RFL/RE – The global death toll from the coronavirus is more than 205,000 with nearly 3 million infections confirmed, causing mass disruptions as governments continue to try to slow the spread of the new respiratory illness. Here’s a roundup of COVID-19 developments in RFE/RL’s broadcast regions. Iran Iranian President Hassan Rohani said on April 26 that health officials are launching …

VOA – The United States has renewed a waiver for Iraq to continue importing Iranian electricity, a State Department official said on Sunday, but this time for a shorter period of 30 days, adding that Washington would be reassessing whether to renew again once a ‘credible government’ is formed in Iraq. “The Secretary granted this brief extension of the waiver …

Radiofarda – Days after Amnesty International published a report on the high number of executions in Iran and several other countries, human rights monitors say Iran has executed three more people in minority-populated provinces. Abdul Vahed Faizi and Ramyar (Payam) Mokhless, both from Baneh, were executed in Sanandaj Central Prison on Friday morning, according to the Hengaw human rights website …

Radiofarda – Five citizens of China were detained for their private chat on the internet about the technology giant Huawei’s Iranian sales, The New York Times reported. Speaking to NYT, two of the detainees have disclosed that they were imprisoned for eight and three months, respectively. All former employees of Huawei were attending the WeChat group when one of them …

Radiofarda – Instagram has shut down the account of Iranian rapper Tataloo after activists and Instagram users reported him for inappropriate posts asking underage girls to join his ‘team’ for sex. In a few recent Instagram stories Turkey-based Amir-Hossein Maqsoudlou (Maghsoudlou) who is better known by his stage name of Tataloo, said he was seeking young girls between the ages …

Radiofarda – Iran’s official COVID-19 cases and deaths have been going down since early April but Iran’s health officials are concerned that relaxation of lockdown may reverse the situation. According to the latest official figures announced on Saturday, the daily death toll has been at its lowest since April 4 with 74 more death in the past 24-hour period. The …

Radiofarda – In a tweet on April 25, the U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Iran continues to lie that the Revolutionary Guard’s space program is peaceful when in reality it is part of the country’s nuclear weapons program. “Deeply troubling that the IRGC, a Foreign Terrorist Organization, launched a military satellite. Their secret space program advances technologies used …

Radiofarda – A former Iranian deputy foreign minister has questioned Iran’s military ambitions in a clear reference to Revolutionary Guard commanders’ claims about the Iranian armed force’s deterrent power following the launch of a military satellite last week. In an analysis entitled “The Strategy of Deterrence” in Saturday’s edition of reformist newspaper Sharq, Aminzadeh wrote that “further to military deterrence, …

Radiofarda – With just two days remaining to the expiration of a thirty-day U.S. waiver to import Iranian gas and electricity, the Iraqi Minister of Electricity says it will take three to four years for the country to stop importing energy from Iran. Luay al-Khatteeb, told S&P Global Platts that it would take several years for the country’s oil and …

Al-Arabia – Iran is closely monitoring US troops in the region, but will never initiate any conflict or tension, President Hassan Rouhani said in a phone call with Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani on Saturday.Rouhani congratulated the Qatari Emir on the advent of the holy month of Ramadan, according to the official IRNA news agency.“Iran is closely monitoring …