VOA -U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is in the Middle East for regional security talks in Kuwait, Israel and Lebanon as Washington looks to draw new support in its opposition to Iranian aggression. The top U.S. diplomat arrived Wednesday in Kuwait City, where he said he plans to discuss U.S. strategic plans in the region and energy issues with …

VOA – A senior U.S. official says Washington is monitoring ships involved in clandestine transfers of Iranian oil and will hold anyone involved in such transfers responsible for violating U.S. sanctions against Iran. “We are closely tracking ship-to-ship transfers of [Iranian] oil to evade our oil sanctions,” said Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Counter Threat Finance and Sanctions David …

Raziozamaneh – “Mosaddeq occupies a special place in the Iranian collective memory: he is widely regarded as a man of integrity and courage, a  statesman who consistently adhered to the ethical and political principles that he publicly advocated;  a secular democratic constitutionalist who, throughout his political life,  maintained that in a constitutional representative polity, legitimacy rests on popular sovereignty, that …

Iran Human Rights (IHR) – A part of the 11th Annual Report on the Death Penalty in Iran, by IHR, deals with public executions in the country. READ THE FULL REPORT HERE (pdf)  Despite continuous international criticism, Iran is among the few countries where public executions have been organized by the authorities. Public executions have repeatedly been criticized by the …

CHRI – Spring is in the air and for millions of people around the world including Iran, it marks the beginning of a new year. The ancient festival of Nowruz (“new day”) is celebrated at the end of winter with festivities symbolizing rebirth, renewal and the possibility of new beginnings. Many Iranians will ring in the new year with family …

CHRI – Husband Publishes Sotoudeh’s Verdict Notes, Addressing Discrepancies Refusing to legitimize the unjust judicial process in Iran, in which defendants held on politically motivated charges are sentenced to long prison terms without fair trials, imprisoned defense attorney Nasrin Sotoudeh has stated she will not appeal her prison sentence. Sotoudeh has also provided notes on her verdict (she was denied a physical …

Al-Monittor – Millions of Iranian viewers had to spend a Monday night without “90,” a wildly popular soccer show hosted by Adel Ferdowsipour, who is widely believed to have kept Iranians tuned to a national broadcaster that has been grappling with a serious audience crisis. Ferdowsipour’s debate-oriented program was starkly different from conventional Iranian TV shows, breaking away from common clichés and formalities. The show …

PayvandNews – ‘Chaharshanbeh Suri‘, observed on the eve of the last Wednesday before the Iranian New Year (Norooz), is a ‘festival of fire’ from ancient times, which is now barely recognizable from its original from in the hustle and bustle of metropolis Tehran. The concept is indeed intriguing: The eve of the last Wednesday (so technically, Tuesday evening) before the turn …

lobelog – Last week, the European Parliament joined the international outcry over the sentencing of Iranian human rights defender Nasrin Sotoudeh to a long prison term by voting overwhelmingly for a resolution calling for her release. The European Parliament is particularly sensitive to the fate of Sotoudeh. It awarded her the Sakharov Prize in 2012, the EU’s highest human rights award, in recognition of her …

PayvandNews – Iran’s Meteorological Organization (IMO) predicted normal conditions for the next water year (starting on September 23) in the country. In a press conference, the new director of IMO, Sahar Tajbakhsh, explained that since the beginning of the current water year (September 23, 2018) the precipitation rate has increased by 17.6 percent compared to long-term averages, so it is …