Radiofarda – The deepening COVID-19 or coronavirus crisis in Iran continues to take the lives of prominent political and religious leaders. The latest casualty is Ayatollah Mohsen Habibi, the custodian of a seminary in Tehran and a deputy to the head of Iran’s Judiciary., Ali Khalafi. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has expressed his condolences to the family of Ayatollah …

Radiofarda – In a rare barrage of tweets with a hashtag #IndianMuslimslnDanger, the Islamic Republic Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei blamed the Indian government on Thursday, March 5, for the recent deadly Hindu-Muslim clashes in new Delhi. Joining voices with the Iranian Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, the eighty-year-old Khamenei tweeted in Arabic, English, Persian, and Urdu attached to a …

Al-Arabia – Two different types of coronavirus strains could be causing infections worldwide, according to researchers at China’s Peking University. “Almost 70 percent of the analyzed strains were linked to a more aggressive type of coronavirus, dubbed as the ‘L type,’ while the remaining 30 percent had been caused by a lesser aggressive ‘S type,’ the findings said. Click here …

Radiofarda – US Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook says the Islamic Republic of Iran has lied to its own people about the Coronavirus outbreak in that country. Hook also regretted that Tehran has rejected Washington’s offer of extending relief aide to Iran. Speaking at a news conference during his visit to Paris on Thursday March 5, Hook said that …

RFL/RE – The United States has called for Iran to be held accountable for its commitments under international nuclear treaties, accusing Tehran of violating safeguards. “All nations must hold Iran accountable to its commitments, otherwise the NPT [Nuclear Proliferation Treaty] isn’t worth the paper it is written on,” U.S. Secretary Mike Pompeo told a news conference on March 5. Earlier …

RFL/RE – A top Iranian military official is spreading a conspiracy theory regarding the coronavirus amid an outbreak in the Islamic republic that has killed more than 100 people, including an adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, and infected more than 3,500, according to official figures. Hossein Salami, the commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), suggested on March 5 …

VOA – U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is urging the U.N. Security Council to renew the arms embargo on Iran before it expires in October. “As we approach this big demarcation that occurs in October, the very missiles that put American lives at risk in Iraq, and the very missiles that fell on Saudi Aramco, can be lawfully sold …

CHRI – The families of eight conservationists imprisoned in Iran on trumped-up charges have called on Iranian Judiciary Chief Ebrahim Raisi to release them on furlough along with the some 54,000 other prisoners who were released in March 2020 after rights organizations expressed serious concerns for their safety amid the country’s deadly COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak. The families’ letter was published by the state-run Iranian Labor News Agency in …

Iran Human Rights (IHR) – A “homeless” man who had been arrested for robbery, was last week hanged after he had “confessed to committing murder” under interrogations.  The prisoner who is identified as Hamid by the Iranian Davat-Online website, was hanged at Ghezel-Hesar Prison of Karaj the last week of February. The exact date of the execution is not known. According to …

Iran Human Rights (IHR) – Death-row prisoner Ahmad Mahrokhi was hanged on February 29, 2020, at the prison of Shirvan city, North Khorasan province. According to IHR sources, on the morning of Saturday, February 29, 2020, death-row prisoner Ahmad Mahrokhi was hanged at Shirvan prison. “Ahmad Mahrokhi was arrested three years ago for murdering his cousin,” a well-informed source told …