Iran Human Rights –  Two juvenile offenders were executed in Kerman (southeastern Iran) and Tabriz (northwestern Iran) prisons. This is in addition to the more than 70 people who have been executed since the beginning of 2017. Iran Human Rights calls for international reactions to the wave of executions and in particular juvenile executions in Iran. “We want abolition of …

RFL/RE – Iran’s President Hassan Rohani has criticized the anti- immigration policies of his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump, saying now was “not the time to build walls between nations.” Rohani made the comments on January 28 at a tourism convention in the Iranian capital. “They have forgotten that the Berlin Wall collapsed many years ago,” he said. “Even if there …

RFL/RE – U.S. President Donald Trump has issued orders indefinitely barring Syrian refugees from the United States and temporarily suspending visits from a wide swathe of other Muslim countries. Vowing to protect the country from “foreign terrorists,” Trump on January 27 ordered the suspension of all immigration from seven predominantly Muslim countries for 90 days until a rigorous new “extreme …

Al-monitor — One of the key underlying economic challenges of Iran is the current underfunding of its pension system. Make no mistake: Pension reform must be a priority for the country. Figures posted by the Ministry of Cooperative, Labor and Social Welfare show that “a major portion of pension funds have either gone completely bust or are among the ones …

Iranhumanrights.org – Shahnaz Akmali, the mother of a well-known victim of the Islamic Republic’s violent crackdown on the Green Movement, which grew out of the widespread protests against the results of Iran’s 2009 presidential election, was arrested by the Intelligence Ministry on January 25, 2017. “Agents of the Intelligence Ministry searched Akmali’s house (in Tehran), confiscated some of her belongings and took her to an …

PayvandNews – The 9th edition of the Fajr International Festival of Visual Arts opened at Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art on Sunday. The ceremony started with honoring those active in promoting the festival through the past year including news agencies, publications, and cultural offices. Mehr News Agency, which had an active role in covering the news of the festival, was also among …

PayvandNews – There is growing uncertainty around the fate of the nuclear deal with Iran and, more broadly, intentions of the Trump administration regarding that country. Meanwhile, the world, including the American supporters of the agreement-also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)- increasingly looks to Europe to safeguard it. The stakes could not be higher. Not only …

PayvandNews – Reports say Iran has sent at least two supertankers to Europe in what appears to be the country’s first direct shipment of crude oil to EU clients after the removal of sanctions last year. A report by the Financial Times said two giant vessels called ‘Snow’ and ‘Huge’ were already on their way towards the storage and trading …

RFL/RE – Britain’s top diplomat says the West may have to rethink its long-standing demand that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad step down as part of any peace deal ending Syria’s civil war. “We were wedded for a long time to the mantra that Assad must go. We haven’t at any stage been able to make that happen,” Foreign Secretary Boris …

RFL/RE – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he hopes the election of U.S. President Donald Trump will end the world’s “deafening silence” on Iranian threats against the Jewish state and its citizens. Speaking to diplomats in Jerusalem ahead of International Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 26, Netanyahu said that while anti-Semitism is on the rise everywhere, only Iran’s …