VOA – Iraq’s top Shi’ite religious leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, called on the country’s political leaders Friday not to choose a new prime minister with ties to outside countries, ostensibly referring to Iran and the U.S. Iraqi Shi’ite worshipers gathered for Friday prayers in the holy city of Karbala as Sheikh Abdel Mehdi Karbalaie, a top spokesman Sistani, urged …

Radiozamaneh – Iran is facing the most brutal suppression in its recent history which started with lowering of gasoline subsidies, ended up in widespread protests and riots and subsequent crackdown. But what is the economy behind it; what went wrong economically? A driver in the vehicle holding a slogan that says: “hiking gasoline prices three folds in one night is …

CHRI – UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet issued statement on December 6,  in which she “expressed alarm” over the Iranian government’s violent response to the protests that broke out across the country after the government’s November 15 announcement of a steep gas price hike, stating that there were “clear violations of international norms and standards on the use of …

Iran Human Rights (IHR) – A prisoner was hanged at the central prison of the central Iranian city of Yazd for murder charges Thursday. According to Baluchi Activists Campaign, prisoner Abdossatar Dehmordeh was hanged at Yazd Prison on December 5, 2019. He was sentenced to death for murder charges four years ago. Out of the 110 people who were executed …

Iran Human Rights (IHR) – A prisoner was hanged at the central prison of the Iranian southeastern city of Zahedan Wednesday.  According to HRANA, prisoner Elias Notizehi, 27, was hanged on Wednesday, December 4, at Zahedan Central Prison, Sistan and Baluchistan province. He was sentenced to death for murder around three years ago.  Out of the 110 people who were …

Al-Monitor – For weeks, speculation had been rife that Iranian parliament Speaker Ali Larijani was deliberating whether to run for reelection, and on Nov. 30, he officially declared that he will not participate in the Feb. 21 parliamentary vote. Larijani has been speaker for 11 years, and his decision strengthened theories that he was setting his sights on becoming Iran’s next president. It took him less than …

PayvandNews – Russian state nuclear company Rosatom has suspended work on modernizing a unit of Iran’s Fordow nuclear complex due to an issue with uranium compatibility, Rosatom’s nuclear fuel cycle unit TVEL said on December 5. Fordow nuclear enrichment facility near Qom, Iran “Uranium enrichment and the production of stable isotopes cannot be carried out in the same room,” TVEL …

unhcr.org – This is a summary of what was said by UNHCR spokesperson Babar Baloch – to whom quoted text may be attributed – at today’s press briefing at the Palais des Nations in Geneva. 06 December 2019 Two Afghan refugee sisters living in Iran line up to start the school year.  © UNHCR/Mohammad Hossein Dehghanian UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, welcomes Iran’s efforts to …

Guardian.com – When Mikhal Dekel was a child she would sometimes wake up at night to find her father, Hannan, in the kitchen. “He would be sifting through the garbage can, salvaging a bit of cottage cheese stuck to the container. It used to repel me: my father, a cat pawing through the trash. There was an obsessive, almost mechanical quality to …

PayvandNews – Asiatic cheetah, the planet’s fastest mammal, are facing extinction as their population has dramatically shrank to less than 7,000 in the world over the past few years, with a small remaining population in Iran. internationalcheetahday.com Cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) have long, slender bodies covered with unique black spots scattered across their tan coats. The name cheetah comes from the …