Radiofarda – Iran is expecting a boost in petrochemical production that will raise annual production from $17bn to $25bn over the next two years, according to the country’s deputy oil minister. Speaking on Thursday, May 30, Behzad Mohammadi said that the current petrochemical capacity of 65 million tons should reach 92 million tons by 2021 and 130 million tons by …

Al-Arabia – Mecca – Saudi Arabia’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Adel al-Jubeir, told reporters that the world is coming to the conclusion of the need to press Iran to comply with international law and to act as a country rather than a revolution. “I think the world is coming to the conclusion and the realization of the importance …

Iran-HRM – The legal and security officials of the Sepidar Prison of Ahwaz have prevented dispatch of political prisoner Ameneh Zaheri Sari to hospital. Political prisoner Ameneh Zaheri Sari, 20 and a graduate of accounting, is incarcerated in the Sepidar Prison of Ahwaz. She has been suffering from acute swelling of various parts of her body. The physician of the …

RFL/RE – U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has described Germany as “a great, important partner and ally of the United States,” during talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin on May 31.Pompeo’s visit had been scheduled earlier this month, but was called off at the last minute as tensions rose over Iran.Berlin and Washington differ over a number …

VOA — Saudi Arabia’s King Salman slammed Iran over recent attacks targeting the kingdom, describing the incidents Saturday in a speech before Muslim leaders gathered in Mecca as “terrorist acts” that threaten global energy supplies. It was the monarch’s strongest words yet since tensions spiked in recent weeks between the two regional heavyweights. The U.S. has sent an aircraft carrier …

VOA — The U.N. atomic watchdog said Friday that Iran continues to stay within the limitations set by the nuclear deal reached in 2015 with major powers, though its stockpiles of low-enriched uranium and heavy water are growing. In a confidential quarterly report distributed to member states and seen by The Associated Press, the International Atomic Energy Agency said Iran …

CHRI – “You People Have No Right to Breath,” Judge Allegedly Told Political Prisoner Masoud Kazemi The notoriously hardline judge presiding over the case of former magazine editor Masoud Kazemi has repeatedly expressed hatred toward the political prisoner and refused to reduce the exorbitantly high one billion toman [$237,206 USD] bail amount set for his case, a source told the Center for …

Al-Monitor – Javad is a 30-year-old architect and photographer in Iran. Born to an Iranian mother and an Afghan father in Iran, he has not yet been granted Iranian citizenship due to the country’s nationality law, which only gives children of Iranian fathers automatic citizenship. As a result, Javad has faced plenty of hurdles and has been deprived of many …

Al-Monitor – In his latest speech to an Iranian audience, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei threw cold water on any possibility of renegotiating the nuclear deal with the United States under the current campaign of pressure from the White House. In response to calls that Iran must “return to the negotiating table,” as US national security adviser John Bolton has …