Radiofarda – A member of Tehran’s City Council has revealed that during the first two months of the coronavirus outbreak the overall death toll in Iran’s capital increased by 3,700, compared with the same period last year. Iranian officials have not released the epidemic toll in Tehran, but the nationwide death toll they have announced is just 6,000; too low …

Radiofarda – The Iranian government is planning to offer its shares in three major Iranian banks and two insurance companies for sale at the Tehran Stock Market. This is part of the President Hassan Rouhani administration’s attempt to make up for the budget deficit caused by a catalogue of problems. These include U.S. sanctions on Iran’s oil exports and international …

Radiofarda – The Islamic Republic of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has tasked the IRGC with making Persian Gulf islands “habitable”, IRGC Naval Force Commander Alireza Tangsiri has said in an interview with the Iranian state-run radio on Wednesday April 29. Announcing this, Tangsiri warned that the IRGC would not allow “the presence of foreign warships in this region.” …

RFL/RE – Iran’s Health Ministry has announced that religious shrines will remain closed in what appears to be a blow to influential hard-line clerics who are pushing for the sites to reopen amid efforts to contain one of the Middle East’s worst coronavirus outbreaks.“Until there’s full assurance that pilgrims to religious sites will not face problems, we won’t allow ourselves …

RFL/RE – Germany has banned Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hizballah’s activities on its soil and designated it a terrorist organization, a move welcomed by Tehran’s rivals the United States and Israel.“Interior Minister Horst Seehofer has banned the Shi’ite terrorist organization Hizballah in Germany,” Interior Ministry spokesman Steve Alter tweeted on April 30.The announcement came after German police conducted early morning raids in …

Amnesty – Scores of Ahwazi Arab prisoners in Sheiban prison, Khuzestan province, require medical care for injuries caused by beatings and metal pellets fired by security forces on 31 March during protests over the spread of COVID-19 in the prison. Three prisoners, Hossein Silawi, Ali Khasraji and Naser Khafaji, remain forcibly disappeared. At least seven others, including prisoners of conscience …

Al-Monitor – Like the European Union, Germany had until now only outlawed Hezbollah’s military wing while tolerating its political wing. But in a shift immediately welcomed by the United States and Israel, the German interior ministry said it now considered the entire movement a “Shiite terrorist organisation”. “Hezbollah is a terrorist organisation deemed responsible for numerous attacks and kidnappings worldwide,” …

Al-Monitor – A ban on selling conventional weapons to Iran ends in October under a 2015 Security Council resolution that blessed the denuclearization accord negotiated by former president Barack Obama. “We’re not going to let that happen,” Pompeo told a news conference. “In the event we can’t get anyone else to act, the United States is evaluating every possibility about …

PayvandNews – Some cultural heritage enthusiasts say that hundreds of stone lions, which were placed on top of the tombstones of brave and courageous people of Bakhtiari tribe in the past, are now on the verge of oblivion and even fading away. Bakhtiari nomads regard such stone statues, locally called ‘Bard Shirs’ as a symbol of bravery, valor, and characteristics …

Radiofarda – The Spokesman of Iran’s Armed Forces on Tuesday said Iran’s Law Enforcement Forces (Police) and the Revolutionary Guard’s militia arm (Basij) have arrested 3,600 individuals for “spreading rumors about coronavirus”. Speaking on a live news program on Channel 2 of Iran’s state-run television Brigadier General Abolfazl Shekarchi warned that rumors are a means of psychological war against Iran …