Iran's 2024 executions soar to nearly 1,000

The drone, brought down by Ukrainian forces, was transported with cooperation from Ukrainian and Polish special forces and United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), a US-based nonprofit, Wall Street Journal reported.

“The Iranians have tried to conceal the role of this terror WMD weapon for years,” said UANI’s head Mark Wallace, who served as a US ambassador at the United Nations.

Wallace and Thomas Kaplan, a funder of UANI, were the ones who persuaded Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski at a meeting in Warsaw to procure an Iranian drone for Wallace to import into the United States.

The drone was displayed at the Conservative Political Action Conference this weekend and Donald Trump, the President of the United States, spoke at the conference.

According to the report, the Shahed-136 drone is considered the most widely used military drone in the world and is manufactured in Iran's military industries under the supervision of the IRGC. The IRGC is designated as a terrorist organization in the United States.

Russian forces have used thousands of these drones—rebranded as Geran-2—in Ukraine, with one striking Chernobyl’s radiation containment shelter on February 14.

Iranian-backed militants also launched a Shahed that killed three US service members in Jordan on January 28.

Former US intelligence official Norman Roule describes Iran as a “serial arsonist that openly nurtures other arsonists who operate in regional countries.” and supports proxies like Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis.

“Russia also serves as a proxy because it’s extending Iran’s power projection and allows Iran to perform on the world stage,” he said.

The United States first warned in July 2022 that Iran was preparing to supply Russia with battlefield drones, and September 13 marked the anniversary of the first Shahed drone being shot down by Ukraine.

Russia soon began large scale use of the Iranian drones in attacks on Ukraine’s infrastructure and civilian targets. The Shahed 136 drones have been used alongside cruise and ballistic missile attacks to overwhelm Ukrainian air defenses.

The remarks were the first official confirmation that the Israeli air attacks had damaged Iran's air defense systems but emphasized a hawkish stance which appeared to allude to US assistance to a future Israeli raid.

"The air defense of Islamic Iran is at the height of readiness, and the minor damage inflicted on it has been completely repaired," Mohammad Bagheri, chief of staff of Iran's armed forces was quoted by state media as saying.

His remarks were the third time in as many days that a top Iranian military official rebutted US and Israeli assertions that Iran was weakened by the bombardment and come after US media reported that Israel is mulling striking Iranian nuclear sites.

"The air defense of the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic is at peak readiness for offensive operations, and missile production is continuously being carried out with very high quantity and quality," Bagheri added.

The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post reported last week citing US intelligence findings from last month that Israel saw an opening for an attack on Iranian nuclear sites as early as the first half of this year.

Visiting the White House this month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Israeli strikes had "crippled Iran's air defenses." Trump the next day said any reports of a devastating US-Israeli attack on Iran were "greatly exaggerated".

Israel is basing its assessment, the papers reported, on Iran's weakness after an Oct. 26 Israeli attack knocked out much of its air defenses and a greater perceived receptiveness to military action from US President Donald Trump.

"If the enemy makes any mistake, Israel’s security—and that of those involved in equipping and planning its operations—will be at risk, and the region will not see peace," Bagheri added.

Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said on Monday that Iran could fend off an attack by its enemies, after rejecting an overture from Trump for a deal over Iran's nuclear program, which Tehran says is peaceful but Israel insists aims at building a bomb.

In a virtual address to Italy’s parliament on Wednesday, Mohammadi said the current leadership in Iran is “fundamentally an unaccountable regime, incapable of upholding democracy, freedom, and equality.”

"This struggle is difficult, exhausting, and costly for women and for Iranian society. We need global will and determination to put an end to gender apartheid," she added.

Mohammadi is the most outspoken and prominent dissident inside the country and has spent over a decade in Iranian prisons. Currently on medical leave from Tehran's Evin Prison, she has resumed her public criticism of Iran's theocratic rulers.

"The Iranian people seek a transition from tyranny to democracy," she said, calling for an end to the systemic violence and discrimination that she said has marked the Islamic Republic's rule for over four decades.

She also addressed the case of three Iranian activists—Varisheh Moradi, Pakhshan Azizi, and Sharifeh Mohammadi—currently facing execution, urging global action to prevent their deaths.

