Al-Arabia – Iran continues to violate its JCPOA obligations as part of an effort to build pressure on the US, Dennis Ross, a former American diplomat, said in an interview with Al Arabiya. “The extent to which the Iranians continue to violate those obligations, based on the premise that they’re probably trying to pressure the administration into not only going …

Iranwire – More than 80 days after his arrest, Mehran Raouf, a British-Iranian labor activist, remains in solitary confinement in Evin Prison. The 64-year-old was detained by security forces in Tehran on October 16, 2020. His home was ransacked and his personal belongings were confiscated by security forces. Six months later, Raouf is still being held on Ward 2A of …

Iranwire – State-approved Bitcoin mining is set to resume in a city in Kerman after receiving heavy Chinese investment, its MP confirmed in parliament yesterday. Hossein Jalali, the representative for the city of Rafsanjan, told the chamber on Wednesday, April 14 that billions of tomans’ worth of Chinese money had been poured into a Bitcoin mining farm in the city …

Iranwire – At least one rocket struck Erbil International Airport in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region late last night, local counter-terrorism forces have confirmed. The attack took place in the late hours of Wednesday, April 14 and saw a fire break out in the airport compound, which also houses troops from the US-led coalition. Sources in the Asayish, the Kurdish internal …

Iranwire – Two days after the explosion that destroyed the electrical system at Natanz nuclear facility, the Islamic Republic had announced it would start enriching uranium up to 60 percent purity. The news was announced on Tuesday, April 13 by Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s deputy foreign minister for political affairs, who was in Vienna for the resumption of nuclear talks. Araghchi also said that besides …

Iran-HRM – Political prisoner Golrokh Ebrahimi Iraee has been sentenced in absentia to an additional one year in prison. Branch 26 of the Revolutionary Court of Tehran issued a one-year sentence in absentia for political prisoner Golrokh Ebrahimi Iraee on the charge of “propaganda against the state.” Amol Prison authorities informed Ms. Iraee as she is being detained in the …

Iran-HRM – Iranian authorities have sentenced two protesters arrested during the November 2019 anti-government protests that swept across Iran. Jalal Namdari and Saeed Khaledi, were sentenced to a total of 13 years in prison on the charges of participating in the protests that erupted that erupted in November 2019 over gasoline prices. Based on the court’s verdict, Khaledi is sentenced …

CHRI —The start of a fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Iran has increased concerns about the spread of the virus in the country’s overcrowded and unhygienic prisons and detention centers, the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) said in a statement today. As an arm of the Judiciary directly responsible for protecting prisoners’ health, the State Prisons …

foreign.senate.gov – U.S. Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today joined U.S. Senator Bill Hagerty’s (R-Tenn.) Iran Sanctions Relief Review Act of 2021 (S. 488), legislation to enable congressional review of executive branch proposals to terminate or waive sanctions imposed with respect to Iran. “It’s increasingly clear that the Biden Administration’s promises to ‘lengthen and strengthen’ …

Al- Monitor – Iran’s government is likely to continue to challenge Washington’s influence in the Middle East and pursue espionage within the United States in the coming years, according to an intelligence report newly released by the Biden administration. Despite — or perhaps because of — US pressure on Tehran, the Iranian government is likely to continue seeking to build and maintain …