Reuters – Iran’s economy is expected to shrink by 9.5% this year, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said, down from a previous estimate of a 6% contraction, as the country feels the impact of tighter U.S. sanctions. The IMF forecasts, published on Tuesday in the fund’s World Economic Outlook report, are not far from estimates given last week by the …

Radiofarda – Iran will start the construction of a second unit at its nuclear reactor in Bushehr next month, the spokesman of its atomic energy organization announced on Tuesday, October 15. Iran’s only nuclear reactor was built by Russia and is not a controversial part of its nuclear program. It produces electricity and its spent fuel is shipped out of …

Radiofarda – Iran’s minister of sports says that ten stadiums have been readied to accept female fans, after a 38-year ban was broken on October 10, when women were allowed to enter Tehran’s Azadi Stadium to watch a soccer match. After the 1979 revolution Iran’s new rulers banned women from attending men’s games, claiming it is against Islamic values. FIFA, …

Radiofarda – The Islamic Republic President Hassan Rouhani has linked the widespread anti-regime protests in late 2017, early 2018, to Washington’s decision to drop the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) or Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers, in May 2018. Speaking at a news conference, Rouhani said on Monday, October 14, that since December 2017, Iran has found itself …

Radiofarda – Following remarks by Iran’s president yesterday, Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said on Tuesday that the attack on Iranian oil tanker in the Red Sea was the work of “one or more” foreign powers. Images released Monday showed a pair of gaping holes in the hull of an Iranian oil tanker that Tehran says was hit by two missiles …

Radiofarda – Nobody supports the regime in Iran, says a renowned German coach who managed a major Iranian soccer club, Esteqlal (Esteghlal) for almost two years. Speaking exclusively to the German t-online.de website, the long-time Bundesliga coach Winfried “Winnie” Schäfer, has also insisted that everyone he met was scared [in Iran], although It’s hard to imagine it if one did …

Radiofarda – Hours after the Iran’s Revolutionary Guard announced on Monday that it had lured a Paris-based Iranian dissident and “guided” him back to the country, state-run TV showed a short video about the case. In the 90-second-long video aired at prime time, 20:30 local time, the dissident, Rouhollah Zam, says he regretted his media activities in exile in recent …

Radiofarda – British and Chinese nuclear delegations are visiting Iran to discuss the redesigning and upgrading of the country’s heavy water reactor in Arak, Central Province, semi-official news agency ISNA reported on Monday, October 14. The British delegation arrived in Tehran on Sunday to join a team of Chinese scientists who are also working on modernizing the heavy water reactor. …

Iran-HRM – A court in Tehran has condemned Nahid Khodajou, a labor rights activist arrested during Labor Day demonstrations on May 1, to six years in jail and 74 lashes. The sentence was issued by notorious Judge Iman Afshari at bench 26 of Tehran’s Revolutionary Court. Labor activist Nahid Khodajou has been sentenced to 6 years’ imprisonment and 74 lashes. …

RFL/RE – The United States has imposed sanctions on Turkey’s defense minister and two other ministers in response to Ankara’s military assault on northeast Syria, as President Donald Trump called his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, to demand an immediate cease-fire. Defense Minister Hulusi Akar, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu, and Energy Minister Fatih Donmez were placed on the U.S. Treasury’s …