Israel, Arab Allies Planning Air Defense System Against Iran Threat

Several thousand men, women and children – including protesters, journalists, dissidents, artists, writers, teachers, and dual nationals -- were interrogated, unfairly prosecuted and/or arbitrarily detained solely for peacefully exercising their rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly, and hundreds remained unjustly imprisoned, the global rights watchdog's annual report released on Wednesday said.

Iran witnessed several widespread protests during 2021, including protests over water shortage in Khuzestan and Esfahan while teachers, workers, nurses, and pensioners had to resort to recurring protests demanding improvement in their livelihoods. Security forces dispersed peaceful gatherings in most cases and even resorted to using lethal force in Khuzestan in July.

"Torture and other ill-treatment, including denying prisoners adequate medical care, remained widespread and systematic, especially during interrogation," the report said, adding that torture-tainted “confessions” were broadcast on state television and consistently used to issue convictions.

The death penalty was used widely, including as a weapon of repression, according to the report, and executions were carried out after unfair trials while systemic impunity prevailed for past and ongoing crimes against humanity related to prison massacres in 1988 and other crimes under international law.

The report criticized the country's presidential elections of June 2021 which it said were held "in a repressive environment with a markedly low turnout" to bring to power Ebrahim Raisi who should have been investigated for crimes against humanity related to the mass enforced disappearances and extrajudicial executions of 1988. This, the report said, reflects "systemic impunity in Iran."

In the same elections, authorities barred women, members of religious minorities and critics from running, and threatened to prosecute anyone encouraging election boycott, Amnesty said.

The report also criticized the Islamic Republic for "entrenched discrimination and violence," "undermining sexual and reproductive rights," violating the right to freedom of religion and belief, and limiting access to the internet.

In July, parliament fast-tracked preparations for a bill that is expected to be adopted in 2022, which would criminalize the production and distribution of internet censorship circumvention tools and intensify surveillance.

The global watchdog said Iranian authorities also failed to ensure timely and equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, banned Importing Covid vaccines from the US and Britain on January 8, 2021 when the World Health Organization (WHO) had only approved the US-made Pfizer, Moderna and British-made AstraZeneca vaccines.

Iranians had to wait for months for Chinese, Russian and homegrown vaccines, while a severe wave of infection in summer killed tens-of-thousands of people. By August, less than 6 percent of Iranians had been vaccinated but the ban was lifted that month, when Raisi took over from his predecessor, Hassan Rouhani, whose efforts to procure vaccines had been stymied by the ban. Hardliners claimed Khamenei had never banned foreign vaccines.

The report also highlighted the arbitrary arrest of six people, including five lawyers and a civil rights activist, in August for holding a meeting to discuss taking legal action against authorities for mismanagement of the pandemic and delay in mass vaccination.

As the ‘Negev Summit’ − where Israel hosted the foreign ministers of Bahrain, Egypt, Morocco, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States − began Sunday, the US Fifth Fleet and the Israeli navy began a maritime exercise in the Mediterranean and Red Sea.

Israel’s ambassador to Manama, Eitan Naeh, said Monday that Israel would “soon” appoint a military attaché to the Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain. While there have been reports that the Negev foreign ministers’ meeting discussed a possible military alliance, there has also been criticism of the meeting around the Arab world, especially for ignoring Palestinian rights, with Jordan’s King Abdullah pointedly making instead a visit to the occupied West Bank.

Dubbed “Intrinsic Defender,” the US-Israeli exercise focuses on ordnance disposal, “health topics”, and unmanned systems integration. More than 300 US personnel and various unmanned vessels are participating, including an ordnance disposal dive team and US coast guards.

US Navy guided-missile destroyer USS Cole – which has been operating in the 5th Fleet region since early January – and dry cargo ship USNS Wally Schirra are also scheduled to take part. The 5th Fleet operations area includes the Persian Gulf, Gulf of Oman, Red Sea, parts of the Indian Ocean, and three critical choke points at the Strait of Hormuz, Suez Canal, and Bab al-Mandeb.

B52s: ‘Maintaining security’

On Tuesday, the IDF published photos of two Israeli F-15 jets accompanying an American B-52 bomber, which crossed Israel from west to east on its way to the Gulf. A tweet described the flight as “a significant step in maintaining the security of the skies of the State of Israel and the Middle East.”

The Jerusalem Post reported Tuesday that Israel had carried out over 1,000 airstrikes in the past five years, hitting 1,200 targets with over 5,500 munitions during 408 missions. In 2021, 586 munitions were used against 174 targets.

