Al-Arabia – Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards will play an active role in establishing a lasting “ceasefire” in crisis-hit Syria, its chief commander Mohammad Ali Jafari said, adding that disarming Lebanon’s Hezbollah was non-negotiable, state TV reported on Thursday. “Hezbollah must be armed to fight against the enemy of the Lebanese nation which is Israel. Naturally they should have the best …

VOA – The British daily The Guardian has reported that authorities in Iran have set a date for the trial of British-Iranian citizen Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, citing the woman’s husband. Richard Ratcliffe told the newspaper that his wife will appear in court Dec. 10 to face charges of spreading propaganda. Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who was arrested in Tehran in April 2016, is serving …

CHRI – Iran has responded to a draft UN resolution condemning the country’s human rights record by attempting to deflect responsibility and verbally criticizing the sponsors of the draft. After UN member states adopted the draft resolution by the UN’s Third Committee on Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Affair on November 14, 2017, the country’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Ghasemi accused …

CHRI – On November 21, 2017, the users of an Iranian transportation app known as Snapp received a notification that they would no longer be able to use the app unless they deleted the Waze navigation app from their phone. The ban on Waze, ordered by Iran’s Prosecutor General Mohammad Jafar Montazeri, is a major violation of personal privacy rights …

“Does Mr. Rouhani know what his Intelligence Ministry is up to?” Within the course of the same week, two Sunni Muslim politicians were warned by Iran’s Intelligence Ministry to stop advocating for Sunni Muslims rights, especially the inclusion of Sunnis in the president’s cabinet, the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) has learned. Hasel Daseh, a Kurdish Sunni former …

Al- Monitor – On Nov. 22, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani traveled to the Russian Black Sea city of Sochi for a trilateral meeting with his Russian and Turkish counterparts. The summit has been described as highly important for the future of Syria, particularly given the three leaders’ call for a Syrian congress to be formed to discuss the future of …

Al-Monitor – European powers, most notably Britain, have rebuffed US President Donald Trump’s Oct. 13 refusal to certify that the landmark nuclear agreement with Iran meets congressional requirements. Issuing a joint statement almost immediately afterward, UK Prime Minister Theresa May and her French and German counterparts reasserted their commitment to the nuclear deal, expressing concern over Trump’s new Iran strategy. …

Reuters – Iran is pushing to retain customers for its oil in Asia, hoping that price reductions will boost the appeal of its crude compared with other Middle Eastern supply even as the potential threat of further U.S. sanctions on the country looms. The National Iranian Oil Company has in the last few weeks offered spot cargoes, ranging from light …

thetower – Iran-backed Shia militia forces have been accused by a parliamentarian of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in the autonomous region in northern Iraq of engaging in “flagrant injustice” toward the Christian minority, Ben Cohen reported in The Algemeiner on Monday. Wahida Yaqo Hormuz, a Christian representative in the Kurdish parliament, said she had alerted international human rights organizations …

rudaw – – Iran has declared the end of ISIS. The Islamic Republic has expanded its influence across Iraq and Syria during the war with the extremist group. “Today with God’s guidance and the resistance of people in the region we can say that this evil has either been lifted from the head of the people or has been reduced,” …