VOA – U.S. envoy Brian Hook’s latest travels aimed at extending a U.N. arms embargo on Iran through a prospective Security Council resolution criticized by veto-wielding world powers are raising questions about why the U.S. is pursuing such a step and what it will do if the diplomacy fails. Hook, the U.S. special representative for Iran, ended a week of …

VOA – Talks between Iran and China aimed at finalizing a 25-year strategic cooperation agreement are continuing despite what Tehran dismissed as “baseless rumors” about the deal that leaked earlier this month. The draft partnership proposal leaked online to the press calls for China to invest $400 billion in Iran’s energy, telecommunications, infrastructure, ports, railways and other sectors in exchange …

Amnesty – Leaked official letters newly obtained by Amnesty International reveal that the Iranian government has ignored repeated pleas by senior officials responsible for managing Iran’s prisons for additional resources to control the spread of COVID-19 and treat infected prisoners. The organization reviewed copies of four letters signed by officials at Iran’s Prisons Organization, which operates under the supervision of the …

Iran Human Rights (IHR) – A prisoner on death row for qisas (retribution in-kind) on charges of “premeditated murder” was executed in Sanandaj Central Prison. According to Iran Human Rights (IHR), the identity of the prisoner executed this morning has been established as Morteza Pirkhezri, 42. He had been sentenced to retribution in-kind for “premeditated murder”. An informed source told …

Iran Human Rights (IHR) –  The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, warned against the Iranian Government’s pressure on Imam Ali Popular Students’ Relief Society (IAPSRS). The full statement: GENEVA (30 July 2020) – The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, said today she was alarmed by the Iranian Government’s increased pressure on a prominent civil society group …

Al-Monitor – As the country struggles to bring down the high number of coronavirus-related deaths, Iran’s Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi appeared on national television to show how the country is struggling with a second wave of deaths. Standing before a chart showing the daily deaths since February, when Iran first experienced the outbreak of coronavirus infections, Harirchi said on average 102 …

PayvandNews – The Iranian Health Ministry announced 2,621 new cases of infection with the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in the past 24 hours, putting the total number of cases in the country at 301,530. Speaking at a daily press conference on Thursday, Health Ministry Spokeswoman Sima Lari put the death toll from the coronavirus in Iran at 16,569, saying the disease …

Radiofarda – Iranian news agencies on Thursday reported that a delegation headed by Deputy Foreign Minister for International and Legal Affairs Mohsen Baharvand has arrived in Kiev for talks with the Ukrainian authorities over the downing of Flight PS752 over Tehran on January 8. Last week Ukrainian authorities said Iran had promised to send a delegation to Ukraine to negotiate …

Radiofarda – Iran, creaking under the impact of U.S. sanctions, a collapse in oil sales and a severe COVID-19 epidemic, is scrambling to buy food and medicine to avoid a supply crunch. But it’s a struggle. Despite such supplies being exempt from sanctions, banks and governments are reluctant to transfer or take Iranian money because they fear unwittingly breaching the …

Radiofarda – The U.S. dollar has started rising again since Saturday in Iran after a central bank intervention last week briefly strengthened the Iranian currency. The Central Bank of Iran (CBI) injected about $1 billion into the local exchange market from July 18 to 23. The dollar which had risen to 260,000 rials dropped to 210,000 last week. However, from …