Terror raid arrests 'linked to ongoing campaign against Iranian dissidents'
Eight men, seven of which have been identified as Iranian nationals, were arrested after a series of raids were carried out by counter terrorism police, beleived to have been aided by special forces
It is believed the arrests made after a string of counter terrorism raids were all related to an ongoing terror campaign against Iranian dissidents.
The target or targets are thought to be people and possibly organisations who have spoken out against the Iranian regime, including an Iran-linked media outlet. It is also believed UK special forces were involved in the raids acting as liaison between their secretive Hereford-base and counter terror police. MI5 chief Ken McCallum last year revealed his intelligence agency and police have since 2022 smashed 20 Iran-backed terror plots against UK- based dissidents who are against the Tehran regime.
His counter terror officers are working round-the -clock to stop attacks from Islamic State and plots launched by Russia. But in recent years Tehran has hugely increased its campaign to quieten Iranians living abroad and who are outspoken campaigners against it.
The Mirror understands these arrests relate to investigations into a threat or threats which had reached a late stage. SuAnd it is also believed other investigations into similar alleged threats are ongoing, possibly running into double figures.
Eight men, including seven Iranian nationals, were arrested in raids by counter terror cops after two separate investigations, it was confirmed today. Five raids were held at various locations around England as part of a "pre-planned" probe into a plot to target "specific premises", the Metropolitan Police said.
The Met's Counter Terrorism Command (CTC) led the operation. It did not give details of the targeted premises but said those affected had been 'made aware' of the arrests. Four of those held, two aged 29, one aged 40 and another aged 46, are Iranian nationals. Police said the nationality and age of the fifth was still being established.
Three other men, all Iranian, were arrested in London on Saturday under national security legislation as part of a separate investigation by the CTC. The two operations were not connected. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper thanked police and security services for the action to "keep our country safe".
All of the five were arrested on suspicion of preparation of an act of terrorism. They were detained in Swindon, west London, Stockport, as well as Rochdale and Manchester, and remain in police custody.
One witness to the Rochdale raid, which was captured on video, said the suspect 'was dragged out in his underpants.' He said: 'I saw all the black cars that came down. They all jumped out with guns. One of them said 'get back in your house' and I thought 'okay I'm going to do what I've been told'."
He added that there "must have been about 30" officers involved in the raid, describing the moment a "massive, loud explosion" was heard. He went on to say: "I then heard someone shouting 'get down on your knees.'
"Then they dragged someone out from round the back to the front. I didn't see his face but he was in his underpants and he had his hands tied behind his back. And that was it. It was over really quickly."
Commander Dominic Murphy, head of CTC, said: "The investigation is still in its early stages. We are exploring various lines of enquiry to establish any potential motivation as well as to identify whether there may be any further risk to the public linked to this matter. We understand the public may be concerned and as always, I would ask them to remain vigilant and if they see or hear anything that concerns them, then to contact us."
His officers have responsibility for leading counter terrorism-related probes including investigations into espionage and state threats. In the operation in which five men were arrested, four were detained under the Terrorism Act. The fifth man was arrested under the Police and Criminal Evidence (Pace) Act.
A Met Police spokesperson said of the five arrests: "All were arrested on suspicion of preparation of a terrorist act, contrary to section 5 of the Terrorism Act (TACT), 2006. Four men are Iranian nationals and were detained under TACT. The nationality of the fifth man is still being established and he was detained under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE).
"All five men currently remain in police custody. As part of the investigation, officers are also carrying out searches at a number of addresses in the Greater Manchester, London and Swindon areas in connection with this investigation. The investigation relates to a suspected plot to target a specific premises.
"Officers have been in contact with the affected site to make them aware and provide relevant advice and support, but for operational reasons, we are not able to provide further information at this time."
The raids involved the CTC, Greater Manchester and Wiltshire Police, as well as counter-terrorism officers from across the country. In the separate operation, the Met said three men - aged 39, 44 and 55 - were arrested under the National Security Act at three separate addresses in north-west London and west London, and had been taken into custody while searches continued.
