Radiofarda – On Monday students in several universities in Tehran and Isfahan held rallies and chanted slogans against the Basij militia and the clerical regime for a third day. In a video showing a rally at Isfahan Industrial University students chant: “Execution and imprisonment no longer scare us” and “Get lost Basiji”. Referring to the many highly-educated passengers who were …

Radiofarda – President Trump intensified his attacks on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on Monday, January 13, by retweeting a photoshopped image of the two. The tweet was posted by an anonymous Iranian user presenting himself as D0wn_Under showing Pelosi fully covered in hijab, and a turbaned Schumer. The retweet came in a series of …

Al-Arabia – US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday said Qassem Soleimani was killed as part of a broader strategy of deterring challenges by US foes that also applies to China and Russia, further diluting the assertion that the top Iranian general was struck because he was plotting imminent attacks on US targets.In his speech at Stanford University’s Hoover …

Al-Arabia – Troops at the Iraqi air base that bore the brunt of Iran’s first direct missile attack against US forces said they were shocked by its intensity and grateful to emerge unscathed. The scale of the damage at the Ain al-Assad base showed Iran’s destructive capability at a time when US officials say they are still concerned that Iran-backed …

RFL/RE – Germany, Britain, and France say they have triggered a dispute mechanism in the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and global powers, citing Tehran’s reduced compliance with the accord. The three European states, who signed the deal along with China, Russia, and the United States, as well as the European Union, said that while they had set off a …

VOA – Iranian President Hassan Rouhani pledged Tuesday to punish those responsible for the accidental downing of a Ukrainian passenger jet, calling the incident “unforgivable.” In a televised speech, Rouhani called for a special court to be set up, and said, “the whole world will be watching.” Also Tuesday, an Iranian judiciary spokesman said some people had been arrested for …

RFL/RE – Ukraine knew on a preliminary basis that Iran shot down Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 on January 8, the same day as the incident, but decided not to go public with the information because it wanted to get access to the crash site.Kyiv knew conclusively that Iran’s military was to blame the following day, yet told its embassy …

VOA – U.S. President Donald Trump drew both criticism and a small measure of credit after taking to Twitter to chastise Iranian leaders over press restrictions in the Islamic Republic, whose recent acknowledgment that it mistakenly shot down a Ukrainian passenger jet, killing all 176 aboard, has triggered massive street protests. “To the leaders of Iran – DO NOT KILL …

CHRI – Iranian security forces used what appeared to be live ammunition and tear gas to repress protests in Tehran on January 12, 2019, over the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRGC) “unintentional” downing of a Ukrainian passenger plane, according to video footage sent to the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) and later verified by the AP. Protesters mainly in the capital and …

Al-Monitor – Protests have continued for a third night after Iranian officials took responsibility for accidentally shooting down a passenger plane in Tehran and killing 176 people.  Protests have taken place at Amir Kabir University and Sharif University of Technology, which lost current or former students in Flight 752. Among the victims were a number of university professors, PhD holders, medical doctors and students. …