European Parliament Condemns Iran's Detentions, Hostage Diplomacy

The GPS signals were “spoofed” in these incidents in order to fool planes into believing they were flying miles away from their actual location.

Reports of these attacks have been appearing since late September when Forbes initially disclosed that an international group of pilots and aviation professionals, Ops Group, was compiling data to be made public.

Over the past five weeks, the Ops Group has tracked more than 50 incidents over the Middle East but also identified a distinct new type.

The group states, that there is currently no solution to this new type of attack "with its potentially disastrous effects and unclear cause.”

While the entities behind the attacks are still unknown, the possible source of this new type of "spoofing" is the eastern periphery of Tehran, according to Todd Humphreys, a University of Texas, Austin, professor who researches satellite communications.

Although milder meddling with airliner navigation systems has been present in the skies over the Middle East and specifically near Syria since 2018, this kind of powerful “spoofing” is new.
"The spoofing corrupts the Inertial Reference System, a piece of equipment often described as the brain of an aircraft,” the report said.

A Canadian news outlet revealed in 2021 that Iran jammed GPS when it shot down an airliner over Tehran. Iran's Revolutionary Guards shot down a Ukrainian civilian airliner, flight PS752 on January 8, 2020.

Zarghami, who now serves as Iran's Minister of Tourism and Cultural Heritage, discussed on Iranian state television on Wednesday how the IRGC provides military support to the "Resistance" forces, including Hezbollah and Hamas.

“The Axis of Resistance,” referring to Tehran-backed forces in the region, includes Palestinian militant groups, Houthis in Yemen, the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, and others.

Zarghami, sanctioned by the EU for his role as the head of Iranian state TV, explained that he was in charge of providing the Fajr-3, a medium-range ballistic missile, to Palestinian and Lebanese militias.

"I say this with pride, and we don't fear anyone. As the Leader [Ali Khamenei] says, we help oppressed people wherever we see them," he said.

Iranian authorities have denied any direct involvement in the Gaza war, which began on October 7 when Hamas launched a massive terror attack from Gaza into Israel, resulting in at least 1,200 deaths, mostly civilians, and the taking of about 240 others hostage.

Following the attack, Israel launched a major offensive into Gaza, claiming, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, more than 14,000 lives.

After seven weeks of war, Israel and Hamas have initiated a four-day ceasefire and the release of some hostages, with both sides stating that the break is only temporary.

Zohrevand was secretly executed in the Malayer prison in the western province of Hamedan while his family were not allowed to see him for one last time. Hengaw Human Rights Organization said in a statement that Zohrevand had not been notified that his execution.

The 21-year-old was married and became a father while serving time in prison. It is not clear if he ever had the opportunity to see his newborn child before his death.

In June, Zohrevand was sentenced to death in connection with the “murder” of an IRGC officer named Ali Nazari during the nationwide uprising against the Islamic Republic. Zohrevand was arrested by security forces on October 26, 2022, at the height of the anti-regime protest movement, triggered by Mahsa Amini’s death in the custody of the hijab police.

Gohar Eshghi, the mother of the 35-year-old blogger Sattar Beheshti, who was killed under torture in Evin prison 11 years ago, released a video message after the Zohrevand’s execution.

"You're right; you start working at five in the morning. At the time of the call to morning prayer, you execute the youth or kill them under torture," Eshghi said in the video, addressing Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, “do not kill these young people."

Executions take place around the time of Muslim dawn prayer in Iran.The time for the call for dawn prayer (called azan or adhan) is now associated with executions for Iranians.

Despite the claims made by the Iranian judiciary, no video has been released so far showing how the IRGC officer was killed. According to human rights activists and organizations, there are many contradictions in the charges levelled against Zohrevand.

Iran’s judiciary and security officials provided different and even contradictory data regarding the number of suspects that were arrested in relation to the “murder” of the IRGC officer.

Zohrevand was reportedly accused by prosecutors of being one of a group of five masked men who shot the IRGC intelligence agent as he confronted students demonstrating at the Malayer Faculty of Medical Sciences in October 2022.

Information received by Iran International indicates that Zohrevand was denied access to a lawyer and other basic rights of an accused throughout his detention. His family was also under intense pressure from the IRGC intelligence service not to make public statements about his case.

The execution comes two weeks after UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres released a report highlighting a surge in executions in Iran.

