Radiofarda – The Czech journal Denik N reported on August 7 that the Czech Republic has recalled its ambassador Svatopluk Cumba from Tehran after an investigation of fraudulent practices in granting Schengen visas to Iranians. According to the report Ambassador Cumba was allegedly involved in a scheme with Czech-Slovak -Iranian Chamber of Commerce headed by former Czech Foreign Minister Jan Kavan. The …

Radiofarda – Reports from Iran indicate that two members of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps, IRGC have been killed in a clash with armed elements in northwestern Iran. The incident happened in the region of Maku in West Azerbaijan province bordering Turkey and also close to Iraqi Kurdistan. Maku’s governor Hassan Abbasi told Iranian media that two junior officers of …

Al-Arabia – US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo discussed maritime security, Iran and Yemen with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in a phone call on Wednesday. “The secretary discussed heightened tensions in the region and the need for stronger maritime security in order to promote freedom of navigation,” State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said in a statement. Iran …

Al-Arabia – The US maritime agency has told US-flagged commercial vessels they should send transit plans in advance to American and British naval authorities if they intend to sail in Gulf waters following several incidents over tankers involving Iran. The seizure of commercial vessels and attacks on tankers near the Strait of Hormuz have unsettled shipping lanes that link Middle …

Iran-HRM – Nearly 1600 girls under the age of 15 married in the last Iranian calendar year, in the province of Hamadan, western Iran, according to the local director of Iran’s Census Organization.Furthermore, Assad Hassanzadeh, disclosed that at least 44 44 girls under the age of 15 gave birth in the same period. Marriage and pregnancy under the age of …

RFL/RE – Iran’s ban on women entering stadiums is not the business of world soccer governing body FIFA, the country’s prosecutor-general said on August 7.“That is certainly not the concern of FIFA — whether women are among the football fans in the stadiums or not,” Mohammad Montazeri said, according to the semiofficial ISNA news agency.He asked since when does FIFA …

VOA — A week after the U.S. sanctioned Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, raising the prospect of him losing access to U.S. social media platforms, U.S. officials and tech companies are mum on the issue. The Trump administration sanctioned Zarif on July 31 for having “acted or purported to act” on behalf of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, …

Radiozamaneh – A court of appeals in Tehran upholds the 4.5 years prison sentence of Iranian journalist, Masoud Kazemi. Masoud Kazemi Judge Mohammad Moghiseh of Branch 28 of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Court had sentenced Kazemi to 4.5 years in prison on several charges including insulting the supreme leader of the country, ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Kazemi was sentenced to two years in prison …

Amnesty – Two Iranian women’s rights defenders, Yasaman Aryani and Monireh Arabshahi, have each been sentenced to 16 years in prison, while a third, Mojgan Keshavarz, has been sentenced to 23 years and six months in prison. They are all prisoners of conscience jailed solely because of their peaceful campaigning against discriminatory forced veiling laws. If the verdicts are upheld …

Iran Human Rights (IHR) – Five prisoners were hanged for murder charges at the Iranian city of Karaj’s Rajai-Shahr prison Wednesday. According to IHR sources, on the morning of Wednesday, August 7, at least 5 prisoners were hanged at Karaj city’s Rajai-Shahr prison, near Tehran. All were sentenced to death for murder charges.  Three of them were identified by IHR …