-get-25-year-sentences-in-iran-backed-murder-for-hire-plot-of-masih-alinejad/">received 25-year sentences</a> for plotting to kill Iranian-American dissident and journalist Masih Alinejad at her Brooklyn home. Their mission: silence her voice for speaking truth about the brutality of the Islamic Republic. Their pay: a promised $500,000 in what prosecutors called “blood money.”
The case, as Judge Colleen McMahon put it, was “difficult” and “uncomfortable.” Presiding over the Southern District of New York, the Clinton-appointed judge told the defendants they had attempted to &#8220;take a human life for no reason at all,” before reminding the courtroom that Alinejad and her family will live with the repercussions “for the rest of their lives.”
The plot began unraveling in 2022 when the would-be hitman, Khalid Mehdiyev — an Azerbaijani-born mobster working at a Bronx pizza shop — was arrested sitting outside Alinejad’s house with an AK-47, 66 rounds of ammunition, and a ski mask. He had been caught on Alinejad’s home security footage pacing through her yard, taking photos of her porch as proof for the men who had contracted him. When officers finally pulled him over, Mehdiyev turned informant. He told prosecutors that Amirov and Omarov had sent simple orders: “Shoot the journalist. Kill the journalist.”
It was a scheme that, if successful, would have been executed on behalf of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps — the terror arm of a regime that still chants “Death to America” while plotting its enemies’ deaths in the United States. Ruhollah Bazghandi, a senior Revolutionary Guard official, allegedly orchestrated the plot from Iran. He remains at large — a reminder that Tehran continues to direct murder attempts abroad while the West drags its feet on accountability.
Alinejad, who faced her would-be assassins in court, captured the bitter irony of her story. “Because of these criminals, I have to watch over my shoulder,” she said. Yet she walked out of court calling justice “beautiful.” Outside, she reflected, “Once upon a time, a little girl in Iran was taught to shout Death to America so loud the White House would shake. Life’s irony: the same country she was told to hate gave her a second life.  Yes, her adopted country, America, arrested the killers sent by her birth country, Iran to murder her in her sunflower garden in New York and sentenced them to 25 years in prison 💃🏻✌️ From Iran to the United States of America, this is the story of freedom, survival, and truth that can’t be silenced.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Once upon a time, a little girl in Iran was taught to shout Death to America so loud the White House would shake. 
Life’s irony: the same country she was told to hate gave her a second life. 
Yes her adopted country, America arrested the killers sent by her birth country, Iran to…
— Masih Alinejad 🏳️ (@AlinejadMasih) <a href="https://twitter.com/AlinejadMasih/status/1983887485710020618?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 30, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Her statement wasn’t mere sentiment — it was a testament to the moral chasm between a free nation and a regime built on fear. McMahon rejected prosecutors’ call for a 55-year sentence but gave both men the maximum 10 years on the murder-for-hire count — plus additional time for money laundering and conspiracy. The judge emphasized fairness: “It is not fair that Ms. Alinejad should live in constant fear,” she said. Fairness, in this case, cost two foreign agents of tyranny 25 years of their lives.
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Alinejad’s activism made her a target long before this plot. A former journalist turned reformist icon, she has spent years urging Iranian women to remove their hijabs and reject the regime’s religious coercion. That defiance “enraged the regime,” prosecutors said, spurring Iran’s agents to strike where they least expected resistance — inside the United States.
Yet Alinejad’s defiance remains unbroken. Appearing on CNN with Jake Tapper, she said she was “excited” to see justice served. “I was nervous to see them face-to-face, but seeing a female judge — this is the dream we are fighting for in Iran.” She spoke for countless Iranians silenced or killed for far less. “I said to the court that this is not about me,” she recalled. “They didn&#8217;t want just to kill me. They wanted to kill freedom of speech because my platform with more than 10 million followers just echoing the voice of millions of Iranians who say no to forced hijab and no to Islamic Republic, and that&#8217;s why they wanted to kill me.”
Her warning to Washington was direct: “Negotiation or talking to this regime is not going to save the lives of Americans.”  It was a warning backed by history. In 2021, federal prosecutors foiled a separate Iranian plot to <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/four-iranians-charged-plotting-kidnap-author-living-brooklyn-n1273890">kidnap Alinejad</a> from her Brooklyn home and return her to Iran — a chilling preview of the regime’s reach. At the time, she told reporters that police stood guard outside her residence daily. “It’s a weird feeling,” she said. “I’m so not used to being protected by the police. This wouldn’t have happened in my homeland.”
Hillel Neuer of UN Watch, who attended the sentencing, noted Iran’s fear of her words: “Tyrannical regimes always fear the truth.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
I came to the court in New York to show full solidarity with my friend Masih Alinejad who was targeted for assassination by the Islamic regime in Iran. She speaks out for women’s rights and exposes their oppression. They fear her words. Tyrannical regimes always fear the truth. <a href="https://t.co/HYY4rfcyB9">pic.twitter.com/HYY4rfcyB9</a>
&mdash; Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) <a href="https://twitter.com/HillelNeuer/status/1899512226890809631?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 11, 2025</a></blockquote>
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NETHERLANDS-HUMAN RIGHTS-ACTIVIST

Russian Mobsters Get 25 Years For Iranian Regime’s Plot To Kill Dissident On American Soil

Iran’s Hitmen Jailed: Russian Mobsters Get 25 Years For Plot to Kill Dissident Masih Alinejad

