RFL/RE – An Arab separatist group in Iran has claimed carrying out two pipeline bombings in the country’s oil-rich southwest. The Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Al-Ahwaz said on its website on January 4 that its militants had blown up two oil pipelines in coordinated attacks in the Khuzestan region two days earlier. The Interior Ministry denied the …

RFL/RE  – Turkey’s foreign minister has called on Iran to exert pressure on the Syrian government and its allies to stop violating a cease-fire in Syria. “Iran should reassert its authority over the Shi’ite militias and the regime in Syria,” Mevlut Cavusoglu told Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency on January 4. Iran, along with Russia, is a key ally of …

Al-Arabia – Iran has denied that members of Lebanon’s Hezbollah, fighting alongside the Syrian regime, will exit Syrian territories. Following a meeting with former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, Ali Akbar Velayati, the Iranian supreme leaders’ advisor on international affairs, said reports about the possibility of withdrawing all foreign militias present in Syria after the fighting stops is false “propaganda” …

Radiozamaneh – After the #SaveArash successful twitter campaign in support of Arash Sadeghi, Iranians are now showing solidarity with Ali Shariati, a reformist political prisoner who is serving a five-year sentence for taking part in a protest apposing serial acid attacks against women in Isfahan, Iran. Shriati is objecting his five year sentence which he says is illegal. His demands …

Radiozamaneh – Saeed Shirzad, Iranian activist and member of Society against Child Labour has been on hunger strike for 29 days. He has responded to an earlier plea from the Mothers of Khavaran (mourning mothers of political prisoners who were executed) to end his hunger strike saying the only way he can end his hunger strike is when he can …

Al-monitor – The tensions and clashes between conservative judiciary chief Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani and moderate President Hassan Rouhani have entered a new phase, with Larijani saying Rouhani has been accused of taking money from jailed tycoon Babak Zanjani. AUTHOR Rohollah Faghihi On Dec. 2, at the specialized meeting of the community of supervision and inspection of the government, ministries, organizations and local …

Al-monitor – After the Dec. 29 announcement that Russia and Turkey had reached an agreement on a nationwide cease-fire in Syria, the United Nations Security Council on Dec. 31 unanimously approved a resolution welcoming the new effort to help resolve the Syrian crisis. Such unanimous international support, together with the overall effective implementation of the cease-fire by the concerned parties on the ground since Dec. 30, …

PayvandNews – The World Bank says Iran’s foreign debts rose slightly in 2015 but were still significantly lower than 2011 when the country faced a series of US-led sanctions. World Bank’s “International Debt Statistics 2017” report: https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/25697/9781464809941.pdf?sequence=5&isAllowed=y A report by the World Bank titled “International Debt Statistics 2017” showed that Iran’s debts for 2015 stood at $6.32 billion. The figure …

PayvandNews – Iran’s media on Tuesday cheered as the Parliament voted to end a hefty housing project that President Hassan Rouhani had previously blamed for shooting up inflation to above 40 percent over the past years. The Parliamentarians in their debates over Iran’s Sixth Five-Year National Development Plan (2020-2025) voted to have Maskan Bank allocate the required funds for completing …

Guardian – Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, sentenced on secret charges in September, is now being held with other women at Tehran’s Evin prison The toddler is currently being looked after by her grandparents. Photograph: Family Handout/PA A British-Iranian woman being held in an Iranian prison has been released from solitary confinement, her husband has said. Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, 37, was sentenced in September …