Radiofarda – The former head of Iran’s State TV Mohammad Sarafraz has accused IRGC Intelligence Organization of obstructing attempts to counter financial corruption. Former head of IRIB Mohammad Sarfaraz and his aide Shahrzad Mirqolikhan in a grab image of Sarafraz’s online interview disclosing corruption in IRGC. Sarafraz who was appointed by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as the head …

Radiofarda – Bahrain’s foreign minister has said that Iran “will not be allowed to close for one day the Strait of Hormuz” and has called on Tehran to reconsider its regional policies. In an interview in Paris with Asharq Al-Awsat, Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa indirectly criticized the 1025 nuclear agreement with Iran, saying that it dealt with Tehran’s …

Iran-HRM – The Iranian Teachers Unions Coordination Council reported that several teachers were arrested during the protests across the country on Thursday, May 2. The union reported on its channel on the Telegram messaging app, that Rasoul Badaghi, Mohammad Fallahi, and Mojtaba Ghoreishian were arrested by the state security forces. Following a nationwide teachers’ call to march on the occasion …

VOA – Iran’s biggest likely remaining oil customers, China, Turkey and India, were silent about purchases of Iranian crude Thursday as a total U.S. ban on such trade took effect, leaving their next moves a mystery. The Trump administration was equally silent about what action it might take if any of the three countries continues to purchase Iranian oil after …

VOA – Once-hidden Russian-Iranian disagreements over Syria are starting to surface. Moscow and Tehran are jostling to wield the main influence over the government of President Bashar al-Assad, adding further complexity to the still-far-from-complete endgame of Syria’s brutal civil war, say diplomats and analysts. Both Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Iranians want to be able to present themselves as …

Radiozamaneh – World Press Freedom Day arrives on May 3 in a time when journalists are under pressure throughout the world. Iran is also among one of the most difficult countries to be a journalist. The situation of press freedom in the world is “in decline”, and in Iran, in particular, it “is getting worse every day”, Reza Moini, the …

Amnesty – Iranian lawyer and women’s rights activist Nasrin Sotoudeh’s heartbreaking letters from prison reveal the trauma inflicted on families by the government that claims to protect them. Nasrin Sotoudeh is a lawyer who has never shied away from doing what’s right in Iran. In her long and impressive career, she has exposed the injustices of the death penalty and …

Iran Human Rights (IHR) – Iranian Shia cleric Ayatollah Nasser Makarem Shirazi has recently issued a fatwa (religious verdict) saying that an exiled Iranian journalist is an apostate (Murtadd) because of the content of his poems and must be punished. Following the fatwa, the Iranian journalist and poet Mohammad Tangestani who lives in Belgium, has received several death threats from …

Al-Monitor – Iranian authorities violently dispersed gatherings of independent Iranian labor organizations and arrested dozens of activists who were protesting in association with International Workers’ Day (May Day). According to the labor organizations involved, dozens of people have been arrested so far. Protesters gathered May 1 in front of Iran’s parliament building, where a number of well-known protesters — including Reza Shahabi, Kayvan Samimi, Hassan Saedi, Vahid Fereydouni …

PayvandNews – Tehran Zoological Garden, also known as Eram Zoo, will be home to Asiatic lion, which was extinct in the country for almost 80 years, a veterinarian at Eram Zoo has said. Asiatic Lion at Eram Zoo in Tehran According to Iman Memarian the last remaining Asiatic lion was sighted about 80 years ago in Iran. He went on …