The daughter of the slain Iranian Commander, General Qassem Soleimani on Monday met with Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, whom she had called “uncle Nasrallah” during her father’s funeral in Tehran earlier in January. Since her father’s death Zeinab Soleimani has become a celebrity among Iranian hardliners and apparently also Shiite’s in Lebanon. She was first seen in public …

Radiofarda – The commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, IRGC, General Hossein Salami, has responded with a counter-threat to U.S. Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook who said if Iran’s new Qods (Quds) Force Commander follows the same path of killing Americans, he will face the fate of his predecessor. Former Qods Force Commander Qassem Soleimani, was killed in a U.S. …

Radiofarda – An outspoken reformist lawmaker on Monday alleged that middlemen ask for up to $300,000 in bribes to help candidates in parliamentary elections to be approved for the race by the election watchdog, the hardliner Guardian Council. In a tweet on Monday, without further elaboration, Mahmoud Sadeqi (Sadeghi) said: “In this round of elections middlemen have on some occasions demanded …

Radiofarda – Israel’s Channel 12 on Sunday reported that cyber-attacks originating from Iran were among the 800 distinct cyber-attacks on Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport and planes of world leaders arriving in Israel to attend Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial on 23 January. According to The Times of Israel on Sunday Channel 12 cited officials from the Airports Authority Cyber Division in a report …

Al-Arabia – Envoys of 16 countries in Iraq, including, France, Britain and the United States, on Monday condemned the use of excessive violence by Iraqi security forces and armed groups and called for a credible investigation into hundreds of deaths since October. “Despite assurances by the government, security forces and armed groups continue to use live fire in these locations, …

Iran-HRM – Political prisoner Akbar Bagheri passed out on Sunday Jan 19th due to increased pain and anemia. He was transferred to the prison medic by other prisoners. Even though the doctors’ analysis was that the blood was not reaching the heart due to increased anemia, they only gave him a serum and sent him back to the cells. The …

RFL/RE – Satellite images suggest Iran is preparing to launch a satellite into space after three failed rocket launches last year, reports say, as part of a program viewed by the United States as a cover for ballistic missile development.“Yes, a site is being prepared for placing the Zafar satellite into orbit,” Iranian Minister of Information and Communications Technology Mohammad …

RFL/RE – The United States has expressed concern and called for an immediate cease-fire in northwestern Syria where the combined forces of Russia, Iranian proxies, and the Syrian government are reportedly conducting an assault on the Idlib and Aleppo provinces.U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement on January 27 the military assault is causing a humanitarian crisis affecting “hundreds …

RFL/RE – Iran has made it impossible for followers of the Baha’i faith to obtain a new national identification card unless they renounce their religion.Since the smart ID card is required for access to basic government services or to make bank transactions, rights activists maintain that the application process is the latest in a series of discriminatory state policies that …

VOA –  A top U.S. commander said on Monday mortars were used in an attack on the American Embassy in Baghdad that injured one person and caused some material damage the previous night, not katyusha rockets as was initially reported by staffers and a statement from the military. Gen. Frank McKenzie, a top U.S. commander for the Middle East, told …