PayvandNews  – The CEO of Iran’s national flag-carrier Iran Air said Iran will utilize the newly received ATR passenger jets purchased from the European plane maker ATR to expand regional flights, IRIB news reported. Farzaneh Sharafbaf, CEO of Iran’s national flag-carrier Iran Air (photo by Islamic Republic News Agency) Farzaneh Sharafbafi made the remarks answering questions of the reporters on the sidelines …

PayvandNews – US Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke says Washington is now better placed to use its “economic dominance” to cut Iran’s oil revenues. American companies have been jacking up shale oil production since President Donald Trump walked away from the Paris climate treaty. US ability to extract energy from vast shale formations has put the country on the brink of …

PayvandNews – Turkey’s Military Chief of Staff General Hulusi Akar is in Tehran for talks with Iran’s top military and political officials, expected to tackle border security and counter-terrorism along with regional issues.  Akar arrived in Tehran late Sunday on the invitation of his Iranian counterpart Major General Mohammad Baqeri who visited Ankara in mid-August, the first by an Iranian chief …

RFL/RE – Human Rights Watch says Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) has been recruiting Afghan immigrant children living in Iran to fight in the conflict in Syria. The New York-based rights advocate said in a statement released on October 1 that Afghan children as young as 14 have fought in the Fatemiyun division, an exclusively Afghan armed group supported by …

Iran Human Rights –  Two prisoners were executed, one at Kerman prison and another at Tabriz Central Prison. The total number of the executions in Urmia on Tuesday has increased to two. Execution of Prisoner in Kerman According to a report by ISNA and the deputy of Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor’s Office for Central Kerman Province, a prisoner who was charged …

VOA – Iranian diplomats say they expect President Donald Trump to abandon the international deal restricting Tehran’s nuclear activities. They are intensifying their lobbying of European governments, especially the signatories to the agreement, France, Britain and Germany, hoping they can dissuade the U.S. administration from repudiating the agreement. And in the event the U.S. repudiates the deal, then Tehran is urging …

PayvandNews – Iran’s Ministry of Roads and Urban Development has warned companies against shipment of oil products to and from the Iraqi Kurdistan “until further notice,” Iranian news agencies reported on Saturday.  The decision is in line with Tehran’s series of measures in response to a referendum held in the semi-autonomous region on possible secession from Iraq which has drawn international …

CHRI – An attorney representing people maimed by mines in Iran’s border regions says the victims are not only entitled to damages under the country’s Islamic Penal Code, but could also qualify for funds set aside by the Interior Ministry’s Article 2 Commission for wounded veterans. Hossein Ahmadiniaz told the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) on September 27, 2017 …

CHRI – The situation of Iran’s Sunni Muslims has not improved since Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei pointed out in a sermon that minorities are constitutionally protected from discrimination, a former Sunni member of Parliament told the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI).  “The supreme leader’s response gave Mr. [Hassan] Rouhani a very good opportunity to take steps towards eliminating discrimination …

IOPHR – Mr. Kazemeini Boroujerdi, the political prisoner of conscience, was summoned for the third time to the Special Court of Clergy on Monday morning, September 11, 2017, after eight months of being granted a medical leave. Although his ten years of jail sentence was terminated in 2016, but it had been extended to eleven years for no reason. Yet he …