Fresh Drone Attack Targets US Base In Iraq

Sotoudeh, who had previously denounced Armita's death as a "state killing" in a Facebook post, attended the funeral without a head covering. She was apprehended alongside Manzar Zarrabi, a mother who lost four family members in the tragic downing of a Ukrainian airliner over Tehran in 2020, as well as numerous other women and men.

Initially, Sotoudeh was taken to a detention center in Shahr-e Ray, located in southern Tehran, and then transferred to the infamous Vozara Detention Center in North Tehran. It's worth noting that Mahsa Amini fell into a coma at this facility last year and ultimately lost her life, sparking months of anti-regime protests.

According to Sotoudeh’s husband, Reza Khandan, his wife and other detained women have now arrived at the infamous Qarchak Prison in the south of the capital, but Zarrabi who suffered a convulsive episode was freed.

Khandan who spoke to his wife on the phone briefly when she was at Vozara says both women who refused to wear the hijab as demanded by the agents were assaulted even more badly and that his wife has been rejecting food and her medication in detention.

Prominent Female Islamic Scholar Sedigheh Vasmaghi who in an open letter to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei strongly challenged his edict over hijab was also assaulted by four agents after the funeral but was reportedly rescued by other people at the scene.

Vasmaghi who used to wear a black veil for years now appears with no hijab. She has argued that there is no evidence in Sharia that women must cover their hair. She has become a campaigner for abolition of compulsory hijab.

“We will establish women’s freedom to choose their clothing to honor the deaths of Mahsa and Armita,” she wrote in an Instagram post Sunday after the assault.

According to Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, a member of the Cooperation Council of Iranian Teachers’ Unions, Masoud Zeinalzadeh, and Mohammad Geravand, one of Armita’s relatives, were among those detained at the funeral.

Activist and former political prisoner Shahriar Shams was among those beaten by plainclothesmen after the funeral.

“They took him into their van and demanded his mobile passcode. They beat him up badly when he refused to do so … Then they searched his backpack … They took his cash to let him go and told him he had to pay for his freedom. We took him to the hospital tonight and the doctor said he must get an MRI due to the possibility of [serious] neck injury,” Ali Nanvayi, Shams’ friend,wrote on X.

Students in several universities on Monday honored Armita Geravand whose death was announced after twenty-eight days of coma by hanging posters on the walls and graffiti.

At Tehran’s prestigious Sharif University of Technology, the Islamic Association of Students posted photos of Armita, Mahsa Amini, Nika Shakarami, Sarina Esmailzadeh, and other young girls killed during last year’s nationwide protests on their notice board.

One of the posters on the board, which was later cleared by the university security, simple asked, “Did Armita Geravand Die [or Got Killed]?” while another said, may the day come when God reveals his punishment so “child-killers cannot find fault with other child-killers”.

This could be a reference to the Islamic Republic, which has never taken responsibility for the deaths of these teenagers and tried to justify them with far-fetched scenarios such as suicide and falling from rooftops that few have believed, calling Israel “the child-killing regime”.

Hani Tahvilzadeh, the head of the Association of Infant Formula and Baby Food Producers, said that the decision was made by Ebrahim Raisi's administration, although he did not disclose the name or provide further details about the Turkish company involved.

The crisis began over a decade ago, and Tahvilzadeh emphasized the dramatic decline in the production capacity dropping from ten million units per month to just five million, as a consequence of the government's not giving local producers access to foreign currency nor the materials needed for domestic production needs.

Tahvilzadeh highlighted that the policy has led to the suspension of production in domestic companies. The IRGC-run Fars News agency showed the huge price rises in formula since last year alone. Nan infant formula, which was 43,000 tomans last year, now costs 80,000 tomans. Bebilac 1 has increased from 40,000 to 72,000 tomans, and Hipp Organic has risen sharply from 229,000 tomans to 450,000 tomans.

The situation unfolds as the scarcity of infant formula in Iran coincides with government officials from the Islamic Republic encouraging Iranian families to have more children. In addition to the infant formula crisis, recent years have also witnessed a severe shortage of diapers in the country.

The root cause of this predicament lies in the Central Bank's failure to allocate the required foreign currency to domestic producers. Consequently, Iranian citizens are now provided with coupons to obtain baby formula, and they are witnessing this dire situation with their children's well-being at risk. As of October 12, it has become mandatory to present a national ID and the baby's birthdate to pharmacies in order to obtain infant formula.

Rezaee, who is a member of the Islamic Republic’s constitutional Expediency Council, told Al Jazeera in an interview that Israel finds itself “in a quagmire” and the current war “could become a long and global conflict.”

Although Iranian officials have been strongly supporting Hamas since the October 7 terror attack on Israel, so far they have hesitated in widening the conflict.

The senior regime insider also repeated some of the claims made by other officials, including an assertion that the United States is running Israel’s war in Gaza. He added, “The Zionist regime lacks the knowledge of popular struggles and has entered a vast quagmire, possibly taking action to expand the war in the region to conceal it.”

