THIS PAGE WILL BE UPDATED WITH THE LATEST NEWS
UPDATE: 9:30 PM CEST
Uprising in Abadan, Khuzestan Province
Following the collapse of the 10-story Metropol Complex Building in Abadan, people who were sick and tired of the regime’s corrupt establishment that failed to heed the warnings and demonstrated a flawed rescue operation, have taken to the streets and are chanting slogans against local officials and the state.
Slogan: “Death with the incompetent officials!”
Slogans: “Incompetent officials must resign!”, “Officials from Abadan must resign!” and “The governor of Abadan must resign!”
Slogan: “Our enemy is right here, they lie when they say it’s America!”
Slogan: “Shame on IRIB” (IRIB is the state TV and Radio Organization)
Slogan: “Fellow countrymen, support us!”
Severe Air Pollution in 36 Iranian Cities
Air pollution and dust storms are still plaguing the country and dangerous conditions in many parts of Iran have taken people’s breath away.
Tehran is reportedly in dangerous weather conditions and in most parts of the capital, air pollution has reached the very severe category and Air Quality Index (AQI) stood at 412 today. According to the state media, people should refrain from being outdoors or even leave the city if they can.
According to state-run ILNA, the country’s air quality monitoring data show that AQI in many cities of Khuzestan and Bushehr is set at 500.
In Alborz province, Northern Iran, people are coping with very unhealthy conditions and severe air pollution led to the closure of offices, universities, and schools.
For the third day in a row, the weather in Kurdistan province was assessed as ‘dangerous’, while the weather in Isfahan was called ‘unhealthy’ for the fifth consecutive day. The weather forecasts suggest that the air of Isfahan province will be polluted with dust and fine dust on Thursday as well.
Zanjan province is also facing a very unhealthy weather situation which is dangerous for all age groups while East Azarbaijan province is suffering from the same condition and offices were closed in 13 cities in the province. The AQI in the city of Tabriz was equal to 330.
Despite Nationwide Outcry, Khamenei Remains Stubbornly Ignorant
Following Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf’s reselection as speaker of the Iranian regime’s parliament, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei met with members of the parliament today.
Despite the nationwide outcry for Qalibaf to resign over the numerous scandals he is involved in, he received the Supreme Leader’s support and was reinstalled for the third consecutive year. Khamenei also refused to take a stance on the deadly catastrophic collapse of the 10-story Metropol Complex in Abadan which has become a social crisis in the southern Khuzestan province and beyond.
In his speech for the MPs, Khamenei warned against factional infighting by saying: “Avoiding retribution and conflict is one of the duties of the parliament. In the current global situation, management has become more difficult and complicated. Members of parliament, the government, the Judiciary, and other bodies should be more vigilant. We must be careful to avoid making mistakes because the enemy is waiting for our mistakes, rather than to rely on its own abilities.”
UPDATE: 2:00 PM CEST
Amid Nationwide Disgust Against Clerics, Raisi’s Education Minister Calls for More Influence of the Seminary in Iran’s Universities
During a provincial visit to Qom and accompanying the Iranian regime’s president, Minister of Education Mohammad Ali Zolfi Gol said:” If graduate students from the seminary become familiar with university culture and vice versa, academics will also be attracted to the seminary and they will be more effective.”
To influence young generations, the Iranian regime has systemically passed laws to make sure schools are staffed with state-affiliated cadres. According to official reports, the Ministry of Education now has 4,500 formal teachers with seminary degrees. This procedure for hiring students is based on the regime parliament’s resolution passed in 1986 to employ at least 25,000 male and female seminary students in the country’s education system.
Statistics show that in 2020, about one million of the country’s university graduates are unemployed, of which 474,000 are men and 538,000 are women.
Calls to Restrict Internet Shows State Media Failure, Former Official Says
Criticizing a column in the state-run Kayhan newspaper, Abbas Abdi, a former intelligence official wrote in the Etemad daily that calls to restrict the internet provide proof that the state monopolized media has failed to gain people’s trust.
