Radiofarda – Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with Bahrain’s crown prince Tuesday on a Middle East trip aimed at building more ties between Israel and the Arab world after a landmark US-brokered deal with the UAE. Pompeo said in a tweet that he discussed the “importance of building regional peace and stability” and “countering Iran’s malign influence” with Crown …

Radiofarda – Israel said Wednesday it had conducted air strikes against Hezbollah observation posts in Lebanon after shots were fired from across the border towards its troops the previous evening. The country’s armed forces had said earlier that a “security incident” was unfolding in the vicinity of Manara, a kibbutz near the UN-demarcated Blue Line border between the two nations, …

Radiofarda – Dozens of lawmakers in Iran have signed a motion to replace foreign messaging apps with domestically produced ones. The proposal titled as the motion for “Organizing Social Media Messaging,” was presented to the parliament’s presidium on Monday, August 24. Signed by forty MPs, the motion has set fines and prison sentences for anyone who offers social media messaging …

Radiofarda – The lawyers of jailed British citizen Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe are alleging that the UK government has stalled payment of a £400 million debt to Iran, which could secure her freedom, for fear of offending the Trump administration. In a letter to UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace, Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s lawyers say postponing the next court hearing on the dispute over the …

Radiofarda – A member of the Tehran City Council said on Sunday that Tehran’s COVID-19 death toll has risen to 10,200 residents since the outbreak began in February, with the Health Ministry’s official death toll for the country reaching 20,643. Addressing a council meeting, Counselor Nahid Khodakarami also warned about the impact of the current month-long mourning ceremonies and the …

Radiofarda – Tehran Police Chief Hossein Rahimi said on Tuesday that authorities have arrested Keyvan Emamverdi, a former art student of Tehran University accused of raping several students. Dozens of survivors have emerged in recent days and named him on social media, particularly on Twitter. Survivors say Emamverdi, who also owned a bookshop close to the university, lured them to …

Radiofarda – Iran’s Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli has expressed concern over possible low turnout in the country’s next presidential election. After Iranian officials announced the date on Sunday for the 2021 election, to be held on June 18, 2021, Fazli appeared on live TV Monday to cite the low turnout in February’s parliamentary election as cause for concern, with …

VOA – The president of the U.N. Security Council said Tuesday there is no consensus for restoring international sanctions on Iran in the 15-member council and that he would take no further action on a U.S. demand to re-impose them.   “It is clear for me that there is one member, which has a particular position on the issue, while there …

CHRI – The veteran journalist and political activist Keyvan Samimi must report to Evin Prison to begin serving a three-year prison sentence for his peaceful activism and reporting. On August 21, Samimi posted a screenshot of an electronic summons from the judiciary ordering him to report to Evin Prison on August 24, 2020. “I will go to prison and when I get out I …

Iran Human Rights (IHR) – In recent weeks, a prisoner in Dehdasht Prison and another in Yasuj Central Prison have been executed on murder charges. Iran media had previously reported the execution of another prisoner accused of murder in Yasuj. According to the HRANA news agency, on August 19, a man was executed in Dehdasht prison. The prisoner who was …