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The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
Looted from Syria, sold on Facebook: antiquities smuggling surges after fall of Assad
They come by night. Armed with pickaxes, shovels and jackhammers, looters disturb the dead. Under the cover of darkness, men exhume graves buried more than 2,000 years ago in Syria's ancient city of Palmyra, searching for treasure. By day, the destruction caused by grave robbers is apparent. Three-metre-deep holes mar the landscape of Palmyra, where ancient burial crypts lure people with the promise of funerary gold and ancient artefacts that fetch thousands of dollars. 'These different layers are important, when people mix them together, it will be impossible for archaeologists to understand what they're looking at,' said Mohammed al-Fares, a resident of Palmyra and an activist with the NGO Heritage for Peace, as he stood in the remains of an ancient crypt exhumed by looters. He picked up a shattered piece of pottery that tomb raiders had left behind and placed it next to the rusted tailfin of a mortar bomb. Palmyra, which dates back to the third century BC, suffered heavy damage during the period of Islamic State control, when militants blew up parts of the ancient site in 2015, deeming its ruins apostate idols. Palmyra is not the only ancient site under threat. Experts and officials say the looting and trafficking of Syria's antiquities has surged to unprecedented levels since rebels overthrew the former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad in December, putting the country's heritage further at risk. According to the Antiquities Trafficking and Heritage Anthropology Research Project (ATHAR), which investigates antiquities black markets online, nearly a third of the 1,500 Syrian cases it has documented since 2012 have occurred since December alone. 'When the [Assad] regime fell, we saw a huge spike on the ground. It was a complete breakdown of any constraints that might have existed in the regime periods that controlled looting,' said Amr al-Azm, a professor of Middle East history and anthropology at Shawnee State University in Ohio and co-director of the ATHAR project. The collapse of Syria's once-feared security apparatus, coupled with widespread poverty, has triggered a gold rush. Located in the heart of the fertile crescent where settled civilisation first emerged, Syria is awash with mosaics, statues and artefacts that fetch top dollar from collectors in the west. In one post on Facebook in December, a user offered a pile of ancient coins for sale. 'I have been holding them for 15 years, Free Syria,' the user wrote. Katie Paul, a co-director of the ATHAR project and the director of Tech Transparency Project, said: 'The last three to four months has been the biggest flood of antiquities trafficking I have ever seen, from any country, ever.' Paul, along with Azm, tracks the route of trafficked Middle Eastern antiquities online and has created a database of more than 26,000 screenshots, videos and pictures documenting trafficked antiquities dating back to 2012. 'This is the fastest we've ever seen artefacts being sold. Before for example, a mosaic being sold out of Raqqa took a year. Now, mosaics are being sold in two weeks,' said Paul. Syria's new government has urged looters to stop, offering finder's fees to those who turn in antiquities rather than sell them, and threatening offenders with up to 15 years in prison. But preoccupied with rebuilding a shattered country and struggling to assert control, Damascus has few resources to protect its archaeological heritage. Much of the looting is being carried out by individuals desperate for cash, hoping to find ancient coins or antiquities they can sell quickly. In Damascus, shops selling metal detectors have proliferated while ads on social media show users discovering hidden treasure with models such as the XTREM Hunter, which retails for just over $2,000 (£1,470). Others operate as part of sophisticated criminal networks. A local archaeological watchdog in the city of Salamiya, central Syria, filmed a video while walking through the bronze age-era settlement of Tall Shaykh Ali, where uniform 5-metre-deep holes dug by heavy machinery pockmarked the ground every few steps. 'They are doing this day and night. I am scared for my safety, so I don't approach them,' said a researcher with the watchdog in Salamiya, speaking anonymously for fear of reprisal from criminal looting networks. Other cases show entire mosaics removed intact from sites, the work of experienced professionals. Once out of the ground, antiquities make their way online. Experts say Facebook has emerged as a key hub for the sale of stolen antiquities, with public and private groups offering everything from ancient coins, entire mosaics and heavy stone busts to the highest bidder. The ATHAR project provided the Guardian with dozens of screenshots and videos of Syrian antiquities, including mosaics and Palmyran busts, being sold on Facebook groups. A single Facebook search of 'antiquities for sale Syria' in Arabic yielded more than a dozen Facebook groups dedicated to the trading of cultural artefacts, many of them public. In a March video from a Facebook group, a man with a Syrian accent displays a mosaic depicting Zeus on a throne, using his mobile phone for scale. The mosaic is still in the ground in the video, but later surfaces in another photo, removed from the site. 