Hundreds of Israeli homes damaged in Iran's Oct. 1 missile attack - official figures

The case, which involves allegations of stealing valuable items from homes in northern Tehran, has been referred to the Tehran Provincial Criminal Court, according to a Sunday report by the state-run Iran newspaper.

“As the number of plaintiffs in this theft ring reached 46, police reviewed surveillance footage from around the crime scenes. They discovered that the members of this gang entered homes in groups of four or five,” wrote Iran.

The defendants face charges of stealing gold, jewelry, US dollars, and luxury carpets, with the stolen goods valued at about five hundred billion rials ($800,000). The suspects were identified through police investigations and surveillance footage and arrested shortly after the thefts, which began in the summer of 2022.

The punishment, as described in the indictment by Branch Five of Tehran’s Special Theft Prosecutor’s Office, is rooted in the “hadd” law under Iran's Islamic Penal Code. This law prescribes harsh penalties for theft, including amputation, based on Islamic jurisprudence.

The first offense guidelines mandate the amputation of four fingers from the right hand. For repeat offenders, harsher punishments follow: the second theft results in the amputation of the left foot, the third leads to life imprisonment, and the fourth can result in execution.

The sentencing has drawn attention, particularly from international human rights groups. Pegah Bani Hashemi, a senior legal researcher at the University of Chicago, commented on the severity of the punishments in an interview with Iran International, stating: “While countless embezzlements happen in Iran and the individuals involved often spend just a few years in prison, how can it be acceptable that someone stealing minor items faces amputation?"

Bani Hashemi also highlighted that such punishments go against international human rights conventions, noting, “All punishments that involve torture, including amputation, are considered illegal under international law. This has no place in modern justice systems.”

The practice of amputation as punishment in Iran continues despite mounting criticism from the United Nations, Amnesty International, and other human rights organizations. In July, the Oslo-based Iran Human Rights organization reported that four prisoners at Urmia Central Prison were at risk of amputation for theft. The group has documented similar cases, including a man who had his fingers amputated in February for stealing five sheep.

Iranian civil society organizations report that between January 1, 2000, and September 24, 2020, at least 237 individuals, primarily from impoverished backgrounds, have received amputation sentences in Iran, with at least 129 of those sentences being carried out.

The continued implementation of amputation sentences in Iran occurs despite the country being a member of the United Nations and having signed the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

According to Article 7 of this covenant, “no one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”

“These days we mark the anniversary of the difficult war that was imposed on us, the war of revival against the axis of evil of Iran,” Netanyahu said on Sunday, just days after the one-year anniversary of the October 7, 2023, attack, when Iran-backed Hamas invaded Israel.

“We are not fighting the Lebanese people. We are fighting the terrorist branch of Iran, Hezbollah, which has taken over Lebanon. All of which is aimed at providing a human shield to Hezbollah terrorists.”

On October 8, 2023, Hezbollah joined the fight with Hamas, forcing Israel to face conflict on its southern and northern fronts.

In Gaza, the Israeli offensive has killed nearly 42,000 people, according to Gaza Health Ministry figures. The Israeli attacks on Lebanon from October 2023 to early September 2024 have also killed over 2,000 people, including at least 137 civilians, figures released by the Lebanese Ministry of Health and the United Nations showed.

Israel has also vowed to retaliate against Iran for a large barrage of ballistic missiles launched by Tehran against its territory earlier this month.

Attack on UNIFIL forces

In his Sunday remarks, Netanyahu also issued a warning to the UN to move the peacekeeping forces from southern Lebanon “out of harm’s way”.

Five peacekeepers have been injured in fighting since Operation Arrow of the North began last month. Israel started with a series of deadly air strikes, targeting Hezbollah’s top ranks, including killing the group's leader, Hassan Nasrallah.

Forty countries contributing to the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon on Saturday condemned the Israeli attacks on the mission and called for an investigation of the incidents.

In their statement, the 40 countries said they "strongly condemn recent attacks on UNIFIL peacekeepers" and that "such actions must stop immediately and should be adequately investigated."

The Israeli offensive has expanded this month into what it calls a ‘limited ground operation’, but combined, has now seen 1.4 million Lebanese displaced and hundreds more killed.

