Iranwire – The lawyer Saeed Dehghan has announced the dissolution of nationwide charity the Imam Ali Society by an Iranian court. The nonpartisan NGO, which was first set up in 1999 and whose full name is the Imam Ali’s Popular Students Relief Society, is one of the largest non-state-backed charities in Iran with more than 10,000 volunteers across the country. …

Iranwire – Following an attack on female Iranian mountaineers, a climbing association has issued a ban on female rock climbers but has done nothing to confront the perpetrator — a Friday prayers imam. On February 24, 2021, a video was released of the Friday Imam of Darcheh in Isfahan province lashing out at both male and female climbers training in Kuhe Sefid and describing their sport as “dirty work”. Soon after, the …

VOA – Israel accused Iran on Wednesday of being linked to a recent oil spill off its shores that caused major ecological damage, calling the incident environmental terrorism. The spill was caused by an oil tanker that was carrying pirated cargo from Iran to Syria last month, Israeli Environmental Protection Minister Gila Gamliel said. The vessel sailed through the Persian …

Iran-HRM-A court in Iran confirmed prison sentences against three residents of a southwestern city who joined the nationwide protests in November 2019. The 102nd Branch of the Behbahan Criminal Court upheld the sentences of three protesters arrested during the November 2019 protests. The three protesters Sattar Afshinpour, Bahman Amini and Mohammad Tayebi were tried in absentia and the three men …

gatestoneinstitute.org – The Biden administration, some Arab writers have said, “has adopted a policy of “antagonizing allies while appeasing enemies.” [Syrian journalist Abduljalil] Alsaeid said he believed that former Obama administration officials, who are now part of the Biden administration, are intentionally trying to damage US-Saudi relations. “The Obama wing inside the ruling Democratic Party accepts the Iranian regime and …

Al-Monitor – The Biden administration opened talks with Houthi rebel leaders late last month in a bid to end Yemen’s civil war, Reuters reported Wednesday. Timothy Lenderking, the lead US envoy on the Yemen crisis, met with Houthi chief negotiator Mohammed Abdul-Salam in Oman’s capital, Muscat, on Feb. 26. The meeting was the first time US officials under the new administration …

Al-Monitor – The more radical sectors of Iran’s embattled Reform movement say past experience has taught them not to “hire a candidate” from outside their tribe for the June presidential election. The concept of “the hired candidate” made its way into Iran’s political discourse with the pro-Reform movement’s endorsement of Hassan Rouhani in 2013 and later for his reelection in 2017. …

RFL/RE – The U.S.-led coalition in Iraq says at least 10 rockets have been fired at a military base that hosts American and other coalition troops.The missiles struck the Ain Al-Asad Air Base in the western province of Anbar at 7:20 a.m. local time on March 3, spokesman Colonel Wayne Marotto said.The Iraqi military said the attack did not cause …

Iranwire – News of the attempted suicide of Siamak Moghimi, a political prisoner being held in Greater Tehran Penitentiary (Fashafuyeh), has come to light in the past 48 hours. The 25-year-old had tried to end his own life at least six times before being incarcerated following the November 2019 protests. But despite his severe and worsening mental ill-health, the young man remains behind bars. The …

Iranwire – At noon on March 1, Afghan and Iranian border forces exchanged fire in Nimrouz province, southwestern Afghanistan. The conflict flared up over clearing equipment being used in the Helmand River.  The river has always been a contentious issue in Afghanistan, where border provinces face severe water shortages. Iran fears new dams will block its supply of water from Afghanistan, and has …