'This is just one of the four mosaics we have,' the man brags. In other groups, looters have gone on Facebook Live from archaeological sites, asking users for advice where they should dig next and drumming up excitement from potential buyers who tune in. In 2020, Facebook banned the sale of historical antiquities on its platform and said it would remove any related content. However, according to Paul, the policy is rarely enforced despite continued sales on the platform being well documented. 'Trafficking of cultural property during conflict is a crime, here you have Facebook acting as a vehicle for the crime. Facebook knows this is an issue,' said Paul. She added that she was tracking dozens of antiquities trading groups on Facebook that have more than 100,000 members, the largest of which has approximately 900,000 members. A representative from Meta, the parent company of Facebook, declined to respond to the Guardian's request for a comment. The Facebook groups are used as a gateway for traffickers, connecting low-level looters in Syria to criminal networks that smuggle the artefacts out of the country into neighbouring Jordan and Turkey. From there, the pieces are shipped around the world to create fake bills of sale and provenance so they can be laundered into the grey market of antiquities. After 10 to 15 years they make their way into legal auction houses, where collectors and museums, primarily located in the US and Europe, snap them up. With 90% of Syria's population living in poverty, stopping desperate individuals from looting is a gargantuan task. Instead, experts have said that the responsibility for regulation should fall on the west, which is the primary buyer of the Middle East's cultural antiquities. 'How do we stop this? Stop the demand in the west,' Azm said. 'Until the security issue improves, you won't see an improvement. We focus on the supply side to abrogate the responsibility of the west.' In Palmyra, Fares is still coming to terms with how much his home town has changed since returning in December after years of displacement. Broken stones lie at the feet of the Roman-era Arch of Triumph and the carved faces of sarcophagi in the Tomb of the Three Brothers have been gouged out – all a product of IS iconoclasm. At night, he and other residents stand guard in the ancient city, determined not to let looters steal what remains of a place already plundered by 15 years of war.
Scottish Sun
2 hours ago
- Scottish Sun
Iran's barbaric brutality is spiralling out of control – regime is powder keg with one way out, says resistance fighter
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) THERE is "no doubt" Iran would use a nuclear bomb on its enemies, a female activist has revealed. IT researcher Fereshteh, from Tehran, warned the "crisis-stricken regime" is clinging on to power by forcing its people to live in extreme poverty and ramping up executions. 15 People light a fire during a protest over the death of Mahsa Amini, a woman who died after being arrested Credit: Reuters 15 A woman shouts in desperation as she protests against the Iranian regime - in front of an NCRI flag Credit: AP 15 Iran's resistance units carry out activities such as destroying symbols of the regime Credit: YouTube/PMOI 15 The regime has been ramping up executions in a bid to control dissent, according to Fereshteh Credit: AFP Speaking to The Sun, Fereshteh, 35, revealed that she joined a resistance unit of the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran after the regime tortured and executed her beloved sister. Hundreds of resistance units have been set up all over the country - aimed at undermining the regime's authority. Members organise and lead protests, destroying statues and images of regime leaders and documenting human rights abuses. Fereshteh revealed the situation in Iran is a "powder-keg" and a "ticking time bomb" ready to explode as Iranians grow angrier than ever at repression, corruption and high prices. She says things are worse now than in September 2022 when the death of a Kurdish girl named Mahsa Amini triggered mass protests. Outraged citizens in more than 280 cities in 31 provinces of Iran took to the streets and brought the mullahs' regime to the brink of collapse. Fereshteh said: "There was the massacre of more than 750 innocent people by the State Security Forces, which were in fact street executions. "More than 30,000 arrests involved torture and heavy bails for release, sometimes rape. "And the abandonment of bodies in rivers or unfinished buildings, sometimes poisoning people with tainted juice or toxic serums in prisons, and