rferl.org – Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi is on a two-day visit to neighboring Iran as the countries seek to expand commercial ties. Mahdi met President Hassan Rohani in Tehran on April 6, with the Iranian leader saying they discussed expanding their gas and electricity trade and working towards fulfilling a plan to connect their railroads. Mahdi’s visit came …

rferl.org – Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has warned Iraq about the “detrimental” effects of having U.S. forces on its territory and urged its neighbor to get the troops to leave as soon as possible. In a series of tweets after meeting with visiting Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi in Tehran on April 6, the Iranian leader questioned …

Nobel Peace Laureate Shirin Ebadi was Iran’s first female judge before being forced to resign in the aftermath of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, when females were barred from being judges. In 2002, she founded the Defenders of Human Rights Center as one of the country’s top human rights lawyers, only to be forced into exile in 2009. In a phone interview with …

iranhumanrights – Political activist Hengameh Shahidi is in poor health after a nine-month stint in solitary confinement, the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) has been informed. Arrested on June 26, 2018, Shahidi has since been held in isolation in Ward 241 under the control of the judiciary’s Security and Intelligence Center in Tehran’s Evin Prison.  She is awaiting a decision …

iranhumanrights – Amid rumors that Iran’s Telecommunications Minister Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi is eyeing a future presidential bid, investigations by the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) reveal that organized efforts are being made to bury allegations that he was once a state-employed interrogator. CHRI has also learned that members of a group that appears to be operating like …

radiofarda – The United States is expected to designate Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) a foreign terrorist organization, three U.S. officials told Reuters, marking the first time that Washington will formally label another country’s military a terrorist group. Iran also has its regular army, mostly commanded by IRGC officers, but the main force, with the lion’s share of political …

Radiofarda – President Hassan Rouhani has once again attacked the United States for imposing sanctions on the Islamic Republic, accusing Washington of blocking international aid from reaching flood-hit Iran. At a meeting with the Islamic Republic’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday, April 3, Rouhani maintained, “Those who did not let Iranians residing outside the country send aid to …

Radiofarda – Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu flew to Moscow Thursday morning, April 4 to meet with the Russian president Vladimir Putin, mainly to discuss Syria related issues. On Monday, Netanyahu’s office had announced the trip, which comes weeks before Israeli elections. Netanyahu who just returned from a trip to Washington, which secured U.S. recognition of the Golan Heights as …

Radiofarda – Flood emergencies continue in Western Iran, with tens of thousands of people sheltering in the open with little food or warm cloths to endure the cold and wet weather. The number of people who have dies as because of floods has reached 62, with hundreds injured. Flood waters have devastated most of Lorestan and have inundated the southwestern …

Iran-HRM -At least one protester was reported killed and several others were wounded in Iran as the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) on Wednesday opened fire on angry locals in villages around the southwestern town of Susangerd and Dashte Azadegan in Khuzestan province. The IRGC had opened flood dams built by the locals in a nearby area to prevent floodwaters from entering …