Radiofarda – A rap song by dissident Iranian rapper Hichkas (Nobody) released on the Internet on December 10 in commemoration of November protests in Iran has become so popular that lines from its lyrics are now widely quoted by social media users. Soroush Lashkari a pioneer in Iranian rap is known as Hichkas. File photo In three days more than …

Radiofarda – The Friday Prayer Imam of Iran’s second-largest city Mashhad, mid-ranking cleric Ahmad Alamalhoda, says, although the Islamic republic is a “safe castle,” but the “enemy” could infiltrate through the “colossal gate of democracy and elections.” Speaking during Friday Prayer, on December 13, Alamalhoda described the Islamic Republic’s elections watchdog, the Guardian Council (GC), as the “gatekeeper” that would …

Radiofarda – An Iranian Judiciary official on Thursday said 135 young men and women “whose appearance resembled devil worshipers” were arrested in the suburbs of the capital Tehran. Paraphernalia sold in Iran associated with Satanism. Undated Iranian authorities consider certain types of clothing, paraphernalia and accessories such as those with Gothic symbols as well as body art and rap, rock, …

Al-Arabia – Lebanese Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah said that the mass protests in Lebanon were being used as an American tool to pressure Iran. In a televised speech on Friday, the Hezbollah leader also said that the Lebanese government had made the wrong decision to increase fees, referring to a government revenue-raising measure unveiled in October in which a charge …

RFL/RE – Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has warned Iran of a “decisive” response if U.S. interests are harmed in Iraq following rocket attacks on bases used by U.S. troops. In a statement on December 13, Pompeo accused Iran’s “proxies” of conducting “several attacks against bases where Iraqi Security Forces are co-located with U.S. and International Coalition personnel” involved in the fight …

CHRI – Family Ordered to Conceal Shiraz Man’s Death at Protest Iranian authorities pressured the family of Bahman Jafari, who died from a bullet wound to his heart on November 17, 2019, while state forces were trying to crush a protest in the city of Shiraz, to lie about his cause of death, Jafari’s cousin told the Center for Human …

Al-Monitor – The head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Hossein Salami, issued a warning to the United States about provoking unrest in Iran. Iran was rocked by protests Nov. 16 after President Hassan Rouhani announced fuel subsidy cuts, leading to sharp increases in the price of gasoline. According to Amnesty International, over 200 people were killed and thousands were …

Al-Monitor – When Iranian President Hassan Rouhani travels to Japan on Dec. 19-20, he will be looking to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to try to advance possible US-Iran mediation efforts, as French efforts appear to have stalled amid rising European concern about Iran’s steps away from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. Iran “is asking Abe to pick up where [French President Emmanuel] Macron …

Radiofarda – An Iran-based sociologist Taqi Azad Armaki has warned that the intensification of the security situation in Iran following recent protests could lead to a social explosion within a year a two. Following the mid-November unrest that was ignited by a sharp rise in the price of gasoline but soon turning into an anti-regime political upheaval, pundits in Iran …

Radiofarda – An outspoken lawmaker in Iran has again demanded the ratification of approved laws which would allow the country to join the United Nation’s Palermo and CFT conventions against transnational crimes, money laundering and funding of terrorism. Ali Motahari who in a speech in parliament this week had condemned the interference of non-elected watchdog entities in legislation, told a …