Revolutionary Guards say Iran will maintain control of Strait of Hormuz
Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Monday they would continue to enforce Iran's control over the Strait of Hormuz, accusing the United States of “putting global oil and gas supplies at risk through its actions” in the strategic waterway.
“We will continue to exercise sovereignty and control over the Strait of Hormuz with strength and power,” Guards spokesperson Hossein Mohebbi said.
Mohebbi said US involvement in the strait had endangered the security of global energy supplies and that Washington “must be held accountable.”
Iran said on Monday it would not allow the United States to take part in managing the Strait of Hormuz, following comments by President Donald Trump that Washington could take control of the strategic waterway.
“We will under no circumstances allow the United States to interfere in the management of the Strait of Hormuz,” the spokesperson for Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters said.
Iran's armed forces, the spokesperson said, would respond “with force” to any US military interference with commercial or oil tanker traffic outside routes designated by Iran and without authorization from its armed forces.
The spokesperson also said any regional country providing logistical support to the US military would be regarded as participating in a war against Iran's sovereignty and national security.
President Donald Trump said on Monday that Iran's top commanders had been killed, and Mojtaba Khamenei was 90% gone.
“They have no navy, they have no air force, it's all gone. Their anti-aircraft is gone, their leaders have all been killed, their best leaders have been killed,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News.
“Khamenei is gone, the son is 90% gone,” Trump added.
The foreign ministers of Germany, France and Britain condemned Iran's attacks on commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and on countries across the region on Monday.
“We condemn Iran's heinous attacks on merchant shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and on countries in the region, including Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and Jordan,” the ministers said in a joint statement.
The E3 called for the restoration of the ceasefire and the resumption of negotiations between the warring parties.
Britain summoned Iran's ambassador on Monday following its designation of the Revolutionary Guards, Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said, according to a Sky News reporter.
“The IRGC was sitting behind” the newly proscribed group IMCR, which claimed responsibility for attacks targeting the Jewish community, Cooper said.
The British government will announce “further measures” in the coming days, Cooper added.
File photo shows inmates sitting inside an overcrowded prison ward in Iran.
January protesters held in Greater Tehran Penitentiary are being kept in severely overcrowded and unsanitary conditions without adequate medical care, clean drinking water or sufficient food, according to multiple inmates and eyewitnesses who spoke to Iran International.
Several security prisoners held in Wards 1, 2 and 4 of Unit 6 described conditions that they said have worsened in recent months as authorities transferred growing numbers of detainees arrested during the January protests to the prison.
“Bedbugs crawl all over prisoners, and everyone is exposed to disease,” one inmate said. “Because of the overcrowding, if one person gets sick, the entire ward becomes ill.”
Overcrowding doubles prison capacity
According to the prisoners, each ward contains 15 rooms equipped with 15 beds, providing space for about 210 inmates after accounting for shared storage areas.
Authorities are housing roughly 500 prisoners in the same space, they said, forcing about half the inmates to sleep on floors or in corridors.
The overcrowding has contributed to infestations of bedbugs and lice and accelerated the spread of infectious illnesses, inmates said.
Former prisoners have previously described similar conditions at Greater Tehran Penitentiary, warning of severe overcrowding, inadequate healthcare and shortages of medical staff.
One former inmate said families often supply medicines because the prison clinic provides little treatment.
“The clinic does nothing,” the former prisoner said. “Only when someone is close to death are they transferred for medical care.”
Water, food and hygiene shortages
Prisoners said they have no reliable access to clean drinking water and must purchase bottled water from the prison store.
During the current summer period, however, the store has at times gone up to three days without bottled water, forcing inmates to drink tap water that they believe is unsafe.
Several inmates also described prison food as poor quality and said meals are occasionally not served, with one or two meals sometimes skipped every few days.
Political prisoners in Ward 6 also reported earlier this month that water supplies had been cut, air conditioning switched off and showers closed, which they said was intended to increase pressure on detainees. They also said weekly family visits had been suspended.
Cold showers, blocked toilets
Prisoners told Iran International that hot water is unavailable in prison showers throughout the year.
When inmates complain, prison officials tell them they cannot provide hot water and that prisoners must accept the conditions, according to the witnesses.
They also described blocked toilets that sometimes remain unusable for days, as well as shortages of cleaning supplies.
Dirty bedding, carpets and shared facilities have contributed to outbreaks of scabies and other contagious skin diseases, prisoners said.
Outdoor confinement in extreme heat
Witnesses also described mandatory outdoor exercise under direct sunlight during summer temperatures approaching 40 degrees Celsius.
Prisoners are required to remain in an uncovered yard for at least two hours each day and are not permitted to return indoors before the allotted time.
“The same happens in winter,” one inmate said. “Even if you were freezing, they would not allow you back inside.”
Protest detainees held alongside other prisoners
According to inmates, conditions deteriorated after authorities transferred large numbers of January protesters to Greater Tehran Penitentiary as prisons in the capital filled beyond capacity.
Some detainees said protest prisoners were placed in wards previously occupied by inmates convicted of theft and drug-related offenses.
Unlike Tehran's Evin Prison, where political prisoners often manage their own wards, Unit 6 at Greater Tehran Penitentiary is overseen by inmates convicted of ordinary crimes.
Several witnesses said that some of those inmates verbally abused protest detainees, encouraged confrontations and, in some cases, carried out violent attacks with the acquiescence of prison guards.
One witness said two protesters were stabbed during a confrontation, leaving one with severe hand injuries.
Several inmates said many of those arrested during the January protests are young adults, adding that the conditions inside the prison have left them in severe psychological distress while many remain in detention awaiting trial without being granted temporary release on bail.
