CHRI – Iranian presidential candidate Ebrahim Raisi should be investigated for crimes against humanity, the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) said in a statement today. “Raisi is a pillar of a system that jails, tortures, and kills people for daring to criticize state policies,” said CHRI Executive Director Hadi Ghaemi. “Instead of running for president, he should be …

CHRI – The state policy of persecuting and imprisoning independent defense lawyers under false charges for doing their jobs is continuing under Iranian Judiciary Chief Ebrahim Raisi, who is running for the presidency in June 2021. In addition to at least four defense attorneys who are currently imprisoned in the country, two others were recently prosecuted: Farzaneh Zilabi, a lawyer representing workers in their dispute with …

Al-Monitor – Only hours into a massive fire that ravaged the Tondguyan Oil Refinery south of the capital Tehran, one Iranian official after another dismissed speculation that it was an act of sabotage. The refinery’s public relations chief told the Iranian press that based on a review of surveillance camera footage, the sabotage theory was “absolutely ruled out.” A prosecutor announced that the incident was not being …

Al-Monitor – The Biden administration has issued a stern warning to Tehran following a news report that an Iranian navy vessel may be headed to Venezuela to deliver military hardware. “The delivery of such weapons would be a provocative act and a threat to our partners in this hemisphere,” read a statement issued by the Pentagon on Wednesday night. “As …

Al-Arabia – The Iranian crude oil that appeared to be imported by the United States in March was from tankers the US had previously seized, sources familiar with the matter said Wednesday. Confusion surrounded the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) publication of 1.033 million barrels of Iranian crude oil that appeared to be imported by the US earlier this year. For all the …

RFL/RE – Negotiations to revive the Iran nuclear deal are heading into their most delicate phase, European diplomats said after the latest round of talks ended in Vienna. “We have continued to make progress and important parts of a future deal have now been fleshed out, but the most difficult decisions lie ahead. We have of course worked based on …

Iranwire – On the evening of Wednesday, June 2, Reyhaneh Sadat Raeesi appeared on a special talk show hosted by the state-owned Student News Network to talk about her father Ebrahim Raeesi’s presidential candidacy. It followed a previous surprise appearance by Sepideh Shabestari, the wife of fellow candidate Abdolnasser Hemmati. On the show, Reyhaneh Sadat Raeesi emphasized that her father’s …

newsweek – Rafael Grossi, the director general of the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), is losing patience with Iran’s nuclear duplicity. Last week, he took Tehran to task for failing to explain uranium traces found in at least two sites during agency visits to the Islamic Republic of Iran. This is a “big problem” that damages Iran’s credibility, Grossi explained. He demanded …

Reuters – The European Union envoy coordinating talks on reviving the Iran nuclear deal said on Wednesday he believed a deal would be struck at the next round of talks starting next week, but other senior diplomats said “the most difficult decisions lie ahead.” “I am sure that the next round will be the one in which we will finally …

Iranwire – The Iranian Students Polling Agency (ISPA) has released the results of its latest survey on participation in the forthcoming presidential election. The results suggest the number of people who plan to vote has diminished further since the candidates launched their campaigns. In the eighth ISPA poll, the results of which were published on Wednesday, June 2, only 34.1 …