Culture minister expresses concern over Iranian youth's growing interest in K-pop

The drills are focused on protecting critical infrastructure, including the Fordow and Khondab installations, which house uranium enrichment and heavy water production facilities.

The exercise, led by the Army's Air Defense Force under the command of the country's integrated air defense network, simulates defending critical sites and mission centers against aerial and missile attacks using a wide range of units and equipment, including missile systems, radar, electronic warfare and intelligence units, according to IRNA.

The drills follow a previous phase of nationwide exercises that began earlier in January in the air defense zone surrounding the Natanz nuclear facility in central Iran against mock attacks by missiles and drones, as reported by state media.

During that phase, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) air forces conducted "an all-out point defense of the Natanz site against a multitude of air threats in tough electronic warfare conditions.”

In October, US President Joe Biden's adviser for the Middle East Amos Hochstein told Fox News that Israeli air strikes earlier in the month knocked out Iran's last three Russian-provided S-300 air defense missile systems.

The surface-to-air S-300s were the last in the Islamic Republic's arsenal after one was destroyed in an attack in April. Hochstein said, "Iran is essentially naked."

According to IRGC spokesman Ali Mohammad Naini, the exercises, which will continue in various parts of Iran until mid-March, are a response to what he called new security threats.

Naini added that about 30 land, air and maritime drills have commenced across six western and southern provinces so far. “The number of drills has almost doubled this year compared to last year, in response to the evolving threat landscape.”

He added that several branches of the IRGC, including the navy and the paramilitary Basij forces, will also participate in the drills.

Iran has been conducting military exercises as it prepares for heightened tensions with its arch-enemy, Israel and the United States, under incoming President Donald Trump.

The war games come amid concerns that Trump could empower Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to strike Iran's nuclear sites while intensifying US sanctions on Iran's oil industry under his so-called "maximum pressure" policy.

On Friday, the Aerospace Force of IRGC unveiled what state TV called an underground missile city being visited by Guards Commander-in-Chief Major General Hossein Salami and the Aerospace chief Amir-Ali Hajizadeh.

The base was used in the Iranian missile attacks against Israel in what the Islamic Republic codenamed operations True Promise 1 and 2 in April and October 2024, IRGC media Tasnim said.

Salami said that Iran has more missiles than it can store, dismissing what he called enemy propaganda about the weakening of Iran's armed forces following attacks by Israel on Iran and its allies.

Iran has recently suffered setbacks in Lebanon after Israeli attacks against Iranian-backed Hezbollah and the toppling of Tehran's ally President Bashar al-Assad in Syria last month.

Iranian officials keep downplaying Iran's setbacks, but an Iranian general, Behrouz Esbati, who was reportedly based in Syria, said in a speech circulated on social media that Iran had lost badly in Syria.

Hassan Salarieh, head of Iran's Space Organization, confirmed that the Martyr Soleimani satellite constellation, aimed at developing the Internet of Things (IoT), is one of the key projects currently under production.

With 20 satellites slated for launch, Salarieh said that these are part of a broader plan to enhance Iran’s technological capabilities.

"The Martyr Soleimani constellation is a narrowband constellation, designed to support IoT development. This is just one of several important satellite projects we are working on," he said.

Iran’s space endeavors began in 2009 with the launch of the Omid (Hope) satellite. The government insists that its space activities are solely peaceful, yet the dual-use nature of space technology—capable of supporting both civilian and military operations—has raised alarms, particularly among the United States and its allies.

In recent years, Iran has stepped up efforts to improve and expand its space capabilities.

The planned launch of a new space vehicle follows Iran's January 2024 launch of the Soraya satellite, which was carried into orbit aboard the Qaem 100 rocket. That mission drew condemnation from European countries, including Britain, France, and Germany, all of which are part of the now-fractured nuclear agreement with Iran, the JCPOA.

In a joint statement earlier this year, the European Troika expressed concern over Iran's ongoing missile tests, highlighting that the Qaem 100 launcher uses the same technology as Iran’s long-range ballistic missiles.

These launches enable Iran to test technologies that could potentially advance its ballistic missile program, the statement warned, emphasizing that such activities pose a significant threat to both regional and international security.

