{"id":346542,"date":"2026-07-13T06:42:47","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T05:42:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/?p=346542"},"modified":"2026-07-13T06:42:47","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T05:42:47","slug":"iran-news-in-brief-july-13-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/news\/iran-news-in-brief-news\/iran-news-in-brief-july-13-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran News in Brief \u2013 July 13, 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Malm\u00f6, Sweden \u2013 July 11, 2026: Supporters of the NCRI held a rally to protest the executions of political prisoners in Iran<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

THIS PAGE WILL BE UPDATED WITH THE LATEST NEWS<\/h3>\n

UPDATE: 7:3<\/strong>0 AM CEST<\/strong><\/p>\n

How PMOI Resistance Units Shattered the Regime\u2019s Hollow Funeral Charade<\/h3>\n

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On July 10, in direct defiance of the heavily militarized, state-sponsored funeral ceremonies for the eliminated supreme leader Ali Khamenei, PMOI\/MEK Resistance Units carried out 40 anti-regime activities across Iran. These courageous acts shattered the regime\u2019s desperate attempts to project stability, echoing the Iranian people\u2019s true desires for regime change and reiterating their commitment to the struggle for a free, democratic republic.<\/p>\n

Undeterred by the suffocating security atmosphere, Resistance Units mobilized in major cities across the country, including Tehran, Mashhad, Isfahan, Zahedan, Kermanshah, and Rasht. Through placards, posters, and graffiti, they delivered a resounding message to the clerical dictatorship. In Mashhad, units wrote \u201cKhamenei is dead. The nation awakens\u201d in six public locations. In Tehran, members held placards reading \u201cSalute to Rajavi\u201d and installed posters declaring \u201cLong live the National Liberation Army.\u201d In Zahedan, protesters displayed messages stating \u201cDown with Khomeini and Khamenei.\u201d<\/p>\n

Furthermore, the Resistance Units clearly laid out the Iranian people\u2019s vision for the future. In Arak, units installed a placard in a public place with the message: \u201cNo to monarchy, no to the mullahs\u2019 rule. Yes to a democratic republic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n

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Iran Regime\u2019s Post-Khamenei Power Struggle Fuels Nuclear Blackmail and Escalating Threats<\/h3>\n

\"Top<\/p>\n

The carefully orchestrated funeral spectacle for the regime\u2019s slew Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was intended to project unity and stability. Instead, as soon as the state ceremonies concluded\u2014and even while they were underway\u2014the Iranian regime\u2019s long-suppressed internal conflicts resurfaced with renewed intensity.<\/p>\n

At the center of this latest confrontation lies the collapse of the regime\u2019s understanding with the United States. Rather than presenting a coherent strategy for navigating the mounting international pressure, competing factions within the ruling establishment have turned on one another, exposing deep disagreements over diplomacy, security, and the regime\u2019s future direction.<\/p>\n

What is emerging is not merely another factional dispute. It is a struggle over survival, with increasingly dangerous implications for regional stability and the international community.<\/p>\n

Hardline figures have launched an aggressive campaign against officials who supported negotiations with Washington, portraying any diplomatic engagement as a humiliating failure.<\/p>\n

Cleric Hamid Rasaei publicly attacked Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf for defending the agreement, demanding that the regime formally abandon the diplomatic process altogether. Similar attacks came from IRGC-affiliated figures, including Saeed Ghasemi, who dismissed the understanding as worthless from its inception and openly called for preparing for war rather than pursuing negotiations.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n

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After Khamenei: The Regime\u2019s Greatest Threat Is the Legacy He Left Behind<\/h3>\n

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The burial of Ali Khamenei marks the end of an era, but it does not mark the end of the crisis that has consumed Iran for decades. If anything, it has stripped away the central figure who held together competing power centers while leaving behind the political, economic, and ideological structures responsible for the country\u2019s decline.<\/p>\n

For the regime\u2019s new leadership, the challenge is no longer simply succession. It is whether the system built around absolute clerical rule can answer the demands of a society that has repeatedly rejected it.<\/p>\n

The question confronting Tehran is therefore straightforward: can the regime reform itself without dismantling the very foundations on which it has depended for nearly half a century?<\/p>\n

The evidence suggests it cannot.<\/p>\n

For years, the regime invested enormous resources in controlling narratives, manipulating statistics, and dominating state media. Yet propaganda cannot substitute for functioning institutions or economic stability.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n

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Bread Price Hikes Push Iran\u2019s Cost-of-Living Crisis to the Breaking Point<\/h3>\n

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For decades, many Iranians believed that no matter how severe the country\u2019s economic hardships became, bread\u2014the foundation of the national diet\u2014would remain within reach of every household. Families might be forced to give up meat, dairy products, fruit, or even rice, but bread would continue to provide the minimum nutrition needed to survive.<\/p>\n

That assumption is now collapsing. The implementation of new bread prices across numerous provinces in recent weeks has triggered widespread concern among millions of low-income families. For many of Iran\u2019s poorest households, bread is no longer merely a staple food\u2014it is often the primary, and sometimes the only, affordable source of daily calories.<\/p>\n

