Radiofarda – Harsher regulations aimed at controlling the political behavior of students in Iranian universities are being implemented, regardless of protests. The amended regulations passed by the Supreme Cultural Revolution Council’s Committee for the Islamization of Universities of Iran on April 21, 2019, empowers university authorities to punish students for their peaceful online activities. The decision to tighten controls followed …

Radiofarda – In another public gesture of sympathy for a 29-year old woman who killed herself for being prosecuted over her right to attend a men’s football game, players wore jerseys at a match inscribed with her name. Tehran’s Esteqlal football team wearing jerseys saying “The Blue Girl” before their match on September 15, 2019. Sahar Khodayari was arrested in …

Radiofarda – World oil prices have seen their biggest surge since 1991, with the highly destructive attack on Saudi oil installation two days ago, at one point climbing 19 percent. Right after the attack it was clear that more than five million barrels of Saudi Arabia’s daily oil output was lost, but Aramco, the state monopoly said it was working …

Al-Arabia – Britain on Monday said an attack on Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities was serious and outrageous. The attack “was a wanton violation of international law,” British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said, adding that the United Kingdom stood firmly behind Saudi Arabia. “This was a very serious attack on Saudi Arabia and the oil installations and it has implications for …

Al-Arabia – Iran said on Monday there would be no meeting between Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and his US counterpart Donald Trump at the United Nations, Iranian state television reported, after the White House on Sunday left open the possibility of a potential meeting. “Neither is such an event (Trump-Rouhani meeting in New York) on our agenda, nor will it …

Al-Arabia – Iran launched nearly a dozen cruise missiles and over 20 drones from its territory in the attacks that targeted two Saudi Aramco oil facilities in Abqaiq and Hijrat Khurais, a senior Trump administration official told ABC News on Sunday. The official said that US President Donald Trump is aware that Iran is responsible, but added that he was …

Iran-HRM – Iranian Sunni prisoners of conscience were attacked and beaten by Raja’i Shahr Prison guards in Karaj after protesting prison conditions and denial of medical treatment. Many were injured but are still in solitary confinement. Reports indicate that the prison guards beat the prisoners on August 27, 2019, using electric shock and truncheons. The prisoners had previously staged hunger strike in …

RFL/RE – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is hosting his Russian and Iranian counterparts in Ankara on September 16 for their latest meeting on Syria.Erdogan, Vladimir Putin, and Hassan Rohani are expected to focus on the Syrian government’s advance on the last rebel-held stronghold of Idlib in the country’s northwest, where a cease-fire went into effect at the end of …

VOA – Analysts warn that Saturday’s drone attack on two Saudi oil facilities, which appear to have shattered the prospect of a rapprochement between Tehran and Washington, could push the price of a barrel of oil as high as $100. The drone strike came as it emerged that U.S. President Donald Trump had been thinking of easing sanctions on Iran …

VOA – U.S. President Donald Trump says American forces are ‘locked and loaded’ to respond to the fiery attacks on one of Saudi Arabia’s largest oil fields and the world’s biggest crude oil stabilization facility. “There is reason to believe we know the culprit,” Trump tweeted late Sunday. He added he is waiting to hear from the Saudis as to …