Radiofarda – Based on a recent poll, only 24 percent of the people in the Iranian capital city will participate in the parliamentary elections on Friday, February 21, says the chairman of the University of Tehran’s Social Studies and Research Institute. The poll conducted in January shows that 93 percent of the people in Tehran are unhappy with the current …

Radiofarda – Deputy Minister of Telecommunications on Monday said unprecedented recent cyberattacks are aimed at lowering Internet quality to make people worry about government meddling with access and cause dissatisfaction. The attacks which began on February 8 have affected some mobile operators as well as home internet providers and cloud services. “We are concerned about attacks aiming at lowering the …

Radiofarda – Iranian news agencies on Monday reported that an Iranian citizen detained in Germany for violation of sanctions and facing extradition to the United States was freed and returned to Iran with Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Sunday evening. Ahmad Khalili was arrested in Germany in 2018 for trying to circumvent U.S. sanctions the reports say without further …

Radiofarda – Deputy head of the Islamic Republic’s Organization for Educational Research and Planning (OERP) has denied that school text-books have been changed in the country to “curry favor with Moscow and exonerate it from the historical crimes the Russian Empire committed in Iran.” Speaking at an academic session on Sunday, February 16, Hassan Maleki insisted that a series of …

Iran-HRM – 30,000 die every year due to air pollution, and 16,000 in road accidents. This was admitted by the head of the Environmental Protection Organization. Esa Kalantari, presidential deputy and head of the Environmental Protection Organization said while around 16,000 get killed in road accidents, 30,000 die every year due to air pollution which is twice as much as …

Iran-HRM – There are a large number of wounded prisoners among the young people arrested during Iran protests in November 2019, who are being denied medical care and lingering in dire physical conditions, reports from the Greater Tehran Penitentiary (a.k.a. Fashafuyeh) indicate. Siamak Paymardi is one of the young people who got wounded and subsequently arrested during the protests in November …

RFL/RE – Iran’s latest failed attempt to send a satellite into orbit has rekindled U.S. accusations that Tehran is using satellite launches to develop its ballistic missiles.The U.S. accusations have, in turn, focused attention on what Iran’s military can learn from the country’s civilian space program and whether launches of Iran’s satellite-carrying Simorgh rockets amount to ballistic-missile tests.U.S., European AllegationsU.S. …

VOA – U.S. President Trump will never start a war with Iran during an election year, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said. Rouhani told a Tehran news conference Sunday that Trump knows a war between Iran and the United States would “ruin” his chances of reelection in November. “I think the Americans aren’t after war since they know what harm it …

Shabtabnews- The U.S. condemns the sentencing of Abdolrasoul Mortazavi, Hashem Khastar, Mohammad Nourizad, Mohammad and Fatemeh Sepehri, and three others for up to 26 years in prison for demanding political change. We call for the immediate release of all political prisoners in #Iran. Tweets by USAdarFarsi Tweets by USAdarFarsi

Radiofarda – Iran’s hardliner dominated constitutional watchdog that vets election candidates, disqualified most of the reformists for the February 21 parliamentary elections, with the direct support of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. The widespread disqualification of reformist candidates came while political activists in Iran thought Khamenei would succumb to allowing some diversity in order to cope with the rising tensions in …