Rezaee is known for his suggestion a few years ago to take American servicemen, who are in the Middle East hostage and then demand a one-billion-dollar ransom for each.

He is also known as one of the first members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard since the early days of the Islamic Republic.

Rezaee stated, “My suggestion is for Islamic governments to establish an Islamic army to counteract excesses and the interventions of the United States and Israel in the region.” He claimed, that the destruction of Hamas and Islamic Jihad is impossible, stating: "Resistance groups have sufficient capabilities in ground warfare, and they will defeat Israel again. The future of the war depends on the behavior of the United States and the Zionist regime in the coming days."

Erdan was speaking to the UN Security Council Monday afternoon, as Israel expands its ground invasion of Gaza, backed up by relentless bombardment of the enclave to “eradicate” Hamas.

“Ismail Haniyeh –the leader of Hamas– is not Adolf Hitler,” Erdan said. “He is not the Fuehrer. He is not the leader of this death cult, which wants to rule the world. This role is played by the supreme leader of Iran, the bloodthirsty Ayatollah Khamenei.”

Officials in Israel and Iran are not known to speak kindly of one another. But the words of the Israeli envoy to the UN are particularly severe.

“Just like the Nazi regime, the Ayatollah's regime sows death and destruction everywhere it touches,” Erdan said. “The Ayatollah regime is the Nazi regime of our time, and their army includes Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, the Houthis, the IRGC, and other jihadists.”

The Islamic Republic’s support for Hezbollah and Hamas is no secret. Leaders of the regime speak (more or less) openly about their patronage of what they call “the resistance.”

In the weeks since Hamas’ attack on Israel, the rulers of Iran have maintained a degree of ambiguity: boasting about their close and special relationship with Hamas, while refusing to officially recognise any role in the October 7 attack.

The Biden administration seems to have taken a similar position: so far refusing to implicate the Islamic Republic and stressing that there’s no evidence to prove the regime’s direct involvement in planning or executing the attacks and the brutal killing of 1,400 people in Israel.

Erdan referred to the incident in his speech, blaming not just Ali Khamenei, but all those present at the meeting.

“I will make you remember the shame of your silence every time you look at me," Erdan said to the security council, "until the Security Council stops being silent and condemns the October 7 massacre”. “Some of you have learned nothing in the last eighty years!”

The UN General Assembly voted for a humanitarian ceasefire last week. Many agencies and organizations have repeatedly warned about the situation in Gaza.

On Monday, the head of the UN relief agency for Palestinian refugees described the situations in Gaza as an “unprecedented” and “unbearable” human tragedy”. Addressing the Security Council just like the Israeli envoy, Philippe Lazzarini said nearly 70 percent of those reported killed have been women and children, according to health officials in Gaza.

The al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, claimed to have launched anti-tank missiles at Israeli forces early on Tuesday. The Israeli military posted photos that purport to show its troops in the Gaza strip.

As the Israeli ground invasion of Gaza continues, many are fearing a full blown regional war, engulfing other actors like Hezbollah –whose leader, Hassan Nasrallah has been scheduled to speak Friday, raising speculations that he would declare war on Israel.

The UN special envoy to Syria said to the Security Council Monday that Syrians face “a terrifying prospect” of a wider war. “Spillover into Syria is not just a risk; it has already begun,” Geir Pedersen said.

Pahlavi made the remarks during the unveiling ceremony of a monumental statue of Cyrus the Great at the Millennium Gate in Atlanta, Georgia on October 30. The day is a national Iranian holiday to commemorate the founder of the ancient Achaemenid Persian Empire, whose empire-building in the 6th century BC was marked with respect for diversity and human rights. His empire expanded from Central Asia and the eastern wing of the Persian plateau and beyond to Mediterranean shores and North Africa.

Pahlavi, the son of the last shah of Iran who was deposed by the 1979 revolution and the establishment of the Islamic Republic, praised Cyrus as a “consequential visionary” and “a reminder of light in Iran’s history” who outlined a grand vision for humanity with equality, respect and justice for all people. 

He referred to a famous address by his father Mohammad-Reza Shah Pahlavi during the celebrations to mark 2,500 years of monarchy in Iran in 1971. 

"O Cyrus [Kourosh], great King, King of Kings, Achaemenid King, King of the land of Iran. I, the Shahanshah of Iran, offer thee salutations from myself and from my nation. Rest in peace, for we are awake, and we will always stay awake," Mohammad-Reza Shah said. 

On Sunday, his son, who has been a leading opposition figure, said, “Not only are Iranians awake but are also inspired by their forefathers to reclaim their country from the forces of darkness and rebuild it with Cyrus’s vision. 

He also talked about the events of 'Cyrus the Great Day' at his tomb in Pasargadae in Fars Province, where Iranians gather to pay homage to Iran's pre-Islamic history. The occasion is harshly rejected by the Islamic Republic that sees it as a relic of Iran’s monarchy.

