Iran Human Rights (IHR) –  At least 15 civil activists, students and environmental activists have been arrested in Marivan, Karaj, Mahabad and Rabat over the weekend. According to Iran Human Rights, at least 15 activists have been arrested by security forces over the last few days. At the time of writing, the reason for their arrests and the charges against …

Al-Monitor – The United States labeled the chief of staff of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units a designated global terrorist Wednesday in the outgoing Trump administration’s latest attempt to isolate Iran’s foreign proxies before leaving office. Abdul Aziz al-Muhammadawi, also known as Abu Fadak, serves as the deputy head of the PMU. The organization officially lies under the authority of the federal government …

Shabtabnews – U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo  announced the the first-ever U.S. sanctions on revolutionary courts and judges for their roles in jailing prisoners of conscience, and we keep demanding release of the regime’s hostages. The @StateDept imposed the first-ever U.S. sanctions on revolutionary courts and judges for their roles in jailing prisoners of conscience, and we keep demanding …

Amnesty – Iranian-Swedish academic Ahmadreza Djalali has been held incommunicado in Tehran’s Evin prison since 24 November 2020, when he learned that his death sentence for “corruption on earth” (efsad-e fel-arz) was to be carried out imminently. In late December 2020, his family learned that Ahmadreza Djalali’s execution was halted for one month. He remains at risk of execution. View …

VOA – Far from potentially fading into obscurity, one of the world’s most feared jihadist terrorist organizations may be poised for a potential resurgence thanks to an unlikely ally.  Almost two decades after the United States first targeted al-Qaida’s leadership in Afghanistan for carrying out the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York’s World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the …

Iranwire – The children of former Iranian president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani have engaged in a public war of words about US politics and the future direction of Iran. Firebrand activist Faezeh Hashemi Rafsanjani has been asked by her brother Mohsen to apologize for saying she had wanted Donald Trump to win the presidential election. She has now reiterated her position …

gatestoneinstitute.org – What, however, about Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who constantly tweets anti-Semitic and incendiary tweets and whose regime the US Department of State called “the world’s worst sponsor of terrorism”? Khamenei, in fact, has become so emboldened on Twitter that, on it, he publicly calls for annihilation of Israel and denies Holocaust. According to Twitter’s “Violent organizations …

RFL/RE – Iran’s military has launched short-range naval missile drills in the Gulf of Oman, state media reported, amid heightened tension between Tehran and Washington.State TV said on January 13 that the logistics warship Makran, described as Iran’s largest military vessel with a helicopter pad, and the missile-launching ship Zereh (armour) were taking part in the two-day exercises.Tensions between the …

VOA – Iran has sentenced an activist from its Azerbaijani Turk ethnic minority to an effective three-year prison term for joining a public protest last year in support of Azerbaijan while it engaged in a brief conflict with neighboring Armenia, according to a knowledgeable source. In a January 8 interview with VOA Persian from Iran, the source said a Revolutionary …

Al-Monitor – The release of South Korea’s seized oil tanker and its crew is now a matter of the courts and out of the hands of the Iranian government, Iran’s foreign minister said Monday. The decision is the latest in a growing financial dispute between Tehran and Seoul ignited by US sanctions. Mohammad Javad Zarif was quoted by state news …