During the address in Hebrew, Netanyahu turned to English to address UN Secretary General, Antony Guterres. “Mr. Secretary General get the UNIFIL forces out of harm’s way, it should be done right now, immediately,” he warned.

In Hebrew, he expressed regret for the injuries suffered by the UNIFIL soldiers. "We do everything in our power to prevent this injury, but the simple and necessary way to prevent this is to simply get them out of the danger zone,” he said, warning their presence is also a danger to Israeli soldiers.

Israeli forces asked UNIFIL to withdraw from some of its positions, but "there was a unanimous decision to stay" in the area, AFP reported Saturday citing UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti.

UNIFIL, set up in 2006, was designed to keep Hezbollah and other armed groups behind designated lines, and to see the disarmament of all such groups in the area. Neither has since been achieved.

Hezbollah was Iran’s largest and most powerful proxy until a few weeks ago. While a Hezbollah operative earns $1,500 a month, the Lebanese Armed Forces, the only armed power able to challenge Hezbollah, are paid just $300 a month. Limited by resources in the ailing economy, their troops often do not even have funds for gasoline to fuel their patrol trucks.

On Sunday, Israel announced it had captured a Hezbollah militiaman in one of the group’s tunnels, along with huge stashes of armaments, the first such announcement since fighting began. He was taken to custody in Israel while scores more projectiles continued to be fired into Israeli territory.

However, the US and Israeli officials speaking to NBC News told the network that the retaliation could come during the weekend's Yom Kippur holiday, which has now passed, showing the lack of clarity as to the exact timing of the response.

Following a stream of attacks, starting with the alleged Israeli killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July, and most recently, an airstrike that killed long-time Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, Iran launched its biggest barrage to date on the Jewish state this month.

On October 1, Iran launched 181 ballistic missiles at Israel, with several striking military and civilian infrastructure. The attack prompted Israel, Iran's longstanding adversary, to vow a strong retaliation.

NBC reported that there is no indication Israel will target nuclear facilities or carry out assassinations in its response. However, US officials emphasized that Israel has not yet made a final decision on the timing or nature of its retaliation, as the country is currently observing a series of religious holidays.

The US is now working to defuse a rapidly escalating situation, as Iran's proxies across the region continue to attack Israel from multiple fronts following the October 7 invasion by Iran-backed Hamas last year. However, a US official, speaking to Iran International on condition of anonymity, firmly stated that there are "absolutely no" back-channel talks between the US and Iran to ease tensions.

Since the missile barrage, while the US has affirmed Israel’s right to respond, President Joe Biden has made it clear he will not support a strike on Iran’s nuclear sites, despite the looming threat as Iran inches closer to developing a nuclear weapon—now only "weeks, not months" away, according to the UN's nuclear chief.

Last week, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said: ”The Iranian attack was aggressive but inaccurate. In contrast, our attack will be deadly, pinpoint accurate, and most importantly, surprising - they will not know what happened or how it happened. They will just see the results.”

The US official based in the region said that the Biden administration remains firm in its objection to nuclear targets being off limits. This was reiterated in a call last week between Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has long warned of Iran’s nuclear threat to the world.

"The fact is that the President and PM spoke spoke through issues and the President made it clear about what should not be done," he said, referring to the warning to avoid nuclear targets. "We've had more impact [influence on Bibi] than people give us credit for. It was a good conversation. Biden made clear what he doesn't support."

However, the official, who was also on the conference call between the two leaders, also said Israel, as a sovereign nation, has the right to decide independently of the US.

“We don't approve targets. We don't want responsibility for targets,” he said. “It’s not about approval. It's two sovereign countries [Israel and the US] but we make clear what would be problematic. For example, we said to ease up in Beirut [due to the impact on civilians] but that doesn't mean they aren't any legitimate targets,” as Israel continues to dismantle Iran’s largest proxy, Hezbollah, in Lebanon.

With oil a critical resource for heavily sanctioned Iran, it is also believed that Israel is weighing that as an option, but Biden has made clear that too would not be his choice of target. "If I were in their shoes, I'd be thinking about other alternatives than striking oil fields," Biden told reporters earlier this month.

In April, Iran launched its first direct attack on Israel, a barrage of 350 projectiles, following an alleged Israeli airstrike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus. The strike killed a senior Quds Force commander and multiple senior IRGC figures.