The event sometimes morphs into protests against the regime, with people chanting nationalist slogans. 

Security forces block roads to the mausoleum every year to stop people from gathering. The celebration found epic dimensions in 2016. Since 2017, the Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) has been deploying forces to the region and blocking all roads to Pasargadae to make sure that the celebrations were not going to happen.

But still, thousands of young men and women somehow manage to gather around the monument and sing patriotic hymns. 

Pahlavi condemned the “tyrannical dictatorship” which seeks to distance Iranians from "their glorious past," and said people who gather in Pasargadae chant, “Iran is our homeland, Cyrus is our father.”

Regional Peace And Global Prosperity 

The former crown prince, who has long campaigned for a secular and democratic Iran rather than a restoration of the monarchy, reiterated that sticking to human rights values put forth by the late empire can lead to regional peace. His remarks came against the backdrop of an escalating conflict in the Middle East, ignited on October 7, when Tehran-backed Hamas Islamist militants launched a multi-thronged attack into Israel, killing over 1,400 mostly civilians and taking more than 230 hostages. Thousands of Palestinians have been killed in Israel's retaliatory fire. 

He has time and again talked about how the collapse of the Islamic Republic and the establishment of a new government in Iran that is at peace with the world can resolve a plethora of international conflicts. 

“If you seek peace in the Middle East and prosperity for humanity, do not let that be just a thing for the past, but a thing of the future,” Pahlavi said, urging the world to help the Iranian people in their uprising against the Islamic autocracy.  

According to the US National Monuments Foundation, the statue of Cyrus the Great in Atlanta is dedicated to liberty, justice and peace as the values championed by the king, who, upon liberating Babylon, freed the slaves, established racial equality and rights for women, and declared that all people had the right to choose their own religion. 

Based on some historical records, October 28 or 29 in 539 BC was the day when Cyrus entered Babylon after the Neo-Babylonian Empire fell to the Achaemenid Persians in the Battle of Opis. Cyrus the Great set the Jewish people free from the Babylonian Captivity that had taken place decades before. Cyrus facilitated their return to the promised land and he became a notable figure in the Jewish scripture as a savior who helped them build the Second Temple in Jerusalem.

Pahlavi said as “Cyrus freed the Jewish people from the Babylonian slavery, Iranians want to free themselves of the enslavement of the Islamic Republic and rebuild our temple, Iran.” 

He expressed confidence that Iranians will ultimately reestablish Cyrus’s legacy and “build peaceful relationships with our friends; both Israeli and Arab, across the Middle East." 

Pahlavi said the Iranian people as heirs of the country are “closer than ever" to reclaiming their homeland and returning it to its rightful place in the world. 

“Iranian and Jewish people share an ancient bond of friendship that modern Islamic fanaticism has tried (and failed) to destroy. Remembering the past is a powerful perspective for shaping the future; one where diverse peoples and cultures live together in freedom and harmony,” read a statement by the US National Monuments Foundation, the body that installed the Cyrus statue in Atlanta. 

Political Parties For A Democratic Iran 

The end of October was action-packed for Iranians who root for a Constitutional or a Royalist Iran. Iran Novin Party (Modern Iran Party), which announced its establishment in the winter of 2023, held its first Congress in Brussels. The party takes its appellation from a party with the same title founded in Iran 1964 and controlling both Iran’s cabinet and the parliament from 1964 to 1975. 

Now the party seems to have re-emerged to work against the Islamic Republic and provide a party platform for Iranian constitutional monarchists. Although exiled prince Pahlavi did not participate in the event, he sent a message that was read out loud at the opening ceremony and Pahlavi’s wife, Yasmine, delivered the keynote speech at the event. 

Hamed Sheibanirad, the secretary of the party, told Iran International that Iran Novin Party has envisioned activities from three perspectives: actions towards the collapse of the Islamic Republic regime, the first 100 days after the fall or the transition period, and long-time measures after democracy is established in the country. 

Nasim Behrouz, one of the organizers of the event, said this party is another opposition party in exile, and called on all such entities to unite against the Islamic Republic. Reza Ahmadi, one of the members of the party, said that Iran’s modern political ecosystem is teeming with different views of people from all walks of life, claiming that constitutionalism is the fruit of a consensus by all views represented in Iran’s political sphere. The Constitutional Revolution of Iran took place between 1905 and 1911 during the Qajar dynasty, leading to the establishment of a parliament and has been called an "epoch-making episode in the modern history of Persia". 

"With organization and structure, it is possible to contribute more effectively to the downfall of the Islamic Republic,” read part of Pahlavi’s message to the event read out by political activist Amir-Hossein Etemadi. “These are the political parties that, in the aftermath of the fall of the Islamic Republic, should be involved in shaping the country's political and legal structures."

Public events such as football matches, are a good touchstone to see the real public mood of Iranians. No gathering is held without people chanting slogans in admiration of the Pahlavi monarchs, who were pioneers of leading Iran to its modernization.