RFL/RE – Iran said it will begin selling 100,000 barrels of oil a day to Russia within the next 15 days and receive payment half in cash and half in goods and services, Iranian news media reported on February 21. Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh provided details about the deal after meeting Russian Energy Minister Aleksandr Novak in Tehran, …

IOPHR – On Friday and Saturday 17 and 18th of February 2017, ceremonies commemorating the anniversary of Sufi day were held in Hamburg and Hanover Germany. On Friday and Saturday 17 and 18th of February cultural ceremonies commemorating the anniversary of Sufi day were held in Hamburg and Hanover Germany. These popular gatherings brought together professors and scholars from distinguished …

RFL/RE – Iran’s supreme leader has labelled Israel a “fake entity” and has called its creation “one of the dirty chapters of history that will be closed, with the grace of God.” Speaking on February 21 in Tehran at the Sixth International Conference in Support of the Palestinian Intifada, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the plight of the Palestinian …

Al-Arabia – Iran summoned the Turkish ambassador in Tehran on over comments made by Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and President Tayyip Erdogan accusing the Islamic Republic of destabilizing the region. Tehran and Ankara support opposite sides in the conflict in Syria with mostly Shi’ite Iran backing the government of President Bashar Assad while Turkey, which is majority Sunni, has …

Iran Human Rights –  Nine prisoners have reportedly been hanged in Iran on drug related charges. Two Prisoners Executed in Dizel Abad (Kermanshah province, western Iran) According to close sources, two prisoners were hanged on drug related charges on Saturday February 18 at Dizsel Abad Prison. The prisoners have been identified as Mohammad Karim Azizpanah, 43 years of age, sentenced …

Iranhumanrights.org – Iranian-born Swedish resident Ahmadreza Jalali, detained in Iran since April 2016, began a second hunger strike in Evin Prison on February 15, 2017 to protest against his lawyers being dismissed by the judge shortly before his trial, the Campaign for Human Rights in Iran has learned. Jalali’s wife, Vida Mehran-nia, also told the Campaign that her husband was …

Iranhumanrights.org – A criminal court in Tehran has sentenced three alleged thieves to hand amputations and other punishments for committing robbery, according to a local newspaper. Farhikhtegan newspaper reported on February 13, 2017 that the sentences also include three years of imprisonment for each of the unnamed defendants and that they must return the property they have been accused of stealing. “The …

PayvandNews – The European Union (EU) and the United Nations’ nuclear agency have reaffirmed their support for the 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and six other countries.  Media outlets reported on Friday that the two sides had communicated the stance in a joint statement a day earlier following the fifth meeting of their senior officials. The deal, officially titled the …

PayvandNews – Officials in charge of Lake Urmia restoration program have said the government has not allocated budget to the project in the next Iranian calendar year (March 2017-March 2018) and this could do irreparable damage to the lake’s restoration program. Lake Urmia, northwestern Iran, which used to be the largest lake in the Middle East and the sixth-largest saltwater …

RFL/RE – Iranian chess officials have barred two teen siblings from domestic chess tournaments and the national team for crossing some of the religious establishment’s so-called red lines at an international chess event. Borna (L) and Dorsa Derakhshani The Iranian National Chess Team dismissed 18-year-old Dorsa Derakhshani for appearing at the Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival 2017, which ran from January …