Iranian Dissidents Executed “on a Scale Never Seen Before,” Trump Says

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump rightly drew attention to an aspect of the war in Iran that some Western political leaders and media outlets have conspicuously overlooked: the humanitarian dimension of the Iranian crisis, and, more specifically, the murderous and appalling conduct of certain power centers within the ruling establishment in Tehran. As part of their campaign of repression and coercion, they have resorted to the near-daily execution and public hanging from cranes of schoolchildren, teenagers under 18 and young university students, seeking to terrorize the population and create an atmosphere of fear designed to suppress any attempt at a popular uprising.

“The failing Islamic Republic of Iran is not paying large segments of their military, while at the same time killing protesters, even when they are not protesting, at levels not seen before. It is a humanitarian crisis of epic proportions,” President Trump said bluntly. It is precisely these executions of teenagers and young people “on a scale never seen before” that certain supposedly “right-thinking” Western political leaders and media outlets refuse to acknowledge. In doing so, they normalize this abhorrent practice of hanging people from cranes, as well as abducting teenagers – several cases of child abductions and disappearances have been reported in recent days – in an attempt to create a coercive climate of terror before the situation spills into the streets under the mounting pressure of an increasingly severe socioeconomic collapse.

No Reaction Yet to the Economic D-Day

On the practical front, political and economic circles around the world are closely watching to gauge the real impact of the economic war – dubbed the “economic D-Day” – officially and dramatically launched on Monday by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Reactions from European and Arab countries are still awaited, particularly when it comes to implementing the measures announced by Secretary Bessent.

As we wait for the repercussions of this economic D-Day to become clearer and settle into focus, the ever-present issue of the Strait of Hormuz is once again coming to the fore, further underscoring the deep divide that continues to separate Washington and Tehran.

President Trump said Tuesday that the U.S. Navy had informed him that all the mines threatening traffic through the Strait of Hormuz had been destroyed or removed. U.S. officials cited by Axios said that, over the past several months, underwater drones had inspected the strait and detected around 100 mines, which were subsequently destroyed or removed by private companies. The officials said that clearing the mines would facilitate the movement of ships through the strait, “allowing oil exports to international markets to increase.”

Against this backdrop, President Trump said that the Islamic Republic had been warned that any vessel attempting to lay new mines would be destroyed without delay. He also pointed to close and meticulous satellite surveillance of the entire length of the strait, but also – and this is the crucial point – of the three nuclear sites destroyed by U.S. aircraft in June 2025 and, above all, of the underground nuclear facility at Pickaxe Mountain, built deep inside a hard granite mountain near the Natanz nuclear complex. The Pickaxe Mountain facility is difficult for U.S. aircraft to reach, and according to various Western sources, Iran is secretly carrying out uranium-enrichment work and assembling long-range ballistic missiles there.

The Iranian Regime Resumes Its Stalling Tactics

Faced with the U.S. escalation against the Islamic Republic, the mullahs’ regime responded Tuesday by reviving its traditional stalling tactics, clearly aimed at buying time, as it has done for more than two decades, ever since Tehran’s clandestine uranium-enrichment activities came to light in the early 2000s.

Apparently at the behest of the mullahs’ regime, the Iranian and Omani foreign ministers met in Tehran on Tuesday for talks that the Iranian regime described as “constructive.” A joint statement issued after the talks stressed the need to resume shipping through the Strait of Hormuz “while preserving the sovereignty and rights of both countries.” In this regard, the statement revived the Iranian proposal, repeatedly put forward by Tehran, to create “a temporary joint corridor through the strait, alongside a joint mine-clearing operation.” This is a way for the mullahs’ regime to maintain the perception that it controls the strait and is solely in charge of managing it…

In Syria, Kurdish Forces and Institutions Join the State

On an entirely different front, Tuesday, August 25, was marked by a major development of great historical and symbolic significance. Late in the day, Kurdish forces commander Mazloum Abdi announced the dissolution of the Kurdish militia known as the SDF, which had been backed and supported by the United States in the fight against the Islamic State. At the same time, Abdi announced the dissolution of the autonomous administration and all Kurdish bodies attached to it, which will be integrated into Syrian state institutions.

The integration of Kurdish forces and structures into the state was formally sealed at a meeting between President Ahmed al-Sharaa and Mazloum Abdi. The chapter on the latent conflict between the former Assad regime and the Kurdish minority, which was largely ostracized by Presidents Assad, father and son, thus appears to have been closed… What remains is to turn this qualitative leap into reality and firmly consolidate it.