Head of the Iranian National Carpet Center has announced the resumption of Iran’s hand-woven carpet export to the US during post-sanctions era. Hamid Karegar, speaking in a meeting with Qazvin Governor General Fereidoun Hemmati on Sunday, said that Iran resumed carpet exports to the US in the wake of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). file photo by Yunes …

RFL/E – Iran has said it will only pay half of the price announced for 80 new planes from U.S. firm Boeing. Iran’s official IRNA news agency quoted Deputy Transport Minister Asghar Fakhrieh Kashan as saying the country will only pay half of the $16.6 billion deal because of reduced purchasing options. “Boeing has announced that its IranAir contract is …

Al-Arabia – Iran’s President Hassan Rowhani and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin welcomed the “Syrian army’s victory against the terrorists in Aleppo” during a late-night phone call, Iranian media reported on Sunday. “The Syrian army’s victory sends a message that the terrorists cannot achieve their objectives. We must stop terrorists using the ceasefire to rebuild their forces and create new bases …

Radiozamaneh – As the number of political prisoners on hunger strikes are increasing in Iranian prisons, three prisoners who have been on hunger strike for the past seven weeks are slowly dying: Arash Sadeghi, Morteza Moradpour and Ali Shariati. Aside from the three, Saeed Shirzad, children rights activist serving a 5 year sentence, has sewed his lips in order to …

PayvandNews – The Central Bank of Iran (CBI) says it has authorized banks to deal in foreign exchange trading at a free-market rate – a move which is expected to help control the rising rates of the dollar. A statement on CBI’s website called on merchants and traders to refer to the authorized banks and purchase their required dollars, adding …

Al-Arabia – President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that Russia, Iran, Turkey and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had all agreed that the Kazakh capital of Astana should be the venue for new Syrian peace negotiations. Russia, Iran and Turkey held talks in Moscow on Tuesday after which they said they were ready to help broker a Syrian peace deal. Putin …

VOA – The International Atomic Energy Agency has published on its website a number of documents, previously restricted, about the international nuclear deal with Iran reached in 2015. The documents released Friday are accompanied by a letter from the European Union’s foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, who authorized the publication, but gave no details about why the documents were being …

Iranhumanrights.org – Labor rights activist Jafar Azimzadeh has been told that he must return to Evin Prison in Tehran by January 13, 2017 or his guarantor will lose 450 million tomans ($140,000 USD). However, an informed source told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran that Azimzadeh will not abide without an official summons. “Mr. Azimzadeh has not personally …

Iranhumanrights.org – Iranian-American political prisoner Reza (Robin) Shahini is being held in adverse conditions with dangerous criminals in Gorgan Prison, 186 miles northeast of Tehran in Golestan Province, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran has learned. “Reza is facing a lot of discrimination and hardship and the prison officials justify it because he’s accused of national security crimes,” …

Iranhumanrights.org – Iranian civil rights defender Atena Daemi, who is serving a seven-year prison sentence in Tehran’s Evin Prison for her peaceful activism, has been slapped with new charges after filing a complaint against the Revolutionary Guards for using excessive force. “After my daughter was detained [to start her prison term], she and her father filed separate complaints against the …