VOA – The United States hopes to enlist allies over the next two weeks or so in a military coalition to safeguard strategic waters off Iran and Yemen, where Washington blames Iran and Iran-aligned fighters for attacks, the top U.S. general said Tuesday. Under the plan, which has only been finalized in recent days, the United States would provide command …

Amnesty – Iranian labour rights activists Anisha Assadolahi, Atefeh Rangriz and Neda Naji and Iranian journalist Marzieh Amiri have been arbitrarily detained, without access to a lawyer, for weeks and accused of spurious national security offences in connection with a peaceful International Workers’ Day gathering in Tehran on 1 May 2019. They were initially held in prolonged solitary confinement amounting …

CHRI – Telecommunications Minister Falsely States the Problem Originated Outside the Country Telecommunications Minister Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi made a false statement when he said via Twitter that recent disruptions to internet access in Iran were due to technical issues occurring outside the country, the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) has learned. The disruptions, during which internet speeds …

Al-Monitor – Calls are growing from Iran’s hard-liners for reciprocal action against the United Kingdom’s seizure of an Iranian oil tanker. Last week, British marines off the coast of Gibraltar detained the supertanker — which was carrying 2 million barrels of crude to Syria — after it was found in breach of EU sanctions on exports of oil to the …

Radiofarda – In its latest report the Statistical Center of Iran (SCI) says that the “misery index” in the country reached 39% last winter, whereas a year earlier it stood at 19.4%. Misery index is an informal measure of the state of an economy generated by adding together its rate of inflation and its rate of unemployment. Based on the …

Radiofarda – Presidential Adviser Hessamodin Ashna and Foreign Ministry Spokesman Abbas Mousavi have criticized Iran’s state TV for airing a controversial series that has allegedly showed President Hassan Rouhani and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in a bad light. A scene from the controversial television series Gando, which is an Iranian alligator species. Meanwhile, outspoken ultraconservative MP Javad Karimi Ghoddousi …

Radiofarda – The Iranian chairman of the joint chamber of commerce of Iran and South Korea says U.S. sanctions against Iran have adversely affected commercial relations with Korea. Hossein Tanhai told Fars news agency that talks with two major Korean home appliance manufacturers have remained futile as the Korean companies are not willing to do business with Iran fearing this …

Radiofarda – For a second day in a row, a top Iranian military commander has threatened retaliation for the seizure of a super-tanker at Gibraltar by Britain on July 4. Chief of Iran’s armed forces General Mohammad Hossein Baqeri (Bagheri) in a speech on Tuesday said that Britain’s action “will not go unanswered and if necessary, a response to this …

Radiofarda – An official at Iran’s Ministry of Education says there are 8 million illiterate people in the country, or 10 percent of the population, but a lower figure than other official estimates. Earlier last April, Iranian parliament’s research center had reported that nearly nine million Iranians are suffering from “absolute illiteracy.” Nonetheless, the Ministry of Education’s director of literacy, …

Radiofarda – The human rights global organization Amnesty International has sent a letter to Iran’s top judicial official demanding the release of three anti-hijab women activists detained since April. Iranian women’s rights defenders Monireh Arabshahi (Center), Yasaman Aryani (Left) and Mojgan Keshavarz (Right) have been detained in Shahr-e Ray prison, outside Tehran, since April 2019. The letter is addressed to …