Further compounding these worries, Iran’s collaboration with Russia in space activities has added another layer of geopolitical complexity. In November 2024, two Iranian satellites—Kowsar, a high-resolution imaging satellite, and Hodhod, a small communications satellite—were launched aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket.

"Several research satellites are also underway, including Pajouhesh (Research) 1,2,3,4 as well as Nahid 2 and Nahid 3, which are ready for launch," Salarieh added. "In addition to these, we have satellites in the telecommunications and sensing fields, with launches set to begin soon."

As Iran continues to develop its space program, the potential for dual-use technology—intended for both civilian and military purposes—remains a point of contention.

The 25 million barrels of oil were gradually shipped to China prior to May 2019 as a precaution when President Donald Trump imposed sanctions on Iran’s oil exports but granted China temporary waivers.

However, in May 2019, when the Trump administration revoked these waivers, the oil was left unsold and stranded in leased storage tanks at the ports of Dalian and Zhoushan.

On December 23, Iran International first reported on the IRGC’s mission to remove these oil reserves from Chinese Dalian port. In a subsequent report, Iran International cited a source as saying that Iran was trying to withdraw other oil reserves from Zhoushan Port, China.

Following these reports, Reuters sources on January 8 confirmed the existence of such a large volume of blocked Iranian oil reserves in China, adding that Iran must pay $450 million in storage fees to Chinese oil storage facilities to release it.

The Wall Street Journal latest report on January 11 has shed new light on Iran’s efforts to retrieve its stored oil from China, warning that the IRGC has taken charge of unloading and claiming this oil. There are concerns that the proceeds from its sale may be transferred to the Islamic Republic's regional proxy forces.

The report adds that two tankers, the Madestar and CH Billion, were recently dispatched to Dalian port to load part of the Iranian oil.
The Madestar, left Dalian earlier this month carrying 2 million barrels of oil, while the other, the CH Billion, is reportedly still docked in Dalian with a cargo of 700,000 barrels.

To circumvent sanctions and sell its oil, Iran has relied on intricate shipping networks. For a Chinese buyer to purchase the stored Iranian oil, the shipment would first need to leave China and re-enter, with its documentation altered to disguise it as non-Iranian oil.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the current value of Iran’s stranded oil in China exceeds $2 billion. However, Tehran owes approximately $1 billion in fees for the leased storage tanks at the two Chinese ports, twice as much as reported earlier by Reuters.

The newspaper, citing informed sources, wrote that concerns have grown over the withdrawal of the oil from Chinese ports and Tehran’s efforts to sell them under the IRGC's direction.
According to the report, Iran has allocated the revenue from this operation to the IRGC, which funds and arms affiliated groups across the Middle East.

In this context, the Associated Press reported on Sunday, January 12, that Hezbollah has started paying compensation to war-affected residents of southern Lebanon. In the past Iran has financed reconstruction costs and assistance to the Shiite population in Lebanon.

Sources in the report indicated that so far, certain families have received payments ranging from $194 to $14,000. Hezbollah has also mobilized 145 reconstruction teams comprising over 1,250 engineers and hundreds of analysts and accountants.

The World Bank estimated in a report in November — before the ceasefire later that month — that losses to Lebanon’s infrastructure amount to some $3.4 billion.

Under the budget law, Iran’s presidential administration has allocated 650,000 barrels of oil per day to the IRGC for the next Iranian fiscal year, starting March 21, to export directly and the revenue from these exports is designated for “strengthening the defensive capabilities of the Islamic Republic.”

In a letter issued on Saturday, the signatories condemned the death sentences of Pakhshan Azizi, Behrouz Ehsani, and Mehdi Hassani, currently held in Evin Prison, urging society to take urgent action to prevent their execution.

“While the ruling political system in Iran continues its crisis-inducing domestic and foreign policies, it seeks solutions through intensified repression in social, political, and cultural spheres,” read the letter.

The political prisoners emphasized that the Iranian government is escalating executions as a tool of control, particularly targeting political dissidents amid growing protest movements.

The letter called the death penalty "state-sponsored premeditated murder" and demanded its total abolition. It also highlighted the stark reality that over 1,000 executions have taken place in Iran in 2024 alone, with the country now responsible for nearly 75% of all global executions this year.

