Al-Arabia – An Israeli official on Sunday dismissed as “nonsense” an allegation by the Iranian foreign minister that Israel was trying to trick the United States into waging war on Iran. For all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.It was Israel that needed to be on alert for possible Iranian strikes on the …

RFL/RE – Thousands of Iraqis converged on central Baghdad’s Tahrir Square on January 3 to mark the first anniversary of the twin assassinations in a U.S. air strike of a top Iranian general and a leader of an Iraqi powerful Shi’ite militia.Last year’s U.S. drone strike near Baghdad airport killed Major General Qasem Soleimani, the commander of the elite Quds …

Iran-HRM – Three Sunni political prisoners Hamid Rastbala, Kabir Sa’adat Jahani and Mohammad Ali Arayesh were executed on Thursday, December 31, in Vakilabad Prison of Mashhad. The three Sunni political prisoners were transferred to an unknown location on Wednesday, December 31, and were deprived of family visits before their execution. Their families and lawyers were not informed about the executions …

Iranian cleric Ayatollah Mohammad Taghi Mesbah-Yazdi, considered the spiritual leader of the most fundamentalist hard-line factions, has died in Tehran at the age of 86.A veteran revolutionary close to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Mesbah-Yazdi died of a gastrointestinal disease after several recent stints in the hospital, Iranian state media reported on January 1.A fierce opponent of reforms, Mesbah-Yazdi was …

VOA – Iran has told the U.N. nuclear watchdog it plans to enrich uranium to 20% purity, a level it achieved before its 2015 accord, at its Fordow site buried inside a mountain, the agency said Friday.  The move is the latest of several recent announcements by Iran to the International Atomic Energy Agency that it plans to further breach the deal, …

VOA – The top commander of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said Friday that his country was fully prepared to respond to any U.S. military pressure as tensions between Tehran and Washington remain high in the waning days of President Donald Trump’s administration. General Hossein Salami spoke at a ceremony at Tehran University commemorating the upcoming one-year anniversary of the U.S. …

Iran-HRM – Sahba Hemadi was taken to the Sepidar Prison of Ahvaz on December 30, 2020, to serve her seven-year prison term. She was arrested in October 2018. She was temporarily released in March 2020 on bail until completion of her prosecution. The Revolutionary Court of Ahvaz sentenced her to 7 years in prison on December 30, 2020. Sahba Hemadi was …

Iran-HRM – An appeals court in Iran has sentenced eight Baha’i citizens to a total of nine years in prison for being members of their religious minority. According to the verdict issued by the Branch 36 of Tehran’s Appeals Court presided over by Judge Seyed Ahmad Zargar, the Baha’i citizens Houman Khoshnam, Elham Salmanzadeh, Payam Sha’bani, Kianoush Salmanzadeh, Soruosh Agahi, …

Al-Arabia – Iran’s judiciary chief warned on Friday that Qasem Soleimani’s killers will “not be safe on Earth”, as the Islamic republic began marking the first anniversary of the top general’s assassination in a US strike. For all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app Ebrahim Raisi, speaking at an event in Tehran to …

Al-Arabia – The Palestinian militant group Hamas arrested on Thursday a man for tearing down a banner of slain Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani which was put up ahead of the first anniversary of his death by the group, according to a relative of the detainee. Hamas arrested Majdi al-Maghribi for tearing down a photo of a “criminal,” al-Maghribi’s brother …