The regime in Iran was described as being on an ‘unprecedented execution spree’ by the United Nations. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said the Islamic Republic of Iran carried out more than 1,000 executions since the start of the year.

With as many as nine executions each day at the time of their report, OHCHR said that victims were primarily accused of murder and drug-related crimes.

In an effort to raise worldwide awareness of their situation, some 1,500 Iranian prisoners on death row in Ward 2 of Ghezel Hesar Prison staged a hunger strike on Oct. 13. Among them were 17 members of the Iranian dissident organization Mojahedin-e-Khalq (MEK). 

A spokesperson from the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), told Fox News Digital that Iran previously executed two MEK members on July 27 and has yet to return their bodies to their families.

The hunger strike has spread to Wards 1 and 4 in Ghezel Hesar Prison, as well as to the notorious Evin Prison. The NCRI claims that prison officials have attempted to break the strike and has shared footage of prisoners in Ward 3 eating food to ‘falsely claim that there is no hunger strike in Ward 2.’

In an exclusive statement provided to Fox News Digital, the striking prisoners said, ‘Our patience has run out over this endless oppression and the taking of the lives of prisoners and young people. Every day and every week, some of our cellmates are sent to the gallows, and many of us spend our nights in the nightmare of death. These are the most agonizing moments of our lives and of our families. We demand the abolition of the death penalty in Iran.’

The NCRI told Fox News Digital that executions have increased in recent days, with 38 executions taking place between Oct. 13 and Oct. 15. This drove the total ‘number of executions during the 14½ months of [Masoud] Pezeshkian’s presidency’ to ‘an unprecedented record of 2,008 prisoners.’

Maryam Rajavi, the president-elect of the NCRI, called ‘for immediate action by the United Nations, U.N. Security Council members, the European Union, and international human rights organizations to end this horrific nightmare in Iran under the rule of the criminal mullahs.’

Iranian prisoners have called on U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres to speak out and intervene on their behalf.

Fox News Digital asked if the U.S. State Department is considering additional sanctions against Iranian leaders in response to the rash of executions. A State Department spokesperson said, ‘We strongly condemn the Iranian regime’s use of executions to kill people for exercising basic human rights, including peacefully protesting for a better life.’

‘For decades, Iranians have been subjected to torture and sham trials resulting in executions and other severe punishments, often with those coerced confessions as the only evidence presented against them. We will continue to hold the Iranian regime accountable, ensuring it faces severe consequences for its heinous acts,’ the spokesperson continued.

Stéphane Dujarric, a spokesman for Guterres, told Fox News Digital, ‘We stand firmly against and continue to condemn the use of the death penalty in Iran, and anywhere else in the world.’

Earlier this month, the U.N. Human Rights Council drew widespread condemnation after it elected Iran to its advisory committee. 

Senate Democrats wanted an equal say in crafting spending bills before the shutdown and are about to get a chance to do so, but they’re unlikely to support Republicans’ latest effort to jump-start the government funding process.

The Senate on Thursday is set to move through a procedural hurdle on the annual defense spending bill, which, among other things, would ensure that military service members would get their paychecks.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., teed up the bill earlier this week as the shutdown raged on to pressure Senate Democrats to make good on their desire to fund the government in a bipartisan manner, and in the hopes of getting the appropriations process moving again. 

‘We can actually get the appropriations process going forward,’ Thune said. ‘So that’s in the works.’

And in the Senate, given the 60-vote filibuster threshold, spending bills are prime examples of the many pieces of legislation that have to be bipartisan to pass. But Senate Democrats seemed unwilling to go all in on supporting the defense bill, and like the Republicans’ plan to reopen the government, appear ready to block Thune’s effort.

They want to know exactly what Republicans plan to put on the floor later on, despite the vote on Thursday afternoon being designed to give lawmakers the chance to move forward with at least one of several spending bills that must be passed to fund the government.

‘We have to see what they’re going to put on the floor,’ Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said. ‘They haven’t told us yet.’

Republicans are also eyeing at least three other spending bills to attach to the defense appropriations bill, including legislation that would fund the departments of Labor, Commerce, Transportation, Health and Human Services, and Housing and Urban Development.

Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., is a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee and appears ready for the reality that Democrats would block the defense bill and broader spending package.

‘You have to start with the defense, and then you can add the other ones to it, but once again, it takes agreement by our Dem colleagues that want to move that forward,’ he said. ‘I’m not sure that we’ve got the votes to do that yet.’

