Radiofarda – Three months past Iran protests in November 2019, Iranian judiciary officials have not yet reported on the number of those arrested and their place of detention, but are trying and issuing sentences for a number of them. Tuesday, February 18, in answering a question regarding the conditions of those arrested in the November protests, Judiciary spokesman Gholam Hossein Esma’ili announced, …

Iran-HRM – Political prisoner Maryam Akbari Monfared has been deprived of her family visits for three weeks. Maryam Akbari Monfared is detained in the Women’s Ward of Evin Prison. According to prison rules, if a prisoner commits a violation, she must first be heard in the disciplinary committee and then receive a verdict. But Ms. Akbari has been punished without …

VOA – A small instrument inside the drones that targeted the heart of Saudi Arabia’s oil industry and those in the arsenal of Yemen’s Houthi rebels match components recovered in downed Iranian drones in Afghanistan and Iraq, two reports say. These gyroscopes have only been found inside drones manufactured by Iran, Conflict Armament Research said in a report released Wednesday. …

CNBC – This week will see 7,148 candidates vetted by Iran’s unelected religious and legal authorities compete for 290 seats across 31 provinces. Much of the country’s youth, particularly in the capital Tehran, plan to stay at home, foreshadowing what’s expected to be the lowest voter turnout in years. Iranians walk past electoral posters and fliers during the last day …

Radiofarda – The Commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Ground Forces on Tuesday accused Saudi Arabia of supplying “at least three plane-loads of arms and equipment” to Jaish al-Adl, a Sunni separatist group in southeast Iran. Speaking at a gathering of the armed forces on Tuesday, Brigadier General Mohammad Pakpour said the United States and Saudi Arabia “extensively support” groups such …

Radiofarda – In its annual report on the situation of human rights in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), Amnesty International (AI) says the renewed wave of mass uprisings were met with brutality and repression during ‘year of defiance.’ “In Iraq and Iran alone, the authorities’ use of lethal force led to hundreds of deaths in protests; in Lebanon …

Radiofarda – One of the primary suspects involved in a massive financial corruption case in Iran’s petrochemical sector has fled the country, a conservative local news outlet close to the Islamic Republic Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei reported on February 18. “Former executive director of the Iranian Petrochemical Commercial Company (IPCC), Mehdi Sharifi Niknafs, has fled to the United Arab Emirates …

Radiofarda – Iranians remain reluctant to go to the polls and the Supreme Leader is worried as voting day in the February 21 parliamentary elections is just around the corner. Wednesday February 19 is the last day of campaigning and Thursday is the no-campaign day based on regulations. Yet Iranian voters don’t seem to be thrilled by the idea of …

Radiofarda – Chief of Police of Uruzgan Province in Afghanistan has said that Afghan intelligence services have evidence Iran is supplying the Taliban with Man-portable air-defense systems (MANPADS). In an exclusive interview with Radio Azadi (Afghan Service of Radio Liberty/Radio Azadi ) on February 18 General Muhammed Haya said that the Taliban in Farah Province who have received the weapons …

Al-Arabia – US Senator Chris Murphy held an undisclosed meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif last week, Murphy’s office confirmed to Al Arabiya English on Tuesday. Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut, is the latest Western official to meet Iranian regime officials in the months after Iran shot down the plane. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo responded to the …