JEDDAH: Iranian security chiefs on Tuesday deployed tanks, a warplane and busloads of special forces to the city of Sanandaj in Kurdistan province, as more than three weeks of protests showed no sign of abating.
Kurdistan is the home province of Mahsa Amini, 22, whose death in morality police custody sparked the nationwide wave of demonstrations. More than 200 people have been killed in Iran’s brutal response to the protests.
Protests have been especially intense in Sanandaj, where rights groups fear heavy casualties and accuse authorities of resorting to shelling neighborhoods.
The Norway-based Hengaw rights group said an Iranian warplane had arrived at the airport in Sanandaj, and buses carrying special forces were on their way to the city.
Amnesty International said it was “alarmed by the crackdown on protests in Sanandaj amid reports of security forces using firearms and firing tear gas indiscriminately, including into people’s homes.”
The Center for Human Rights in Iran said there was a risk of a similar situation in Sistan-Baluchistan province in the southeast, where activists say more than 90 people have been killed since Sept. 30.
“The ruthless killings of civilians by security forces in Kurdistan province, on the heels of the massacre in Sistan-Baluchistan province, are likely preludes to severe state violence to come,” said its director Hadi Ghaemi.
Among those arrested in the security crackdown was the daughter of Iran’s former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. Faezeh Hashemi, 59, a former member of parliament and a women’s rights activist, was detained in Tehran on Sept. 27 for inciting residents to take part in demonstrations. Judicial authorities said she had been charged with “collusion, disruption of public order, and propaganda against the Islamic republic.”
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Iran sends tanks, warplane to restive Kurdistan
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Iran sends tanks, warplane to restive Kurdistan
US State Dept approves ‘emergency’ weapons sale to Israel
- Requested sale of 1,000-pound (450-kilogram) bomb casings, worth an estimated $151.8 million
- Major US defense companies have agreed to quadruple production of advanced weapons
WASHINGTON: The US State Department approved the “emergency” sale of 12,000 bomb casings to Israel on Friday as the countries engage Iran in an escalating Middle East war.
The requested sale of 1,000-pound (450-kilogram) bomb casings, worth an estimated $151.8 million, was approved by the State Department’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, according to a press release.
“The proposed sale will improve Israel’s capability to meet current and future threats, strengthen its homeland defense, and serve as a deterrent to regional threats,” the bureau said in a statement.
In addition to the munitions, the sale will include US government and contract engineering, logistics and technical support services, according to the release.
Major US defense companies have agreed to quadruple production of advanced weapons, President Donald Trump said in a social media post Friday, a week after the US and Israel first launched strikes on Iran.
While US arms sales typically require approval by Congress, Secretary of State Marco Rubio has issued a waiver bypassing the approval, to the consternation of some elected officials.
“The Secretary of State has determined and provided detailed justification that an emergency exists that requires the immediate sale to the Government of Israel of the above defense articles and defense services is in the national security interests of the United States,” the State Department said, citing the Arms Export Control Act.
Congressman Gregory Meeks, a Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said bypassing congressional review of the arms sale “exposes a stark contradiction at the heart of this administration’s case for war.”
“The Trump administration has repeatedly insisted it was fully prepared for this war,” Meeks said in a statement. “Rushing to invoke emergency authority to circumvent Congress tells a different story.”
“This is an emergency of the Trump administration’s own creation.”
The requested sale of 1,000-pound (450-kilogram) bomb casings, worth an estimated $151.8 million, was approved by the State Department’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, according to a press release.
“The proposed sale will improve Israel’s capability to meet current and future threats, strengthen its homeland defense, and serve as a deterrent to regional threats,” the bureau said in a statement.
In addition to the munitions, the sale will include US government and contract engineering, logistics and technical support services, according to the release.
Major US defense companies have agreed to quadruple production of advanced weapons, President Donald Trump said in a social media post Friday, a week after the US and Israel first launched strikes on Iran.
While US arms sales typically require approval by Congress, Secretary of State Marco Rubio has issued a waiver bypassing the approval, to the consternation of some elected officials.
“The Secretary of State has determined and provided detailed justification that an emergency exists that requires the immediate sale to the Government of Israel of the above defense articles and defense services is in the national security interests of the United States,” the State Department said, citing the Arms Export Control Act.
Congressman Gregory Meeks, a Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said bypassing congressional review of the arms sale “exposes a stark contradiction at the heart of this administration’s case for war.”
“The Trump administration has repeatedly insisted it was fully prepared for this war,” Meeks said in a statement. “Rushing to invoke emergency authority to circumvent Congress tells a different story.”
“This is an emergency of the Trump administration’s own creation.”
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