An Israeli-Owned Container Ship Was Reportedly Attacked In Sea Of Oman

Photos emerged on social media on Saturday that showed black-veiled women forming a human tunnel, which many now refer to as ‘tunnel of horrors’, at one of Tehran’s main subway stations to make sure women wear proper hijab. Similar surveillance and enforcement have also been reported at other stations.

Since May, the capital’s subway stations have been the battleground of women who are against compulsory hijab and various hijab enforcers as well as some ordinary citizens who consider it their duty to force others to abide by the rules.

The women who wore green shoulder sashes with the words “guidance ambassadors” written on them stopped women who were not wearing headscarves to admonish them for breaking the compulsory hijab rules.

Responding to reporters’ questions on the topic after the weekly cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi declared that citizens’ groups were only carrying out ‘amr-e be marouf' for which everyone is responsible.

The phrase refers to a pious Muslim’s duty to urge others to avoid forbidden deeds and carry out what conforms with religious rules.

“We have not issued any particular permits for [their work],” Vahidi who is second in command of the police force after Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, claimed while insisting that that all citizens have a religious duty to carry out ‘amr-e be marouf’ but this can only involve “nicely worded” verbal exhortation.

“Interesting! So, this tunnel of horrors at the metro is a citizens’ [initiative]!” Mostafa Faghihi, the managing director of the moderate conservative Entekhab news website tweeted Wednesday in reaction to Vahidi’s claim.

“Do people also pay their monthly salary? Are they also hired and organized under citizens’ supervision? No authorization required? How democratic and free!” Faghihi wrote referring to reports in August that Tehran municipality was planning to hire 400 uniformed hijab enforcers to deploy at subway stations of the capital.

Speaking to Faraz Daily news website, an official of the Tehran Metro Company had also earlier denied that that hijab enforcers are officially active in Tehran subway. Hadi Zand, head of international affairs and communications of Tehran Metro Company, told Faraz Daily that the company only has uniformed security personnel who are responsible for dealing with various issues including peddlers and ensuring the security of the subway system.

Many, including prominent reformist commentator Abbas Abdi, have raised objections to the deployment of ‘Hijab Patrols’ in Tehran’s subway stations, the police force’s use of CCTV to identify hijab infringers and recording their images.

In a commentary written for the reformist Etemad newspaper Tuesday, Abdi warned the authorities that that measures such as creating hijab enforcers “tunnels” in the subway corridors would only deepen the gap between the people and the authorities and increases public anger and hatred.

He also argued that introducing hijab enforcers as “guidance ambassadors” is unjustified because governments in the modern world are not mandated to guide people and the police is only responsible for establishing order. Hijab enforcers are municipality employees or police who act based on the orders they receive and get paid for their work like other employees, he said.

The team was scheduled to departFridaymorning for their match against Al Nassr on Monday as part of the Asian Champions League, but it was announced on the Iranian football club's website that the flight had been canceled.

Lateron Friday, Iranian state news outlets blamed the airline for the cancellation. IRGC-affiliated Fars News reported that “according to Saudi Arabia’s laws, only a few Iranian airlines that usually fly Hajj pilgrims can land at Riyadh airport.”However, this particular airliner, which remains unnamed, was not among the authorized companies.

Moreover, Fars News said it was possible that the flight was chosen because it was “cheaper,” a questionable motive for one of the wealthiest clubs in the country.

According to other sources, Persepolis' private jet, owned by Chabahar Airlines, is barred from entering Saudi Arabia. This restriction is based on a policy prohibiting the entry of aircraft over 25 years old to Jeddah and Riyadh airports.

Several Iranian airlines, including Mahan Air -- affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), have been banned by countries such as the US and France on the grounds that they transport military equipment and personnel to Syria and other areas in the Middle East.

Relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia have long been strained and this year's Asian football Champions League is the first since 2016 in which clubs from both nations have been permitted to play one another home and away. Matches between clubs from the two nations were previously played on neutral territory due to security concerns.

Pierre Poilievre, the leader of Canada's Conservative Party, made the remarks on Thursday during a visit to a synagogue in Toronto, outlining his party’s plan for addressing acts of hate crime as well as terrorism and foreign-influence threats.

Dubbing the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as the “most sophisticated, well-financed terror group on Planet Earth,” Poilievre said that the group was behind the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, and is an ally of Hezbollah, which has been designated in Canada as a terrorist group.

He also cited a recent report as saying that 700 IRGC agents are operating in Canada “with impunity using stolen money, terrorizing the Persian and Jewish populations and putting Canadians at risk on our soil” as well as being involved in financial malfeasance. A Global News investigation earlier in November claimed it has found evidence that Canada has become a safe haven for affiliates of the Islamic Republic, with 700 people identified already and counting.

“It is time that Justin Trudeau stood up to defend our people against these IRGC murderers and terrorists by banning them today. We should work to kick out every single regime, agent, or terrorist that is operating in this country," Poilievre stated.

He also highlighted the 2020 shooting down of a Ukrainian passenger jet by the IRGC, killing 176 people, including 55 Canadian citizens and 30 permanent residents. Flight PS752 was shot down by two air-defense missiles fired by the IRGC shortly after taking off from Tehran's Imam Khomeini International Airport on January 8, 2020.

During his speech, Poilievre presented the Conservative Party's five-point "common sense action plan” to protect citizens from hate-driven crimes, with the primary proposal urging the Canadian government to immediately designate the IRGC as a terrorist organization.