Iranian dissidents

IRGC

Masih Alinejad

Murder

It is, in fact, possible to win wars.
I have spent my entire life watching the United States and the West lose wars, or at least not win wars. Initial victory, followed by gradual defeat or bizarre interventionism without the full force, weight, and commitment necessary to carry it through.
What President Trump is demonstrating, however, along with Prime Minister Netanyahu in Israel, is that it is, in fact, possible to win wars.
Let’s recall the timeline here.
On October 7, 2023, the genocidal terror group Hamas invaded Israel&#8217;s borders and killed 1,200 Israelis, mostly Jewish, and abducted 250 Israelis and took them back to their terror tunnel hellholes. In those tunnels, Hamas amassed a vast arsenal of rockets, grenades, and small arms over the course of 20 years with the support and funding from nations in the region, including Iran, Qatar, and Turkey.
There was also a serious possibility that Hezbollah was going to enter the war on the same day. In fact, Hezbollah started attacking with small rockets in the beginning and then gradually escalated. And, according to the military experts, Hezbollah was similarly genocidal and was a far better armed Iranian terror proxy based in Lebanon.
Israel also faced down a continuing terror threat from Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Judea and Samaria, the so-called West Bank. Syria was being used as a thoroughfare for Iranian arms for Hezbollah. The Houthis in Yemen were another Iranian-backed terror threat. And, of course, the Iranian government wasn&#8217;t merely spreading terrorism, they were also fast-tracking a nuclear weapons program.
That&#8217;s where things stood two years ago.
Now, two years later, the Middle East has turned completely upside down.
Israel has completely decimated Hamas, killing its entire top leadership from Gaza all the way to Iran. Israel has destroyed Hezbollah&#8217;s efficacy and killed its terror master, Hassan Nasrallah. Its attacks on Hezbollah were so effective that the Assad regime in Syria completely collapsed.
Judea and Samaria have been quieted by the work of the IDF during this time. Iranian proxies in Iraq went silent as well thanks to the Israeli Air Force. The Houthis in Yemen are sort of the one remaining outstanding enemy, and they&#8217;ve been thoroughly bombed. They are a nuisance, but they&#8217;re not an existential threat to Israel. And Iran&#8217;s nuclear program, the greatest existential threat to Israel, has been set back years, if not decades, thanks to the courage of the Israeli Air Force, and, of course, a timely, brave intervention from President Trump that led to an amazing mission flown by the United States Air Force.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-2295-the-trump-effect-how-to-win-a-war?elementPosition=4&amp;row=2&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+Episodes&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-large wp-image-974957" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1024x171.webp" alt="DailyWire+" width="1024" height="171" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1024x171.webp 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-300x50.webp 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-768x128.webp 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1536x256.webp 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-2048x341.webp 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>
And now President Trump has brokered an amazing deal, one that seemed unthinkable not long ago. The release of the final 20 live Israeli hostages all at once, along with all the remaining bodies released. Israel maintains a secure posture in the Gaza Strip itself as a transitional plan toward a future without Hamas, supported by regional allies, including countries that one moment ago were sending cash and weapons into for Hamas to use, like Qatar and Turkey.
The possibility of future Abraham Accords with countries like Saudi Arabia and Indonesia are now on the table.
So, here is the question for the West: How is it that this war was won?
Because it&#8217;s hard to win wars.
Well, the answer is the conventional wisdom was stupid — and it has been stupid for decades.
And the decision makers here are ”out-of-the-box” thinkers. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is someone who truly understands the nature of the Middle East and Middle Eastern history. But President Trump is the real difference maker here, because President Trump decided that America would no longer just go along with the 80-year-old slogans promoted by the Arabists at the State Department. 
The conventional wisdom was that military action does not guarantee security in the Middle East. That is a lie. It was always a lie. It was always catastrophically wrong.
In fact, every time Israel has provided for its own security, it was not through a peace deal. It was a peace deal after a victory. 
Military action is the only guarantor of support and security in the Middle East. It was military action that removed every supporting pillar beneath Hamas&#8217;s feet.
The conventional wisdom said the United States ought to play a weird, neutral role between Israel and its genocidal enemies. You saw this from Joe Biden. Kamala Harris talks like this all the time. Bill Clinton tried it until he realized that Yasser Arafat was totally uninterested in peace. 
But this was the conventional wisdom. Was that, sure, Israel was a strong ally of the United States, but America had to play honest broker between Israel and the Palestinians. And it turns out that that was not just wrong, it was idiotically wrong.
The Trump administration openly supported the IDF.
They openly provided the weapons. 
They openly provided the rhetorical support for Israel to win. And it was that that led to Hamas giving up the ghost and to Hamas, his allies, realizing that actually Israel was not going to be forced to simply accept the risk of its own survival. 
The conventional wisdom said that if you threaten to kill terror leaders abroad, that&#8217;d be conflagrationist and terrible. That, too, was wrong. 
Israel killed terror masters in Iran itself. Israel killed Ismail Haniya, the political leader of Hamas. And of course, it was the strike in Qatar that actually led to Qatar and Turkey deciding to press for Hamas’s ouster. 
Israel then hit inside Qatar in an attempted strike on Hamas&#8217;s leadership. They missed, but the message was made clear: Israel would be willing to do it again. 
And then the president essentially said, “Okay, you know what? We&#8217;ll come in. We&#8217;ll give a security guarantee to Qatar so this doesn&#8217;t happen again. But we need you to end this war. We need you to work with Turkey to stop all of this.”
It was a carrots-and-sticks approach led by President Trump.
President Trump understands the Middle East better than all the so-called experts.
And, by the way, he understands the Middle East far better than the supposed neocons, the total interventionists pushing for ”Democracy in the Middle East.” Trump is not one of those.
He also understands it better than the isolationists in his own party who wanted to reject Trump&#8217;s tempered and rational ”Peace through Strength” in favor of what might be called “Cowardice through Catastrophism,” the idea that World War III is lurking behind every corner — despite the fact that President Trump is the most rational purveyor of American force in modern American history. There was no shot that World War III would break out over one B-2 sortie over Iran. That was not going to happen because Trump was backing the IDF&#8217;s capacity to destroy Hamas in the Gaza Strip. That was not going to happen. The catastrophism was nonsense and it was nonsense from the beginning.
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Prime Minister Netanyahu, who soldiered through withering criticism both at home and abroad, of course, for the great crime of seeking victory over those who would destroy his country, deserves credit here.
Huge credit, obviously, as Jared Kushner says, to the Israeli people who mobilized in an unprecedented way to defend their nation and their civilization, we&#8217;re talking about 45-year-old guys leaving four kids at home and their business to go fight in Gaza in the “Sherut Miluim,” the Israeli Army Reserve Service.
And of course, huge props to the American people who provided Israel the support it needed to win, both in terms of material and mostly by making the right decision and electing Donald J. Trump as President of the United States. So, thank you to all the voters of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania.
It turns out that victory over genocidal enemies is indeed possible. What it requires is a smart strategy that bucks the conventional wisdom, a desire and willingness to win, and the perspicacity to dismiss people who promote either a starry-eyed millenarianism, in which every nation is going to break out into democracy someday, or a benighted conventional wisdom that fails every single time it&#8217;s tried.

