PayvandNews – Historically low rainfalls have raised concerns that Iran will have an arid year in 2017. Iran’s Tasnim news agency in a report said the average rainfalls in the country dropped this autumn by 74 percent compared to last year. This was the lowest drop the country had seen for the past 47 years, Tasnim added. “Overall rainfalls measured …

RFL/RE – Iran says the extension of sanctions legislation by the U.S. Congress is “a violation” of the nuclear deal reached between Tehran and world powers last year. “We will report it to Iran’s committee assigned for monitoring the implementation of the deal,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi said on December 2. “We are ready to firmly protect the nation’s …

Amnesty – Iranian filmmaker Keywan Karimi was jailed on 23 November after being summoned to start serving his prison sentence. The authorities have told Keywan Karimi they also intend to carry out his flogging sentence of 223 lashes. He is a prisoner of conscience. Please cllick below link to read the report: https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/MDE1352582016ENGLISH.pdf

Iranhumanrights.org – The dual national translator for a prestigious film festival was prevented from boarding a flight to Germany at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport and her passport confiscated as she was leaving the country together with her colleague on November 27. “Nooshafarin Dastoori has been summoned to the Intelligence Ministry to explain some things,” an informed source told the International …

Al-monitor – After seven months of negotiations, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) agreed to cut production in order to boost the price of oil, while exempting Iran, Nigeria and Libya from output cuts. Iranian media hailed the Nov. 30 deal in Vienna as a victory over Saudi Arabia. AUTHOR Changiz M. Varzi It is OPEC’s first supply …

Al-monitor – Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, shuffled the country’s military leadership on Nov. 19, appointing Brig. Gen. Ahmad Reza Pourdastan deputy commander of the army, or Artesh. Pourdastan had previously led the army’s ground forces. His new appointment is significant in part because Pourdastan is one of the rare senior army commanders who has not been shy about …

PayvandNews – The celebration of Noruz, the New Year shared by 12 countries, was inscribed on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of UNESCO on Wednesday. Noruz marks the beginning of spring across a vast geographical area. It is celebrated on March 21st every year. The decision was made during the 11th session of the Intergovernmental Committee for …

PayvandNews – The National Board of Review (NBR) in New York has picked Iranian director Asghar Farhadi’s drama “The Salesman” as best foreign-language film. The movie, which won Farhadi the award for best screenplay and the Palme d’Or for best actor for Shahab Hosseini at the Cannes Film Festival this year, is Iran’s submission to the 89th Academy Awards in …

Al-Arabia – A newly-released report by independent research group Conflict Armament Research (CAR) “suggests” that there is an arms “pipeline” that extends from Iran to Somalia and Yemen. The UK-based CAR released its analysis Wednesday, after US officials claimed in October that they had seized five shipments of Iranian weapons bound for Yemen. “CAR’s analysis of the seized materiel … …

RFL/RE – Ministers from the 14 members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) have reached agreement to cut their production by 1.2 million barrels a day, in a bid to boost slumping global prices. The November 30 deal by the oil cartel will lower the total output of the cartel to 32.5 million barrels a day beginning …