Iran-HRM Several protesters were reportedly killed and dozens were wounded after the state police in two Iranian cities opened fire on protesters on Wednesday, March 21. Fatalities reported on March 20 as infuriated Iranians clash with security forces in two cities of Dezful and Andimeshk of Khuzestan Province, southwest Iran The protests in two cities of Dezful and Andimeshk, 10 …

Iran-HRM – Iranian authorities say they have arrested dozens of people on the eve of the last Wednesday of the Persian year (which ends on 21 March).Speaking to state-run IRNA news agency late on Tuesday, Tehran’s Chief of police said that 23 people who took part in the events of Chaharshanbe Suri (an ancient festival) were identified and arrested. The regime implemented …

Radiofarda – What is the Trump administration trying to achieve in Iran? More than two-and-a-half years after candidate Trump made Iran a centerpiece of his foreign-policy platform on the presidential campaign trail, and over a year after Iran emerged as one of his administration’s core international priorities, there is still a great deal of confusion about what, exactly, the White …

Radiofarda – The Pakistan military said in a statement on Thursday that it had rescued four Iranian soldiers being held captive by a militant group in the country’s restive southwest. The rescue took place in Chaghi district of Balochistan province, near the Afghan border, the statement said. “Terrorists of a proscribed organization were reported to have entered Pakistan from Afghanistan …

Radiofarda – Iran has expressed support for the change at top leadership in Kazakhstan, praising the outgoing president Nursultan Nazarbayev. “The current changes in the Republic of Kazakhstan and transfer of power was in the framework of the constitution and for that reason we support it”, the spokesperson of Iran’s foreign ministry Bahram Ghasemi was quoted as saying, by IRNA. …

Radiofarda – For a third time in three days Iran has denied repeated Turkish statements that the two countries are cooperating in a military operation against Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). The Kurdish party, which has been engaged in an armed struggle for autonomy in Turkey’s mostly Kurdish southeast since 1984, is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United …

Radiofarda – US. and Iranian leaders issued statements or delivered speeches on the occasion of the Iranian New Year or Norooz (Nowrouz), March 21, all vying for the attention and sympathy of the people in Iran, who are facing one their hardest year’s ahead. These messages inevitably had a heavy political tone, with leaders blaming one another for increasing hardship …

Al-Arabia – US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo hopes to use his first visit to Lebanon this week to step up pressure on Iran and its local ally, Hezbollah. Pompeo will meet Friday with President Michel Aoun and will also hold talks with Lebanon’s parliament speaker and foreign minister – all three of whom are close Hezbollah allies. He will …

Al-Arabia – Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called the economic difficulties of Iranians the main and most urgent problem of the country in a message aired Thursday on state TV. Iran has faced increased economic hardship in the last 12 months, which was aggravated after US President Donald Trump withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world …

VOA – Turkey is heralding as groundbreaking a joint military operation with Iran against Kurdish rebel groups. Turkish-Iranian relations have markedly improved, to the concern of Turkey’s Western allies. Coordinated and concurrent military strikes against “terror groups” were carried out along the “borders of the two countries,” read a statement by the Iranian Interior Ministry, released Wednesday and reported by …