TOPSHOT-US-ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS-TRUMP-NETANYAHU-CONFLICT-DIPLOMACY

The Trump Effect: How To Win A War

Ben Shapiro

Benjamin Netanyahu

Donald Trump

Hamas

Hezbollah

Israel

Israel Defense Forces (IDF)

Jews

Middle East

Opinion

Peace Deal

President Trump

Syria

Trump peace plan

Trump/Armenia

A Week In Armenia: Hope Emerges After Trump’s Major Steps Toward Peace

Armenia

Armenians

Christianity

Islam

Turkey

One of the primary reasons my campaign for Congress was successful was that I embraced President Trump’s Peace through Strength agenda and promised to hold Iran’s terror proxy, the Houthis, accountable. I meant it; it was not a throwaway line. It is a moral and strategic imperative, which is why one of my first legislative acts was <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/1250">introducing H.R. 1250</a>. This bill requires the designation of Ansarallah, the Houthi movement, as a foreign terrorist organization and mandates sanctions on its leaders and affiliates.
The Houthis are not some faraway nuisance. Their campaign of terror, their alliance with Iran, and their direct threat to global shipping and stability make them a clear and present danger. To hesitate would only embolden them.
During my deployment to Saudi Arabia as a U.S. Army Reserve Intelligence Officer, I had a front-row seat to the Houthi threat. Under constant risk of Houthi strikes in Saudi Arabia, I worked to develop measures to prevent insider threats like the Pensacola base shooting.
Let me be clear: the Houthis are not a political faction looking for a seat at the table. They are violent extremists who seized territory in Yemen, trapping millions in misery. They threaten Red Sea shipping lanes, target civilian infrastructure, and fire rockets across borders into sovereign nations, and they operate with Iran’s full financial and military backing.
The Houthis are one part of a wider Iranian proxy network. These groups menace regional rivals and target Americans. Iran-backed militias killed three U.S. Army reservists in Jordan earlier this year. They struck at America’s energy interests in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region, including HKN, a company tied to the family of Ross Perot.
The Houthis, Hezbollah, and the Iraqi militias are all part of the same web of terror. Ignoring one is ignoring all. President Trump gets that, and that’s why he was able to free Princeton student Elizabeth Tsurkov, whose siblings I hosted in my office, from Iraqi Hezbollah captivity last month – after two years of Biden-Harris inaction.
Within a month of taking office, Biden-Harris revoked President Trump’s terror designation of the Houthis and badgered our Saudi and Emirati allies to cease fighting the terrorists. By 2024, Biden, Harris, or the Autopen had buyer’s remorse and moved to partially redesignate the group.
That is why decisively codifying President Trump’s redesignation of the Houthis as a foreign terrorist organization matters. It is not symbolic. It gives us sharper tools: sanctions, financial restrictions, visa bans, and the ability to choke off their networks. H.R. 1250 requires the President to act within 30 days and also forces determinations on senior figures, including Abdul Malik al-Houthi and Abdullah Yahya al-Hakim. Targeting leadership matters. Cutting money matters. Disrupting weapons pipelines matters.
<div id="attachment_979475" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-979475" class="size-large wp-image-979475" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/GettyImages-2228070084-864x576.jpg" alt="Huthi supporters and university students shout anti-Israeli slogans, calling for an end to the war in Gaza, during a demonstration in Sanaa on August 6, 2025. (Photo by Mohammed HUWAIS / AFP) (Photo by MOHAMMED HUWAIS/AFP via Getty Images)" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/GettyImages-2228070084-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/GettyImages-2228070084-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/GettyImages-2228070084-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/GettyImages-2228070084.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />MOHAMMED HUWAIS/AFP via Getty Images</div>
Some might ask, why act now? Why make this an early priority? Every moment of hesitation allows the Houthis to consolidate power, disrupt trade, and strike at allies. More than 90% of container shipping through the Suez Canal <a href="https://apnews.com/article/red-sea-yemen-houthis-attack-ships-f67d941c260528ac40315ecab4c34ca3">was halted by the Houthis</a>, which accounts for approximately 40% of the world’s container shipping and a route for over one billion barrels of oil per day. 
This disruption is a key driver of global inflation, cutting the buying power of American families.
Sanctions are one part of a larger strategy to end Yemen’s war. We must also work to block weapons flows from Iran, keep humanitarian channels open, and tighten oversight in Congress to make sure enforcement does not drift or get watered down.
Critics will say this risks escalation and hinders peace talks. However, pressure is not the enemy of peace; weakness is. That’s why the Houthis felt so emboldened, and why they were the only group to relentlessly attack Israel — regardless of Hezbollah’s and Iran’s pauses. Labeling the Houthis as terrorists does not declare war. It puts the law on our side. Negotiations only work when leverage is real. The Houthis will never come to the table if they believe America lacks resolve.
Failing to respond only invites more attacks.
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Just this week, the Houthis declared that they will start to target additional U.S. oil firms, such as Chevron and ExxonMobil. This is unacceptable, and it’s time for my colleagues in Congress to act.
Holding the Houthis accountable was one of my first promises, and H.R. 1250 is how that promise begins to take shape. Passing this legislation sends a message: the United States will not cede the Red Sea, will not normalize terrorism, and will not stand by while Iran’s proxies destabilize the region.
The Houthis think they can outlast our resolve. They are wrong. America has faced down far greater threats with determination and clarity. We will do so again. By standing firm, by acting decisively, and by keeping our word, we can ensure that no terrorist movement, whether in Yemen, Iraq, or anywhere else, believes it can threaten American lives and hinder prosperity without consequence.
* * *
Congressman Abe J. Hamadeh represents Arizona’s 8th Congressional District. 
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Demonstration Held After US Announcement Stopping Strikes On Houthis in Yemen

