{"id":8638,"date":"2026-02-09T05:14:05","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T11:14:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coatesn\/?p=8638"},"modified":"2026-02-13T16:08:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T22:08:08","slug":"8638","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coatesn\/2026\/02\/09\/8638\/","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cIran arrests leading reformists close to president amid crackdown on protest critics,\u201d<\/a> i24, 2-9-26.\u00a0\u00a0Azar Mansouri, Ebrahim Asgharzadeh, Mohsen Aminzadeh, and others are ordered to turn themselves in at police stations.\u00a0 \u201cIranian prosecutors accused those arrested of \u201ctargeting national unity, taking a stance against the constitution, promoting surrender, perverting political groups, and creating secret subversive mechanisms.\u201d Judiciary head Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei added that critics within Iran were acting in agreement with \u201cthe Zionist regime and America\u201d and warned they would \u201csuffer losses.\u201d\u00a0 The arrests appear aimed at preventing the spread of criticism over the handling of the protests, which followed reports of thousands killed. \u2026 These detentions come amid a wider crackdown on human rights defenders. \u2026 Human rights groups have condemned the crackdown as part of a broader effort by Tehran to silence dissent and suppress accountability for the violent response to nationwide demonstrations, highlighting ongoing concerns over political freedoms in Iran.\u201d\u00a0 Further proof that the Regime will not reform.\u00a0 The people are left with only one choice.<\/p>\n

“This is the largest mass killing in contemporary Iranian history and one of the largest in the world,” Payam Akhavan, an Iranian Canadian former UN prosecutor at the International Criminal Court, in The Hague, told BBC News Persian.\u00a0 See \u201cMachine guns to machetes: Weapons that massacred thousands in Iran,\u201d<\/a> BBC, 2-9-26.<\/p>\n

\u201cIran Detains Prominent Political Figures, Expanding Crackdown on Dissent,\u201d<\/a> NYT, 2-9-26.<\/p>\n

\u201cIran defies US threats to insist on right to enrich uranium,\u201d<\/a> CAN, 2-9-26.<\/p>\n

So true.\u00a0 \u201cIran\u2019s persistent claims that these weapons are purely for defense or deterrence are contradicted by its use of them against Iraqi Kurdistan in particular. In reality, it\u2019s hard to think of any other country that relies so heavily on ballistic missiles in lieu of other, more conventional military capabilities and has shown such a willingness to use them at the slightest provocation.\u201d\u00a0 See \u201cIran\u2019s Ballistic Missiles Were Never Wholly For Defense Or Deterrence,\u201d<\/a> Forbes, 2-9-26.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cIran arrests leading reformists close to president amid crackdown on protest critics,\u201d i24, 2-9-26.\u00a0\u00a0Azar Mansouri, Ebrahim Asgharzadeh, Mohsen Aminzadeh, and others are ordered to turn themselves in at police stations.\u00a0 \u201cIranian prosecutors accused those arrested of \u201ctargeting national unity, taking a stance against the constitution, promoting surrender, perverting political groups, and creating secret subversive mechanisms.\u201d … <\/p>\n

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