the intentional failure to care for sick or tortured prisoners that led to their death, and many other crimes, the protests continued for months. "The outraged people had nothing more to lose. "After that, the regime tried hard to impose an atmosphere of repression by increasing executions and creating a suffocating environment." My dad has been sentenced to death in Iran on trumped-up charges and faces imminent execution - we must save him 15 Fareshteh joined a resistance unit to avenge her sister Credit: PMOI/MEK 15 There a resistance units like Fareshteh's all over Iran Credit: YouTube/PMOI 15 Protests in Iran in 2022 where demonstrators changed 'death to the dictator' in response to a building collapse Fareshteh said there was a 34 per cent increase in executions in 2023 - with 860 in one year. In 2024, there were at least 1,000 - and this year, new records are being set month by month. "Now the situation is worse than before," Fareshteh said. "Inflation is crippling, and while people's salaries and incomes have not changed much, the exchange rate has risen. "The Iranian people are almost four times poorer, and prices have increased by the same amount, most people's tables are getting smaller every year, and more are living below the poverty line." Fereshteh said the regime's brutality towards its own people has increased since the Syrian tyrant Bashar al-Assad was ousted by rebels last December. "This regime has no solution other than increasing executions at home, especially after the fall of the Syrian dictator and the successive blows to its proxy forces in the region," she said. The mullahs' regime tortured and executed my innocent sister, even burying her body themselves, creating lasting trauma for my family that I will never forget or forgive Fareshten, resistance unit member "Ali Khamenei, the regime's Supreme Leader, used to call Syria, its strategic depth, and he repeatedly said that if we don't fight in Syria and Iraq, we will have to face the enemy in Iran's major cities. "Now, the regime sees its only way out in trying harder to build nuclear weapons and acquire a bomb. "In the absence of any solution in the crisis-stricken mullah regime, the situation in Iran is like a powder keg. "And everyone, even the regime's leaders, constantly warn about the explosion of people's outrage from repression, corruption, and high prices. "The difference is that the people of Iran, especially the youth, know that the regime has never been in its current state of weakness." Fareshteh revealed how her activities for her resistance unit include painting political graffiti and encouraging others to stand against the regime. 15 Iranians protests the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini after she was detained by the morality police Credit: AP 15 Mahsa Amini, 22, died from beating by cops Credit: Newsflash She said she joined the unit to avenge her sister's death which she will neither "forget or forgive". Being a member of the resistance in Iran can carry a death sentence, but Fareshteh remains undeterred. She said: "I am the continuer and avenger of my beloved sister, who was the top student in her high school in mathematics and physics. "The mullahs' regime tortured and executed my innocent sister, even burying her body themselves, creating lasting trauma for my family that I will never forget or forgive. "I carry out activities involving posting pictures and doing graffiti, and I speak to and raise awareness among the people about the social responsibility that rests on all of us. "International support is very important. At one time, the regime's lobbies deceived foreign countries by pretending that everything was fine in Iran." 'Murderous regime' She added: "In the 2022 uprising, technology unveiled the countless crimes of the corrupt and murderous regime. "International solidarity will press Western governments to stop appeasing and dealing with this dictatorship." Fareshteh's comments comes after the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) presented shocking details about a covert nuclear weapons facility operated by the regime. Chilling satellite pictures released last month showed a secret nuclear site codenamed "Rainbow". It is believed the base is being used to develop nuclear missiles with a 2,000 mile (3,000km) range. 