The Iranian regime is hunting down protesters and dissidents as the nationwide uprising enters its seventh week. The regime forces are barging into schools, hospitals, and private homes in search of people who took part in the demonstrations.
The Islamic Guard (IRGC) henchmen were executing wounded demonstrators in their hospital beds, media reports say. “In the hospitals, many patients were found dead on their treatment beds, still attached to machines, with bullet holes in their heads,” the Jerusalem Post reported Wednesday, quoting an eyewitness.
More than 50,000 Iranians have been arrested, and tens of thousands have been massacred as the Mullah regime tries to quell the protests that began in late December. The Associated Press reported Saturday that “arrests have been happening for weeks following the government crackdown last month that crushed the protests calling for the end of the country’s theocratic rule.”
The AP continued:
Reports of raids on homes and workplaces have come from major cities and rural towns alike, revealing a dragnet that has touched large swaths of Iranian society. University students, doctors, lawyers, teachers, actors, business owners, athletes and filmmakers have been swept up, as well as reformist figures close to President Masoud Pezeshkian.They are often held incommunicado for days or weeks and prevented from contacting family members or lawyers, according to activists monitoring the arrests. That has left desperate relatives searching for their loved ones.The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency has put the number of arrests at more than 50,000. The AP has been unable to verify the figure. Tracking the detainees has been difficult since Iranian authorities imposed an internet blackout, and reports leak out only with difficulty.Other activist groups outside Iran have also been working to document the sweeps.“Authorities continue to identify people and detain them,” said Shiva Nazarahari, an organizer with one of those groups, the Committee for Monitoring the Status of Detained Protesters.So far, the committee has verified the names of more than 2,200 people who were arrested, using direct reports from families and a network of contacts on the ground. The arrestees include 107 university students, 82 children as young as 13, as well as 19 lawyers and 106 doctors.Nazarahari said authorities have been reviewing municipal street cameras, store surveillance cameras and drone footage to track people who participated in the protests to their homes or places of work, where they are arrested.
The regime’s actions run contrary to the conditions laid down by President Donald Trump for a negotiated deal. In late January, he told Tehran to give up its nuclear weapons program and stop killing protesters to avoid a U.S. strike. “Number one, no nuclear. And number two, stop killing protesters,” the president said. The Pentagon has dispatched two U.S. aircraft carriers and several warships to demonstrate the president’s resolve.
With Iran stalling on nuclear talks and continuing the deadly crackdown, the U.S. armed forces are gearing up for a major military strike against the regime. “The U.S. military is preparing for the possibility of sustained, weeks-long operations against Iran if President Donald Trump orders an attack,” Reuters reported Saturday, citing unnamed officials. “In a sustained campaign, the U.S. military could hit Iranian state and security facilities, not just nuclear infrastructure, one of the officials said.”
While President Trump has decided to give diplomacy a chance, he declared on Friday that the regime change in Iran “would be the best thing that could happen.”
“It seems like that would be the best thing that could happen,” President Trump said after a visit to Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
“For 47 years, they’ve been talking and talking and talking,” he added. “In the meantime, we’ve lost a lot of lives while they talk. Legs blown off, arms blown off, faces blown off. We’ve been going on for a long time.”
Amid rising tensions, Israel is bracing for ‘worst-case Iran scenario,’ Israeli media says. According to Israel’s Ynetnews, “As the diplomatic channel between the United States and Iran continues, Israel is preparing for war.”
The scenario includes Iran, in a last-ditch effort, firing its entire missile stockpile at Israel. “Israel is preparing to defend its home front if Iran talks collapse — including a scenario in which Tehran launches a massive missile barrage as a last resort,” the news outlet added.
In case of a military conflict, Tehran has threatened to attack Israel, besides targeting U.S. bases in the region.
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