Al-Monitor – Iran announced Aug. 5 that it will give Europe one month to rescue it from economically devastating US sanctions before Tehran pulls back further from its commitments under the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). The United States unilaterally withdrew from the nuclear deal in May 2018, saying Iran was not complying. French President Emmanuel Macron has attempted to trigger initiatives …

Radiofarda – Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani has said that if he and his foreign minister had not directly talked with the U.S. Secretary of State and President Barack Obama, the 2015 nuclear agreement would not have been possible. In a speech he delivered in the Iranian foreign ministry on Tuesday Rouhani said that in September 2013 in the last moments …

Radiofarda – The Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has once again urged Iranians to have more babies amid economic and social crisis. Calling on government officials to render support to families to increase the population of the country, Khamenei reiterated that increasing the number of children should become “a cultural norm” in Iranian society. The 80-year-old …

Radiofarda – The international football association FIFA has set a deadline for Iran to allow women to enter sports arenas and watch men’s soccer games without hindrance. Iran should resolve the issue before October 10 when as the top-ranked soccer team in Asia it will host its first home World Cup qualifier against Cambodia. Nevertheless, according to the state-run Iran …

Al-Arabia – US sanctions on Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif are “insane” and “a sign of defeat,” the commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps – Quds Force (IRGC-QF), Qassem Soleimani, said on Tuesday, the semi-official Fars news agency reported. US sanctions on Zarif “proved” that the Foreign Minister has had a “profound” effect on public opinion and on …

RFL/RE – President Hassan Rohani said on August 6 that Tehran favors talks with the United States if it lifts sanctions against Tehran.Tensions have risen between Iran and the West after U.S. President Donald Trump pulled out of a 2015 landmark nuclear agreement which curbed Tehran’s atomic program in return for an easing of economic sanctions.In remarks on state television, …

RFL/RE – Tehran has told the European signatories of the 2015 nuclear deal that it would further reduce its compliance with the accord if they don’t provide relief from U.S. sanctions that have crippled the oil-rich nation’s economy.Signatories Britain, France, and Germany have so far failed to prevent U.S. Donald Trump from trying to unilaterally force Iran to limit its …

RFL/RE – Britain says it is joining the United States in an “international maritime security mission” to protect merchant vessels traveling through the Strait of Hormuz, a key shipping line that connects the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea.“The U.K. is determined to ensure her shipping is protected from unlawful threats,” Defense Minister Ben Wallace told reporters on August 5.“We …

RFL/RE – An Iranian lawmaker has welcomed a court ruling stating that police should issue an unidentified woman in the central city of Isfahan a motorcycle license.“Certainly, the ruling issued by the Court of Administrative Justice is based on existing laws and we all must abide by the law,“ Faride Oladghobad told the semiofficial ISNA news agency on August 5, …

VOA – At a global press freedom conference last month, BBC chief Tony Hall made a point of praising journalists in his network’s Persian service for standing up to repeated harassment by Iran.  “I want to pay tribute again to their resilience, of them and their families, in the face of years of concerted intimidation,” Hall said at the London …