15 A 'morality police' van was reportedly set on fire in Tehran during protests in 2022 Credit: Newsflash 15 Hundreds took the streets over Mahsa's brutal death Credit: Twitter 15 Aerial pictures show a secret based believed to be developing nuclear weapons Credit: NCRI The NCRI say that Tehran is using oil and chemical facilities as a front to create terrifying nuclear weapons with the ability to strike US bases in the Middle East. Feresteh says the discovery of the base comes as no surprise as the regime's goal has always been to acquire an atomic bomb to "blackmail" the international community. "Repression at home and the export of terrorism and fomenting crisis have been one of the foundations of this regime's survival since its inception," she said. Now, the regime sees its only way out in trying harder to build nuclear weapons and acquire a bomb Fareshteh, resistance unit member "In the past two years, everyone has seen that the main obstacle to peace and security in the region has been the mullah regime. "After the fall of the Assad dictatorship... the only way out it sees is to increase executions at home and increase its activities to acquire an atomic bomb as a lever to continue blackmail the international community. "This regime has not stopped trying to acquire a bomb for even a day. "And the recent revelation... clearly exposes the regime's unreliability and deception in its pursuit of a bomb." Iran's secret nuke site 'Rainbow' Exclusive by Katie Davis, Chief Foreign Reporter (Digital) CHILLING satellite pictures reveal Iran's sprawling secret nuclear site codenamed "Rainbow". Sources in the country have uncovered how the base is being used to develop nuclear-capable missiles with a 2,000-mile range - able to strike US bases in the Middle East. Tehran's tyrannical regime is using oil and chemical facilities as a cover for nuclear bases, bombshell docs shared with The Sun by the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) reveal. Haunting aerial images expose a network of clandestine sites - including "Rainbow" - used by iron-fist leaders to create terrifying nuclear weapons. A powerful nuclear blast from Iran could have disastrous consequences for the Middle East - and beyond - thanks to the capability of the warheads. Now sources inside Iran have revealed the regime's nuclear weaponisation entity, Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research's (SPND) secret project to accelerate nuclear ability. Hidden under the guise of a chemical production facility, the crowning jewel of the operation is a base known internally as the 'Rangin Kaman (Rainbow) Site". It is some distance from Iran's already known nuke bases, and is masked as a chemical production company known as Diba Energy Siba. READ MORE HERE 'Fighting spirit' Fereshteh said that despite facing "unprecedented repression and executions" the regime has failed to contain protests and even executions are not intimidating the public as they once did. She told how the political prisoners at some of Iran's most notorious prisons have been on hunger strike every Tuesday for 68 weeks as a protest against the death penalty. "Every week, their statement, which is courageously smuggled out of prison and published, speaks of their fighting spirit and loyalty to their commitment to freedom and the rejection of the death penalty," Fereshteh said. "Imagine that they are trapped in the prisons of religious fascism, but despite all the pressure the regime exerts on them, these strikes have continued for 68 weeks. "The people's anger and hatred grow stronger each day. "During the uprisings, I witnessed young girls, and even elderly women remove their hijabs when passing by the oppressors, signaling their defiance. "The intensity of this anger has reached a point where the regime no longer dares to harass women for not wearing hijabs as aggressively as before." Call for support Fereshteh has now called on the governments of the US and UK to "stand with the Iranian people" to prevent the regime completing its nuclear programme. She said: "The British government must immediately activate the trigger mechanism to prevent the regime from having more time to complete its nuclear program. "Since this regime will under no circumstances abandon its efforts to produce a bomb, this again underscores the necessity for the West to stand with the main opposition to this regime and the people of Iran and to provide political support for their efforts to change the regime." 15 Ali Khamenei, supreme leader of Iran Credit: Shutterstock Editorial 15 She added: "Not a day passes without various segments of the population - retirees, workers, teachers, nurses, medical staff, students, and those whose wealth has been plundered by IRGC-affiliated gangs - taking to the streets to protest against the regime. "Moreover, the increasing demonstrations from farmers and factories and businesses facing ongoing water and power shortages illustrate that we are witnessing an explosive society. "Today, in Iran, there is no segment of society whose patience has not run out with this anti-people regime. "The regime has managed to maintain its grip on power solely through blatant repression and a daily increase in executions. "For decades, the people of Iran have watched with disbelief and pain the leniency and wrong policies of the West towards a regime that is the main cause of instability and warmongering in the region and terrorism globally. "No one here doubts that the ruling fascist regime must go, and the only way to end the crimes at home and the warmongering, terrorism, and support for terrorist forces abroad is to end this regime. "This is achievable. "Our expectation from the international community is to stand with the people and resistance of Iran."
