RFL/RE – The White House has vowed to find a former FBI agent who mysteriously disappeared a decade ago in Iran. Robert Levinson, who disappeared while visiting Iran’s Kish resort island in 2007, was not among five Americans freed by Iran in a prisoner exchange last year after sanctions over its nuclear program were lifted. Levinson was working for the …

Al-Arabia – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Thursday there could never be peace in Syria as long as there was an Iranian presence there. “We discussed at length the matter of Iran, its objectives and intentions in Syria, and I clarified that there cannot be a peace deal in Syria when Iran …

VOA – Iran’s supreme leader criticized the country’s slow pace of economic recovery on Thursday despite the lifting of sanctions and called on President Hassan Rouhani’s government to champion greater self-sufficiency, state TV reported. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s criticism comes ahead of Iran’s presidential election in May, when the pragmatist president is expected to seek re-election. “Of course the government has …

Al-monitor – Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on March 8 made a rare trip to Doha to meet his counterpart, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani, as well as the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. The last time Zarif traveled to Doha was in 2015, as part of efforts to reassure Arab neighbors in the Persian Gulf …

PayvandNews – “The Line for Salute”, a painting by the Qajar-era artist and architect Abdollah Khan, has been restored by a team of Iranian experts. The painting, which depicts a long queue of the royals and elites waiting to salute Qajar king Fath’Ali Shah, was unveiled for the first time after its restoration at the Negarestan Garden Museum in Tehran …

PayvandNews – The governor of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) says a Luxembourg court has rejected the US efforts to freeze $1.6 billion of Iranian assets in the European country, adding that Washington has appealed the ruling. “A Luxembourg court dismissed the US request for the freeze of $1.6 billion of Iranian assets in its first verdict, and the …

Al-Arabia – The United States supports the UN-led Syria peace talks, UN Ambassador Nikki Haley said on Wednesday, saying Syria could no longer be a “safe haven for terrorists” and that it was important “we get Iran and their proxies out.” Haley spoke to reporters after UN Syria mediator Staffan de Mistura briefed the Security Council behind closed doors on …

Iranhumanrights.org – In a joint statement, 20 human rights organizations including the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) called on the Iranian authorities to stop the harassment, intimidation and prosecution of human rights defenders seeking truth and justice on behalf of individuals who were summarily executed or forcibly disappeared during the 1980s and their families. Over the past few …

Al-monitor – On March 6, The New York Times reported that a Luxembourg court has ordered the freezing of $1.6 billion of Central Bank of Iran (CBI) assets. The move came after a group of victims of the Sept. 11 attacks, who had won a default judgment against Iran in the United States, filed a lawsuit in the European court to try to enforce …

Al-monitor – On March 6, The New York Times reported that a Luxembourg court has ordered the freezing of $1.6 billion of Central Bank of Iran (CBI) assets. The move came after a group of victims of the Sept. 11 attacks, who had won a default judgment against Iran in the United States, filed a lawsuit in the European court to try to enforce …