Houthis Claim to Have Shot Down US Drone

The footage shows law enforcement agents confront and stop women in public areas, escalating the enforcement of compulsory hijab.

The news of the surveillance has sparked significant backlash on social media, with many users condemning the government's tactics.

Critics have drawn parallels between the use of Iranian drones for military purposes in Ukraine and against Israel – and, their current domestic use against women now for the enforcement of dress codes.

The enforcement of the hijab is part of a broader initiative dubbed the Noor plan, at the directive of the Supreme Leader, which Iranian police claim responds to "national and public demand" for stricter adherence to hijab.

The physical presence of the "morality police” has intensified, particularly in Tehran’s central districts, following a period of reduction after the death of Mahsa Jina Amini in 2022. Amini's death in “morality police” custody, which resulted from severe head injuries, ignited the most substantial protests against the regime since the establishment of the Islamic Republic in 1979.

The resurgence of strict enforcement occurs as the controversial "Hijab and Chastity Culture" bill lingers in legislative proceedings.

Although awaiting final approval, authorities have already started to implement its strict regulations. Women are increasingly threatened with severe punishments, including arrest and travel bans, for non-compliance with the mandatory hijab.

The bill initially passed the Iranian parliament in September 2023 but was sent back for further review by the Guardian Council, the ultimate legislative authority in Iran, signaling ongoing contention and enforcement challenges within the country.

“Earlier today, Kamran Sheikheh, the last remaining survivor of this group, was transferred to solitary confinement, raising concerns he is at imminent risk of execution,” the human rights organization wrote Thursday on X.

Sheikheh was detained in December 2009 alongside Anwar Khezri, Ghasem Abasteh, Ayoub Karimi, Farhad Salimi, Davoud Abdollahi, and Khosrow Besharat.

The Kurdish men faced allegations over reportedly trumped-up charges, including "moharebeh," "corruption on earth," "supporting Salafi groups," and the killing of an imam named Abdolrahim Tina in 2008. The charge of “moharebe” (waging war against God) and “corruption on earth” both carry the death penalty in Iran.

In 2017, the men were sentenced to death, but the Supreme Court overturned the verdict and referred the case to Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court in Tehran. Despite this, Branch 15 reissued the death sentences in June 2018, and the Supreme Court confirmed these sentences in February 2020.

Besharat was executed this week, two weeks after Khezri, Abdollahi and Salimi were killed in January, and Abasteh and Karimi were executed last November.

In published letters, Besharat and the other defendants repeatedly asserted their innocence, denying the charges against them.

An Amnesty International report last month, titled "Don't Let Them Kill Us" showed that there were an unprecedented number of executions in Iran in 2023, noting that at least 853 were killed – with a large number of minorities, including Kurds, among them.

Turkish and Azerbaijani energy ministers signed a comprehensive deal in Istanbul on May 15 on capacity expansion for several natural gas pipelines as well as Turkmen gas transit.

Turkey's energy and natural resources minister Alparslan Bayraktar said that the deal would allow for additional gas volumes from Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan to Turkey and Europe by 2030, although the exact volumes are yet to be announced.

Ankara and Ashgabat had already signed a gas purchase deal in March 2024.

Bayraktar also said that the Igdir-Nakhchivan gas pipeline would be operational soon.

Ilham Shaban the head of Baku-based Caspian Oil Research Center told Iran International that Turkmenistan can deliver a restricted amount of gas (2-3 bcm/y) to Azerbaijan by constructing a short subsea pipeline, connecting Turkmen offshore gas fields to Azerbaijan’s Azeri-Chirag-Guneshi block, or a significant amount of gas by constructing the 300-km Trans Caspian pipeline.

During last two decades Azerbaijan has been supplying gas to its Nakhchivan territory, a region geographically separated from the mainland, by swapping gas with Iran that has a border with the small Azerbaijani region. After launching the Igdir-Nakhchivan pipeline Baku can deliver its own gas to the landlocked exclave of the Republic of Azerbaijan through Turkey.

Currently two gas pipelines connect Azerbaijan and Turkey through Georgia: Southern Gas Corridor and Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum.

Azerbaijan exported 24 billion cubic meters of gas in 2023, of which 2.5 bcm went to Georgia, 9.5 bcm to Turkey and 12 bcm to Europe via the Southern Gas Corridor.

EU and Baku sealed a memorandum of understanding in July 2022 to double Azerbaijani gas intake by 2027.

Iran is excluded from transit routes

Although Iran does not have any dedicated and direct pipeline to connect Turkmenistan to Azerbaijan or Turkey via its territory, it has a vast pipeline network for gas swap operations. Iran had already swapped about 4 bcm of Turkmen gas to Azerbaijan during December 2021 to January 2024, but Baku and Ashgabat recently stopped the deal. Iran was getting 15% of gas volume as swap fee; three times more than gas transit fees through Georgia or Turkey. Tehran was receiving gas from Turkmenistan that it used in its northern and northeastern regions, while delivering the agreed amount of gas from its northwestern regions.

