Iran-HRM – Iranian authorities executed a political prisoner from Iran’s Ahwazi Arab minority. Political prisoners, Jasem Heydari, was executed along with three other prisoners on Sunday February 28. Jasem Heydari was convicted of “armed insurrection” (baghi) by a Revolutionary Court in Ahvaz and sentenced to death in connection with his alleged collaboration with groups opposed to the Iranian regime. The …

CHRI —The killing by state security forces of some two dozen protesters in Iran’s Sistan and Baluchistan Province since unrest broke out in the area on February 22, 2021—and the intermittent shutdown of the internet to conceal news of those killings—continues the trend of excessive and lethal state force used against demonstrators in the Islamic Republic. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard …

gatestoneinstitute.org – The national security law not only carries sentences of up to life in prison, it also gives China jurisdiction to prosecute in mainland China violations of the law that took place in Hong Kong. It is now doing just that with 12 Hong Kong activists who attempted to flee to Taiwan by boat in August and were arrested …

Al-Monitor – The latest news over the nuclear crisis between Iran and the United States is that Iran has rejected an offer to meet with American negotiators. The European offer to hold direct US-Iran talks to settle the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and the five permanent members of the United Nations plus Germany is not the last opportunity for all …

Al-Monitor – The US Defense Department released aerial surveillance video of a ballistic missile attack launched by Iran early last year on an Iraqi military base used by American personnel. The footage, first aired by CBS News on Sunday, shows a barrage of more than one-ton missiles smashing into maintenance and dining facilities at Ain al-Asad air base in Iraq. …

ABC — Iran‘s Alpine ski coach, Samira Zargari, couldn’t join her team for the world championships in Italy last week. The reason? Her husband barred her from leaving the country. The reaction on social media was swift, and many Iranians vented their fury by demanding the government change the law to give women back their right to travel internationally, along with …

gatestoneinstitute.org – In the latest example of Iran’s increasingly reckless approach to the nuclear issue, the country’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has threatened to increase uranium enrichment to 60 percent, just below the 90 percent threshold required to produce weapons grade material. Thus, while IAEA director general Rafael Grossi claimed the talks had been a success, the IAEA now …

RFL/RE – The head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog says the agency’s inspection work in Iran cannot become a “bargaining chip” in talks to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal with world powers.“The inspection work of the IAEA must be preserved…[and] should not be put in the middle of a negotiating table as a bargaining chip,” International Atomic Energy Agency …

Jpost.com – The EU-Iran Business Forum slated to start on Monday is again marred by outrage over promoting commerce with a regime in Tehran that has carried out violations of the nuclear deal and widespread repression of Iranians, including a regime shooting spree of protesters in the Sistan and Baluchestan Province.Reports emerged on Sunday that EU officials, including the EU’s chief diplomat …

Iranwire – Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has repeatedly referred to security threats in his speeches in recent years using phrases such as “infiltration” and “soft war”. By playing up the perception that the country is always under threat, he has been able to justify increased repression, detentions and general restrictions on everyday life in Iran. Seemingly in support of …