TEHRAN: Iran’s health ministry said Monday a total of 84 people have died and nearly 1,000 been poisoned from consuming bootleg alcohol over the past six weeks, ISNA news agency reported.
Despite tough penalties against alcohol consumption since the Islamic revolution of 1979, the use of smuggled or bootleg liquor remains widespread.
Multiple cases of poisoning by a deadly batch of moonshine were first reported in late September and have spread across the country.
Iraj Harirchi, spokesman for the health ministry, said 959 people had been treated for poisoning, describing the wave of cases as “very unusual,” according to the semi-official agency ISNA.
As well as 84 deaths, 305 have been treated for kidney damage and 27 suffered eye damage, he added.
Harirchi said the main cause was the use of toxic methanol in place of the ethanol found in properly distilled spirits.
“Some have been arrested in this regard and people should know that even alcohol packed and sealed in foreign packages can easily be fake,” Harirchi said.
The most poisoning cases were reported in Alborz province north of Tehran and Hormozgan on the south coast.
Only members of state-recognized religious minorities have the right to produce or purchase alcoholic drinks in Iran.
Those who break Iran’s alcohol laws can be fined, lashed or jailed, but bootleg liquor is widely available through illegal dealers.
Death toll in Iran alcohol poisoning jumps to 84
Death toll in Iran alcohol poisoning jumps to 84
- As well as 84 deaths, 305 have been treated for kidney damage and 27 suffered eye damage
- The use of smuggled or bootleg liquor remains widespread despite tough penalties against its consumption
Trump administration labels 3 Muslim Brotherhood branches as terrorist organizations
- The State Department designated the Lebanese branch a foreign terrorist organization
- “These designations reflect the opening actions of an ongoing, sustained effort to thwart Muslim Brotherhood chapters’ violence,” Rubio said
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump’s administration has made good on its pledge to label three Middle Eastern branches of the Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist organizations, imposing sanctions on them and their members in a decision that could have implications for US relationships with allies Qatar and Turkiye.
The Treasury and State departments announced the actions Tuesday against the Lebanese, Jordanian and Egyptian chapters of the Muslim Brotherhood, which they said pose a risk to the United States and American interests.
The State Department designated the Lebanese branch a foreign terrorist organization, the most severe of the labels, which makes it a criminal offense to provide material support to the group. The Jordanian and Egyptian branches were listed by Treasury as specially designated global terrorists for providing support to Hamas.
“These designations reflect the opening actions of an ongoing, sustained effort to thwart Muslim Brotherhood chapters’ violence and destabilization wherever it occurs,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement. “The United States will use all available tools to deprive these Muslim Brotherhood chapters of the resources to engage in or support terrorism.”
Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent were mandated last year under an executive order signed by Trump to determine the most appropriate way to impose sanctions on the groups, which US officials say engage in or support violence and destabilization campaigns that harm the United States and other regions.
Muslim Brotherhood leaders have said they renounce violence.
Trump’s executive order had singled out the chapters in Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt, noting that a wing of the Lebanese chapter had launched rockets on Israel after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack in Israel that set off the war in Gaza. Leaders of the group in Jordan have provided support to Hamas, the order said.
The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in Egypt in 1928 but was banned in that country in 2013. Jordan announced a sweeping ban on the Muslim Brotherhood in April.
Nathan Brown, a professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University, said some allies of the US, including the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, would likely be pleased with the designation.
“For other governments where the brotherhood is tolerated, it would be a thorn in bilateral relations,” including in Qatar and Turkiye, he said.
Brown also said a designation on the chapters may have effects on visa and asylum claims for people entering not just the US but also Western European countries and Canada.
“I think this would give immigration officials a stronger basis for suspicion, and it might make courts less likely to question any kind of official action against Brotherhood members who are seeking to stay in this country, seeking political asylum,” he said.
Trump, a Republican, weighed whether to designate the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization in 2019 during his first term in office. Some prominent Trump supporters, including right-wing influencer Laura Loomer, have pushed his administration to take aggressive action against the group.
Two Republican-led state governments — Florida and Texas — designated the group as a terrorist organization this year.
