radiofarda – The EU’s diplomatic chief said Thursday that the bloc would support talks between the US and Tehran, but only if the current nuclear deal with Iran is preserved. Tehran and Washington have been locked in a bitter standoff since last year when US President Donald Trump unilaterally pulled out of the 2015 deal that gave Iran relief from …

radiofarda – Iran’s defense minister has said his country’s pursuit of satellite deployments is “a normal endeavor”, after several reports in international media about an impending launch by Tehran. General Amir Hatami told the official news website IRNA, “The Defense Ministry is continuing its research regarding launching rockets and satellites based on a codified program” and when some observers notice …

amnesty.org – The Iranian authorities’ continued failure to disclose the fate and whereabouts of thousands of political dissidents who were forcibly disappeared and extrajudicially executed in secret during Iran’s 1988 prison massacres has sparked a crisis that for decades has been largely overlooked by the international community, said Amnesty International in the lead-up to the International Day of the Victims …

iran-hrm – A man who killed the notorious Friday Prayer leader (Imam) of the city of Kazeroun, southern Iran, was hanged in public this morning, August 28, 2019. Hamid Reza Derakhshandeh had stabbed to death Mohammad Khorsand on May 29 as he was returning from a religious ceremony at 3:30 in the morning. The execution was carried out at the …

iranhumanrights – News of severe injuries sustained by a blind man who fell from a pedestrian bridge in the southern Iranian city of Chabahar has sparked concerns over the city’s lack of accessible safety signs as well as renewed calls for urgent action by the government. While walking on his usual daily route on August 6, 2019, Soali Nokari fell …

radiofarda – An outspoken labor rights advocate who recently called for the Islamic Republic’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to step down has been arrested at his home. The intelligence agents stormed Esmaeil Ahmadi Ragheb’s (nicknamed Zartosht) house in the city of Shahriar, 39 kilometers (approximately 24 miles) west of Tehran, breaking down the door on Tuesday, August 27, and …

radiofarda – Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe plans to meet Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in New York next month as Tokyo continues to seek a leading role in attempts to defuse rising tension in the Middle East. Japan’s foreign ministry said Wednesday the meeting was arranged during Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif’s visit to Tokyo on Tuesday, and would …

radiofarda – The former mayor of Tehran, who was sentenced to death for murdering his second wife, was freed on Wednesday, August 28, after being pardoned by the victim’s family. Mohammad Ali Najafi was released on an approximately $240,000 bail, local news outlets cited his attorney, Hamid Reza Goudarzi, as saying. MIT educated Najafi has also been sentenced to two …

radiofarda – Lebanese Hezbollah reiterated on Tuesday it will retaliate against Israel after drones crashed in southern suburbs of Beirut; but a new war remains unlikely, according to its deputy leader. “I rule out that the atmosphere is one of war, it is one of a response to an attack,” Sheikh Naim Qassem told Russia’s RT Arabic channel on Tuesday …

radiofarda – The lawyer of an anti-compulsory hijab activist in Iran says his client has been sentenced to a total of 24 years in prison, with 15 years to be served. Saba Kord Afshari, a young woman who was first arrested last year during anti-regime protests and was facing a conviction, was re-arrested in May for anti-hijab activities. The defense …