There is a trust deficit between Senate Democrats and Republicans from earlier this year when the GOP passed President Donald Trump’s request to claw back billions in funding for foreign aid and NPR and PBS, in addition to continued actions by Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought to withhold or cancel funding for Democratic priorities.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., told Fox News Digital after Senate Democrats met behind closed doors on Wednesday that there had been no indication from Republicans there would be ‘bipartisan cooperation or any willingness to put any guardrails around what they plan to do.’

‘I think the stage we’re at is that we’ve been shown nothing,’ he said. ‘So there’s no reason to vote for it yet.’

‘I think what was needed is a larger agreement about how the appropriations process is moving forward, so it’s clear that our priorities are respected,’ he continued.

However, pairing the defense bill could grease the wheels for some in the Democratic caucus.

‘No, not unless it’s paired with [the Labor and HHS bill],’ Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, said.

Thune’s move to reignite the appropriations process, an exercise that played out in the Senate in early August when lawmakers advanced a trio of funding bills ahead of the shutdown deadline, is part of Republicans’ broader desire to fund the government the old-fashioned way, rather than through a colossal omnibus spending package.

It’s an exercise, however, that hasn’t been fully completed since the 1990s.

Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., noted to Fox News Digital that a major part of selecting a new leader for the Senate GOP was returning to what’s known as regular order, or passing spending to fund the government.

He argued that when Schumer ran the Senate as majority leader, the upper chamber was often resigned to passing ‘these omnibus bills that were developed in the, you know, middle of the night with four people.’

‘We’re not interested in that. So we want to get bills on the floor, and they’ve got to move in a bipartisan way, right? So I think this is something that I would hope Democrats would support, too,’ he said. ‘But if their mentality is at this point, you know, just oppose everything Republicans want to do, it’s pathological, and I don’t have any advice for them except seek help.’

Republicans are still trying to reopen the government and plan to put the House-passed continuing resolution (CR) on the floor again Thursday for a 10th time. And just like many times before, it is expected to fail.

When asked if he believed that the shutdown could transform into lawmakers passing spending bills one-by-one to reopen the government, Thune said, ‘I certainly hope not.’ 

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., accused the Democratic Party of being taken over by far-left ‘Marxists’ on Day 16 of the federal government shutdown.

The leader of the House of Representatives was visibly frustrated while speaking to reporters on Thursday, accusing Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and other Democrat leaders of prolonging the fiscal standoff for political gain.

‘This is not your grandfather’s Democratic Party. It truly has become the far-left, Marxist-left, that are running that whole operation. And it has real effects on real people,’ Johnson said.

Senate Democrats have now rejected Republicans’ federal funding plan 10 times.

Republicans put forward last month a seven-week extension of fiscal year (FY) 2025 funding levels, called a continuing resolution (CR), aimed at giving congressional negotiators more time to strike a long-term deal for FY2026.

But Democrats in the House and Senate were infuriated by being sidelined in those talks. Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said their caucuses would not accept any deal that does not include serious healthcare concessions, at least extending COVID-19 pandemic-era Obamacare subsidies that are set to expire at the end of this year.

Johnson and Republicans have accused Schumer of kowtowing to pressure by progressives after he was key to helping the same funding bill pass the Senate in March, avoiding a shutdown earlier this year. That move saw Schumer face a barrage of attacks from his left flank.

‘The only explanation for this is that Chuck Schumer does not want to face the heat and the scrutiny and the abuse that he took in March for doing the right, responsible thing by the far-left voices in his party,’ Johnson said.

He said the ‘voices of the party’ were Democratic socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., as well as New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani.

‘Look, Mamdani is on a path, shockingly, sadly, frighteningly, to become the elected mayor of the largest city in America, the once-cradle of capitalism. There is a Marxist rise in the Democratic Party,’ Johnson said.

‘The old guard — and I’m saying old guard, Chuck Schumer has been here for 44 years — he is not the flavor of the month, and he knows that he’s going to get a challenge. If it’s not AOC, it’ll be another disciple of Mamdani or somebody like that.’

He said Democrats ‘have to stand for the farthest-left ideas, socialism, communism, Marxism, right now to be in favor in the Democratic Party.’

Schumer, in turn, has criticized Johnson for his decision to keep the House in recess while the Senate’s fiscal standoff continues.

‘Republican leaders, especially Speaker Johnson, continue to dig in. The speaker has now kept the House Republicans on vacation for three weeks, as if they can make the issue go away by letting House Republicans hide. Well, the American people don’t have time for Republican inaction,’ Schumer said Wednesday.

A former security guard at the U.S. Embassy in Norway was convicted of spying on behalf of Russia and Iran, a report said. 

The 28-year-old Norwegian, whose identity has not been made public, was sentenced Wednesday to three years and seven months, The Associated Press reported. 

