PayvandNews – Germany has reportedly agreed to provide Iran with a 1.2 billion Euro ($1.27 billion) credit line to help finance a key rail project in what is seen as the biggest foreign financing the country has been able to secure after the removal of sanctions. Bloomberg has quoted an unnamed official from the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) as …

VOA – The son of a late Iran revolutionary was sentenced Sunday to six years in prison. Ahmad Montazeri, 60, whose father is Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, was convicted by Iran’s Special Clerical Court in the holy city of Qom after “acting against the national security [and] releasing a classified audio file,” the ISNA news agency reported. Reports say …

VOA – Iran’s chief of staff of the armed forces said Saturday that Tehran may be interested in setting up naval bases in both Syria and Yemen, the semi-official Tasnim reported. The report by Tasnim, close to military, quoted Gen. Mohammad Hossein Bagheri as saying, “Maybe, at some point we will need bases on the shores of Yemen and Syria.” …

FOX – Iran’s judiciary is saying authorities have detained three employees of the state railroad company over Friday’s train collision, which killed 45 people. Train collision in Iran leaves at least 36 dead, state TV says Iran state TV: Train collision kills 5; 20 reported injured The Saturday report by Mizanonline.ir, the judiciary news website, says authorities are continuing to …

aljazeera – The ultra right-wing team selected by the US President-elect Donald Trump will probably match the aspirations of the hardline leadership in Iran. The Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, his loyal array of hardline advisers, officials in the Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), his allies in the judiciary and in the security apparatus have all been waiting for this moment …

Amnesty – Himan Uraminejad has been warned by prison officials that he is at risk of execution as Iran’s Head of Judiciary has approved the implementation of his death sentence. He has been on death row since 2012 for a crime committed when he was 17 years old. View report in English: https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/MDE1352172016ENGLISH.pdf

Iranhumanrights.org – Approximately 50 followers of imprisoned spiritual leader Mohammad Ali Taheri—who has been missing for more than a month—were beaten by plainclothes members of Iran’s intelligence forces and then arrested by the police in front of Parliament on November 21, 2016, according to eyewitnesses. Hundreds of Taheri’s followers had gathered in front of the Parliament building in Tehran to …

Al-monitor – The cancellation of speeches by Reformist figures is nothing new in Iran. In past years, hard-line groups have disrupted numerous Reformist gatherings. But now, other organizations are blocking these events before they lead to potential disturbances. The latest such incident is the cancellation of a speech by Deputy Parliament Speaker Ali Motahari. The outspoken speaker was due to …

PayvandNews – Iran says imports of cars from the United States are authorized as long as they are produced by non-American brands. Farhad Ehteshamzadeh, the president of Automobile Importers Union of Iran, was quoted by the domestic media as saying that he had made an inquiry to the same effect from the Ministry of Industry, Mine, and Trade. The Ministry, …

PayvandNews- Iranian lawmakers on Wednesday voted in favor of a motion under which minor drug offenders would face imprisonment instead of execution, IRNA reported. 147 out of 195 parliamentarians present in the Majlis voted “yes” on the single-urgency motion which would add an article to the law on drug offences. If the motion is ratified, the drug offenders who are …