Radiofarda – To the great dismay of Iran’s religious and political establishment, the celebration of Valentine’s Day has become so popular in Iran that even in in the holy city of Qom authorities have to warn shops not to sell Valentine’s gifts. Qom with its many seminaries and the Shrine of Fatimeh Masumeh, the sister of the eighth Shiite Imam …

Radiofarda – Israeli Defense Minister Naftali Bennet on Monday said Israel will counter Iran in Syria and the United States in Iraq according to a division of work between Washington and Tel Aviv. “I met with my colleague the American defense secretary Mark Esper, and we sorted out the coordination exactly — they’re taking Iraq, and we’re taking Syria,” The Times …

Radiofarda – Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad-Javad Zarif on Tuesday said Canadian complaints about a Ukrainian passenger plane that was shot down by the Revolutionary Guard has no legal basis. Speaking to reporters at the side-lines of a rally on the occasion of the 41st anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, when asked about Canadian complaints against Iran Zarif said “Iran’s actions …

Radiofarda – The Islamic Republic of Iran acknowledged its fourth failure in its space ambitions Sunday evening February 9, as the missile carrying Satellite Zafar [Victory] could not reach the required speed to put the satellite into orbit. The latest failure was similar to two previous cases, while in another attempt a major blast on the launch pad led to …

Al-Arabia – Shortly after Iranian Major General Qassem Soleimani was killed in a US drone strike in Iraq, the Tehran-backed Lebanese Hezbollah group urgently met with Iraqi militia leaders, seeking to unite them in the face of a huge void left by their powerful mentor’s death, two sources with knowledge of the meetings told Reuters. The meetings were meant to …

Al-Arabia – When Iranian authorities sentenced two women to death in 2009 for spreading the message of Christianity, international observers feared the worse from the regime’s latest attempt to crush religious freedom in Iran. But the regime’s punishment backfired when Maryam Rostampour and Marziyeh Amirizadeh evangelized hundreds of fellow prisoners, and even prison guards, in the 259 days before they …

Iran-HRM – Iran has made mass arrests of supporters of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) and former political prisoners in recent days, simultaneous with the anniversary of the 1979 revolution and its upcoming parliamentary election. The Iranian regime is afraid of the resurgence of Iran protests and increasing activities of MEK supporters. In a statement on these mass …

RFL/RE – A lawyer for an Iranian-French academic detained in Iran for eight months says his client has ended a six-week hunger strike. Fariba Adelkhah “responded to a written request from civil and political activists and ended her hunger strike at midday,” the lawyer, Said Dehghan, told the AFP news agency on February 12.Dehghan said Adelkhah began her hunger strike on …

RFL/RE – A woman has died in Tehran of a suspected coronavirus infection, an Iranian state newspaper reports.Without citing any sources, the daily IRAN newspaper said on February 12 that the 63-year-old Iranian woman died in hospital three days earlier.An investigation has been ordered into the cause of her death, according to the report.Kianush Jahanpour, a spokesman for Iran’s Health Ministry, denied …

RFL/RE – Five people were arrested on February 11 on suspicion of conspiring to sell sanctioned Iranian oil to a refinery in China, the U.S. Justice Department said in a news release.Four suspects in Texas and one in New York were each charged with one count of conspiracy and one count of violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).Between …