A Norwegian police official reportedly told Reuters at the time of the suspect’s arrest last November that he was working at the U.S. Embassy in Oslo, Norway’s capital. 

The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday from Fox News Digital. 

Prosecutors alleged that the man handed over details about the embassy’s diplomats, its floor plans and security routines, among other information, Norwegian state broadcaster NRK reported. The broadcaster added that American ties to Israel and the war in Gaza prompted the man to contact Russia and Iran. 

The suspect acknowledged the indictment’s facts but denied any criminal guilt, according to the AP.

The man’s defense attorneys said in a statement Thursday that the verdict raises questions about what is considered espionage under Norwegian law. 

‘He lied about having security clearance to agents from other countries and exaggerated his own role,’ attorney Inger Zadig of Elden Law Firm told the AP. ‘He had roughly the same level of access as a janitor at the embassy. The information he shared was worthless and neither separately nor collectively capable of harming individuals or the security interests of any state.’ 

The defendant was found guilty of five espionage-related charges and was acquitted of gross corruption. His defense attorneys are weighing whether to appeal the verdict. 

At the time of his arrest last November, the man had been studying for a bachelor’s degree in security and preparedness at Norway’s Arctic University, UiT. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Senate Democrats for a 10th time blocked Republicans’ attempts to reopen the government and have ensured that the shutdown goes into next week.

That’s because after one final vote series later on Thursday, lawmakers will leave Washington, D.C., for another long weekend after just three short days on the Hill.

Neither Republicans nor Democrats are ready to flinch in their deeply entrenched positions, and talks between both sides, though largely informal exercises, have begun to fade.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., is determined to continue on the same course of action to keep bringing the House-passed continuing resolution (CR), which would reopen the government until Nov. 21, up for a vote again and again.

Though some in the GOP are mulling a new end date for the CR, that would require the House, which has been out of session for nearly a month, to come back and pass a new one.

While Thune and Republicans are adamant that their plan is the only pathway to ending the shutdown, now on Day 16, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and the Senate Democratic caucus still want to hammer out a deal on expiring Obamacare subsidies — and they want President Donald Trump to get directly involved in negotiations.

‘We’re willing to have, as I said, conversations about all the other issues that they want to talk about,’ Thune said. ‘But that can’t happen while they are holding the federal government and all these federal employees and our troops and our air traffic controllers and our TSA agents and our border Patrol officials hostage. Open up the government.’

‘Every day that this goes on, the problems are compounded for federal workers and for ordinary Americans,’ he continued. ‘Chuck Schumer may think that every day gets better for them politically, but I can tell you that is not the experience of the American people.’

When asked if he would compromise on the Democrats’ demands as the shutdown dragged on, Schumer dodged and countered that he wouldn’t negotiate in the public eye.

‘The bottom line is [Republicans] won’t even negotiate with us,’ Schumer said. ‘So that’s a premature question. But of course, I’m not going to negotiate in public. We need to address the crisis that is afflicted, and that’s the right word, the American people.’

However, Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., said that Republicans weren’t working on a subsidy proposal to show Democrats, and he noted that talks between the parties were ‘not really’ happening anymore.

When asked if it was possible to get an extension of the credits before the Nov. 1 open enrollment date, he said, ‘I don’t think there’s a way to do that.’

‘And I think if you don’t have it done by Christmas, it becomes a political issue,’ Mullin said. ‘But you could maybe push it to January, to February, if you wanted to, but we get bumped up against, you know, everybody’s primaries, from the Democrat primaries and Republican primaries, and it becomes a political issue, because, unfortunately, healthcare is political.’

Republicans are also trying to reignite the appropriations process in the Senate as the shutdown continues on. Thune teed up a procedural vote later Thursday on the Senate’s defense spending bill, which, among other things, would fund paychecks for the military.

Whether Democrats support the spending bill after spending months demanding a bipartisan government funding process remains an open question — many argued after their closed-door meeting on Wednesday that they didn’t know exactly what Republicans were going to put on the floor and considered a vote on it moot.

As with most of the past 10 attempts to send the House-passed CR to Trump’s desk, the same trio of Democratic caucus members, Sens. John Fetterman, D-Pa., Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., and Angus King, I-Maine, voted with Senate Republicans.

Fetterman, who has consistently voted with the GOP every time, echoed his counterparts across the aisle and said that any outside issues aside from reopening the government could be dealt with after the lights were turned back on in Washington.

‘It was wrong to shut it down in March,’ he said. ‘I’m in the same position. It’s not going to change. Everything else we’re talking about,  open up the government first, and then we can figure out the rest.’