After a 12-day conflict with Israel and the United States ended on Monday with a ceasefire, Iranian authorities are now allowing for stricter sanctions on cooperation with foreign governments.
President Masoud Pezeshkian praised the Iranian government as a “historic victory” in a late-tuesday written message to the country, saying Iran’s efforts to “sow division and division” would fail.
The nation’s parliament and judiciary are making progress in enforcing more severe penalties for any offenses that are deemed to be a threat to national security at the same time.
A plan to “intensify punishment for espionage and collaborators with the Zionist regime [Israel] and hostile countries against national security and interests” was approved by the Iranian parliament on Monday.
According to Alireza Salimi, a member of the parliament’s presiding board, “any intelligence, espionage, or practical action” that favors Israel, the US, and other countries could be viewed as an example of “corruption on Earth,” a crime that carries the death penalty.
Additionally, the legislation targets those who are paid for services to hostile states with money, real estate, or cryptocurrencies as well as those who have “the ability to kill or create chaos and terror”.
According to the lawmaker, the bill “gives the security forces a freer hand.”
The Iranian judiciary’s spokesperson, Asghar Jahangir, claimed that the country’s current espionage law is too broad and might not cover the types of espionage Iran currently faces.
He claimed that the current law would “restrict and restrain” those who wanted to punish Israeli and Israeli citizens who were detained during the conflict.
Increased arrests
Authorities executed three Iranians on Wednesday morning in Urmia, in the northwest of Iran’s West Azerbaijan province, for cooperating with Israel.
After being accused of bringing weapons used to assassinate Iranian officials over the border, they were found guilty of moharebeh, or “waging war against God” or “waging a war against corruption on Earth.” Although the murders are believed to have been linked to Israel’s killing of nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh in November 2020, the judiciary did not identify the assassinated individuals.
Since the start of the war on June 13, Iran has executed three more men in three separate cases involving Israeli spying. Israeli intelligence-gathering operations were the cause of more than 600 deaths during the conflict in Iran, with many of the attacks, particularly those that occurred on the first night of the bombing, which included several Iranian military commanders who were killed.
In the first 12 days of the war, there were at least 700 arrests made throughout the nation, according to local media, and authorities are making more arrest announcements daily.
Indictments were issued against 23 people for “sabotage acts” including “propaganda against the holy establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” according to Amir Kholfian, the prosecutor general of Khuzestan province, which bordered Iraq on Wednesday.
In many provinces, similar arrests or cases have been reported, with the most recent cases involving 115 arrests in Kermanshah, 53 in Fars, and 36 in Gilan, Iran’s northern province.
The expedited trials and executions of those accused of colluding with Israel “show how the Iranian authorities use the death penalty to assert control and instill fear in the Iranian people,” according to Amnesty International’s statement last week.
The global rights organization opposing execution noted that those already on death row are more likely to be executed, adding that trials for these suspects are frequently “grossly unfair.”
online dissention
Iranian authorities are also attempting to stop any online activity that might be seen as favoring Israel and the US, including any support for Iran’s military strikes.
Some Iranians who are online reported receiving a similar text message from the judiciary’s crime prevention department, informing them that using or accessing any online accounts connected to Israel is a crime that is punishable by law.
You are advised to delete your supportive comments and likes and immediately leave those pages if your number is connected to the pages of the Zionist regime, the message reads.
And after Israel’s use of explosive quadcopters and other small drones to attack Iranian targets inside the nation, regulations for those aircraft are expected to be stricter as well.
The parliament approved the outlines of a plan to punish those who own unlicensed drones, according to a report from the state-linked Fars news agency on Wednesday.
Iranian authorities claim that the Iranian government acted in a way that opened the door for US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities. Lawmakers also overwhelmingly approved a plan to suspend cooperation with the IAEA.
After the vote, the parliament members retorted and warned, “death to America” and “death to Israel,” and Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the country’s former military commander, promised to advance its nuclear program more forcefully and quickly than before.
If the Supreme National Security Council of Iran chooses to secede from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), members of parliament have also expressed their support.
Iranian nuclear facilities were discovered deep in the mountains on Sunday, which angered US President Donald Trump, who insisted that the sites be removed.
Source: Aljazeera
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