Al-Arabia – Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif contracted and later recovered from coronavirus, a foreign ministry official said on Sunday. For more coronavirus news, visit our dedicated page. Zarif tested positive for coronavirus once and negative on two separate occasions after that, state news agency IRNA quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh as saying. Khatibzadeh did not say when Zarif …

VOA – Iran’s daily tally of coronavirus deaths hit a record high of 434 on Sunday, the Health Ministry announced, and the head of a top medical body said the actual toll was at least three times higher than the official count. The deaths, announced by Health Ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari on state TV, take the official toll to 35,298 …

Iran-HRM – October saw the State Security Force’s violent approach towards Iranian citizens, even torturing them in public. This comes in tandem with the clerical regime’s expansion of its repressive plans to contain increasing social discontent, particularly on the eve of the anniversary of the protests in November 2019. On October 18, SSF forces tied a young man, Mehrdad Sepehri, to …

Radiofarda – A prominent Islamic Revolutionary turned dissident, Abolfazl Qadyani, says Iran’s political establishment is an “authoritarian regime” that has blocked all roads towards reforming the country. In a note published last Thursday on an exiled dissident website, Kalemeh, Qadyani asserted that the tyranny dominating Iran has brought the country to a standstill. Qadyani, who lives in Iran, also called …

The initial success of America’s recent economic policy was based on three factors: a substantial tax cut, energy independence, and a more level playing field in foreign trade…. Will there be a high tax scenario at a time the economy is grappling with the crippling effect of Covid-19? Will he stop or curtail fracking and lose the status of number …

Radiofarda – Weddings, wakes and conferences will be banned in the Iranian capital until further notice as the Middle East’s hardest-hit nation battles a third wave of COVID-19, police said on Saturday. President Hassan Rouhani meanwhile announced new restrictions that will take effect on Wednesday in 25 of Iran’s 31 provinces for 10 days. The official IRNA news agency said …

Al-Arabia – Iran’s troubled currency rose to a six-week high against the US dollar on Saturday, helped by central bank cash injections and hopes of reduced US sanctions after a possible presidential election victory by Joe Biden.The dollar was selling for about 268,000 rials on the unofficial market, down from 281,000 on Friday, according to foreign exchange site Bonbast.com. The …

Iran-wire – Earlier this month, one of Iran’s most notorious puppet judges quietly passed away after contracting Covid-19. News surfaced that Hassan Zare Dehnavi, better known as Judge Haddad, had died on Wednesday, October 28. It prompted an outpouring of reaction from students, activists and others painfully affected by this judge’s rulings in the Revolutionary Courts during his lifetime. Beginning …

Iran-wire – Top Iranian chess referee Shohreh Bayat has been granted asylum in the UK after being photographed without a hijab at an international tournament last year. The 32-year-old is an arbiter for the International Chess Federation (FIDE) and was chief arbiter of the Women’s World Chess Championship 2020. What should have been a career highlight pitched Bayat into the centre of …

Iran-wire – In the eight months since the outbreak of coronavirus in Iran, many of the most bizarre pronouncements both about the virus and attempts to control it have come from Health Minister Saeed Namaki – especially when he is addressing either the Supreme Leader or the president of the Islamic Republic. Since late September the official daily death toll has …