Abdi wrote: “Undoubtedly, more than 99% or even 99.99% of the facilities and budget of the country’s official media have been monopolized by IRIB (the state Radio and Television Organization), Kayhan, and dozens of large and small newspapers and governmental or semi-governmental news agencies who favor the status quo. Kayhan hereby acknowledges that the official media has failed vis-a-vis cyberspace.”
“Perhaps the gravest conclusion to be drawn from Kayhan’s piece is to ask yourselves “what you have done in the last 43 years of absolute and unwarranted domination of all the media and educational institutions and why are the people being influenced by other means. Is there a failure bigger than this?” Abdi added. “Despite the monopoly of your own media, you have portrayed the people of Iran as if they are becoming more and more ignorant and not more aware. In fact, this is your perception of the people you want to dominate. This text shows the obvious failure of the official media. Even if you do not want to admit your failure, limiting the internet will not cure the pain.”
Calls for Regime Change in North Iran
On Tuesday afternoon, May 24, at 5 pm local time, bystanders and passersby near the Lahijan Lake in the city of Lahijan in the northern Gilan province heard loudspeakers airing slogans of regime change.
May 24 – Lahijan, northern #Iran
5:00 pm local time
Anti-regime slogans aired in public
"Neither the crown nor the turban! Mullahs, your time is up!"
"Death to Khamenei!"
"Hail to Rajavi!"
"Mullahs must get lost!"
"Raisi is the butcher of the #1988Massacre!"#FreeIran2022 pic.twitter.com/58WNgzpzTF— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) May 25, 2022
UPDATE: 8:30 AM CEST
Why Did Abadan’s Metropol Tower Collapse?
The ten-story Metropol twin towers in Abadan, southwest Iran, suffered a major disaster on Monday, May 23, as a large portion of one of the buildings collapsed, leaving dozens killed, injured, or missing.
The ad posted by the holding company that built this building boasted: “A hardened concrete structure that is built earthquake-proof!” This very tower, however, has already destroyed the lives of many long before any earthquake.
New Amnesty International Report: Iran Carried Out More Than Half of the World’s Executions in 2021
A new Amnesty International report dated May 24, 2022, noted the Iranian regime’s shocking record in carrying out death penalties.
Raisi’s Economic Decisions Making Iranians Miserable
Iranian officials alternate from saying their economy is doing reasonably well despite international sanctions, skyrocketing prices, high unemployment, etc., and saying that the economy is failing because of US sanctions. The trouble is that neither of these statements is true. A quick look at the data proves that the economic crisis is down to the mullahs’ misguided policies and institutionalized corruption, especially by the government of President Ebrahim Raisi.
Iran: Parliament Exempts Nuclear Agency, the Military From Transparency Laws
On Sunday, May 22, the Iranian regime’s Majlis [Parliament] exempted the regime’s Atomic Energy Agency and the Military from transparency laws. In recent years, political rivalries have led to the uncovering of enormous corruption among high-ranking officials, pushing the mullahs to think about a “transparency plan” in a bid to quell objections by the regime’s loyalists.
The semi-official ISNA news agency reported that the Majlis was primarily voting for the exemption of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), the armed forces, and the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) before MPs added the Intelligence Department to the terrorist Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to the exempted bodies.
Iranian Political Prisoner With Cancer Denied Medical Treatment
The health of a political prisoner with cancer is rapidly deteriorating as the authorities have stopped his lifesaving treatment. The treatment of Kasra Bani Amerian, a political prisoner with has been stopped in Evin Prison. The authorities have deprived him of access to physiotherapy and other urgent medical treatment.
Kasra Bani Amerian suffered from a muscle problem in his ankle called “neuropathy” after chemotherapy, which prevented him from walking. If his treatment is delayed, he will face irreparable health damage.
Iran Establishes New Base To Enforce Mandatory Hijab
The Iranian regime has increased its crackdown against civil and political liberties to counter a society crushed under skyrocketing prices and inflation.
Repression maneuvers, executions, restrictions on the Internet, and setting up bases to impose compulsory hijab on women are among the measures that the authorities have taken to suppress the people.
Read more: Iran News in Brief – May 24, 2022