telesurtv – “Iran has already suffered from the loss of the Asiatic lion and the Caspian tiger. Now we are about to see the Asiatic cheetah go extinct as well.” Asiatic cheetahs are facing the threat of being extinct, following the United Nations decision to discontinue funding its protectorship. Conservationists believe that fewer than 50 of these ‘big cats’ remain …

RFL/RE – Over the past few years, several brutal cases of mistreatment of dogs and other animals in Iran have gone viral on social media, sparking rare public protests and calls for legislation to protect animals and punish those who harm them. Those calls are now on their way to being answered, as the country’s first draft legislation against animal …

Al-Arabia – Iranian state television broadcast on Sunday what it described as the confessions of an Iranian academic with Swedish residency who it said had provided information to Israel to help it assassinate several senior nuclear scientists. His wife, speaking by telephone from Stockholm, said he had been forced by his interogators to read the confession. Iran’s Supreme Court upheld …

VOA —Iran on Sunday criticized French President Emmanuel Macron over his tough stance toward Tehran and said Paris would soon lose its international credibility if it “blindly follows” U.S. President Donald Trump. Tensions between Iran and France have risen in recent months after Macron said Tehran should be less aggressive in the Middle East, citing in particular its involvement in …

Iran Human Rights –  A prisoner was hanged in public in Khoy (Northwestern Iran) on murder charges. According to IRIB News Agency, on the morning of Thursday December 14, a prisoner was hanged in public in one of the streets of Khoy. The 36 year-old prisoner was charged with murder during a street fight in 2012. The report didn’t mention …

RFL/RE – U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis says Washington with deal with Iran through a “diplomatically-led effort,” a day after a top U.S. diplomat said Tehran was supplying weapons to the Huthi rebels in Yemen.

RFL/RE – An executive at Turkey’s state-owned Halkbank has denied that he helped Iran evade U.S. sanctions as he took the witness stand in his defense in a high-profile sanctions case unfolding in New York.

HRW – Iranian authorities should immediately release Reza Shahabi, a prominent labor activist, after he suffered a possible stroke in prison, Human Rights Watch said today. Medical experts who examined Shahabi said that he should be released for medical reasons.

Al-Arabia – A Canadian-Iranian man was sentenced Friday to 32 months in prison for violating US sanctions against Iran.

Al-Arabia – An Iranian blogger granted asylum in Israel has been questioned by its Shin Bet internal security service on suspicion of illegal communication with Iran, an Israeli official said on Friday.