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UPDATE: 3:00 PM CEST
Treasury Targets Houthi Weapons Procurement Networks
WASHINGTON — Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is sanctioning two individuals and four companies that have facilitated weapons procurement for Ansarallah, commonly referred to as the Houthis. Since November 2023, the Houthis have deployed a range of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), ballistic missiles, and cruise missiles to attack U.S. military forces, merchant vessels, their crews, and civilian populations in Israel. To undertake their reckless campaign targeting U.S. and allied interests, the Houthis rely on a global network of procurement operatives, shipment facilitators, and suppliers to procure and transport dual-use components and equipment needed to manufacture and deploy a range of advanced weapons systems.
UPDATE: 7:00 AM CEST
The Iranian Regime’s New Government Takes Control of An Empty Treasury
As the new government of Iran’s regime prepares to take office, the living conditions of the Iranian people continue to decline with a lack of electricity and water, lack of money, and jobs. For more than forty years, the religious fascism ruling Iran has entrenched itself in the nation’s water, soil, and resources, devastating the people’s existence through looting and destruction. Thousands of billions of dollars in damage from warmongering and exporting terrorism, and hundreds of billions of dollars in plundering and embezzling people’s money, have left a country as capable as Iran without water and electricity in the summer heat, causing the people to suffer in the scorching weather. Its youth, hopeless about the future, are unemployed and desperate, and some dream of fleeing the country. Even regime supreme leader Ali Khamenei was forced to prioritize the economic crisis in his speech at the inauguration ceremony: “Everyone knows I am very sensitive to cultural issues, but today’s priority is economic issues.” Experts say that even a semi-accurate understanding of the dire situation in the clerical regime is unimaginable.
The Decline of Marriage and Rise of Divorce in Iran: A Growing Concern
Recent statistics paint a worrying picture of family life in Iran, with a significant decrease in marriages and a persistently high divorce rate. This trend threatens the very foundation of Iranian society and raises serious concerns about the future of family structures in the country. According to official data, the number of marriages in Iran has shown a marked decrease over the past three years:
- 2021: 570,618 marriages
- 2022: 524,139 marriages
- 2023: 481,394 marriages
This represents a substantial 15.7% decrease in marriages from 2021 to 2023, indicating a troubling shift in societal attitudes towards matrimony. On average, daily marriage registrations have fallen from 1,563 in 2021 to just 1,316 in 2023.
U.S. Treasury Targets Iranian Missile and UAV Procurement Facilitators
The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has taken action against five individuals and seven entities based in Iran, China, and Hong Kong. These targets are accused of facilitating procurements for Iran’s Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics (MODAFL) subordinates.
The designated parties have been involved in procuring critical components, including accelerometers and gyroscopes, which are essential for Iran’s ballistic missile and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) programs. This action aims to curb Iran’s ability to proliferate weapons systems to its proxies in the Middle East and to Russia.
“Iran’s reckless proliferation of its ballistic missiles and UAVs risks further instability and endangers civilian lives, both in the region and around the world. Today’s action exposes additional key front companies and trusted agents through which Iran has sought to acquire these components,” said Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson.
Female Political Prisoners in Lakan Prison Join the “Tuesdays Against Executions” Campaign
Eight female political prisoners held in Lakan Prison in Rasht, the capital of Gilan province in northern Iran, announced that they joined the hunger strike this Tuesday, July 30, 2024, in opposition to the death penalty. They have thus joined the political prisoners who go on hunger strike in the “Tuesdays against Executions” campaign.
In addition to opposing the death sentences for political and non-political prisoners, the female political prisoners in Lakan Prison are specifically protesting the death sentences for Sharifeh Mohammadi and Pakhshan Azizi.
They have also announced that 14 non-political female prisoners in Lakan Prison are at risk of execution and are calling for attention to the situation of these anonymous prisoners and support for them.
Iran-Backed Hashd al-Shaabi Forces Targeted, Senior Hezbollah Official Killed
Amid escalating tensions between Hezbollah and Israel, a U.S. official told Reuters about an American attack on Iraqi militia positions.
Reuters reports it is still unclear which militia forces in Iraq were targeted, but the U.S. official emphasized that the attack was carried out to defend U.S. forces.
At the same time, Hashd al-Shaabi, the most significant militia group backed by the Iranian regime in Iraq, announced early Wednesday, July 31, that two patrols of their forces were targeted in an airstrike in Babil province, central Iraq.
According to Iran’s state news agency IRNA, Hashd al-Shaabi stated: “Available information indicates that two patrols of the 47th Brigade in northern Babil province were targeted by missiles fired from a drone, resulting in casualties and injuries among the forces.”
Paris, July 30, 2024: MEK Supporters Exhibition in Solidarity With the Iranian Revolution
Paris, France—July 30, 2024: Freedom-loving Iranians and supporters of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) organize a photo and book exhibition. This exhibition is held in solidarity with the Iranian Revolution and as a protest against the increasing wave of executions carried out by the Iranian regime.
Also, read Iran News in Brief – July 31, 2024