Middle East Expert Sees Rising Discontent, Fear Of Harsher Repression In Iran
Ruslan Suleymanov, a Middle East expert at the NEST Center who recently visited Iran amid US and Israeli air strikes, told Current Time he had observed a wide range of attitudes among the Iranian people and that there are currently both supporters and opponents of the regime.
"The opponents are in the majority. But even the opponents of the regime don't fully understand where this war is heading," he told Current Time on April 2. "Although I have met some people who still support the air strikes -- specifically, strikes on military targets and the targeting of leaders -- overall, of course, there is discontent over the fact that strikes are also hitting schools and hospitals," Suleymanov said.
He warned that postwar repressions, such as the mass arrests and death sentences that followed last year's 12-day war, is likely to intensify.
"Security forces, police, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) -- they are literally everywhere," he said, describing the situation on the streets of Iran. He said that in the past month, several people had already been executed on suspicion of betraying their country and working for Israel, arguing that the war in Iran "has led to the replacement of a harsh regime with an even harsher one."
Suleymanov suggested that the Iranian regime anticipates a US ground operation, expecting it to turn into a kind of war that could become a people's war, which would play into the hands of the authorities in Tehran.
Fifth Protester From January Unrest In Iran Executed This Week
Amirhossein Hatami, an 18-year-old arrested while participating in January protests suppressed by a deadly government crackdown, has been executed, according to Mizan, the judiciary's news outlet.
Mizan said the execution took place on April 2 after his appeal was rejected and the Supreme Court upheld his sentence for entering a restricted military site in Tehran.
Hatami reportedly confessed during interrogation.
Hatami is the fifth protester to be executed in the past three days. He was among 11 men referred to by rights group Amnesty International as being at imminent risk of execution and who had been "subjected to torture and other ill-treatment in detention, before being convicted in grossly unfair trials that relied on forced confessions."
The executions show that despite US and Israeli strikes wiping out much of Iran's leadership and degrading its military-industrial capacities, there are no visible signs that the clerical authorities are losing control.
US Senators Reaffirm Support For NATO Amid Trump Withdrawal Threats
Two senior US senators, Democrat Chris Coons and Republican Mitch McConnell, the former Senate majority leader, have reaffirmed their support for NATO amid President Donald Trump's threats to withdraw from the military alliance for what he considers its lack of support for US objectives in Iran.
"NATO is the most successful military alliance in history. It has underpinned the security of the United States for more than 70 years," the two wrote in a joint statement released on April 1.
"Americans are safer when NATO is strong and united. It is in our interest for all allies to tend this unity with care," they added.
While Trump has threatened to unilaterally withdraw the United States from NATO, any formal move would require the approval of two-thirds of the Senate. He and other US officials have repeatedly questioned the value of the alliance if the United States cannot freely use bases in allied countries to defend its own interests.
Health Of Iranian Nobel Laureate Mohammadi Deteriorating in Prison, Husband Says
The health of Iranian Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi has significantly deteriorated in prison, according to her husband, Taghi Rahmani.
Rahmani spoke with RFE/RL's Radio Farda by telephone on April 1 from Paris, where he is based.
Rahmani said Mohammadi requires specialized medical care in a hospital outside of Zanjan Prison, where she is currently being held, but authorities have refused to release her. He said she suffers from pulmonary and cardiac issues and is experiencing severe headaches accompanied by nausea, double vision, and reduced vision in both eyes.
On March 31, the Free Narges Coalition expressed grave concern regarding the activist's well-being and the denial of independent medical care, based on recent reports received from Iran. The coalition said that Mohammadi’s legal team, accompanied by one family member, visited her in Zanjan on March 29.
This came after weeks of requests by her team, made even more difficult by the Iranian government virtually shutting down all forms of communication amid US and Israeli air strikes on the country.
According to the report, Mohammadi's overall health is extremely poor, and she appeared pale and weak with significant weight loss when brought to the visitation room by a prison nurse. Rahmani told Farda his wife has been in poor health since her arrest in Mashhad in December 2025, during which he said she was beaten by security forces.
He said bruises were visible on her body for a long time due to the violence she was subjected to during her arrest.
Separately, Amnesty International quoted an informed source as having said on March 24 that Mohammadi was found unconscious in Zanjan with cold limbs, numbness, and her eyes rolled back. The prison doctor said she likely had a heart attack, but officials still refused to transfer her to a hospital. The London-based rights group called for the immediate and unconditional release of Mohammadi in order for her to receive urgent medical care.
Prisoners In Iran At Risk From Air Strikes, Abuse, HRW Warns
In a new report, Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the Kurdistan Human Rights Network warn that thousands of detainees in Iran, including political prisoners and children, face serious risks from both military strikes and abuses by authorities, such as mass, arbitrary, and secret executions.
"Prisoners, including thousands of arbitrarily detained people in Iran, are facing dual threats, violence at the hands of authorities who have a track record of prison massacres and US and Israeli bombs," said HRW Senior Researcher Bahar Saba.
Despite calls for releasing prisoners, the Iranian authorities continue mass arrests and executions of real or perceived dissidents, the rights groups said.
The report says many detainees are held in secret, unofficial detention facilities and are subjected to enforced disappearances, torture, and unfair trials.
