Iran internet blackout enters 36th day, NetBlocks says

A strike hit near the perimeter of Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant on Saturday morning, damaging an auxiliary building but not affecting operations, IRGC-affiliated Tasnim News Agency reported.

The report said the strike hit near the plant’s fence at about 8:30 a.m. local time and a member of the security staff was killed.

Initial assessments showed no damage to the plant’s main sections and operations were not affected, according to the report.

It added that this was the fourth attack on the Bushehr plant during the ongoing war.

A key border terminal in western Iran was targeted on Saturday morning, a provincial security official said, as reports of multiple blasts near frontier crossings emerged.

The deputy governor for security in Khuzestan said the Shalamcheh crossing in Khorramshahr was hit, while earlier reports pointed to explosions in Mehran, another major crossing linking Iran to Iraq.

Shalamcheh and Mehran are among Iran’s main transit routes with Iraq, widely used for trade and cross-border movement.

In recent days, the presence of Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces inside Iran had drawn attention among citizens, with the groups previously involved in suppressing nationwide protests in January.

There will be no leniency for those undermining “the public’s psychological and physical security,” Iran’s judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei said on Saturday.

He said anyone whose actions disrupted public security and served the interests the “aggressor enemy” would face the law in the firmest possible manner.

The judiciary chief said those involved would face decisive action under existing laws, including legislation covering espionage and cooperation with hostile countries.

The Strait of Hormuz has become a strategic advantage for the Islamic Republic under the new security conditions and will not return to its previous state, an Iranian lawmaker said on Saturday.

“No country will have the right to pass through the Strait of Hormuz without the permission of the Islamic Republic,” Abbas Goudarzi said.

Goudarzi added that Iran would defend what he called its strategic position with “full military power.”

“Abolhassan Montazer and Vahid Bani-Amerian were executed on April 4,” judiciary outlet Mizan wrote, describing them as “terrorists” and listing charges including “armed rebellion,” membership in the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK) opposition group and plotting attacks using rocket launchers.

The report said the two were arrested while allegedly preparing to carry out an attack and that the court relied on what it described as confessions and evidence.

Charges and prior sentences

Mizan said Montazer was an “organizational member” of the MEK involved in armed activities, including preparing safe houses used to build launchers and improvised explosives.

Bani-Amerian was accused of conducting propaganda activities in support of the group and taking part in operations targeting various locations.

Both men were sentenced to death in December 2024 by Branch 26 of Tehran’s Revolutionary Court under Judge Iman Afshari, alongside four others.

The Islamic Republic had already executed four of those co-defendants – Akbar Daneshvarkar and Mohammad Taghavi Sangdehi on March 30, and Pouya Ghobadi Boostani and Babak Alipour on March 31 – on similar charges.

Rising executions and concerns

The latest executions come amid a broader increase in capital punishment tied to protest-related and security cases.

Authorities have also executed Amirhossein Hatami on April 2, as well as Saleh Mohammadi, Mehdi Ghasemi and Saeed Davoudi on March 18, all detained during January protests.

On March 17, the Islamic Republic also carried out the execution of Iranian-Swedish dual national Kourosh Keyvani on espionage charges.

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  Iran executes Swedish citizen accused of spying for Israel, judiciary says

Rights groups have warned that thousands of detainees could face similar risks, citing an intensified crackdown that has expanded the use of charges such as “terrorism” against protesters.

The recent wave of executions underscores the continued reliance on capital punishment in Iran’s handling of political dissent, even as broader internal and external pressures persist.