PayvandNews – The Iranian tattooed players have reportedly no place in Iran national football team from now on. According to the reports, the Iranian football federation has been told it must prevent to invite the tattooed players to the national team. Midfielder Ashkan Dejagah is one of the tattooed players The Ethics Committee of Iran’s Football Federation had previously issued repeated warnings …

Radiofarda – There has been yet another signal from Islamic Republic officials that Tehran does not pin high hopes on the trade mechanism offered by European powers to help Iran continue trade, despite U.S. sanctions. The spokesperson of Iran’s foreign ministry, Bahram Ghasemi (Qassemi) told the local Young Journalists’ Club website on March 19 “You should not have hopes for …

Radiofarda – Syrian President Bashar al-Assad met with a joint Iraqi-Iranian military delegation headed by Chief of General Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Maj. Gen. Mohammad Hossein Baqeri and Chief of Staff of the Iraqi Armed Forces Gen. Othman Al-Ghanimi March 18 in Damascus. Iran’s Chief of Staff of Armed Forces, Maj. Gen. Mohammad Hossein Bagheri, left, speaks during …

Radiofarda – An Iranian billionaire football club investor on trial for financial corruption is using the opportunity of the public proceeding to criticize the government. Business tycoon Hossein Hedayati insinuated in court March 18 that he had information relating to Iran’s financing of militant groups in the region. “They have branded me as an economic troublemaker for receiving secured loans. …

Al-Arabia – A senior US arms control official said on Tuesday that Iran’s missile program is destabilizing the Middle East and increasing the risk of a “regional arms race.”Yleem Poblete, Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control, Verification and Compliance, told the UN-sponsored Conference on Disarmament that Washington would aggressively counter “Iran’s regional proliferation of ballistic missiles and its unlawful …

RFL/RE – A senior U.S. diplomat has told President Hassan Rohani that he should give Iranians jobs and employment instead of urging them to curse the United States for their country’s deteriorating economic situation. In a tweet in Persian on March 19, U.S. special representative for Iran Brian Hook, who sometimes responds to similar statements by senior Iranian officials, said: “In response …

VOA – An influential Iranian cleric says Iran might bring Shiite militias to the country from other parts of the Middle East to fight threats to the government.Musa Ghazanfarabadi, head of the Tehran Islamic Revolution Courts, told religious students in Qom this month that his government could use foreign fighters to crack down on potential popular uprisings in Iran. “If we …

HRW – There’s not much good news to share in Iran as Nowruz, the Iranian new year, approaches. The economic situation that played a role in nationwide protests during December 2017 and January 2018 is still difficult as millions of Iranians struggle to live a decent life. Inflation and perceptions of widespread corruption further fuel popular frustration, prompting dozens of …

Iran Human Rights (IHR) – A prisoner was hanged at Zahedan Central Prison for murder charges last Saturday. According to IHR sources, on the morning of Saturday, March 16, a prisoner identified as Enayatollah Totazehi, 25, was executed at Zahedan Central Prison for murder charges. According to HRANA, he was arrested 7 years ago. The aforementioned execution has not been reported …

CHRI – Three prisoners accused of killing law enforcement agents during drug raids were executed in the eastern Iranian province of South Khorasan, according to a press release issued by a local police department on March 14, 2019.  The press release quoted Police Chief Majid Shoja accusing the three of killing two policemen, Mohammad Nayebi and Hadi Kardideh, in October and …