Why Congress Must Back Trump And Make The Houthi Terrorist Designation Official

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KNOB NOSTER, MISSOURI — President Donald Trump shocked the world with his announcement on the evening of Saturday, June 21: the United States had successfully attacked three nuclear sites in Iran, and the B-2 bombers who had completed this incredibly secretive mission were on their way home.
&#8220;Congratulations to our great American Warriors,&#8221; the president shared in a triumphant Truth Social post. &#8220;There is not another military in the World that could have done this.&#8221;
It was an incredible victory for Trump 2.0 in more ways than one: Operation Midnight Hammer had been executed without a single leak to the ever-eager White House or Pentagon press. But how, exactly, had this Hollywood-esque mission been accomplished? And who were the people who made it run so smoothly?
The Daily Wire ventured out to a small Missouri town called Knob Noster, which houses Whiteman Air Force Base, to learn about America&#8217;s most elusive bomber program: the 509th Bomb Wing, one of only two Air Force units to operate the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber. This unit has the unique ability to launch their bombers straight from Missouri to any spot on the globe.
With rare access to pilots and commanders, The Daily Wire learned how a single mission—planned in silence and executed with breathtaking speed—reshaped the conversation about modern warfare through the largest B-2 strike in United States history.
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Only 21 of these B-2 planes were ever made: one crashed and one was damaged, but the rest are housed at Whiteman Air Force Base, the only home of the B-2 stealth bomber. The concept of the plane was conceived back in 1979, at the height of the Cold War, when the United States military had planes that could drop bombs, planes that were stealth, and planes with long ranges, but none that could do all three of these things.
The Pentagon green-lighted a new program to create such planes in 1979, and by 1989, the B-2 Spirit was taking its first flight.
Thirty-six years later, the planes were an integral part of Operation Midnight Hammer. On June 21, 2025, a squadron of B-2 stealth bombers took off from Whiteman, loaded with 420,000 pounds of advanced bunker-busting bombs, headed for Iran. Some went west over the Pacific as part of a deception mission, but seven bombers headed east, flying 7,000 miles towards Iran&#8217;s nuclear facilities.
The trip involved mid-air refueling — one of the most difficult aspects, explained Colonel Jared Kennish, a B-2 pilot closely involved in the mission and commander of the 131st Bomb Wing, Missouri National Guard at Whiteman. And though the B-2&#8217;s flying wings are actually giant fuel tanks capable of holding tens of thousands of gallons of jet fuel, Operation Midnight Hammer involved six refuels. The wings hold roughly 160,000 pounds of fuel, which is enough to keep a B-2 airborne for about 6,000 miles without having to stop for a refuel.
&#8220;It&#8217;s very easy to fly,&#8221; Kennish explained. &#8220;Probably the most difficult part is air refueling.&#8221;
Asked if it was easy for things to go wrong during refueling, Kennish responded: &#8220;It&#8217;s always easy for things to go wrong, but I mean, we train for that. That&#8217;s what we do. Over and over, repetitions, simulators, [flight] training hours, and everything else.&#8221;
&#8220;What&#8217;s unique about the B-2 is the fact that really the only aircraft in the world that provides stealth payload and precision anywhere in the world,&#8221; he shared. &#8220;We can be anywhere in the world, strike precision weapons within minutes, with the time and place of our choosing.&#8221;
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The Daily Wire learned that during Operation Midnight Hammer, each B-2 was burning roughly 100 pounds of jet fuel every 10 seconds. To put that in the context of the five-gallon gas cans used for a lawn mower, every 10 seconds, a single B-2 loaded with bombs burned through three gas cans. And since the planes were in the air for 37 hours, each of the B-2s in Operation Midnight Hammer burned about 200,000 gallons. So the mission used at least 1.4 million gallons for the seven B-2s alone.
That&#8217;s enough gas for a Toyota Camry to go around the world 2,193 times.
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The B-2s entered Iranian airspace at around 6 pm Eastern time, and forty minutes later, six of them had hit their first target as they dropped six bombs (the GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator, or MOP) into the two main ventilation shafts at the Fordo Mountain uranium enrichment facility. The seventh B-2 dropped two more bombs on the Natanz nuclear facility, protected by a 25-foot-thick concrete shield.
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Chief Master Sergeant Frank Espinoza, whose team loaded the bombs onto the planes before the mission, showed The Daily Wire an example of the &#8220;MOP&#8221; at Whiteman, sharing that the bombs produce an overpressure phenomenon that sends shock waves deep into the ground. The MOP is designed to detonate only after it pierces through rock and reaches its underground target.
