RFL/RE – A British-Iranian woman detained for months in Iran on suspicion of planning the “soft toppling” of the government while traveling with her young daughter has been sentenced to five years in prison, her husband said on September 9. Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was convicted on “secret charges,” Richard Ratcliffe said, making her the first dual national known to be convicted …

RFL/RE – The United Nations nuclear agency says Iran has adhered to the nuclear deal it agreed with six world powers last year limiting its stockpiles of nuclear-related substances. But the report by the International Atomic Energy Agency released on September 8 also said Iran had begun manufacturing rotor tubes for centrifuges, machines used to enrich uranium. Iran is allowed …

RFL/RE – Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, once in line to become Iran’s supreme leader, has come back from the grave to haunt the Islamic establishment that punished him for openly criticizing the regime’s mass killing of political opponents in the late 1980s. The release of an audio recording made in 1988 of Montazeri lashing out against the authorities for …

Iranhumanrights.org – In less than a month, between August 2 and August 27, 2016, at least 37 prisoners were executed in Iran. Shortly afterwards, the head of the Iranian Judiciary’s Human Rights Council, Mohammad Javad Larijani, claimed Iran was doing members of the international community a favor by executing drug traffickers. Many, though not all, of the victims were convicted …

Al-monitor – Recent revelations that the Barack Obama administration paid Iran $1.7 billion in cash just as four American-Iranians were released in January have caused a Republican furor in Washington. In Tehran, by contrast, all political factions seem to agree that the settlement over a decades-old unfulfilled arms deal was a great deal — for Iran. AUTHOR Arash Karami Iranian …

Al-monitor — Tensions appear to be mounting again in the Strait of Hormuz, as seen in a video released by the US military Aug. 23. The footage shows four patrol boats operated by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) approaching a US destroyer in the narrow waterway. US military officials say two of the patrol boats came within 300 yards …

PayvandNews – The conservation of Darugheh House in the city of Mashhad in northeastern Iran was among the 13 winning projects of UNESCO 2016 Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation. Darugheh House in Mashhad, Iran A total of 13 winning projects from six countries – Australia, China, India, Iran, Japan and Pakistan – have been recognized in this year’s Heritage …

RFL/RE – Iran’s president has called on the Muslim world to “punish” Saudi Arabia for a stampede during the hajj last year that killed more than 2,400 people, while Iran’s supreme leader called for an international investigation of the incident. The comments from President Hassan Rohani and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on September 7 were the latest salvos in …

Iranhumanrights.org – In a letter to the United Nations Human Rights Council and the International Criminal Court, one hundred Iranians living outside Iran, including several prominent civil, academic, and human rights figures, have asked for the recognition of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s prison massacre of 1988 as a crime against humanity. According to the authors of this letter, “the …

PayvandNews  – Amaneh Bahrami, an Iranian woman who was disfigured in an acid attack by a man she refused to marry, has accused the producer of the acclaimed drama “Lanturi” of plagiarism. Bahrami has recently appeared in Tehran court and has filed a lawsuit against Reza Dormishian, the Persian daily Sharq announced in its Tuesday edition. “Lanturi” Bahrami has said, “I …