Two Iranian political prisoners at risk of execution, group warns

The UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and US President Donald Trump discussed regional developments and their impact on maritime security and the global economy, the Emirati news agency WAM reported.

“The two sides also discussed the continued Iranian terrorist aggression targeting the UAE and other countries in the region, including attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure, noting that it constitutes a violation of sovereignty and international law and undermines regional security and stability,” read the report.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian urged the American public to question the purpose of the war with Iran and said Tehran has never pursued aggression, in a letter released by Press TV.

“Iran… has never, in its modern history, chosen the path of aggression, expansion, colonialism, or domination,” he wrote.

He said Iranians “harbor no enmity toward other nations, including the people of America,” adding that portraying Iran as a threat is “the product of political and economic whims of the powerful.”

“This raises a fundamental question: Exactly which of the American people’s interests are truly being served by this war?” he wrote.

He alleged that the United States was acting on Israel’s behalf in the conflict with Iran.

“Is it not also the case that America has entered this aggression as a proxy for Israel, influenced and manipulated by that regime?” he wrote.

He warned that attacks on infrastructure and continued military action would increase instability and human suffering.

“Continuing along the path of confrontation is more costly and futile than ever before,” he said.

US President Donald Trump threatened to stop supplying weapons for Ukraine to pressure European allies into joining a “coalition of the willing” to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the Financial Times reported, citing people briefed on the discussions.

The report cited officials familiar with the discussions as saying Trump responded by threatening to stop supplies to PURL, NATO’s weapons procurement initiative for Ukraine funded by European countries.

At the urging of NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, France, Germany, the UK and other countries then issued a March 19 statement saying: “We express our readiness to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the Strait [of Hormuz].”

“It was Rutte who insisted on the joint statement because Trump had threatened to withdraw from PURL and from Ukraine in general,” the report quoted one official briefed on the discussions as saying.

Another official said Rutte told France, Germany and the UK that Trump was “rather hysterical” over Europe’s refusal to help protect the strait.

British officials also said the UK and the US had been discussing options for securing the strait on a “military to military basis” before March 19.

Explosions were reported in several Iranian cities on Wednesday evening, according to eyewitness accounts sent to Iran International.

In and around the capital, blasts were reported in Tehran, Karaj, and Malard. In central Iran, explosions were heard in Isfahan, Shahin Shahr, Mobarakeh, Najafabad, Kashan, and Aran and Bidgol.

Reports also came from Amol in the north and Shiraz in the south. Along Iran’s southern coast and islands, blasts were reported in Bushehr, Bandar Khamir, and Hengam Island. In the southwest, eyewitness accounts said explosions were heard in Ahvaz, Khorramshahr, and Shushtar.

The deputy governor of Isfahan province said areas Shahreza, Kashan, Aran and Bidgol, and Najafabad came under attack.

He added that Kashan’s passenger airport was hit in US-Israeli strikes, and that parts of the airport were damaged.

UN human rights chief Volker Türk said on Wednesday that repression of civic space and freedom of expression has sharply intensified in Iran and across the Middle East since US and Israeli attacks began.

“We are witnessing a sharp securitisation of civic space across the region, with severe restrictions imposed by governments on people exercising their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly,” he said in a statement on Wednesday.

Türk said arrests and crackdowns had had a chilling effect, with estimates indicating more than 2,300 people detained in Iran on national security-related charges since the start of the conflict.

“This is outrageous. As if the pain and suffering brought on by the war is not enough, some Iranians are being arbitrarily rounded up, jailed, prosecuted without due process, and in some cases then even executed by their own Government,” he said.

He added that executions must be halted immediately and warned that Iran’s nationwide internet blackout, now in its fifth week, and reports of intimidation and arbitrary detention were worsening the situation.