CHRI – Iranian police and security forces dispersed a gathering marking the 17th anniversary of popular poet Ahmad Shamlu’s death and arrested several participants, including a senior member of the Iranian Writers Association (IWA), a spokesman for the group told the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI). “This year, as in last year, we were not allowed to mark this day,” said Reza Khandan …

Al-monitor – Iranians’ approval of the 2015 nuclear deal is growing, but so is their appetite for restarting the country’s suspended program if the Donald Trump administration stops implementing the accord. AUTHOR Barbara Slavin According to a survey released today by the Center for International and Security Studies at Maryland (CISSM) and IranPoll.com, 67.1% of Iranians now approve of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of …

Al-Monitor — It has become customary for Iran’s Reformists to unite in the face of defeat and to attack one another in times of success. With their rivals vanquished in consecutive victories in presidential, parliamentary and city council elections, differences within the Reformist camp are being highlighted, as occurred under Reformist President Mohammad Khatami (1997-2005). AUTHOR Saeid Jafari Ahead of the 2016 parliamentary elections, the Reform …

RFL/RE – A cybersecurity firm says hackers working for the Iranian government have impersonated a young female photographer on social media to lure men working in key industries of Tehran’s regional rivals. Dell SecureWorks on July 27 said its research showed Iran engaged in a campaign to trap targets in a so-called “honey pot,” an espionage tactic involving seduction and often …

RFL/RE – Former Vice President Hamid Baghaei has criticized Iran’s judiciary and the treatment of prisoners following his release on bail. http://www.rferl.org/a/28643345.html “Go and see what’s happening in our prisons,” Baghaei, who is accused of corruption, said after his release late on July 26. “There was one person in my cell. He was in there for 13 months without even …

Al-Arabia – The United States on Thursday hit out at Iran over its test of a satellite-launch rocket, saying it appeared to be a violation of UN Security Council resolutions and an act that undermined regional stability . “We consider that to be continued ballistic missile development,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert told reporters. “We consider this to be provocative action.” …

VOA – The Islamic State group has issued a short new video in which it threatens the Islamic Republic of Iran and vows to destabilize the country with terrorist attacks. The video, released Tuesday, depicts a teenage boy in military uniform who directly looks at the camera and speaks Persian with a bold voice, threatening the regime. The teenager is introduced …

CHRI – Six Years Later, Karroubi Still Awaiting First Trial Former presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi, under extrajudicial house arrest since 2011, is recovering in the hospital after undergoing an emergency medical procedure on July 26, 2017. “My father was taken into the operating room at 7 a.m. Wednesday morning and underwent a TIPS procedure that corrected the problem in his vein, …

CHRI – The families of prisoners facing imminent execution gathered in front of the judiciary’s headquarters in Tehran on July 26, 2017 to demand a halt to pending executions until Iran’s Parliament votes on a bill that would remove the death penalty for low-level drug-related convictions. Iraj Ghobadi and Kavous Maleki were transferred to solitary confinement in Parsilon Prison in Khorramabad, …

CHRI – Iranian Judiciary Chief Sadegh Larijani has responded to the Trump administration’s recent demand that Iran free imprisoned US citizens by demanding that the US free Iranians held in US prisons. The judicial official’s comments did not address the fact that US citizens who have been and are currently imprisoned in Iran have been sentenced in secret trials on vague …