Canada’s federal government has referred to the IRGC as a terrorist organization, described its leadership as terrorists, announced measures to make its senior members inadmissible to Canada, and has listed the outfit’s extraterritorial expeditionary division Quds Force as a terrorist entity. However, despite numerous calls from the federal Conservative party, activists and even US lawmakers as well as the families of victims of the Ukrainian flight, the government has refused to designate the whole entity as a terrorist entity under the country’s Criminal Code. In June, Canada's Senate passed a non-binding motion to designate the the Guards as a terror organization, echoing a similar motion in 2018. The country's Liberals supported the Tory motion in the House of Commons back in 2018, but have not done so since.

Additionally, part of Poilievre's plans involves pushing for the establishment of a centralized hub to register information on individuals collaborating with menacing states and disclosing such details to the public. “We need to establish a Foreign Influence Registry... which requires that anyone who works for a foreign dictatorship register, have their names publicized, and exposed.”

The proposed measures reflect a robust stance by the Conservative Party against the perils posed by the IRGC in Canada, with Poilievre asserting the need for decisive actions to safeguard national security and citizens from potential harm.

Earlier in November, Trudeau reiterated that Canada holds “the Iranian regime responsible for the shooting down of PS752, killing of its own citizens and killing of Canadian citizens, and its sponsorship of terror around the world.” So far, Canada has sanctioned 170 Iranian individuals and 192 Iranian entities, including key IRGC and members of the regime’s security, intelligence and economic apparatuses. In 2012, Canada designated Iran as a state supporter of terrorism under the State Immunity Act.

Hamidreza Azari was born on August 11, 2006. According to a source close to Azari's family, he was executed at dawn in the northeastern city of Sabzevar and his body has not yet been given to the family.

Iran's Mizan News Agency, affiliated with the judiciary, did not mention the person's identity or age in its report on the execution. However, the outlet made a narrative around the victim’s identity and called him a “martyr” while using his image to emphasize the Islamic Republic's tough policies regarding hijab.

A person under 18 at the time of the alleged crime can't be executed under international death penalty laws. But juveniles are executed in Iran, one of the few countries in the world that do so.

The execution is the second hanging that has been publicly announced in Iran in the last two days.

According to Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), the number of executions committed by the regime in 2022 increased by over 88 percent from the previous year.

Iran executes more people each year than any other nation except China, according to Amnesty International.

Former chief of the Supreme National Security Council, Ali Shamkhani tweeted that the ceasefire proves Israel has been defeated in the conflict. “Hamas was not destroyed” and remains at its positions, he stated. “The military infrastructure of resistance, especially tunnels, are active,” he added and said, “This is an absolute failure for Netanyahu”.

Although Iran now fully takes credit for supporting Hamas throughout the past two decades by providing both financial and military assistance, it has so far tried to avoid direct military involvement in the war. It knows that any open act of aggression against Israel in current conditions could invite retaliation, even from the United States. Its most powerful proxy force, the Lebanese Hezbollah, has also shied away from a full-scale war, limiting itself to border skirmishes with Israel.

However, Tehran’s diplomacy has been in full swing. Together with its ally Qatar, to secure a ceasefire in Gaza, knowing that the longer the conflict lasts, the weaker Hamas will become, with the ultimate likelihood of its full defeat. For that reason, foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian has been visiting Qatar and meeting with both Qataris and Hamas leaders residing in the Sheikdom trying to facilitate a ceasefire.

But the public rhetoric of Iranian regime officials has aimed at showing strength, not weakness. In his latest meeting with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, Amir-Abdollahian congratulated him for “resistance and victory,” stating, "The practical consequences of Operation Al-Aqsa Storm shook the world, and although the human losses suffered by the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip were significant, bitter, and unpleasant, the dimensions of victory and achievements of the Palestinian people were much greater. It altered the strategic balances in various dimensions in favor of Palestine and to the detriment of the oppressive, invading, and criminal Zionist regime." 

Earlier this month, the commander of IRGC aerospace force Gen. Amirali Hajizadeh in an interview with local media, called a war with the United States “illogical.” Although he was speaking in the context of why the Islamic Republic did not launch a full attack against US bases in the wake of Qassem Soleimani’s targeted killing in 2020, but the message was clear. Tehran knows that it would sustain heavy losses in case it crosses certain red lines, while also facing the danger of domestic unrest.

Iran’s anti-Western and staunchly anti-Israeli ruler Ali Khamenei has delivered public remarks on several occasions in the past few weeks, but except praising Hamas, he has been careful not to make escalatory remarks.

However, his loyal clerics use religious sermons to praise the October 7 Hamas terror attack that triggered the Gaza war. On Friday, Tehran’s prayer Imam Kazem Sedighi boasted that the Palestinians have gone on the offensive, and this is a lesson they learned from Iran’s “spirit of resistance.” He then went on attacking Western leaders for supporting Israel.

“The physical presence of the irrational, heartless, ruthless leaders of Western countries, led by the absent-minded President of the United States [in the occupied territories], followed by the support of the Chancellor of Germany and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and the President of France, demonstrated that not only the Zionist regime but all the powers are fragile snowmen, and if humans rely on the power of God against them, their emptiness and futility will be revealed to the world,” the cleric said.

Meanwhile, Revolutionary Guard top commanders make daily statements about deploying new weapons, or simply praise Iran’s military power and progress. Meanwhile, Iranians opposed to the clerical regime ridicule the IRGC and regime insiders on social media by asking why they did not manage to go to Gaza and do what they have promised for decades – fighting against Israel.