Al-Arabia – General Joseph Votel, commander of the US Central Command, has said Iran is central to an “expensive and expansive campaign of malign activity” in the Middle East.

Iran-HRM – A member of Iranian Parliment says 50 percent of the country’s population live in absolute poverty, and the poverty line has reached close to 6 million tomans (about 1.370 dollars).

Iran-HRM – Seven children are thought missing during a recent police raid on an immigrant neighborhood in south of the Capital, yet no government official has taken action to locate them. One of the children Shahnavaz, 11, who was older than the others could find his way back home, but there is no information on the other six.

RFL/RE – The leaders of Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Turkmenistan met in Aqtau, Kazakhstan, on August 12 for what was supposed to be the long-awaited signing of a convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea.

RFL/RE – Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi’s visit to Iran has been cancelled after he said he had no choice but to abide by U.S. sanctions against Tehran, even though he disagreed with their imposition.

VOA – Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Monday government mismanagement has hurt Iran’s economy more than U.S. sanctions.

Amnesty International is calling on the Iranian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release activist Ebrahim Nouri, as well as anyone else still arbitrarily detained after the arrest of around 120 people in connection with two separate Azerbaijani Turkic cultural gatherings that took place in July and August 2018.

Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), Namegh Deldel, a Sunni prisoner of conscience detained in Karaj’s Rajai Shahr Prison (Hall 21 of Ward 7), has been on hunger strike since August 1, 2018, in protest to the lack of attention from authorities to his medical needs.

Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA)- Nader Afshari, a political activist who was arrested by Ministry of Intelligence agents on August 1, 2018 during the most recent wave of popular protests in the city of Karaj, continues to be held incommunicado.

Radiofarda – The leaders of Iran, Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and the Republic of Azerbaijan’s signed a regional convention regarding the legal regime of the Caspian Sea during their summit in Aktau, Kazakhstan on Sunday August 12.