&#8220;It&#8217;s a 30,000-pound munition,&#8221; Espinoza shared. &#8220;It&#8217;s meant to penetrate hardened targets and it&#8217;s pretty accurate&#8230;If we want to hit any place anywhere on the planet, we&#8217;re going to do it.&#8221;
&#8220;No other country has this type of bomber or this type of munition,&#8221; he noted. &#8220;It was specifically designed for that target, 15 years to develop this specifically. This is the first time that the MOP was used in combat and we used 14 of them and they all worked as advertised.&#8221;
Colonel Joshua Wiitala, commander of the 509th bomb wing, oversees the B-2 program at Whiteman, and oversaw Operation Midnight Hammer. He described watching the pilots return from Operation Midnight Hammer, flying over the heads of their breathless families, who had gathered at the base once news broke of the daring mission. These families didn&#8217;t know that their pilot family member was going when he or she left the day before, Wiitala shared, but they were used to these types of procedures.
&#8220;When it was announced that the mission had happened, the family started to find out that that was the case. A lot of them gathered here on base. We brought them out to the flight line, and when the jets recovered, there were families cheering for them. They pitched out over the base, right over top of their families.&#8221;
&#8220;I would say the biggest moment for me ever as a commander, and really the biggest moment of my career, was when I knew they were safe,&#8221; he said. &#8220;When I knew they were in safe airspace and they had accomplished the mission, that&#8217;s when the emotions really started to flow, to be honest.&#8221;
His pilots didn&#8217;t seem nervous when they took off, Wiitala said. They were &#8220;very excited.&#8221;
&#8220;They understood that this was going to be one of the most consequential raids of our lifetime.&#8221;
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How To Win A War In 37 Hours: Daily Wire Goes Inside Whiteman Air Force Base

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Britain, France, and Germany — the E3 — plan to hit Iran with reimposed United Nations sanctions as early as Thursday.
Following high-level talks with Iranian officials on Tuesday, multiple European and Western diplomats <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/europeans-likely-initiate-un-sanctions-process-iran-thursday-sources-say-2025-08-27/">told Reuters</a> the E3 will trigger a “snapback” of sanctions this week, signaling a significant setback for Tehran amid ongoing nuclear and security concerns.
“The U.N. process takes 30 days before sanctions that would cover Iran&#8217;s financial, banking, hydrocarbons and defence sectors were restored,” Reuters noted, adding, “The E3 have offered to delay the snapback for as much as six months to enable serious negotiations if Iran resumes full U.N. inspections.”
“In a letter dated August 8, the E3 warned Iran it would proceed with ‘snapback’ if Tehran didn&#8217;t reach a ‘satisfactory solution’ to the nuclear issues. A deadline was set for August 31,” <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/middle-east/20250822-iran-european-powers-to-resume-nuclear-talks-as-snapback-sanctions-loom">France 24</a> noted, adding, “Under ‘snapback,’ any party to the deal can find Iran in noncompliance, reimposing the sanctions. After it expires, any sanctions effort could face a veto from UN Security Council members China and Russia, two nations that have provided some support to Iran in the past but stayed out of the June war.”
In July, a <a href="https://isc.independent.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Intelligence-and-Security-Committee-of-Parliament-Iran.pdf">report</a> from Great Britain’s Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament stated clearly that they saw Iran as a “significant threat to the UK.”
“The Iran threat should not be underestimated: it is persistent and  — crucially  — unpredictable,” the report — which was completed before the October 7 Hamas massacre of Israelis and subsequent events occurred — declared. “Iran has a high appetite for risk when conducting offensive activity, which means it poses a dynamic and erratic threat. &#8230; it can escalate action sharply with little warning. This was seen following the 2022 protests in Iran, when there was a significant increase in the threat of a physical attack to individuals in the UK and the Middle East whom Iran perceives to be a threat to the regime.”
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In June, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United Nations nuclear watchdog, found that Iran had breached its non-proliferation obligations. It was the first time in almost two decades that the IAEA had taken that stance. The <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/china/west-plans-push-iaea-board-find-iran-breach-duties-diplomats-say-2025-05-30/">last time</a> the IAEA adopted that position was in September 2005, when clandestine nuclear activities in Iran were discovered.
“The Board of Governors&#8230; finds that Iran&#8217;s many failures to uphold its obligations since 2019 to provide the Agency with full and timely cooperation regarding undeclared nuclear material and activities at multiple undeclared locations in Iran &#8230; constitutes non-compliance with its obligations under its Safeguards Agreement with the Agency,” the resolution stated.

