PayvandNews- The Fajr International Film Festival announced the full lineup of winners at Tehran’s Vahdat Hall for their 37th year of celebrating independent, art house, alternate, fiction, documentary and animation films from across the globe.  Iranian and international officials, dignitaries, filmmakers and guests attended the closing ceremony on Thursday, April 25. Addressing the ceremony, Festival Director Seyyed Reza Mirkarimi said …

Radiofarda – Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has confirmed that he has received a letter from U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs Robert C. O’Brien. During his ongoing visit to New York, Zarif has repeatedly said that he did not receive any response to his call for a prisoners swap with the United States. He repeated once again …

Radiofarda – The spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, Abbas Mousavi, says Iran’s offer of prisoner exchange with the United States is “serious and with precedent.” Meanwhile he charged that the United States “lacks a proper understanding of the concept of negotiations.” On Wednesday April 24, when Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Tehran was ready to swap prisoners with …

Radiofarda – A Ministry of Intelligence official in the province of Sistan & Baluchestan, in southeast Iran, says the largest ever amount of synthetic drug shisheh (crystal Methamphetamine), has been seized in the country. “Following a series of complicated operations and collecting information, the department succeeded to seize 1,300 kilograms (approximately 2,900 pounds) of narcotics, including more than 850 kg (about …

Radiofarda – Mehr news agency in Iran says Iran has “designed and manufactured” three new types of missiles. According to Mehr, the three air-launched missiles are Heydar, Qamar Bani Hashem, and Dehlavieh. The missiles have been developed by the Iranian Ministry of Defense in collaboration with the army’s Helicopter Unit, the report said. Mehr reported the range of these missiles …

Radiofarda – A prominent attorney, Hamid Hajian was shot dead with at least three bullets on Wednesday evening, April 24, in the garage of a building in Tehran’s affluent northern neighborhood of Kamranieh. Hossein Hedayati, a former Revolutionary Guard officer and a controversial business tycoon during his trial on March 04, 2019. Hajian 41 reportedly was once the attorney of …

Radiofarda – Iranian police are using text messaging to warn female drivers and passengers who take off their hijab (scarves) or ignore the Islamic dress code while driving or riding in cars. A female taxi driver fetches a passenger in Tehran, 21Aug2011 Hundreds of women in the capital city of Tehran recently received phone text messages, summoning them to the …

Iran-HRM – In an open letter that has been sent out of prison, Iranian political prisoner Arash Sadeghi has revealed a part of the Iranian regime’s repression of a political prisoner’s family demanding justice over the 1988 massacre in Iran. The letter not only sheds light on a part of the crimes committed during the 1980s but also emphasizes the continuing …

RFL/RE – Russian President Vladimir Putin says he will meet with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Iranian President Hassan Rohani at a summit in Russia during August.Putin made the announcement to journalists in Beijing on April 26 after meeting with Aliyev on the sidelines of China’s so-called Belt and Road forum – an initiative aimed at building trade and transportation …

RFL/RE – Britain has rejected a prisoner-swap proposal by Iran’s foreign minister, calling it a “vile” diplomatic maneuver.British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt on April 25 said “what is unacceptable about what Iran is doing is that they are putting innocent people in prison and using it as leverage.”The previous day, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif suggested a swap between …