HRANA News Agency  –Baha’is living in Iran are deprived of their basic human and civil rights due to their religious believe. Discrimination, demonizing, enmity, prejudice, hatred, persecution, murder and imprisonment are to name some forms of anti-Baha’i in Iran. Currently there are many Baha’I citizens imprisoned across the country. The following focuses on the imprisoned Baha’is in the province of …

CHRI – Several Journalists Arrested in 2017 for Alleged Connections With Amad News Reformist journalist Sasan Aghaei’s family has not heard a word from him since he was arrested by security agents without a warrant at the office of the reformist Etemad newspaper on August 12, 2017. “It has been ten days since he was detained and he has not made a single phone call. …

Al-Monitor – Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani rarely makes political speeches, but on Aug. 20, the commander of Iran’s Quds Force warned that Iran faces two dangers, one internal and the other external. AUTHORAl-Monitor Staff Soleimani described the external threat as “an invasion against the Islamic world,” while the internal threat was “religious sedition.” Given that the speech was in honor of World Mosque Day, Soleimani stressed the importance of mosques in combating …

Al-Arabia – Iran’s former president Mohammad Khatami has called on Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to end the house arrest of opposition leaders, Khatami’s website reported Sunday, the first such public call by a senior political figure. The continuing detention of Mirhossein Mousavi and fellow reformist Mehdi Karroubi, both of whom disputed the results of the 2009 presidential election that triggered …

CHRI – Now that detained political leader Mehdi Karroubi has ended his life-threatening hunger strike, all eyes are on President Hassan Rouhani to see if he will honor Karroubi’s second demand: a public trial. The 79-year-old cleric agreed to end his hunger strike the day after he began it after Health Minister Hassan Ghazizadeh Hashemi and Deputy Intelligence Minister Mohammad Pourfallah visited him …

PayvandNews – The tourist flow from the U.S. to Iran has not been slowed down as its year-on-year rate shows no decrease in the stream, says the chief executive of the Iranian Tour Operators Association. Related Iran travel website: irandoostan.com “U.S. tourist arrivals to Iran have not come to a halt and the number of inbound tourists from the U.S. during the …

RFL/RE – Iran’s parliament on August 20 approved all but one of the cabinet nominees submitted by President Hassan Rohani, who said protecting the landmark 2015 deal to curb Tehran’s nuclear activities in exchange for an easing of sanctions would be the key foreign policy priority for his new government. President Rohani’s new cabinet after holding their first session (source: ISNA) …

CHRI – To protest being returned to prison two years after he was released, prominent labor activist Reza Shahabi started a hunger strike on August 9, 2017, in Rajaee Shahr Prison in Karaj, 31 miles east of Tehran. Reza Shahabi “The prosecutor had told Shahabi and his family that he only had to spend three more months in prison to cover …

RFL/RE – Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi is young and successful, but allegations about his past could come back to haunt him.  The 36-year-old electrical engineer, ICT manager, and deputy communications minister was nominated last week by Iranian President Hassan Rohani to lead the country’s Communications Ministry. He was approved, along with 15 other cabinet picks, by parliament on August 20.  Jahromi thus …

PayvandNews – Natanz Central Mosque (Masjid-e Jameh) is located near Sheikh Abdol Samad Isfahani Tomb in the city of Natanz in Iran’s Isfahan province. This four-iwan central mosque is one of the best preserved of all Ilkhanid-era buildings, dating from the early 14th century. Look out for the very worn, but intricately carved wooden door at the entrance to the mosque. Natanz Central Mosque (Masjid-e …