Israel Launches Strikes Against Iran

European Powers Poised To Reimpose U.N. Sanctions On Iran This Week

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On Tuesday, Australia announced it would expel Iran’s ambassador and suspend operations at Australia’s embassy in Tehran, accusing the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of directing two antisemitic attacks, including the firebombing of a synagogue.
“Enough credible intelligence has now been gathered to reach the deeply disturbing conclusion that the Iranian Government has directed at least two of these attacks,” the Australian Foreign Minister’s Office <a href="https://www.foreignminister.gov.au/minister/penny-wong/media-release/response-iranian-attacks">stated</a>. “Iran has sought to disguise its involvement but ASIO assesses it was behind the attacks on: Lewis’ Continental Kitchen in Sydney on October 20 last year; and the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne on December 6 last year.”
“We have informed the Iranian ambassador to Australia he and three additional Iranian diplomats will be expelled,” the statement continued. “We have suspended operations at our embassy in Tehran and all our diplomats are now safe in a third country. The Government will legislate so we can list Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps – the IRGC &#8211; as a terrorist organisation.”
“Western security officials have said Tehran is increasingly turning to criminal networks in the West to target dissidents, critics and Jews. In another recent episode about two months ago, an alleged spy was arrested in Europe and German authorities said that Iran was suspected of <a href="https://www.wsj.com/world/europe/iran-suspected-of-scouting-jewish-targets-in-europe-c92367c4?mod=article_inline">collecting information on Jewish targets</a> in Berlin to prepare for possible attacks,” The Wall Street Journal <a href="https://www.wsj.com/world/australia-blames-iran-for-antisemitic-attacks-expels-ambassador-bd63cfe6?gaa_at=eafs&amp;gaa_n=ASWzDAgVTHU-bqkEarVLh3rjMjgp_QGnZrWNhB3D6pX8WHh89JAFMQ6sGxzikxFiEYg%3D&amp;gaa_ts=68ae2537&amp;gaa_sig=JHopOhKaIQX0YV1PohFfgPwH0WR76TCHcZBZ4IoxWtt5LlS7c-4KgSs56yO-5lL9i2dJP6vEhlAVNfNbm8JO8g%3D%3D">reported</a>.
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“For decades, the Iranian regime has posed a threat to Israelis and Jewish communities around the world,” the Israeli embassy in Australia wrote on X. “Today, it became clear that this threat has reached Australian soil.  The international community can no longer be complacent. Australia has taken a principled stand, others should consider following suit.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
For decades, the Iranian regime has posed a threat to Israelis and Jewish communities around the world.
Today, it became clear that this threat has reached Australian soil.
The international community can no longer be complacent. Australia has taken a principled stand, others… <a href="https://t.co/WOBBF2p5u5">https://t.co/WOBBF2p5u5</a>
— Israel in Australia (@IsraelinOZ) <a href="https://twitter.com/IsraelinOZ/status/1960206082456047974?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 26, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Although the current Australian government seems to be intent on protecting local Jews, it is far less interested in protecting Jews in the state of Israel. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who has presided over an era in which antisemitism has become pronounced in his country and anti-Israel actions have grown ever more public, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/australia-palestinian-state-albanese-3d32a2d823a430cb85d3f6a83158dd90">said</a> in early August that his country would recognize a Palestinian state.
Australian television presenter Erin Molan, a staunch defender of the West and Israel, denounced the Australian government for asserting they would recognize a Palestinian state in the wake of the October 7, 2023, Hamas massacre of over 1,200 Israelis, bitterly offering congratulations to Hamas and other terrorist groups.
“A big congratulations to Hamas off the news out of Australia that our government, our Prime Minister, and Foreign Minister will be recognizing a Palestinian state,” Molan said acidly. “They are, of course, in control of Gaza. They are terrorists and they carried out October 7. So a big congratulations to them for this wonderful shot in the arm.”
“I’d like to pass on my condolences to the hostages, around 50, who are still trapped in tunnels, are desperate, dying, suffering immensely; to every child in Gaza, my condolences to you as well because this will only prolong your pain because our government has just given a massive big hurrah to the people responsible for your pain: Hamas, the terrorists,” she declared.
“And also a big shout-out to every other heinous, murderous terrorist group in the world who was looking for a kind of way to gain legitimacy in the eyes of the Western world,” she said. “Who now know all they have to do is break into another country, slaughter, rape, chop off heads, hack them off on camera, burn children alive, and take hostages, including babies, then kill them, and ‘Bob’s your uncle’: there you go: statehood.”
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A huge congratulations not JUST to H*mas… but to terrorists everywhere 💪 What a win… 🥳
Ohhhh and condolences to the hostages, kids in Gaza and innocents everywhere who will suffer even more so as a result 🙏
Australia has just announced it will recognise a Palestinian… <a href="https://t.co/MF7OF2eAfQ">pic.twitter.com/MF7OF2eAfQ</a>
— Erin Molan (@Erin_Molan) <a href="https://twitter.com/Erin_Molan/status/1954753839061746149?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 11, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Australia Expels Iranian Ambassador, Accuses Regime Of Orchestrating Antisemitic Attacks