"This is not just a statistic but a method of silencing the oppressed," the prisoners wrote.

Amir Raisian, a defense attorney, confirmed on Wednesday that the death sentence of Pakhshan Azizi had been upheld by Iran's Supreme Court despite what he called numerous procedural flaws in the case. Azizi's brother, Aso Azizi, added that her case had been forwarded to the execution unit.

The Supreme Court also upheld the death sentences of Behrouz Ehsani and Mehdi Hassani on the same day, according to reports from HRANA, a human rights monitoring group.

Fear of growing protest movements

The letter’s signatories warned that the increasing use of executions is part of a broader strategy to stifle dissent.

"The regime, worried about the emergence of new protest movements, is attempting to maintain an atmosphere of fear and terror in society," they wrote.

In response to the sharp rise in executions, protests have erupted both domestically and internationally, with global human rights organizations calling for immediate action.

The issue has become more urgent amid the ongoing hunger strikes by prisoners in the "No to Executions Tuesdays" campaign, which entered its 50th week on January 7. Initially launched in February 2024, the campaign has spread to 30 prisons across Iran, demanding a halt to executions.

On January 6, HRANA reported that 54 prisoners across the country now face execution on political or security-related charges, a significant rise from 33 in February 2024. This increase underscores the growing crackdown on dissent, with at least 21 new individuals added to the list of political prisoners facing death sentences in the past year.

A call for action from inside Evin

Sepideh Gholian, a political prisoner held in Evin Prison’s women’s ward, also reacted strongly to the Supreme Court’s confirmation of Azizi’s death sentence. In a letter obtained by Iran International, Gholian called on people to form a "chain of life to combat the regime's culture of death."

She described the atmosphere as war-like, saying that prisoners are living in constant fear of execution.

"Behind these tall walls and barbed wires, we are women who whisper the names of those sentenced to death every day," Gholian wrote. "The death sentence of Pakhshan Azizi, a woman who once protected war-stricken children, has been confirmed."

Azizi, a Kurdish social worker, was arrested in Tehran on August 4, 2023. After enduring nearly five months of solitary confinement and torture, she was transferred to Evin Prison’s women’s ward in December. In July, Azizi was sentenced to death by Judge Iman Afshari of Branch 26 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court for charges of "rebellion" (Baghi). The Supreme Court upheld her sentence on January 8, and her case is now in the hands of the execution unit, her family confirmed.

Azizi's case has drawn widespread attention to the Islamic Republic’s practice of using the death penalty to suppress political activism and dissent. International human rights groups continue to demand her release and the abolition of capital punishment in Iran.

“As the Iranian Red Crescent Society has announced, we are ready to dispatch rapid response teams to assist in combating the fires in California," said Fatemeh Mohajerani, the spokeswoman for the Pezeshkian administration.

"Human beings cannot remain indifferent to the destruction of homes and natural resources of other nations, whether caused by war or the wrath of nature. We sympathize with you, the people of California, who have been separated from your homes and safe living environments, have lost your homes and possessions to the fires, and have endured this devastating wildfire caused by severe climate change," she said.

The Islamic Republic is offering help to the US while it is facing a severe economic and energy crisis back home and has shut down schools and public offices this weekend due to energy shortages.

It has also been widely criticized for its repeated failure to contain forest fires, which devastate wildlife habitats almost every summer.

Last summer, the huge fires in Khaeez protected area in southern Iran exposed significant shortcomings in the nation's crisis management system.

Environmental activists have long advocated for more effective firefighting strategies, especially in terrains characterized by mountainous regions, dry vegetation, and strong winds, as these measures could help prevent such disasters.

Linking California fires to Middle East wars

Iran's hardline media have described the Los Angeles fires as an act of divine anger and a punishment for the United States' support of Israel in the Gaza conflict.

Mohajerani also alluded to a potential connection between the California fires and the Middle East conflicts, saying, "We recall the sorrow of thousands of displaced people who have suffered due to the selfishness and war-mongering of others."

Since Tuesday, six simultaneous blazes have swept through Los Angeles County neighborhoods, claiming at least 11 lives and damaging or destroying 10,000 structures. The toll is expected to rise as firefighters conduct house-to-house searches.