Mohammadi rejected remarks by the Iranian government that sexual violence against women does not exist.

“I have witnessed numerous instances of such violence and have many accounts from women that I can testify about,” she added.

Mohammadi has helped spearhead a weekly protest campaign against Iran's high rate of executions which often targets political prisoners, dubbed No to Execution Tuesdays.

While officials deny that war is imminent, they acknowledge that diplomacy is no longer on the table.

Ahmad Bakhshayesh, a member of the Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, addressed the military budget increase which was announced in October when President Masoud Pezeshkian submitted the budget plan to the parliament for approval.

“It cannot be interpreted exactly in that way, but a significant increase in the military budget means that we are not negotiating and negotiations are not on our agenda,” Bakhshayesh told Ruydad 24 website.

Fatemeh Mohajerani, the government spokesperson, had announced a 200% increase in the military budget during a press conference in October saying that the purpose of the is move was to "strengthen the country's defense capabilities."

The budget for Iran’s armed forces was 7,220 trillion rials in last year’s budget bill. Given the exchange rate defined in that budget (330,000 rials per dollar), Iran’s military budget the last year could be estimated at $15.7 billion.

Based on this, the allocated budget for Iran’s armed forces in the coming year will likely be around 21,660 trillion rials. Given the exchange rate defined in the new year budget (570,000 rials per dollar) Iran’s military budget could be estimated at $46 billion.

The announcement follows increasingly aggressive rhetoric from Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and senior commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), who have repeatedly signaled readiness for military confrontation.

On Tuesday, IRGC Aerospace Force Commander Amir Ali Hajizadeh said another attack on Israel, dubbed True Promise III, is in the cards.

“Iran’s third attack on Israel, True Promise 3, will definitely take place, but officials have planned for it and will use it strategically—we will not waste it,” Hajizadeh said.

He also warned that an assault on Iran’s nuclear facilities would trigger widespread conflict in the region.

Hajizadeh’s comments came after US President Donald Trump threatened Iran with an Israeli military strike if it refused to halt its nuclear program.

Meanwhile, officials the Pezeshkian administration, who previously advocated diplomacy, have shifted their stance, aligning with Khamenei’s hardline position against negotiations with the US—a stance he emphasized in a speech earlier this month.

“Today, in terms of hard defense and military threats from enemies, we have no concerns or problems,” Khamenei also said in one of his recent speeches.

The new year’s budget bill projects 1.75 million barrels of oil exports per day, with 420,000 barrels allocated to the military—equivalent to 24% of total exports. In monetary terms, the armed forces will receive €11 billion worth of oil, up from €4 billion in the previous year.

This nearly threefold increase means the military’s oil revenue will exceed the government’s by 520 trillion rials ($565 million).

Hajizadeh acknowledged that the military buildup is a response to growing tensions. “War conditions don’t always mean attacking—we must also prepare for being attacked,” he said, adding that heightened tensions have secured increased government funding.

Iran’s two previous attacks on Israel cost an estimated 1,380 trillion rials ($1.5 billion)—or 16 million rials ($17) per citizen. Meanwhile, over 60 million Iranians—70% of the population—rely on government food coupons for essential goods, yet the budget for these subsidies has been cut by 33%, dropping from €16 billion to €12 billion for the next year.

At the same time, the government lacks the funds to finance the food coupons and has resorted to withdrawing from the National Development Fund with the Supreme Leader’s approval.

With military spending surging, funds for vital imports—including medicines, infant formula, and livestock feed—have been slashed, driving up prices. Even before the next fiscal year begins, over 400 Social Security-covered medicines have already seen price hikes.

At least one third of Iranians are already living below the poverty line while workers strikes continue demanding unpaid wages.

According to the Central Bank of Iran’s public relations office, Mohammad-Reza Farzin's trip, made at the invitation of Elvira Nabiullina, Governor of the Central Bank of Russia, focuses on furthering the bilateral banking agreements between Iran and Russia.

In January, Iran and Russia implemented a bilateral currency agreement to settle trade using their national currencies, according to Iran's Central Bank.

According to Farzin,Tehran and Moscow are also working to integrate the Russian Mir and Iranian Shetab card payment networks.

It is unclear if the measure was related to an Iranian-Russian comprehensive strategic partnership agreement signed in January by Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian.