THIS PAGE WILL BE UPDATED WITH THE LATEST NEWS
UPDATE: 10:00 AM CEST
Iran-Linked Media Company ‘Brings Migrants to Britain’
A company with links to Iran is bringing migrants to Britain, The Telegraph can reveal. RAD Media World, a firm based in north-west London, is connected to several Tehran-backed entities and has been bringing people to the UK legally by sponsoring skilled worker visas. The entities include Press TV, the Iranian state broadcaster, which has been accused of running an Iranian spy recruitment ring, as well as Hispan TV, the regime’s Spanish-language mouthpiece.
A skilled worker visa can last up to five years before it needs to be extended. Only employers approved by the Home Office can sponsor this kind of visa, which also allows people to bring their family over.
Intelligence experts have warned that issuing visas risks creating an “open door” for people to travel to the UK and potentially carry out hostile acts on behalf of Iran.
UPDATE: 07:00 AM CEST
SAVAK Symbols Resurface at Pro-Monarchist Rally in Germany
The public appearance of individuals dressed in T-shirts associated with the former Shah’s secret police, SAVAK, during a gathering of supporters of Reza Pahlavi in Germany has sparked renewed criticism of the monarchist movement and its increasingly aggressive political messaging.
For years, Reza Pahlavi has attempted to present himself internationally as a supporter of democracy, civil rights, and nonviolence. Yet the growing visibility of pro-monarchist groups openly glorifying the Shah’s security apparatus has intensified concerns that sections of his movement remain deeply attached to the authoritarian legacy of the Pahlavi dictatorship.
The use of SAVAK symbolism is particularly controversial because the organization remains synonymous in Iranian collective memory with torture, censorship, political repression, and systematic intimidation.
Female Political Prisoners in Iran: The High Wall of Repression and Resistance
The situation of female political prisoners in Iran has reached a new critical stage in recent months, coinciding with the security shifts of 2026 (1404-1405 SH). Reports from various prisons across the country indicate that the judiciary, in collaboration with security agencies, has adopted a brutal strategy to suppress female political prisoners. This strategy ranges from repeated “parallel” case-building during imprisonment and acute medical deprivation to the revocation of citizenship and torture in solitary confinement. This report examines the cases of seven women who currently stand against this machinery of repression.
In Iranian prisons, the “engineering of extended sentences” is utilized to prevent the release of political prisoners. Forough Taghipour, an accounting graduate, is a prime example of a female political prisoner falling victim to the influence of interrogators over judges. Although her initial 15-year sentence (on charges of Baghi) was previously reduced to 5 years, she recently faced a new case and was sentenced to an additional year in prison for issuing a statement on “Student Day.” This sentence was communicated to her inside the prison by Judge Sharifi-Nasab.
Sharp Rise in Arrest of Protesters and Critical Prison Conditions in Iran
According to reports received by Iran Human Rights Monitor (IranHRM), following the outbreak of military conflicts and rising regional tensions, security agencies have unprecedentedly intensified pressure on civil activists, protesters, and dissident citizens. The Islamic Republic is attempting to foster an atmosphere of terror and construct fabricated security cases to prevent the formation of another wave of nationwide uprisings—protests whose resurgence is highly probable given the collapsing economy and widespread public discontent.
Coinciding with this heightened post-war security clampdown, reports regarding the arrest of protesters and prison conditions reveal systematic mass detentions across Mashhad, Qasrqand, Shahin Shahr, Urmia, Ahvaz, and Hormozgan. Many of these detainees face severe, fabricated charges such as “espionage,” “collaboration with Israel,” and “acting against national security.” Over the past months, it has become evident that these accusations serve merely as legal pretexts to issue and execute death sentences against protesters and dissidents.
Inside Iran’s Growing “Shadow Fleet” Network for Smuggling Oil Byproducts
As international pressure and maritime surveillance on Iran’s petroleum byproduct exports reach new highs, exclusive field reports from heavy transport drivers and local sources inside Iran point to the expansion of a growing “shadow fleet” economy stretching from the Persian Gulf to the country’s eastern borders. Economic networks tied to powerful military institutions, facing what observers describe as a “severe currency crisis and repeated seizure of export cargoes,” have increasingly shifted from exporting processed petroleum products to what sources describe as “land-based raw material sales.”
This report, sent by domestic reporters to Iran News Wire, shows how deadlocks in maritime trade have pushed the ruling economic structure toward the plundering of the country’s vital raw materials.
According to the report, this approach not only weakens Iran’s industrial capacity but has also fueled organized smuggling and the sell-off of national wealth.
French Magazine Exposes ‘Shah-Making Factory’: Fascist Networks and Lobbies Grooming the Shah’s Son as an Alternative to the Iranian Regime
The renowned French magazine Nouvel Observateur has published a comprehensive investigation by Marie Vaton exposing the hidden mechanisms of the “Shah-making factory.” The article highlights how the Shah’s son, who was a marginal figure with no political weight just three years ago, has been artificially elevated. This manufactured rise is the result of aggressive, multifaceted networks, some with close ties to the far-right. Every Sunday, monarchists gather at the Trocadéro in Paris, chanting exclusionary slogans. They prominently shout, “Death to the three corrupts: the Mullah, the Leftist, and the Mojahed,” clearly targeting the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran and progressive forces. These rallies are led by individuals with opaque funding, who suddenly pivoted from fashion and lifestyle to fiercely attacking anyone who opposes the Shah’s son.
‘Staggering’ Iran Toll Drives Up Global Executions to Their Highest Since 1981, Says Amnesty International
Iran put to death over 2,150 people last year, a “staggering” increase that pushed recorded worldwide executions to their highest level since 1981, Amnesty International said Monday, May 17. Amnesty said it had confirmed the executions of at least 2,707 people globally in 2025. Of these cases, 2,159 were in Iran, a figure more than double that of 2024, Amnesty added.
But the UK-based rights group said that, as in previous years, its total “does not include the thousands of executions” that it believed were carried out in China, the world’s most prolific user of the death penalty, due to “the state secrecy” over data.
Amnesty said the figure of at least 2,707 people executed in 2025 – including in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Egypt, Yemen, Singapore and the United States – represented an increase by more than two-thirds on the total the previous year.
Iranian Opposition Protests in Washington: Maryam Rajavi Asserts Overthrowing the Regime Secures Regional Peace
Thousands of Iranian expatriates assembled in the heart of the American capital to amplify the voice of the popular movement opposing the Mullahs’ rule. The current Iranian opposition protests in Washington represent a major escalatory step to highlight ongoing human rights violations in Tehran. Free demonstrators gathered Saturday in front of the US Congress building amid highly stringent federal security measures. Participants protested against the escalation of systematic political execution campaigns and arbitrary detentions inside Iranian prisons. The main platform witnessed broad participation from former senior US military and political leaders in 2026. Opposition leaders seek to extract international recognition of the people’s right to self-determination and building a modern democratic state.