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UPDATE: 1:30 PM CEST
Iranian National Indicted for Operating Online Marketplace Offering Fentanyl, Other Drugs, and Money Laundering Services
CLEVELAND – A federal grand jury has charged Behrouz Parsarad, an Iranian national, for his role as the creator and operator of Nemesis Market, a dark web marketplace designed to enable users to buy and sell illegal drugs and other illicit goods. The market also sold criminal cyber-services such as obtaining stolen financial information, fraudulent identification documents, counterfeit currencies, and computer malware.
According to the indictment, Parsarad, 36, of Tehran, Iran, launched Nemesis Market in or around March 2021. Nemesis Market operated on the dark web, a network that uses The Onion Router (TOR) to encrypt traffic and hide users’ Internet Protocol (IP) address. At its peak, Nemesis Market had over 150,000 users and more than 1,100 vendor accounts registered worldwide. Between 2021 and 2024, Nemesis Market processed more than 400,000 orders, including more than 60,000 orders in 2022 and more than 250,000 orders in 2023. Of these, more than 55,000 orders were categorized as stimulants, which included sub-categories for methamphetamine, cocaine, cocaine base (crack), and other controlled substances.
‘Iran Is Already a Nuclear Power and Could Have Missile-Ready Warhead in Hours’ – Expert
Diplomat Dr Robert Joseph who played a key role in ending Libya’s weapons of mass destruction program said Tehran was not to be trusted and had repeatedly hoodwinked investigators and the international community over its nuclear ambitions and secret sites.
After tense mini-talks between the US and Iran last weekend, which seem to have amounted to little more than a brief chat in a hotel lobby, Dr Joseph said Donald Trump was right to demand Iran give up every scrap of fissile material and back up his demands with bombing threats, because Ayatollah Khamenei was not only lying to the world but Iran’s nuclear program was highly advanced.
UPDATE: 7:30 AM CEST
Regime-Linked Banks and Entities at the Heart of Iran’s Housing Crisis
While homelessness and the high cost of housing and rent inflict immense suffering on millions of Iranian families, especially workers, laborers, and fixed-income earners, a regime-affiliated media outlet recently reported: “The waiting time to buy a house with a worker’s housing allowance has reached 580 years.” It added: “Bank loans are not even sufficient to buy 6 to 7 square meters of land. The government has become the largest land hoarder” (Tejarat News, April 1, 2025).
This occurs while, according to regime sources and experts, there are 6 million vacant homes in Iran, yet millions are homeless, resorting to sleeping in graves, on rooftops, in buses, or multiple families sharing a single unit.
The average price per square meter of housing in Tehran has reached 1.1 billion rials. Recently, continuous reports about new housing price hikes in the Persian calendar year 1404 (starting March 2025) have been published with headlines like: “Severe inflation on the way?”, “Severe housing market inflation,” “Municipalities and banks are the cause of high prices.”
The Iranian Regime’s Grip Weakens Amid Regional Setbacks and Drug Network Collapse
These are arguably some of the darkest days for Iran’s clerical regime in recent years. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s much-touted doctrine of “strategic depth” has suffered repeated setbacks, internal divisions are widening within the regime, and Iran’s economic collapse has reached a critical tipping point. Now, Tehran faces yet another blow: the unraveling of its regional drug trafficking network, particularly after losing influence in Syria—until recently, the world’s largest producer and exporter of Captagon.
In the past decade, Syria emerged as a major hub for Captagon production. Under Bashar al-Assad’s rule, the manufacture and trafficking of this amphetamine-like stimulant skyrocketed, generating an estimated $10 billion in annual revenues around 2018–2019. Much of this trade was linked to the Assad regime and its allies, including Hezbollah and Iran.
Iran’s Healthcare Crisis Deepens as Drug Prices Soar and Patients Abandon Treatment
Despite a staggering 100–400 percent rise in drug prices in recent months, Iran is now facing a new and even harsher wave of medication inflation. This crisis has been triggered by the regime’s mismanagement and the suspension of foreign exchange subsidies for pharmaceuticals, further eroding access to essential medicines. According to a report by the state-run ILNA news agency, since the beginning of 2025, the cost of some life-saving drugs has surged by as much as 600 percent. As a result, a growing number of retirees and workers are being forced to abandon treatment—either for themselves or their family members—because they can no longer afford the necessary medication.
The report highlights another alarming aspect of the crisis: insurance coverage has not kept pace with the escalating drug prices. The coverage provided by state and private insurance organizations has remained static, leaving patients with little choice but to seek cheaper, often counterfeit alternatives or discontinue treatment altogether.
Family Launches Death Row Protest Over Imminent Execution in Urmia
The family of Hamid Hossein-Nejad Heydaranlou, an impoverished Kulbar sentenced to death, has been staging a death row protest outside Urmia Central Prison since Thursday night, calling for an immediate halt to the execution and demanding justice for their son. Women in the family—particularly Hamid’s wife and mother—have taken a leading role in this protest, refusing to leave the prison gates despite the cold nights, intimidation, and uncertainty. Their steadfast presence has drawn attention to the growing number of political prisoners on death row in Iran and the urgent need for justice and due process.
On the morning of Friday, April 18, prison officials informed the family that Hamid’s execution, which had been scheduled for the previous night, was temporarily suspended by order of the Urmia prosecutor.
Organ Trafficking Crisis in Iran
A group of people were caught selling vital organs such as kidneys, ears, or corneas from desperate individuals for exorbitant amounts—up to 700 billion rials (approximately $700,000)—to wealthy Iranian families.
According to the regime-run Hamshahri newspaper, the sellers included five Iraqi and four Iranian men. Exploiting legal loopholes and using false promises, they brought foreign nationals—including citizens of Iraq, Syria, Sudan, and Bangladesh—into Iran.
These individuals were from extremely impoverished backgrounds in their home countries and agreed to sell their vital organs in hopes of receiving dollar payments. However, the bulk of the profit went to middlemen and traffickers in the ring.
Sheffield Exhibition Condemns Executions in Iran and Calls for Release of Political Prisoners
Sheffield, UK – April 15, 2025: The Academics in Exile Association, aligned with the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), held a public bookstall and photo exhibition in Sheffield to denounce the latest wave of executions in Iran. The event drew attention to the recent execution of five political prisoners at Vakilabad Prison in Mashhad, spotlighting ongoing human rights violations by the Iranian regime.
MEK Supporters in Hamburg Condemn Executions by Iran’s Regime – April 16, 2025
Hamburg, Germany – April 16, 2025 – Supporters of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) organized a rally and exhibition to highlight the escalating human rights crisis in Iran, with a particular focus on the alarming rise in executions of political prisoners. They also called for the immediate release of all political prisoners in Iran.