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According to multiple reports, including a <a href="https://iranhumanrights.org/2025/08/scores-of-political-prisoners-will-be-executed-in-iran-without-an-international-outcry/">comprehensive study</a> by the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI), Iran’s repressive, despotic Islamic regime has carried out hundreds of executions in 2025. More than 100 of these took place in a wave of repression following the 12-day Israel–Iran war. CHRI warns that 10 political prisoners face imminent execution, with nearly 70 others at high risk.
“All after grotesquely flawed judicial proceedings marked by fabricated charges, lack of evidence, denial of counsel and due process rights, torture, and forced false confessions—is a human rights emergency that the international community should be aggressively addressing in all diplomatic channels and forums,” CHRI declared.
“At least 730 people have been executed in Iranian prisons over the past seven months, including 102 in July alone,” the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center for Human Rights has <a href="https://www.iranrights.org/library/document/5039">reported</a>, adding, “The report was released a few days after the UN Human Rights Office said at least 612 people were executed in the first half of 2025, more than double the number recorded in the same period last year.”
“These executions in Iran are nothing less than state-sanctioned murders based on fabricated charges, coerced confessions, and secret proceedings,” CHRI executive director Hadi Ghaemi said. “They constitute grave and irreversible human rights violations, and the absence of sustained international pressure has allowed the Islamic Republic to continue these killings with impunity.”
In addition, the Iranian regime is attempting to cover up its crimes during the state massacres of the 1980s by paving over the graves of people the regime murdered. The regime is doing so by “building a parking lot over Tehran’s Behesht Zahra cemetery where many of the bodies were dumped,” CHRI <a href="https://iranhumanrights.org/2025/08/irans-destruction-of-graves-from-1980s-state-massacres-must-be-condemned/">pointed out</a>.
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“Impunity for atrocities and crimes against humanity has been building for decades in the Islamic Republic,” Ghaemi said. “There is a direct line between the massacres of the 1980s, the gunning down of demonstrators in 2009, and the mass killings of protesters in 2019 and 2022. The Islamic Republic has learned it can kill huge numbers of its opponents—real or imagined—at will and without any real consequences. Until this ceases to be the case, this regime will continue to carry out mass killings, in the streets and at the gallows.”
CHRI added:
<blockquote>
By paving over these graves, the Islamic Republic is destroying critical evidence of the atrocities it committed, such as in <a style="font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;" href="https://iranhumanrights.org/2017/05/an-interview-with-scholar-and-historian-ervand-abrahamian-on-the-islamic-republics-greatest-crime/">1988</a>, when it hanged and threw into mass graves some 5000 political prisoners, most of whom were already sentenced and serving their prison sentences. Numerous UN experts have <a style="font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;" href="https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/DownLoadPublicCommunicationFile?gId=25503">stated</a> these mass executions constitute a crime against humanity—and one in which there has never been any accountability by any official in Iran. Indeed, many of the officials involved went on to serve <a style="font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;" href="https://iranhumanrights.org/2021/08/swedish-trial-of-iranian-prosecutor-offers-historic-opportunity-to-shed-light-on-irans-1988-massacre/">high-level positions</a> in the Islamic Republic. 
</blockquote>
“For over four decades, the Islamic Republic has assiduously gone after family members seeking justice for many egregious state abuses—trying to intimidate and silence them so that they don’t publicize the state’s crimes and atrocities, or when they are not successful—<a style="font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;" href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2023/08/iran-respect-families-right-to-commemorate-loved-ones-killed-during-uprising-without-reprisals-on-one-year-anniversary/">punishing them with arbitrary arrest and detentions</a> for trying to hold state officials accountable for unlawful deaths in the street, in state custody, or at the gallows,” CHRI asserted. “Destruction of grave sites and depriving the state’s victims and their families of the ability to mourn and memorialize, is just one among many ways that the Islamic Republic has sought to erase its crimes, avoid accountability, and punish those who seek justice. The graves of the victims of state massacres during the 1980s are not the only ones the Iranian authorities have destroyed. The graves of other mass killings during and beyond the 1980s have also been bulldozed, built over, or used as a garbage dump by the Islamic Republic.”

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Iran’s Brutality Escalates: Executions And Grave Destruction Follow Israel-Iran War

