rferl.org – Iran will maintain its military presence in Syria despite demands from the United States and Israel that it withdraw, Iran’s military attache in Damascus has said.

rferl.org – Iranian courts have sentenced more than 200 members of a Sufi order to prison terms and other punishments over the past four months in one of the largest crackdowns against a religious minority in Iran in a decade, Human Rights Watch (HRW) says.

rferl.org – Security forces have arrested “tens of spies” working in Iran’s governmental bodies as part of a crackdown on espionage and dual nationals, the country’s intelligence minister has said.

IranHR – Iran Human Rights (Aug 27, 2018): A prisoner was executed at Ardabil Central Prison on murder charges. According to a close source, on the morning of Sunday, August 26, a prisoner was executed at Ardabil central prison. The prisoner, sentenced to death on murder charges, was identified as Shahram Mohammadi, 37.

CHRI – Baquer Namazi, an Iranian American dual national who was imprisoned in Iran in February 2016, has been on furlough “for a considerable length of time” to receive treatment for heart complications, his lawyer Mehrdad Ghorbani Saraei informed the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI).

payvand – Speaking with the state-run Iran Students News Agency (ISNA), Saeid Khalili said her client was tried for assembling and collusion intended to commit a crime against the country’s security, propaganda against the regime, and disturbing public order.

VOA – Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has drawn a social media backlash from Iranians for saying the pressures they face are a result of the life they have chosen to live.

alarabiya – UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura has invited the United States and six other countries for talks in Geneva next month, a UN spokeswoman said on Tuesday, as the United Nations continues its push for a new Syrian constitution.

radiofarda – Iraq will send a delegation to the United States seeking an agreement on financial transactions with Iran following Washington’s reimposition of sanctions on Tehran, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Tuesday.

rferl.org – The defense ministers of Iran and Syria have signed an agreement on military cooperation in the war-torn country, Iranian media report.