Al-monitor – Ever since taking office, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has come under increasing pressure from hard-liners who have been trying to tie his administration to the “infiltration project of the enemy.” The code word “infiltration” has especially been used in relation to the arrests of dual nationals. Author Rohollah Faghihi In what some have deemed as pushback against this …

PayvandNews – The Reuters news agency is reporting that Republican leaders of the U.S. House plan to vote after the November 8 elections on reauthorizing the Iran Sanctions Act, setting up a potential showdown with the White House. The law, which authorizes sanctions over Iran’s nuclear program and ballistic missile tests, expires on December 31. Representative Ed Royce, chairman of …

PayvandNews – Thousands of years before Persepolis – the magnificent Achaemenid ceremonial capital – was made in southern Iran in the fifth and fourth centuries BC, residents of its eastward village named Maymand carved out rocky hillsides to take refuge from harsh climate of the Iranian Plateau. (see map) The cultural landscape of Maymand has been inscribed on the UNESCO …

RFL/RE – An Iranian-American dual citizen who has been jailed in Iran since July has been sentenced to 18 years in prison after being convicted of collaborating with the United States and “insulting sanctities,” one of his U.S.-based relatives told RFE/RL’s Radio Farda. The relative, who did not want to be named because of security issues, expressed “shock” over the …

RFL/RE – Iranian President Hassan Rohani says Turkey must get permission from the Iraqi government to take part in the operation to retake the city of Mosul from the Islamic State (IS) extremist group. “We regard as very dangerous [acts of] intervention by foreign countries without any coordination with the host country,” Rohani said during a visit to the central …

Al-monitor – When Islamic State (IS) leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi announced on June 29, 2014, his self-styled caliphate, its borders were only about 20 miles from those of Iran. IS-controlled territory extended to the Iraqi border province of Diyala, posing a serious threat to Iranian national security. Tehran wanted to keep its borders far from the direct reverberations of the …

Iran Human Rights –  Two prisoners with drug related charges were reportedly hanged at Salmas Prison (West Azerbaijan province, northwestern Iran) and two prisoners with murder charges were reportedly hanged at Sepidar Ahwaz Prison (Khuzestan province, western Iran). According a report by the the state-run news site, Rokna, two brothers charged with murder were hanged at Sepidar Ahwaz Prison on …

Iran Human Rights – Iranian authorities hang five prisoners early Tuesday morning for alleged drug related offenses, but Iranian official sources are silent about these executions. Five prisoners were reportedly hanged early morning on Tuesday October 25 for alleged drug related offenses. Close sources say the execution sentences may have been carried out at either Karaj Central Prison or nearby Ghezel …

Iran Human Rights – Three prisoners were executed in southern Iran on Monday October 24. Three prisoners were reportedly hanged in Shiraz on kidnapping and rape charges. The exact location of the executions is not known at this time. According to a report by the Judiciary in the Fars province, the executions were carried out on the morning of Monday October …

Iranhumanrights.org —The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran calls on Iran’s Judiciary to immediately release on bail the unjustly imprisoned Iranian-American dual citizens Siamak Namazi and his father, Bagher Namazi, and allow them to prepare for the Appeals Court with legal counsel and full due process. Without providing further details, Tehran Prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi confirmed on October 16, …