Al-Arabia – Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani has declared the Islamic Republic is “too great to be intimidated by anyone” in a late night meeting with clerics. “God willing we will pass this difficult period with glory and our heads held high, and defeat the enemy,” Rouhani said late Monday as he met Sunni clerics to mark the holy Muslim month …

RFL/RE – Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif is in New Delhi for talks with his Indian counterpart after India halted imports of Iranian oil in the wake of renewed U.S. sanctions.Speaking ahead of the May 14 talks, Zarif said he had traveled to India to discuss the “most recent developments in the region as well as our bilateral relations” …

RFL/RE — Amid growing concerns of a conflict between the United States and Iran, U.S. officials have told their European allies that its military buildup in the Persian Gulf region is a “defensive” move in response to multiple threats coming out of Iran.Brian Hook, the U.S. special representative for Iran, told RFE/RL that U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo delivered …

RFL/RE – The White House is reviewing military plans that could see the deployment of up to 120,000 troops to the Middle East should Iran attack U.S. forces or accelerate work on nuclear weapons, The New York Times reports.Citing anonymous administration officials, the newspaper said on May 13 that Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan presented the plans at a meeting …

VOA – A U.S. official says military experts believe explosives blew holes in four ships off the coast of the United Arab Emirates Sunday, and suspects Iran may be involved but they have no proof. Two of the oil tankers belong to Saudi Arabia, which says the ships suffered “significant damage” in what it and the UAE calls sabotage. Saudi …

VOA — Iran is on the agenda Tuesday as U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Sochi, Russia. Lavrov said he expected a “sincere conversation” with Pompeo, including trying to find out how the Trump administration planned to resolve tensions with Iran, which Lavrov said the U.S. side created …

VOA – Top officials from the European Union are calling on the United States to use “maximum restraint” and avoid military escalation with Iran. “[U.S. Secretary of State] Mike Pompeo heard very clearly from us — not only from myself but also from the other ministers of EU member states — that we are living in a crucial, delicate moment …

VOA – Iran’s semi-official ISNA news agency says university students have held a campus protest against authorities’ increasing pressure on women to wear mandatory headscarves in public. The report says the students — both men and women — briefly scuffled with another group of Tehran University students who support the country’s conservative dress code. The headscarf, or hijab, is required …

HRW – Iran’s Parliament on May 13, 2019, approved an amendment to allow Iranian women to pass their nationality to their children, Human Rights Watch said today. The Guardian Council, the last body needing to approve the amendment, should adopt the long overdue reform to Iran’s discriminatory citizenship law.  The draft law would allow Iranian women married to men with foreign nationality to request …

CHRI – Members of Iran’s paramilitary Basij force violently attacked several students at a peaceful protest at the University of Tehran on May 13, 2019. Basiji agents attacked several students at a peaceful protest against a newly enforced strict hijab enforcement policy at the University of Tehran. The demonstrators had gathered to protest the increased presence of so-called “guidance” units charged …