Iran: Continued nationwide truck drivers’ strike for the tenth day despite repressive measures
On Thursday, May 31, the nationwide strike of heavy vehicles and truck drivers continued for the tenth consecutive day. In some cities, such as Sanandaj (Kurdistan province), taxi drivers also went on strike in solidarity with the heavy vehicles drivers. Truckers’ strike continues while in the past two days the clerical regime agents tried to break the strike by resorting to repressive measures.
May 31
Mashhad, NE #Iran
Truckers continuing their nationwide strike for the 10th consecutive day.#IranProtests pic.twitter.com/esiIbmraet— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) May 31, 2018
May 30
Mobarakeh, central #Iran
Truckers continuing their nationwide strike for the 10th consecutive day.#IranProtests pic.twitter.com/45j17aJXcn— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) May 31, 2018
May 31
Bukan, NW #Iran
Taxi drivers on strike & supporting the truckers' nationwide protests.#IranProtests pic.twitter.com/1Bioco5kPK— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) May 31, 2018
May 31
Tehran-Saveh highway, #Iran
No sign of any trucks as drivers continue their nationwide strike for the 10th consecutive day.#IranProtests pic.twitter.com/bn9riV2DdR— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) May 31, 2018
May 31
Zanjan, NW #Iran
Truckers continuing their nationwide strike for the 10th consecutive day.#IranProtests pic.twitter.com/1rPeHk6rGD— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) May 31, 2018
US slaps new sanctions against Iran crackdown officials, entities
The U.S. Treasury Department has levelled new sanctions today targeting Iranian regime individuals, entities and senior officials involved in human rights violations, censorship and enhanced monitoring by its vast crackdown apparatus.
Six officials and three state entities are now blacklisted, including Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison where tens of thousands of political prisoners have been executed through the past four decades, including 30,000 members and sympathizers of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) in a span of a few months in the summer of 1988 in which a majority of them were executed in the Evin Prison.
1-Abdulali Ali-Asgari, an Iranian media executive who is the current director-general of Iran’s IRIB.
https://twitter.com/HeshmatAlavi/status/1001862389464207360
2- Hossein Allahkaram is an ultraconservative figure and former military officer. He is head of the coordination council of #Iran’s Ansar-e Hezbollah, an entity dispatched to crackdown anti-regime protests.
https://twitter.com/HeshmatAlavi/status/1001862391922135040
3- Abolhassan Firouzabadi, Secretary of Iran‘s Supreme Council of Cyberspace
https://twitter.com/HeshmatAlavi/status/1001862394459631621
4- Abdolsamad Khoramabadi, Chair of Iran’s Commission to Determine the Instances of Criminal Content
https://twitter.com/HeshmatAlavi/status/1001862399723524097
5- Abdolhamid Mohtasham, head of Iran’s Ansar-e Hezbollah
https://twitter.com/HeshmatAlavi/status/1001862401938124801
6- Hamid Ostad, senior member of Iran’s Ansar-e Hezbollah
https://twitter.com/HeshmatAlavi/status/1001862404504981506
7- Iran’s Ansar-e Hezbollah, a repressive plainclothes entity dispatched to quell anti-regime protests.
https://twitter.com/HeshmatAlavi/status/1001862406874849281
8- Evin Prison – A notorious jail used by Iran’s regime to mainly detain political prisoners and a site where thousands of dissidents have been executed.
https://twitter.com/HeshmatAlavi/status/1001862409236238337
The Trump Administration Should Support Iranian Protestors
The Way Forward
Now is time for the Trump administration to break with the past and move things in a new direction. The accelerating situation in Iran marks an opportunity to change the Iranian regime from within. The Iranian people, time and again, have taken to the streets to make their revolution happen. They need, at a minimum, the moral support of the West.
