CHRI – A lawyer in Iran is speaking out about sexism in the country’s legal code after the families of two children who died in a fire at an elementary school were denied full compensation because the victims were girls. “In the case of the two innocent girls who died from burns in this terrible incident, the Diyah allocated for …

Al-Monitor – After US President Donald Trump’s ill-advised decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, some headlines have noted that Iran’s hard-liners have been empowered as a result. While that may be true — and extremists in Tehran certainly claim as much — it also paints an incomplete picture. Trump’s Jerusalem fiasco has, in fact, also been a boon to …

Al-Monitor – Following various reports surfacing on the internet over Iran conceding too much of its share of the Caspian Sea, a senior Iranian diplomat has denied it, saying the inland lake is not a “watermelon” that must be divided into five equal parts. In an interview Dec. 12, former Deputy Foreign Minister for Asia-Pacific Affairs Ebrahim Rahimpour stated that …

RFL/RE  – Iran’s southeastern province of Kerman has been hit by at least two strong quakes in recent days, injuring at least 18 people and damaging around 20 buildings, state media reported. The first quake of magnitude 5.9 struck on early on December 12 about 56 kilometers north of Kerman, a city with a population of more than 820,000. Damage …

PayvandNews – Tehran Stock Exchange’s main index, TEDPIX, broke an all-time high record in Wednesday trading by surging into the 93,000 lane.  TEDPIX gained 654 points to stand at 93,283, a level never seen in the Exchange’s history since establishment in 1966. Source: Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE) The bulk of the growth was provided by industrial giants such as Tamin Petroleum …

PayandNews – President Donald Trump’s official proclamation that the US accepts Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, along with preparations to move the American embassy there from Tel Aviv, has predictably upset apple carts across the Middle East and beyond. The period just ahead will be dominated by diplomatic responses, an increase in violence, and perhaps terrorist acts. By Robert …

iranian.com – In the week leading up to Human Rights Day on December 10th, Federica Mogherini, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, had a typically busy week meeting with world leaders. For this reason, our inside sources tell us, MEK leader Maryam Rajavi brought forward a planned trip to the European Parliament hoping she would bump …

PayvandNews – Iran says its exports of natural gas saw a huge rise over a period of five months starting 21 March 201 in what it says was a result of rising supplies to its western neighbor Iraq. Behzad Babazadeh, the director for international affairs of the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC), was quoted by the domestic media as saying …

RFL/RE – France’s foreign minister has accused Iran of trying to create an “axis” of military and political influence stretching from Tehran through Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon to the Mediterranean Sea. Speaking in an interview with France 2 television broadcast on December 12, Jean-Yves Le Drian said that rather than pursue ambitions to expand its military presence in the region, …

Al-Arabia – Iran’s southeastern province of Kerman was hit by multiple strong quakes on Tuesday and Wednesday, injuring at least 18 people and damaging some 20 houses, state media reported. The first quake of magnitude 5.9 struck on Tuesday morning 35 miles (56 km) north of Kerman, a city with a population of more than 820,000. The tremor, initially reported …