The Post said 239 anti-aircraft missiles had been fired at Israeli jets, apparently referring to Syrian air defense, which includes Russian-made S-300s and S-400s. Israel has intelligence cooperation with Russia to reduce the chances of conflict with Russian forces – part of the reason for its lukewarm response to the US over Ukraine.

The way the movie ends

US Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said in an interview with Jewish Insider Mondaythat an Israeli attack on Iran was “probably” the only way to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. The senator, who supported former president Donald Trump in leaving the 2015 nuclear deal limiting Iran’s nuclear program, said that US ‘maximum pressure’ sanctions might not stop Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon and that an Israeli attack was probable.

“If you don’t [understand] that, you’re making a huge mistake,” Graham said. He outlined three options – a “change of heart” by Iranian leader Ali Khamenei, a revolution in Iran, or an Israeli attack. “The first one is one in a billion. The second one − who knows − if the Iranian people want to continue to live like this, that’s up to them. But the third one is probably the way this movie ends.”

Iran and Lebanon played their last World Cup Qualifier match at Imam Reza Stadium in Mashhad on Tuesday. Tickets were sold to women to watch the match but when they wanted to enter the stadium, the security told them that they are not allowed.

However, there are reports that a limited number of women managed to enter the stadium.

About 12,500 tickets were sold for the match, and 2,000 of them were allocated for women.

Videos on social media show hundreds of women protesting outside the stadium that they were holding tickets but not allowed in.

Mashhad is home to numerous hardliner clerics who are against the presence of women in male dominated places. Firebrand representative of the Supreme Leader in the city, Ayatollah Ahmad Alamolhoda has been banning concerts and cultural events for years.

The Islamic Republic, which has barred female spectators from stadiums for years claiming it would violate religious rules of decency, was forced by world soccer body FIFA to allow a limited number of women to attend a January match against Iraq. Its next match was against the UAE that was held without spectators.

Despite the FIFA order to allow women into stadiums without restriction and in numbers determined by demand for tickets, Iran announced 2,000 of the 10,000 tickets for the match against Iraq were exclusively reserved for women and they had to sit in segregated areas.

The remark followed a Kuwait-Saudi announcement March 21 that they would develop the offshore gas and oil field without Tehran's participation.

The field, discovered in 1967 where maritime borders are unclear, has reserves of around 20 trillion cubic feet (ft3) of gas, enabling a potential daily output of 1 billion ft3 and 84,000 barrels of condensates.

Tehran called the move “illegal” Saturday. Oil Minister Javad Owji said Monday Tehran would soon begin drilling after having completed “comprehensive studies…by drilling exploration wells and conducting seismic surveys.”

“Even if the border is not demarcated, the field can be developed jointly using internationally tested models,” Iran’s deputy oil minister for international affairs, Ahmad Asadzadeh, said Sunday. Iran had delayed development pending a decision on maritime borders, he added.

Sabah spoke at a press conference with French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, who is on a regional tour to discuss diversifying Europe’s energy supplies away from Russia.

The Kuwaiti official news agency reported Sabah had told Le Drian that Arab concerns over the Iran nuclear file… “had been conveyed to our friends and allies, and we hope they will be taken into account.” France wants Kuwaiti engagement in Lebanon as Persian Gulf Arab countries prepare to restore diplomatic ties with Syria.

Human Rights Watch said on Monday that Iranian authorities should immediately and unconditionally release him and other environmentalists wrongfully imprisoned with him.

The tri-national, in detention since January 2018, was left behind when two other British hostages -- Nazanon Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashuri -- were released by the Islamic Republic in exchange for a 400-million-pound UK debt to Iran.

The British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss claimed credit for negotiating a furlough for Tahbaz. Iranian authorities first released him on March 16 and allowed him to go to his family home in Tehran but detained him again two days later despite an apparent agreement between Iranian and British authorities to guarantee his leave, leading him to embark on a hunger strike.

Tara Sepehri Far, senior Iran researcher at Human Rights Watch, says, “It is abhorrent that Iranian officials continue to use dual and foreign nationals detained in Iran as bargaining chips. It is also particularly disappointing that British authorities did not do enough to ensure Iran would uphold the conditions they agreed to for Tahbaz’s furlough.”

In an interview published by BBC on Tuesday, Ashuri said, "Sometimes I think he should have been on the return plane instead of me. He is ill and needs medical attention”, adding that it's really painful that so many good people are left behind.