Its rising price marks more than another inflationary increase. It signals that Iran\u2019s economic crisis has reached the final line of defense protecting millions from outright food insecurity.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n

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South Khorasan\u2019s Water Bankruptcy: How Decades of Mismanagement Turned Drought into an Environmental Catastrophe<\/h3>\n

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South Khorasan is no longer confronting a temporary water shortage or a passing drought. After 26 consecutive years of below-average rainfall, the depletion of groundwater reserves, and accelerating land subsidence, the province has entered a far more dangerous phase\u2014one local officials themselves describe as \u201cwater bankruptcy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The term is significant. It reflects a reality in which natural water reserves are being consumed faster than they can ever be replenished. While climate change has intensified the problem, South Khorasan\u2019s environmental collapse is equally the result of decades of unsustainable groundwater extraction and policies that ignored the province\u2019s severe ecological limitations.<\/p>\n

Far from being an isolated provincial issue, South Khorasan has become one of the clearest examples of the broader environmental crisis unfolding across Iran under decades of failed resource management.<\/p>\n

The province has endured continuous drought since the 1999\u20132000 water year, making it one of Iran\u2019s longest-running climate emergencies.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n

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IRGC Announces Closure of Strait of Hormuz After Firing on a Ship<\/h3>\n

\"Iran<\/p>\n

While the United States had demanded that the Iranian regime confirm that the Strait of Hormuz would remain open, Iranian state-run media reported that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy announced the closure of the strategic waterway after firing on a ship in the Persian Gulf.<\/p>\n

Reuters also reported, citing the IRGC Navy, that a vessel which the IRGC claimed was attempting to transit the Strait of Hormuz through an \u201cunauthorized route\u201d was stopped with warning shots after allegedly ignoring repeated warnings.<\/p>\n

In a statement, the IRGC claimed that several vessels, \u201cincited by foreign powers,\u201d had attempted to travel outside designated shipping lanes and had ignored issued warnings. The statement also claimed that one of the vessels had endangered maritime security by turning off its identification systems and was therefore targeted with warning fire.<\/p>\n

The statement further said that, due to what the IRGC described as \u201cinsecurity caused by the unlawful intervention of foreign powers,\u201d the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed until further notice and until what it called \u201cU.S. interference in the region\u201d comes to an end. It added that no vessel will be permitted to pass through the waterway.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n

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Third Round of U.S. Strikes Against Iran\u2019s Regime After IRGC Closes Strait of Hormuz<\/h3>\n

\"Smoke<\/p>\n

The United States Central Command (CENTCOM) announced that U.S. forces have launched the third round of strikes against the Iranian regime this week following an attack by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on the Cyprus-flagged container ship M\/V GFS Galaxy in the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n

CENTCOM said in its statement that the vessel caught fire during the attack and sustained heavy damage to its engine room. It also said that one civilian crew member is missing, leaving the ship unable to continue its voyage.<\/p>\n

The U.S. Central Command emphasized that the operation is intended to reduce the Iranian regime\u2019s ability to attack commercial shipping and ensure freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz. It added that the operation will continue under the orders of the Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Armed Forces.<\/p>\n

U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth wrote in a post on X minutes after the new operation began: \u201cIran made a poor choice. Now they pay.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n

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New Iranian Leader Pledges \u2018Divine Mission\u2019 of Revenge Following Father\u2019s Burial<\/h3>\n

\"Mojtaba<\/p>\n

Tehran<\/strong>\u00a0\u2014 Iran\u2019s newly appointed Supreme Leader,\u00a0Seyed Mojtaba Hosseini Khamenei<\/a>, has issued a stark warning to international adversaries, declaring that avenging the death of his assassinated predecessor and father is an irreversible \u201cdivine mission\u201d that will be carried out by operatives worldwide.<\/p>\n

The written statement,\u00a0released by Iranian state media<\/a>\u00a0on Saturday and dated July 8 (18 Tir), marks the first major strategic and security declaration by the low-profile cleric since he assumed power following the assassination of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei earlier this year. The message coincided with the conclusion of an extensive, multi-day state funeral procession across the Shiite centers of Iran and Iraq.<\/p>\n

While the text does not explicitly name the United States or Israel, its release follows heightened regional military maneuvers and a recent warning from U.S. President Donald Trump, who threatened \u201coverwhelming\u201d retaliation against Tehran in the event of any plots targeting American officials.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n

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Berlin Exhibition Condemns Iran Regime\u2019s Wave of Executions and Voices Support for Freedom<\/h3>\n

Berlin, Germany \u2013 July 11, 2026 \u2013\u00a0<\/strong>Supporters of the People\u2019s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI\/MEK<\/span><\/a>) held an exhibition to protest the Iranian regime\u2019s increasing use of the death penalty, particularly against political prisoners. The event also expressed solidarity with the \u201cNo to Executions<\/span><\/a>\u201d campaign.<\/p>\n

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Berlin Exhibition Condemns Iran Regime\u2019s Wave of Executions and Voices Support for Freedom \u2013 Video 2<\/div><\/div>
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