The Sun
2 hours ago
- The Sun
Iran's barbaric brutality is spiralling out of control – regime is powder keg with one way out, says resistance fighter
THERE is "no doubt" Iran would use a nuclear bomb on its enemies, a female activist has revealed. IT researcher Fereshteh, from Tehran, warned the "crisis-stricken regime" is clinging on to power by forcing its people to live in extreme poverty and ramping up executions. 15 15 15 15 Speaking to The Sun, Fereshteh, 35, revealed that she joined a resistance unit of the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran after the regime tortured and executed her beloved sister. Hundreds of resistance units have been set up all over the country - aimed at undermining the regime's authority. Members organise and lead protests, destroying statues and images of regime leaders and documenting human rights abuses. Fereshteh revealed the situation in Iran is a "powder-keg" and a "ticking time bomb" ready to explode as Iranians grow angrier than ever at repression, corruption and high prices. She says things are worse now than in September 2022 when the death of a Kurdish girl named Mahsa Amini triggered mass protests. and brought the mullahs' regime to the brink of collapse. Fereshteh said: "There was the massacre of more than 750 innocent people by the State Security Forces, which were in fact street executions. "More than 30,000 arrests involved torture and heavy bails for release, sometimes rape. "And the abandonment of bodies in rivers or unfinished buildings, sometimes poisoning people with tainted juice or toxic serums in prisons, and the intentional failure to care for sick or tortured prisoners that led to their death, and many other crimes, the protests continued for months. "The outraged people had nothing more to lose. "After that, the regime tried hard to impose an atmosphere of repression by increasing executions and creating a suffocating environment." My dad has been sentenced to death in Iran on trumped-up charges and faces imminent execution - we must save him 15 15 15 Fareshteh said there was a 34 per cent increase in executions in 2023 - with 860 in one year. In 2024, there were at least 1,000 - and this year, new records are being set month by month. "Now the situation is worse than before," Fareshteh said. "Inflation is crippling, and while people's salaries and incomes have not changed much, the exchange rate has risen. "The Iranian people are almost four times poorer, and prices have increased by the same amount, most people's tables are getting smaller every year, and more are living below the poverty line." Fereshteh said the regime's brutality towards its own people has increased since the Syrian tyrant Bashar al-Assad was ousted by rebels last December. "This regime has no solution other than increasing executions at home, especially after the fall of the Syrian dictator and the successive blows to its proxy forces in the region," she said. The mullahs' regime tortured and executed my innocent sister, even burying her body themselves, creating lasting trauma for my family that I will never forget or forgive Fareshten, resistance unit member "Ali Khamenei, the regime's Supreme Leader, used to call Syria, its strategic depth, and he repeatedly said that if we don't fight in Syria and Iraq, we will have to face the enemy in Iran's major cities. "Now, the regime sees its only way out in trying harder to build nuclear weapons and acquire a bomb. "In the absence of any solution in the crisis-stricken mullah regime, the situation in Iran is like a powder keg. "And everyone, even the regime's leaders, constantly warn about the explosion of people's outrage from repression, corruption, and high prices. "The difference is that the people of Iran, especially the youth, know that the regime has never been in its current state of weakness." Fareshteh revealed how her activities for her resistance unit include painting political graffiti and encouraging others to stand against the regime. 15 15 She said she joined the unit to avenge her sister's death which she will neither "forget or forgive". Being a member of the resistance in Iran can carry a death sentence, but Fareshteh remains undeterred. She said: "I am the continuer and avenger of my beloved sister, who was the top student in her high school in mathematics and physics. "The mullahs' regime tortured and executed my innocent sister, even burying her body themselves, creating lasting trauma for my family that I will never forget or forgive. "I carry out activities involving posting pictures and doing graffiti, and I speak to and raise awareness among the people about the social responsibility that rests on all of us. "International support is very important. At one time, the regime's lobbies deceived foreign countries by pretending that everything was fine in Iran." 'Murderous regime' She added: "In the 2022 uprising, technology unveiled the countless crimes of the corrupt and murderous regime. "International solidarity will press Western governments to stop appeasing and dealing with this dictatorship." Fareshteh's comments comes after the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) presented shocking details about a covert nuclear weapons facility operated by the regime. Chilling satellite pictures released last month showed a secret nuclear site codenamed "Rainbow". It is believed the base is being used to develop nuclear missiles with a 2,000 mile (3,000km) range. 