Alongside Russia and Azerbaijan, Iran is also a natural gas supplier to Turkey, but in the past three years, deliveries have been interrupted frequently in winters due to Iran’s own severe domestic shortages. Iran is unable to boost its output due to lack of investments and Western technology, restricted by sanctions.

As a result, Turkey halved Iranian gas intake to 5.2 bcm in 2023.

The 25-year gas deal between Turkey and Iran will expire in 2026.

Last year, Turkmenistan exported 40 bcm of gas also to China and more limited volumes to Central Asian states, but with deep discounts.

According to Iran International’s calculations based on Chinese and Azerbaijani customs statistics, China imported Turkmen gas at $240/1000 cubic meters, or less than a half of Azerbaijani gas prices in European markets.

Mohammad Mehdi Esmaili said Thursday that "Iranian identity and the post-Islamic era do not conflict," as Iranian women wore "appropriate clothing" at that time, based on petroglyphs from the 2,500-year-old Persepolis.

Founded by King Darius I, Persepolis was the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and existed 1,100 years before the founding of Islam.

The Islamic Republic’s first Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, made the hijab mandatory for women as one of his priorities after the Islamic Revolution in 1979.

In recent years, the Iranian populace has, according to the most recent polling, undergone "secularization and liberalization faster than any society in the Islamic world, despite having lived under the rule of Islamists for decades."

The culture minister’s comments this week come as Iranian women continue to defy the Islamist compulsory veiling laws in the country, which Amnesty International has called a war on Iranian women and girls.

“The pre-Islamic era is not a threat to us but an opportunity…our reading of it should be based on the teachings of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and founder of the Islamic Republic Ruhollah Khomeini,” Esmaili stated.

Dubbed the “Noor Plan” Khamenei issued a directive weeks ago to re-intensify the physical crackdown on women refusing to wear the hijab. Since then, videos have circulated on social media, showing the “morality police” using violence to detain women seen in public without the hijab.

While there has long been opposition to the mandated veil in Iran, authorities have increasingly struggled to enforce the regime’s Islamic dress code after the killing of Mahsa Amini in September 2022, and the ensuing nationwide protests. Many women in cities now defy mandatory veiling.

Iran's unprecedented attack overnight between April 13 and 14, repelled by Israel's multi-tiered defense shield with the help from allies, included more than 100 ballistic missiles.

The Arrow system, according to Israel's air force, "carried out the main part" in their interception. Nearly 99% of Iran’s 300-plus projectiles were shot down, with negligible damage inflicted on the ground.

That success immediately drummed up global interest, Boaz Levy, CEO at state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries ISRAI.UL (IAI), the project's main contractor, told Reuters.

The US is a partner in the Arrow project and Boeing BA.N is involved in its production.

"A number of countries have approached us asking for information," Levy said. "I'm very optimistic that there will be more deals for the Arrow system, especially after the very special demonstration we did."

He declined to name any of the countries since talks are in the early stages.

Arrow is the upper layer of Israel's missile defenses, together with the Iron Dome, which takes out short-range threats like mortars and rockets, and mid-range defender David's Sling.

Arrow-2 has been around for years and intercepts ballistic missiles at long range. The newer Arrow-3 specializes in knocking out missiles while they are still outside Earth's atmosphere. The main threat to Israel emanates from Iran and its armed proxy groups in the region. Iran has developed an array of missiles, some with a range of up to 2,000 kilometers.

Israel, with US approval, agreed last year to sell the Arrow-3 system to Germany in a $3.5 billion deal, its biggest ever defense sale. The agreement comes as Germany and its neighbors in Europe are boosting defense spending in the wake of Russia's war in Ukraine.

The Germany deal took almost two years to sign, Levy said, and that would likely be the time frame of new deals in the works. The process is handled between governments and again would need US approval, he said.

Each Iron Dome interceptor, used frequently to shoot down rockets from Gaza and Lebanon, is estimated to cost about $50,000. The Arrow missiles are on a different level.

"The cost of the Arrow interceptor is on par with similar interceptors around the world, even cheaper. The amount passes a million dollars," Levy said, without elaborating.

Iran's attack spurred IAI to boost both production of current Arrow systems and also the development of its next generation, the Arrow-4, which will replace Arrow-2.

"It's in a very accelerated process towards the start of production. And we are doing this in full coordination with the security establishment here in Israel and the Missile Defense Agency in the United States," Levy said.

With reporting by Reuters