"Unable to seek safety, detainees, many of whom never should have been detained in the first place, are facing human rights violations, serious injury, and death," Saba said.
US-Israeli air strikes near prisons in Iran, including Evin Prison -- a notorious detention facility in Tehran where dissidents and political prisoners are held -- have put detainees at serious risk of injury and death, the rights group said.
The report also notes that the situation in prisons across the country has been deteriorating. Prisoners are facing shortages of food and clean water, and have limited access to basic necessities, medication, medical care, and visiting rights, the document said.
US Government Urges Americans In Iraq To Leave, Citing Threats
The US government has issued a warning to its citizens in Iraq, saying that "Iraqi terrorist militia groups aligned with Iran may intend to conduct attacks in central Baghdad in the next 24-48 hours."
"Iran and Iran-aligned terrorist militias have conducted widespread attacks against US citizens and targets associated with the United States throughout Iraq, including in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region," said the security alert, posted on X on April 2. "They may intend to target US citizens, businesses, universities, diplomatic facilities, energy infrastructure, hotels, airports, and other locations perceived to be associated with the United States, as well as Iraqi institutions and civilian targets."
The alert urged US citizens to leave the country, saying overland routes to Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey remain open, and that travelers should "expect long delays."
Air Strikes Reported Across Iran
Explosions, casualties, and the activation of air defenses were reported in various parts of Iran late on April 1 and early on April 2 following US and Israeli air strikes.
In Tehran, local media said air defenses were activated against "hostile targets." There were reports of explosions and power outages in parts of the capital.
The Iranian Red Crescent Society announced that in the past 24 hours locations in and around Tehran were targeted by strikes.
The cities of Isfahan, Shahreza, Kashan, Aran and Bidgol, and Najafabad were also reportedly targeted.
The Israeli military announced on the evening of April 1 that its air force had carried out more than 400 attacks on Iranian military infrastructure over the past two days, using about 650 munitions.
According to the military, dozens of targets in Tehran were struck during these attacks, including about 15 weapons production sites as well as parts of the Iranian Defense Ministry.
UAE Says Battling Air Threats
The Defense Ministry of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) announced that the country's air defenses were countering missile and drone "threats" on April 2.
"The UAE's air defenses...are actively engaging in missile and drone threats," the ministry wrote in a message on social media, without giving details about the origin of the missiles.
Since the start of the US-Israeli war with Iran on February 28, the UAE and other Gulf states have been repeatedly targeted by Iranian missile and drone attacks in retaliation.
In a televised address to the American public about the war on April 1, US President Donald Trump declared that the United States would not allow Gulf Arab allies and Israel to be "hurt or defeated" by a war with Iran.
Israel Reports Two Waves Of Iranian Missile Attacks, Several Injured In Tel Aviv
The Israeli Army announced early on April 2 that the country's air-defense systems had responded to two waves of missile attacks from Iran.
According to Israeli media, the first wave of attacks hit several locations in the center of the country, with at least four people in the Tel Aviv area receiving minor injuries. The police also reported the presence of forces at several locations, with some reports putting the number of locations at up to nine.
Local media also attributed the scattered damage to the use of cluster munitions, which Iran and Israel have previously accused each other of using.
Less than two hours later, the Israeli military reported a second wave of rockets, setting off sirens across large parts of northern and central Israel, but there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.
Trump: US Will Send Iran 'Back To The Stone Ages'
US President Donald Trump on April 1 hailed American forces' "swift, decisive, overwhelming victories" in Iran and said his administration's strategic objectives are "nearing completion," vowing that the military operation will be completed "very shortly."
Still, he signaled no immediate letup of in military action, saying US forces will hit Iran "extremely hard" for the next two to three weeks and that "we are going to bring them back to the Stone Ages, where they belong."
Speaking in a nationally televised address, Trump did not provide a clear exit date for the end of the conflict, which began when the United States and Israel launched air strikes against Iran on February 28. Tehran has retaliated by closing the Strait of Hormuz and firing missiles and drones at Israel and US Gulf Arab allies.
"Tonight, I'm pleased to say that these core strategic objectives are nearing completion," Trump said in nationally televised address from the White House on April 1, his first prime-time address since the start of the conflict on February 28.
"In these past four weeks, our armed forces have delivered swift, decisive, overwhelming victories on the battlefield -- victories like few people have ever seen before," he said.
"They didn't know what was coming," Trump said, referring to Iran.
Critics have charged that the war is spinning out of control, spilling over throughout the Middle East and causing an energy crisis that is driving up prices worldwide.
Trump defended his actions and said it was the only way to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, which he insisted would have happened had he not pulled the United States out of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), that was agreed with world powers.
The JCPOA provided Iran with relief from sanctions in return for curbs on its nuclear program. Tehran insists that its nuclear program is strictly for civilian purposes.
Trump pulled the United States out of the accord in 2018 during his first term, saying it wasn't strong enough to prevent Tehran from getting a nuclear weapon
Trump said that if Tehran did not agree to a peace deal, the United States would hit all of Iran's electric generating plants.
"We going to finish the job and we are going to finish it fast," he said.
He said the United States does not need the Strait of Hormuz, the crucial waterway through which 20 percent of the world's oil and natural gas supplies pass.
He said that countries that do rely on the passage for their supplies should "build up some delayed courage" and open the strait, which has been effectively closed by Iran.
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