RFL/RE – Iran is ready to do business with American oil companies even though the United States still prohibits them from operating in the country, Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh has said. “American companies can come to Iran and benefit so [U.S. President Donald Trump] won’t be upset,” Zanganeh said, according to SHANA, the news site of the Iranian Oil Ministry. Though …

RFL/RE – A top adviser to Iran’s supreme leader has warned European governments against trying to negotiate new conditions to keep the 2015 nuclear deal alive. “To say that they accept the JCPOA [nuclear deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action] but should negotiate on Iran’s regional presence or talk about Iran’s missile defenses is to set conditions on …

RFL/RE – A senior Russian diplomat says he expects to hold talks with an Iranian counterpart this week to discuss the situation surrounding the Iran nuclear deal following U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat to abandon the multinational accord if it is not amended. The Interfax news agency quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying on October 17 that he plans …

VOA – The U.S.-led coalition to defeat Islamic State says local forces have retaken 87% of the territory once held by ISIS in Iraq and Syria. But as the terror group’s defeat becomes imminent in Iraq, Iraqis are starting to shift their focus to a more complicated dispute: Iraqi Kurds’ desire for independence. As VOA Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb reports, the …

Radiozamaneh – The suspension of Sepanta Niknam, the Zoroastrian Yazd City Councillor by the Administrative Court of Justice has sparked outrage amongst his peers and the public. A defeated hardliner candidate of the municipal elections has targeted Niknam for not being Muslim and has argued non-Muslims cannot run for office in a Muslim majority country. Sepanta Niknam, the Zoroastrian Yazd City Councillor …

CHRI- The Iranian judiciary is refusing to release reformist journalist Sasan Aghaei, who has been detained for more than two months in solitary confinement despite calls for his release by members of Parliament. Since August 12, 2017, the deputy editor-in-chief of the reformist Etemad newspaper has been held in solitary confinement in Evin Prison’s Ward 241, controlled by the judiciary’s intelligence branch. “I ask judicial officials …

Al-Monitor – Around 8 p.m. on Oct. 15, an Iranian general from the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) accompanied by Iraqi Commanders Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis and Hadi al-Ameri sat down with the Kurdish commanders in Kirkuk. The IRGC commander, known only by his surname, Eqbalpour, who works closely with Quds Force chief Qasem Soleimani, told the Kurds to give up the city peacefully. “If you …

PayvandNews – How do France, Germany, and the United Kingdom intend to react to the Iran policy that President Donald Trump announced on October 13? The leaders of these states put out a statement late on October 13 that is ambiguous. The relevant passage reads: By Peter Jenkins (source: LobeLog) Emmanuel Macron, Angela Merkel, and Donald Trump At the same time as …

PayvandNews – Yazd is the first adobe city in the world and is the second historical city after Venice, Italy. Yazd in central Iran has been a manifestation of the brightest cultural heritage and ancient civilization throughout history with human settlement in Yazd dating back to the third millennium BCE. By: Mina Ahmadi, Mehr News Agency Tribes, who migrated from Balkh to …

VOA – President Donald Trump says his decision not to recertify Iran’s compliance with the Iran nuclear deal could lead to its “total termination.”  “That’s a very real possibility,” Trump said Monday as he began a meeting with his Cabinet at the White House. “Some people say that’s a greater possibility.” Trump depiction by Iranian cartoonist Sana Hosseinipour, Ghanoon daily In remarks that …