Al-Monitor – Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force, spoke today about Iran’s retaliation for the killing of Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani. Hajizadeh first addressed a topic under debate by many analysts and Iran observers: whether Iran intended to kill American troops stationed at Ain al-Asad base in Iraq in the missile attack. “We could have targeted …

Al- Monitor – Iran’s hard-liners and conservatives appear to have failed to reach a unified platform ahead of the Feb. 21 parliamentary election, though they face no serious competition, as Reformists are mostly determined to boycott the ballot boxes. For a year, conservatives and hard-liners have sought to set their differences aside and form a united front. Senior conservatives established the unofficial Council of Unity to manage the election. The council was at …

Radiofarda – In a rare move, the U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in a cable sent to all American missions overseas has ordered them to limit contact with Iranian opposition groups unless specifically approved, in order not to worsen tensions with the Iranian regime. “Many exiled Iranian opposition groups try to engage U.S. officials regularly to gain at least …

Radiofarda – The Prime Minister of Pakistan has directed his Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi to undertake visits to Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United States as part of his efforts to seek de-escalation in tensions in the Middle East. Pakistan has close relations with Saudi Arabia and good ties with both Iran and the United States. In October, Pakistan’s …

Al-Arabia – A Revolutionary Guards commander said Iran would take “harsher revenge soon” after Tehran launched missile attacks on US targets in Iraq in retaliation for last week’s US killing of an Iranian general, Tasnim news agency reported on Thursday.The agency was quoting senior commander Abdollah Araghi, speaking after US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that Iran appeared to be “standing down” after the …

Al-Arabia – Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the government was considering several possible causes of a plane crash in Iran, which killed 176 citizens of seven countries.The Ukraine International Airline jet crashed shortly after takeoff from Tehran on Wednesday. Among the victims were 82 Iranians, 63 Canadians, 11 Ukrainians, 10 Swedes, three Germans and three Britons.In a television statement Zelenskiy …

Al-Arabia – The Iran-backed Houthi militia in Yemen did not launch an attack on Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities in September, according to a confidential report by UN sanctions monitors seen by Reuters on Wednesday, bolstering a US accusation that Iran was responsible.The United States, European powers and Saudi Arabia blamed Iran for the September 14 attack on the Saudi Aramco oil plants in Abqaiq …

Iran-HRM – A man convicted of theft was publicly flogged today in the central city of Shahreza, according to a local website. The state-run Shahreza News website quoted the city’s Revolutionary and Public Prosecutor as saying that the man was sentenced to public flogging for robbery. Amir Hossein Razazadeh said, “According to a sentence by the Branch 103 of the …

Iran-HRM – Ali Yektaie a teenager arrested during the November Iran protests has remained in prison because of the high cost of his bail. Ali Yektaie was arrested by plainclothes agents at his work place in November for joining the nationwide protests in Tehran’s Nasim Shahr. He has been held in a juvenile detention center in Tehran’s Shahreziba district. Bail …

RFL/RE — U.S. President Donald Trump has signaled a de-escalation in his conflict with Tehran that has the world on edge about an impending war by hinting he would not use military force to retaliate against Iran for its nonfatal missile attack against bases hosting American troops in Iraq. Trump mixed words of disgust for Iran’s policies of sponsoring terrorism …