Al-Monitor – Iranian President Hassan Rouhani says his country is properly handling its response to the coronavirus outbreak but is looking to make sure that people wear masks in public.  At a meeting of the National Headquarters for Combating the Coronavirus on June 25, Rouhani said that while some cities are seeing a spike in infections and deaths, “on the whole the …

csmonitor – Farmer Reza Ashrafi may have considered the death of his 14-year-old daughter Romina in the name of family honor inevitable. But its ability to spark an uproar that is challenging Iranian traditions of patriarchy and improving women’s and children’s rights had to appear unlikely. After all, hundreds of Iranian women die each year in so-called honor killings. Yet …

PayvandNews – An extensive dossier, which is an essential prerequisite for possible UNESCO inscription of a site, has almost been completed for the gigantic Tabas Geopark, which is situated in east-central Iran.  Tabas Geopark, which is situated in a vast county of the same name, has enormous potential to be registered as “the biggest geopark” [in West Asia region] and its trustees …

Variety – Taraneh Alidoosti, star of Asghar Farhadi’s “The Salesman” and one of Iran’s most popular female actors, is set to receive a five-month prison sentence on charges of anti-government activism, BBC Persia has reported. The BBC Persia report cited Alidoosti’s lawyer Kaveh Rad who tweeted that the sentence has been suspended for two years and would be officially announced in …

Radiofarda – In a joint statement on Wednesday, Justice for Iran (JFI) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) called on Iran to stop using so-called “confessions” and airing them on the state-run television against dissidents. Iranian security forces often use intimidation, ill-treatment and torture to force individuals to appear on television and speak against themselves and others, “repent” …

Radiofarda – A university in Iran has acknowledged that it has reprimanded and suspended students for organizing a memorial gathering for the victims of a Ukrainian airliner shot down over Tehran in January. Earlier, Ensafnews website in a brief report had said that 20 students were punished for organizing a candle-burning ceremony to honor the victims. The date of the …

Radiofarda – The Microsoft Threat Protection Intelligence Team has identified a chain of attacks on its cloud service in a post published on June 18. According to Microsoft the group identified as HOLMIUM” has been performing espionage and destructive attacks targeting aerospace, defense, chemical, mining, and petrochemical-mining industries. Based on previous research by the Fireye the group has been linked to Iran and …

Radiofarda – Iran’s Deputy Minister of Health announced June 24 that “forty percent of residents in the provinces of Qom and Gilan have contracted the coronavirus, while the number in Tehran is about fifteen percent. At the same time, the spokeswoman of the health ministry, Sima Sadat Lari, announced that 9,996 have so far died of COVID-19. She also announced …

Radiofarda – Real estate prices in Iran’s capital Tehran have risen by 23 percent in the past one month, the Ministry of Housing, Roads and Urban Development has announced. The unprecedented increase in house prices have been in parallel with the devaluation of the national currency and its fall against the U.S. dollar and other major currencies. Compared with the …

Radiofarda – In a move unprecedented in Iran’s political dynamics, two top military commanders have openly lent support to Judiciary chief Ebrahim Raeesi, who is the most talked about candidate to replace Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as Iran’s next supreme leader. Mohammad Baqeri, chief of the joint staff of Iranian armed forces wrote in a letter to Raeesi on June 23 …