CHRI -Javad Azari Jahromi Enters Spotlight By Unblocking YouTube and Blogger in Universities President Hassan Rouhani is considering nominating a former top intelligence official in charge of surveillance from the Ahmadinejad administration to serve in his cabinet, a source in the Information and Communications Technology Ministry told the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI). Rouhani, who will submit his …

AL-monitor – President Hassan Rouhani attended his endorsement ceremony Aug. 3 with Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the heads of the other two branches of government. The more significant day for Rouhani, however, will be his swearing-in ceremony Aug. 5, when, in front of an open session of parliament, he will introduce his new Cabinet. Reports that Rouhani consulted with Khamenei over potential candidates have caused the president considerable controversy …

Al-Monitor  — At the Imam Khomeini Hussainiya prayer hall, the residence of Iran’s supreme leader, an orchestra played the Iranian national anthem. Almost every senior official in the Islamic Republic was present to witness Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei endorse the results of the May 19 presidential elections and inaugurate the second term of President Hassan Rouhani. As the music faded, a recitation of verses …

Al-Arabia – Iran said on Thursday that new sanctions imposed by the United States had violated its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers and that the country would respond. “We believe that the nuclear deal has been violated and we will react appropriately,” deputy foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said on state television, following news that US President Donald Trump had signed …

Al-Arabia – Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani was officially sworn in for a second term on Thursday at a ceremony overseen by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamanei. “I confirm the vote and appoint you as president of the republic,” Khamenei said in front of a packed audience of Iranian officials. Khamenei applauded the high turnout and “enthusiastic participation” in the May election …

VOA —The United States, Britain, France and Germany have called Iran’s recent rocket test “inconsistent” with a U.N. Security Council resolution and asked the U.N. chief to investigate it. “This launch therefore represents a threatening and provocative step by Iran,” says the letter sent Wednesday to U.N. Secretary-General António Gutteres and the president of the Security Council by the United …

Iran Human Rights  -On the one-year anniversary of the group execution of 25 Sunni prisoners in Rajai Shahr Prison, three Sunni prisoners in the same prison were transferred to solitary confinement in preparation for their executions. On the morning of Wednesday August 2, three prisoners in Karaj’s Rajai Shahr Prison were reportedly transferred to solitary confinement in preparation for their …

CHRI – Karroubi and Mousavi’s Health in Peril After Six Years of Forced Isolation More than six years into their extrajudicial house arrest, the health of leading Iranian political opposition leaders is in grave danger, renewing urgent calls in Iran for their freedom. The Iranian authorities should immediately release and provide full medical care to Mehdi Karroubi, who was recently hospitalized, …

CHRI – Esmail Abdi’s Six-Year Sentence Influenced by IRGC The former secretary general of the Iranian Teachers’ Trade Association (ITTA) has been returned to Evin Prison to continue serving a six-year prison sentence for his peaceful activism despite being promised extended furlough by a judicial official. “Esmail Abdi, who was on furlough after posting bail, was arrested this morning [July 27] without prior …

Al-monitor – On May 2, Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed bin Salman (now the crown prince) said in a television interview that dialogue with Iran was impossible due to Iranians’ belief in the Shiite Messiah. “Their stance is that the awaited Mahdi will come, and they need to create a fertile environment for the arrival of the awaited Mahdi, and they need to take over the Islamic world,” bin …