RFL/RE – A British-based group monitoring the Syrian conflict says least six Iran-backed fighters have been killed in an Israeli rocket attack in central Syria.The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on December 25 that the Israeli attack launched in the province of Hama also destroyed depots and rocket-manufacturing facilities belonging to pro-Iranian militias.Earlier, the official Syrian news agency SANA …

Iranwire.com – The question of acquiring a coronavirus vaccine continued to dominate the news on Wednesday, December 23. Iranian officials continued to make promises without mentioning any specifics, and the hashtag #Buy_the_Vaccine continues to trend on social media. “Despite all the pressures and difficulties, we will buy the vaccine from the best and most trustworthy sources in the world,” said Health Minister …

gatestoneinstitute.org – It is worth remembering that, when President Trump took office, the region was still reeling from the dire consequences of former US President Barack Obama’s inept and naive handling of the region. By early January 2017, when Mr Trump took office, Iran was squandering the tens of billions of dollars it received for signing the nuclear deal, which …

RFL/RE – Iran has won approval from the United States to use foreign currency reserves it holds abroad to buy coronavirus vaccines despite U.S. sanctions on Iranian banks, the central bank chief said on December 24.Abdolnaser Hemmati said the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control approved the transfer to a Swiss bank.Hemmati said Iran would pay around $244 …

Iran-HRM – Prisoner of conscience Soheil Arabi was arraigned with new charges through a video conference by Branch 8 of Shahr-e Rey Courthouse on Wednesday, December 23, 2020. As a punishment, Mr. Arabi was relocated from the Great Tehran Penitentiary to Rajaishahr Prison on September 18 this year. He was held in solitary confinement for 33 days and subsequently transferred …

VOA – U.S. President Donald Trump has warned Iran against any attack on U.S. military or diplomatic personnel in Iraq, days after suspected Iran-backed Iraqi militia launched a barrage of rockets at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone.  The warning, issued on Twitter on December 23, came after top U.S. national-security officials met to prepare a range of …

Iranwire.com – A key tactic when playing poker is that when your opponent is on the offensive, and plays one strong hand after another, you bide your time and don’t make any risky moves. You remain patient and wait until you have a strong hand – then you attack. The same is true in chess; when your opponent is strong you wait until …

RFL/RE – “One of the nightmares of my life that always recurs is that [my father’s murder] seems to happen again and again in my sleep, while I struggle to find a way to stop it.” This has been Sohrab Mokhtari’s nightmare for the past 22 years. Sohrab is the son of Mohammad Mokhtari, a writer and member of the …

RFL/RE – Amid the launch of mass COVID-19 vaccination drives in the West, there’s growing concern among Iranians that they could be left behind. They fear U.S. sanctions and what some regard as the Iranian clerical establishment’s failure to prioritize the well-being of its citizens. Iranians, including health workers, have taken to social media to call on their leaders to …

Iran-HRM – Fate and conditions of Golrokh Ebrahimi Iraee remain uncertain, 11 days since she was brutalized and relocated by force from Qarchak Prison and taken to Ward 2A of Evin Prison. By Wednesday, December 23, 2020, it is eleven days that there is no information available on the fate and conditions of Golrokh Ebrahimi Iraee. On Sunday, December 13, twenty male …