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The Iranian Supreme Court has upheld the death sentence for a 45-year-old mother and women’s rights activist who has been reportedly held in solitary confinement and tortured by agents of the Iranian regime.
Sharifeh Mohammadi, the mother of a twelve-year-old son, was arrested on December 5, 2023, at her home in Rasht by agents of the government and reportedly subjected to both mental and physical torture to coerce a confession.
On July 4, 2024, the Revolutionary Court in Rasht convicted her of armed rebellion and sentenced her to death. Her family and the Coordination Committee for Helping to Establish Labor Organizations, which she had stopped working with as far back as 2011, denied the charges. On October 12, 2024, the Supreme Court (Branch 39) overturned the initial death sentence due to weak evidence, lack of links to armed activity, and judicial irregularities.
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On February 13, 2025, the Revolutionary Court led by Judge Mohammad Ali Darvish Goftar, who was the son of the original judge who condemned her to death, again sentenced her to death. On Sunday, the Iranian Supreme Court upheld this second death sentence even though legal concerns that had been raised were not addressed.
85 inmates in Iran’s notorious Evin Prison are staging a hunger strike in support of Mohammadi. At the beginning of August, 31 Thirty-one international and regional women’s rights and human rights organizations condemned the death sentence imposed in February, <a href="https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/statement-report/iran-must-immediately-release-whrd-sharifeh-mohammadi-and-dismiss-death-sentence">writing</a>:
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Sharifeh Mohammadi is an Iranian woman human rights defender (WHRD) and long-time labor rights activist, who organized in support of the rights of workers, through a registered, independent, public and legal organization of the same aim. &#8230; This sentence constitutes one of the harshest punishments imposed on a human rights defender in Iran and the broader SWANA region. The conviction of a woman human rights defender solely for peaceful labor rights advocacy has shocked both Iranian civil society and the international human rights community. We believe Sharifeh Mohammadi is a victim of a fabricated case and that all charges against her are unfounded.
</blockquote>
Noted Iranian dissident Masih Alinejad wrote on X:
<blockquote>
Today, the Iranian regime confirmed the death sentence of Sharifeh Mohammadi, a mother, a labor activist, and a defender of women’s rights. Her only act was standing up for justice and dignity. Now she faces execution, leaving behind a young child who may never again feel her embrace. This is not just an attack on one woman, it is an attack on every mother who dares to dream of a better life for her children. When injustice threatens the most vulnerable among us, our silence becomes consent.
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Today, the Iranian regime confirmed the death sentence of Sharifeh Mohammadi, a mother, a labor activist, and a defender of women’s rights. Her only act was standing up for justice and dignity. Now she faces execution, leaving behind a young child who may never again feel her… <a href="https://t.co/jwtPbfgtvj">pic.twitter.com/jwtPbfgtvj</a>
— Masih Alinejad 🏳️ (@AlinejadMasih) <a href="https://twitter.com/AlinejadMasih/status/1956710602459554022?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 16, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Funeral For Two Assassinated Judges

Iran’s Supreme Court Upholds Death Sentence For Women’s Rights Activist

Iran's Supreme Court Upholds Death Sentence For Female Human Rights Advocate

Death sentence

China is reportedly using a “dark fleet” to conduct secret ship-to-ship transfers of Iranian oil in an effort to evade U.S. sanctions on Tehran’s tankers.
<a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/china-iran-us-sanctions-dark-fleet/">CBS News</a> sent a crew to scout an area roughly 80 nautical miles from Singapore and found four ship-to-ship transfers occurring; all the “dark fleet” tankers had their transponders switched off, and “clearly do not want to be identified,” the outlet reported.
“Both ships have a net or something, a tarp, deployed over the stern, covering the name and identification number — it’s obvious deceptive practice,” Charlie Brown, senior adviser with United Against Nuclear Iran and advisor to the Trump administration, who has been studying the “dark fleet” for years, stated.
“This is ‘dark fleet’ parking central,” he commented, calling one ship, the Tifani, “a well-known ‘dark fleet’ tanker.”
“The tankers, full of oil, sail from the Persian Gulf through the Strait of Malacca to the Riau archipelago,” CBS News noted. “There, they transfer the crude to ships bound for China, which buys 90% of Iran’s oil. &#8230; According to a congressional report last year, this trade generated as much as $70 billion for Iran, propping up the regime and its nuclear weapons program. &#8230; By the end of the day, 12 ship-to-ship transfers were recorded in the Riau archipelago — an unprecedented number and a clear indication Iran and China are only ramping up this illicit activity.”
On Wednesday, in its most significant Iran-related action since 2018, the Treasury Department imposed <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sb0215">new sanctions</a> on more than 50 individuals and entities and identified more than 50 vessels that are part of the vast shipping empire controlled by Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani (Hossein). Hossein is the son of Ali Shamkhani, a top political advisor to the Supreme Leader of Iran.
“The Shamkhani family’s shipping empire highlights how the Iranian regime elites leverage their positions to accrue massive wealth and fund the regime’s dangerous behavior,” Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent stated. “The over 115 sanctions issued today are the largest to-date since the Trump Administration implemented our campaign of maximum pressure on Iran. These actions put America first by targeting regime elites that profit while Tehran threatens the safety of the United States.”
“Hossein’s network exerts control over a significant portion of Iran’s crude oil exports, the proceeds of which substantially benefit his family and the Iranian regime,” the Treasury Department declared. “His father, Ali Shamkhani was <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sm870">previously sanctioned by the U.S. in 2020</a>.”
“Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani’s (Hossein) network comprises a vast fleet of vessels, ship management firms, and front companies—some posing as legitimate financial services firms—that launder billions in profits from global sales of Iranian and Russian crude oil and other petroleum products, most often to buyers in China,” the Treasury Department added. “The network employs significant measures to disguise its operations and obfuscate its ties to the Shamkhani family, Iran, and Russia.”

Imported Crude Oil Tanker

Secret Transfers: China’s ‘Dark Fleet’ Helps Iran Sneak Oil Past U.S. Sanctions

China

Oil and Gas

Sanctions

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