Turkish Bank Reaches US Supreme Court Over Iran Trade Charges

In a tweet on Tuesday, the son of the late Shah of Iran said, “Multiple reports indicate the spread of strikes from cultural and educational sectors to the service and industry sectors,” calling it “a step in the right direction.”

“Nationwide strikes alongside nationwide protests will bring this regime to its knees,” Pahlavi added.

In an interview with Jerusalem Post on Monday, October 3, he described the current uprising in the country as the beginning of a revolution, saying, “We are indeed in more than tumultuous times in my country. We are in revolutionary times.”

“The popular uprisings we are seeing in hundreds of cities and towns across Iran have a very clear goal: the overthrow of the Islamic Republic and the establishment of a secular democracy based on human rights,” he said.

Earlier in the day, he also called US President Joe Biden not to enter an agreement with Tehran that would financially benefit the Islamic Republic’s repression machine.

As protests in Iran – sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody -- continue well into their third week, pundits and politicians speculate that Iranians are more angry than scared, and the government needs to be wise enough not step on mental mines, warning that suppression will make the protests more violent.

Local Belgian media reported on Tuesday that a Brussels court ruled that Asadi may be extradited to Iran, thereby paving the way for a fiercely criticized prisoner exchange. The exchange would allow Asadi to be swapped with Belgian aid worker Olivier Vandeecasteele, who has been held in Iran since February, according to Het Nieuwsblad.

The temporary ban on the extradition of the convicted diplomat was announced by the Brussels Court of Appeal late in July following numerous complaints after the Belgian Parliament ratified a controversial prisoner swap treaty with Iran on July 20.

The Iranian exiled opposition group Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MEK) mounted a fierce campaign against the deal, challenging the possible extradition."The court has now declared the plaintiffs' question unfounded," said lawyer Khloë Georgiev, who represents Vandecasteele.

In June, Belgian MPs ratified a deal to allow the exchange. At the time, Prime Minister Alexander De Croo argued that it was the only way to get Vandeesteele back home safely. Recently appointed Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib stresses that all diplomatic channels have been exhausted.

Assadi is imprisoned for “attempted murder and involvement in terrorism” for his role in plotting to bomb a gathering of the MEK near Paris in 2018.

Chanting slogans against the Islamic Republic, the protesters gathered in front of the Canadian Parliament in Ottawa on Tuesday, the thousandth day since IRGC shot down the plane over Tehran and killed all passengers and crewmembers onboard.

The spokesperson of the association of victims’ families, Canada-based activist Hamed Esmaeilion, whose daughter and wife were killed in the tragic event, called for the expulsion of all the agents and officials affiliated with the Islamic Republic as well as their family members who have immigrated to Canada.

Criticizing the Canadian government, Esmaeilion said the regime's politicians, military and security personnel and their families have turned Canada into a "safe haven" for themselves and should be "deported without delay."

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also issued a statement on the occasion, saying,“One thousand days ago today, the Iranian regime unlawfully and horrifically shot down passenger Flight PS752, cutting short the lives of the 176 innocent people on board,” adding, “Canada and its Coordination Group partners are committed to holding Iran accountable, in accordance with international law.”

In a joint statement for the occasion, the International Coordination and Response Group for the victims of Flight PS752, Canada, Sweden, Ukraine and the United Kingdom said, “We renew our demand that Iran fulfills its international legal obligations and ensures transparency and justice for its actions.”

The airliner was shot down by two air-defense missiles fired by the IRGC as it took off from Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport, killing 63 Canadians.

Burns told CBS on Tuesday that the new wave of rallies in Iran are not isolated protests, tacitly agreeing with the interviewer that this can be a beginning of a revolution in the country. 

“I don’t think they are isolated protests, and what is striking – at least to me and our analysts – is the sweep of those protests right now,” he said, adding that “these are incredibly brave people and many incredibly brave young women and they are fed up in a lot of ways.”

Burns said, “They are willing to take the risk of getting out and demonstrate because they are fed up with the economic decay, the corruption, with social restrictions especially that Iranian women face, and the political repression as well.” 

He called the Iranian regime an “autocratic system,” noting that they are very good at repressing people and “they are quite ruthless now in putting down those kinds of protests as well.”

Others are helping Iranians get easier access to information since the authorities have increased their restrictions. The US Treasury Department has given the greenlight to SpaceX CEO Elon Musk to activate satellite Internet service Starlink for Iranians and Google has just launched a VPN service for Iranians, but using such methods are not simple enough for ordinary people and still not many have managed to access the Internet via them.

In a tweet on Tuesday, he said that “This week, we will impose further costs on perpetrators of violence against peaceful protestors," adding that “We'll continue to support the rights of Iranians to protest freely.”

Biden also issued a statement on Monday saying he remains “gravely concerned about reports of the intensifying violent crackdown on peaceful protestors in Iran, including students and women, who are demanding their equal rights and basic human dignity.”

Iran’s government and media remained largely silent on Tuesday over Biden’s condemnation of the violent crackdown against protesters in Iran.

Earlier on Monday, Iran’s Supreme leader Ali Khamenei had already blamed more than two weeks of street protests on the United States, which he again labeled as “the enemy”.

French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said Tuesday that the European Union is looking to impose asset freezes and travel bans on a number of Iranian officials involved in the crackdown on protests, adding that "France's action at heart of EU ... (is) to target those responsible for the crackdown by holding them responsible for their acts." Diplomats say the measures are expected to be rubber-stamped at an EU foreign ministers meeting on October 17.

Canada also slapped sanctions on 34 Iranian officials and entities, including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and morality police, over the crackdown on current protests.