The US “withdrawal” from Iraq comes as the Pentagon is set to augment its troop presence in the Persian Gulf region, Iran threatens to blockade the Strait of Hormuz, and the price of oil nears $100 a barrel.
Iranian labor activist Reza Shahabi has begun a prison hunger strike in protest of his undetermined judicial status. The Vahed Company Union Workers website reports that Shahabi has been detained for more than 15 months without charge.
A blast at Iran’s Alghadir missile base at Bid Ganeh—so powerful it rattled windows 30 miles away in Tehran—has raised speculation about Israeli covert action against the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program.
Oil prices rose as the IAEA released a report finding that Iran is capable of developing a nuclear weapon and Israel tested a long-range ballistic missile. The British armed forces are said to be preparing for military action against Iran.
Did the Quds Force, international arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, contract with Mexico’s blood-drenched Zetas to assassinate the Saudi ambassador in Washington? Or is the whole plot a creation of undercover DEA agents?
As Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant went online last week, the government announced that $50 million has been allocated to resettle the 4,000 residents of the nearby villages of Heleylah and Bandargah—despite assurances that the plant is safe.
A deadly explosion at the Abadan refinery has crystalized the precarious situation facing Iranian oil workers, who are mobilizing to demand an end to neoliberal measuresthat deny them the right to unionize.
Baghdad has ordered the expulsion of Mujahedeen Khalq, armed wing of the opposition National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), following a raid on Camp Ashraf, the group’s stronghold.
A wave of wildcat strikes has broken out in factories across Iran, as the regime blamed Western-backed “terrorists” for an explosion on a gas pipeline near Qom and military tensions rise in the Gulf region.
A group of Iranian intellectuals issued a “Call for Active Opposition to the Nuclear Policy of the Islamic Republic,” warning that “Fukushima completed the warning that was issued by Chernobyl.”
Iranian opposition websites say more than 200 people were arrested while attempting to protest in Tehran, with another 40 detained in Isfahan.
The US State Department is sending Tweets to encourage Iranian protesters, who have taken to the streets by the thousands to battle security forces in Tehran and other cities.