According to the report, at least 419 people were executed, including 409 men and 10 women, between January 1, 2023 and July 31, 2023, marking a 30 percent increase compared to the same period last year. Iran is second only to China in the number of executions carried out annually.

At least eight people have been executed by the Iranian regime for their involvement in nationwide protests triggered by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini in September 2022.

Reuters quoted a US official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, as saying that US and international forces were attacked at two sites in northeastern Syria with multiple rockets and a one-way attack drone. Since war broke out between Israel and Hamas, Iranian proxy forces have launched more than 70 such attacks, leaving many servicemen injured.

In Iraq, multiple one-way drones were launched at the Ain Al-Asad airbase west of Baghdad and a drone was launched at a base housing US force near Erbil airport in northern Iraq.

A group calling itself the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, which analysts say is a catch-all for several Iran-aligned Iraqi armed groups, had claimed attacks on those locations earlier in the day.

The attacks come the day after the U.S. struck the Iran-aligned Kataeb Hezbollah (KH) armed group south of Baghdad in an attack that KH said had left eight members dead.

The attack was condemned by the Iraqi government as escalatory and a violation of sovereignty.

US officials said the United States had struck Iran-backed groups after an escalation in their attacks that have targeted US and international forces dozens of times. The US has retaliated just a handful of times.

As of Thursday, there had been 36 attacks in Iraq and 37 in Syria, the US military official said.

Iran has avoided direct military involvement in the war, but has used its network of armed groups to target both Israel and US forces in the region.

A centrist politician, Mansoor Haqiqatpoor criticized the hardliners who have sway in the parliament and in President Ebrahim Raisi’s government, arguing that real number of those advocating purges and political purification is just 98, explaining sarcastically that "There are only two busloads of them!" 

Hardliners launched their purification campaign earlier this year, seeking to consolidate all political power within the ranks of the Paydari Party. The campaign has gone much further than just the government, with hundreds of university professors, teachers and artists fired or banned from working.

The takeover by hardliner, however, began in early 2020, when the Guardian Council that has the power to vet candidates, disqualified hundreds of individuals from running for parliament. The same trend continued in the 2021 presidential elections, when all serious contenders were barred from running and Ebrahim Raisi cruised to the presidency.

Haqiqatpoor went on to say, "We can confront the advocates of political purification if the people turn up at polls" in the upcoming parliamentary elections" in March 2024.

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He accused the members of ultraconservative Paydari Party of joining hands with hardliner individuals (meaning clerics) in Qom, the home of Iran's biggest Shiite seminary, and created the alliance that is pursuing the monopolization process on the Iranian political landscape. "They are currently engineering the purification process," he said.

Haqiqatpoor emphasized, "I hope the Guardian Council will confront these hardliners who are promoting the rhetoric of dictatorship." He accused Paydari leader Sadeq Mahsouli of disregarding the capabilities and merits of most Iranians, aiming to limit government membership to his party members. Haqiqatpoor also alleged that Paydari's leaders, wealthy individuals, exploit the country's resources for the benefit of the party.

Referring to Paydari's influence in Imam Sadeq University, Haqiqatpoor said: "The management of all the petrochemical plants of the country has been handed over to Imam Sadeq University alumni." He asked: "Doesn't have Iran any other university?"

He said Paydari is already controlling the government, the parliament, the state television, the ultraconservative Kayhan newspaper, the national Pension Fund and many other institutions. Nonetheless, he characterized Paydari members as "political dwarves."

Regardless of Paydari's all-out onslaught to monopolize political power in Iran and its political rivals' hope in elections as a means of changing the situation, reformist politician Hassan Rasouli told reporters in Tehran that except hardline conservatives who are fiercely competing with each other over winning the next parliament, no one else in Iran shows any interest in the upcoming elections.

Rasouli stated that "There is no movement among other political groups and parties indicating that they have any interest in the elections." He explained that "Three factors need to be present to facilitate a competitive election: People's reasonable satisfaction with the country's political, economic and cultural situation, various groups and parties' representation in the election, and the healthy process of the elections."

He explained that currently, there is a high degree of popular dissatisfaction and unhappiness about the way the government operates. Only a swift action on the part of the government can provide a representative basket of candidates for the voters to choose from.

"Obviously, if this dissatisfaction continues until March 1, no one can have any hope about a high turnout in the upcoming elections," Rasouli reiterated. In that case, he added, the turnout is likely to be even less than the 2020 elections which was the lowest of its kind in Iran in four decades.