Iran Human Rights (IHR) – A prisoner was hanged in Public at the Iranian city of Hamadan. According to the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), death-row prisoner Mehdi Cheraghi was hanged in public on the morning of Thursday, May 23. This is a rare move because Iranian authorities usually hesitate to carry out executions on the month of Ramadan, Muslims’ fasting …

Al-Monitor – Facing unprecedented pressure from US sanctions, the threat of war and a failing national currency, Iranians have resorted to a time-tested coping mechanism: a deadpan, caustic humor that has been perfected over centuries. US President Donald Trump, the usual target of Iran’s self-referential humor, was once again a target earlier this month. On May 9, Trump, in response to a reporter’s question about a potential military …

Al-Monitor – Under the leadership of Abdolnaser Hemmati, the Central Bank of Iran has recently secured a fresh financial tool to better steer Iran’s highly troubled economy, which faces stagflation for another year on the back of local mismanagement and unilateral US sanctions. But how successful will the central bank be, and how big of an impact will this have? …

PayvandNews – The Indian-backed Iranian port of Chabahar has emerged as a major loophole in a tightening military and economic noose and ever harsher U.S. sanctions that President Donald J. Trump, reluctant to be sucked into yet another war, sees as the best way to either force Tehran to its knees or achieve regime change. Alice Wells, the State Department’s …

Radiofarda – An effort to force the Trump administration to seek congressional approval before taking military action against Iran has failed after the Senate Foreign Relations Committee turned down the bipartisan proposal tabled by Democratic senators Chris Murphy and Tom Udall. #IranIsNotAThreat | #NoIranWar | #NoWarWithIransource: twitter The panel voted 13-9 against forcing the Trump administration to seek a congressional signoff before any military strikes …

coindesk.com – LocalBitcoins has officially shut off service for Iran-based users, a move that follows weeks of rising rial trading volumes on the platform. The Helsinki-based peer-to-peer exchange has not explicitly said why Iranians are suddenly being cut off from its service, though U.S. sanctions are almost certainly the cause. News of the move first circulated across local language Telegram channels earlier this …

BBC – Thirty people taking part in a yoga session have been arrested during a private class in Iran, reports suggest, causing a buzz across the country’s social media. They were detained at a private residence in the northern city of Gorgan, where they were apparently taking part in a mixed class. Local justice department official Massoud Soleimani said the …

Shabtabnews – On Wednesday 22nd May, members of various human rights organisations who attended the US senate’s meeting on rights of religious minorities in Iran, demanded that the US government place sanctions on anyone within the Iranian regime that helps to facilitate violation of the rights of religious minorities in Iran Sam Brownback, the United States Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious …

Radiofarda – The Islamic Republic Cyber Police have blocked several accounts owned by Iranian street musicians on Instagram, local reports say. Two female musicians, Naghmeh Moradabadi and Aso Kohzadi, along with Mehrdad Ahmadi, are among the buskers whose pages on Instagram have been blocked, allegedly for publishing “criminal contents.” Iranian cyber police, known by its Persian acronym as “FATA” in …

Radiofarda – The Ruhani administration in Iran has appointed former Labor Minister Ali Rabiei as its spokesman, semi-official news agency ISNA reported on May 24. The new spokesman has been appointed nearly a year after former spokesman Mohammad Baqer Nobakht stepped down. During this period the Rouhani administration was criticized by the press several times for not having a point …