15 15 15 The NCRI say that Tehran is using oil and chemical facilities as a front to create terrifying nuclear weapons with the ability to strike US bases in the Middle East. Feresteh says the discovery of the base comes as no surprise as the regime's goal has always been to acquire an atomic bomb to "blackmail" the international community. "Repression at home and the export of terrorism and fomenting crisis have been one of the foundations of this regime's survival since its inception," she said. Now, the regime sees its only way out in trying harder to build nuclear weapons and acquire a bomb Fareshteh, resistance unit member "In the past two years, everyone has seen that the main obstacle to peace and security in the region has been the mullah regime. "After the fall of the Assad dictatorship... the only way out it sees is to increase executions at home and increase its activities to acquire an atomic bomb as a lever to continue blackmail the international community. "This regime has not stopped trying to acquire a bomb for even a day. "And the recent revelation... clearly exposes the regime's unreliability and deception in its pursuit of a bomb." Iran's secret nuke site 'Rainbow' Exclusive by Katie Davis, Chief Foreign Reporter (Digital) CHILLING satellite pictures reveal Iran's sprawling secret nuclear site codenamed "Rainbow". Sources in the country have uncovered how the base is being used to develop nuclear-capable missiles with a 2,000-mile range - able to strike US bases in the Middle East. Tehran's tyrannical regime is using oil and chemical facilities as a cover for nuclear bases, bombshell docs shared with The Sun by the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) reveal. Haunting aerial images expose a network of clandestine sites - including "Rainbow" - used by iron-fist leaders to create terrifying nuclear weapons. A powerful nuclear blast from Iran could have disastrous consequences for the Middle East - and beyond - thanks to the capability of the warheads. Now sources inside Iran have revealed the regime's nuclear weaponisation entity, Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research's (SPND) secret project to accelerate nuclear ability. Hidden under the guise of a chemical production facility, the crowning jewel of the operation is a base known internally as the 'Rangin Kaman (Rainbow) Site". It is some distance from Iran's already known nuke bases, and is masked as a chemical production company known as Diba Energy Siba. 'Fighting spirit' Fereshteh said that despite facing "unprecedented repression and executions" the regime has failed to contain protests and even executions are not intimidating the public as they once did. She told how the political prisoners at some of Iran's most notorious prisons have been on hunger strike every Tuesday for 68 weeks as a protest against the death penalty. "Every week, their statement, which is courageously smuggled out of prison and published, speaks of their fighting spirit and loyalty to their commitment to freedom and the rejection of the death penalty," Fereshteh said. "Imagine that they are trapped in the prisons of religious fascism, but despite all the pressure the regime exerts on them, these strikes have continued for 68 weeks. "The people's anger and hatred grow stronger each day. "During the uprisings, I witnessed young girls, and even elderly women remove their hijabs when passing by the oppressors, signaling their defiance. "The intensity of this anger has reached a point where the regime no longer dares to harass women for not wearing hijabs as aggressively as before." Call for support Fereshteh has now called on the governments of the US and UK to "stand with the Iranian people" to prevent the regime completing its nuclear programme. She said: "The British government must immediately activate the trigger mechanism to prevent the regime from having more time to complete its nuclear program. "Since this regime will under no circumstances abandon its efforts to produce a bomb, this again underscores the necessity for the West to stand with the main opposition to this regime and the people of Iran and to provide political support for their efforts to change the regime." 15 15 She added: "Not a day passes without various segments of the population - retirees, workers, teachers, nurses, medical staff, students, and those whose wealth has been plundered by IRGC-affiliated gangs - taking to the streets to protest against the regime. "Moreover, the increasing demonstrations from farmers and factories and businesses facing ongoing water and power shortages illustrate that we are witnessing an explosive society. "Today, in Iran, there is no segment of society whose patience has not run out with this anti-people regime. "The regime has managed to maintain its grip on power solely through blatant repression and a daily increase in executions. "For decades, the people of Iran have watched with disbelief and pain the leniency and wrong policies of the West towards a regime that is the main cause of instability and warmongering in the region and terrorism globally. "No one here doubts that the ruling fascist regime must go, and the only way to end the crimes at home and the warmongering, terrorism, and support for terrorist forces abroad is to end this regime. "This is achievable. "Our expectation from the international community is to stand with the people and resistance of Iran."