However, since October 7, proxies in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen have launched a multi-front offensive against Israel in support of Iran-backed Hamas in Gaza.

One year ago, Hamas killed 1,100 mostly civilians and captured 251 more in a shock offensive that took the world by storm, revealing a much more sophisticated militia funded and trained by Iran, than had been understood.

Today, 101 hostages remain in Gaza and according to Hamas, around 42,000 Palestinians have died. Israel claims at least 16,000 are Hamas operatives.

“Not only at home, but the world does not understand what a horrific, brutal terror organization Hamas and Iran's proxies are,” the US official said. “They are not freedom fighters.”

"According to international labor conventions, the government and private employers are obligated to protect the safety and lives of workers in the workplace," the statement read.

"The deaths of these workers were entirely preventable," the unions added, blaming the disaster on negligence.

The explosion at the Tabas coal mine, which occurred on September 21, was caused by a methane gas leak deep within the mine, according to Iranian state television. Rescue efforts were severely hampered by the high levels of methane gas, with many miners trapped in Block B, where conditions were particularly hazardous.

In their statement, the unions emphasized that miners had alerted management to the presence of methane gas in the tunnels before the explosion, yet they were still forced to continue working.

The French trade unions underscored the severity of the issue by citing official statistics from 2023, which reported that 2,115 people were killed in workplace accidents in Iran, with an additional 27,000 injured.

"The frequency of these deadly mining accidents clearly shows that miners face a systemic problem and a lack of political will to address it," the statement read.

Ali Nesaee Zohan, public prosecutor and head of the South Khorasan Revolutionary Court, announced last week that the case investigator had confirmed a lack of safety measures at the mine, attributing the negligence to the mine's management.

Hassan Hashemi, a representative of Birjand in Iran’s Islamic Consultative Assembly, also criticized the managers of the Tabas Ma'danjoo mine for failing to implement an online monitoring system and a gas venting shaft, which he said directly contributed to the explosion.

Despite the findings, no official action has been taken to summon or question the owners of the private coal mining company Ma'danjoo.

The unions involved in the statement include the Confédération française démocratique du travail (CFDT), Confédération générale du travail (CGT), Fédération syndicale unitaire (FSU), Union syndicale Solidaires, and Union nationale des syndicats autonomes (UNSA).

During a meeting with the European Union's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, Iran's Foreign Minister confirmed the delivery of short-range rockets to Russia, but said Iran has not provided ballistic missiles to Russia.

In a statement posted on social media platform X, Araghchi wrote, “We have not provided ballistic missiles to Russia, and if Europe needs an excuse to cave in to Israel’s blackmail, it should find another story.”

It is not the first time that Iran has deflected attention by blaming Iran's archenemy Israel, which was targeted with a barrage of 181 ballistic missiles earlier this month.

Araghchi added, “Iran-Russia military cooperation is not new and dates back to before the Ukraine crisis. Some European countries have provided the Israeli regime with advanced weapons while participating in military operations against Iran.”

The remarks came in response to an earlier report from The Wall Street Journal, in which EU reporter Laurence Norman said that Araghchi had acknowledged, during a meeting with EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell in New York, that Iran sent short-range missiles with a range of 250 kilometers to Russia.

Norman wrote, “Senior EU official says Araghchi acknowledged in NY that Iran had sent missiles to Russia of less than 250km range. He claimed they were not 'ballistic' missiles.”

Despite Araghchi’s denial, the European Union is pressing ahead with sanctions targeting Iranian individuals and entities connected to the missile transfers. Citing a senior EU official, Reuters reported that the sanctions are likely to be introduced as early as Monday. The sanctions are part of the EU’s first wave of punitive measures linked to Iran’s alleged missile transfers and could also impact sectors beyond military ties.

Iran has been widely criticized for its deepening military support for Russia in Ukraine, particularly its provision of drones used to target civilian infrastructure. It has also led to global sanctions on Iran.

The two nations appear to be drawing closer politically and militarily. Reflecting the ideological alignment, on Friday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Russian President Vladimir Putin met in Turkmenistan, where Putin remarked that the countries’ “assessments of events taking place in the world are often very close.”

Last month, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell issued a warning to Tehran, stating that the bloc would “respond swiftly and in coordination with international partners” if Iran continued supplying weapons to Russia.