Iran’s hardline Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps leader has effectively taken control of Tehran’s military and negotiation team over the weekend, analysts said.

IRGC Commander Maj. Gen. Ahmad Vahidi and members of his inner circle have allegedly taken charge of the Islamic republic, as evident by Iran’s attacks on ships trying to sail through the Strait of Hormuz and Tehran’s refusal to join peace talks with the US this week, the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) think tank said.

The sudden shift to a hardline stance also shows that more moderate members of Iran’s leadership, including Iranian Foreign Affairs Minister Abbas Araghchi, have been sidelined.

Araghchi had initially agreed to open the Strait of Hormuz over the weekend after reaching a consensus with the Trump administration, but the IRGC demanded it remain shut in the face of the American blockade on Iranian ports.

Vahidi reportedly received the backing of Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, Iran’s Supreme National Security Council secretary and an IRGC veteran, to control the strait — further cementing Vahidi’s grip on Iran. (Read more from “Islamic Guard Takes Full Control of Iran, Sidelines Moderates: Analysts” HERE)

Iran’s barbaric regime is set to execute its first female protester over recent protests, one of an estimated 1,600 sentenced to death by the Islamic Republic in the past year.

Bita Hemmati is the first woman due to be hanged in relation to the demonstrations that broke out in January across the country and were viciously stamped out by government forces.

The regime accused her of numerous crimes, including using explosives and weapons, throwing objects such as concrete blocks, participating in protest gatherings, and disrupting national security, according to a Tuesday press release from the opposition National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI).

Her husband, Mohammadreza Majid Asl, 34, as well as two other men, Behrouz and Kourosh Zamaninezhad, who lived in the couple’s apartment building, were also sentenced to death following a hasty trial and their property confiscated.

A fifth defendant, Hemmati’s relative Amir Hemmati, was sentenced to almost six years in prison for “assembly and collusion against national security” as well as “propaganda against the regime.” (Read more from “Iran to Execute the First Woman Over Widespread Anti-Regime Demonstrations” HERE)

Two European non-governmental organizations (NGOs) published a report this week that found Iran conducted 1,639 executions in 2025 — an increase of 68 percent over the previous year, and the largest number of executions since 1989.

The report was the latest edition of the “Annual Report on the Death Penalty in Iran” prepared by Iran Human Rights (IHR) and Together Against the Death Penalty (EPCM), which are based in Norway and France, respectively. The report has been produced every year since 2012.

The two groups are generally opposed to the death penalty, but find Iran’s practices to be particularly objectionable, as the Islamic regime is usually “ranked first worldwide in executions per capita” — it sometimes takes second place after China — and has a much lower threshold for capital punishment than most other nations.

In her forward to the report, human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh said the “worst form of execution” practiced by Iran are its political killings, which are often carried out at the behest of bloodthirsty pressure groups.

“This is precisely why death sentences should never be issued under the influence of public opinion,” she said. (Read more from “Report: Iran Executions Hit Three-Decade High” HERE)