Iranwire – On Friday, August 6 the foreign ministers of the G7 countries issued a damning joint statement blaming Iran for an apparent drone attack on a merchant vessel off the coast of Oman on 29 July, which killed a British and a Romanian national. Representatives for the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Canada, the European Union and the US …

Iranwire – The fifth wave of coronavirus infections in Iran has yet to reach its projected peak. But deaths from Covid-19 are already at record heights, with the number of officially-recorded deaths standing at around 400 every day. Hospitals are at capacity, and provincial officials say that there is no more room for new patients – not even in the corridors. Pictures …

Iranwire – Isfahan will become uninhabitable in less than 10 years if nothing is done about its water resources, a member of the Iranian parliament’s Committee on Agriculture, Water and Natural Resources has announced. The water shortage in Isfahan is as serious as it is in Khuzestan, Mohammad Taghi Naghd-Ali, a cleric and parliamentarian representing Khomeini Shahr in Isfahan province, told the …

Iran-HRM – More than two weeks after the suppression of mass protests in Khuzestan province, Hamshahri Online reported on Thursday, that 300 people have been arrested in the city of Susangard alone. According to the report, Susangard had the highest turnout during the recent protests in Khuzestan, with rallies of an estimated 12,000 people.The report denied the use of live …

Iran Human Rights (IHR) – In an open letter to EU —— , Enrique Mora, human rights defender Narges Mohammadi wrote: “How is it that you can travel to Iran to continue the negotiations with the Iranian government and are welcomed by them but they won’t accept your vaccines for the Iranian people? Because the former is for the survival …

Al-Monitor – The Group of Seven (G7) largest advanced economies condemned on Friday what they concluded was an Iranian attack on an Israeli-linked vessel in the Arabian Sea last week.  Suspected Iranian drones struck the Liberian-flagged Mercer Street, a Japanese oil tanker that was traveling from Tanzania to the United Arab Emirates. The vessel is managed by the London-based Zodiac Maritime, …

Al-Monitor – Iran’s new president, Ebrahim Raisi, offered some mixed messages to those looking for clues as to how he will conduct his foreign policy. To those hoping for a hint of pragmatism, Raisi, speaking at his swearing-in ceremony at the Islamic Consultative Assembly (or parliament) Aug. 5, said the “crises of the region must be resolved through real intra-regional dialogue and on the …

Shabtabnews – The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) today condemned the Iranian government’s alarming escalation of persecution targeting Baha’is in Iran. In the past month, Iran’s government has raided Baha’i homes across the country and jailed more than 20 community members, including a woman recovering from chemotherapy. Iranian authorities also prevented Baha’is from burying deceased community members in a designated section of Khaveran cemetery until …

RFL/RE – Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz said on August 5 that his country is prepared to “take military action against Iran.”Israel, the United States, and Britain have accused Iran of involvement in a July 29 attack in the Gulf of Oman on the Mercer Street, a Liberian-flagged, Japanese-owned tanker managed by Israeli-owned Zodiac Maritime. But no country has provided …

Iranwire – Faezeh Hashemi, a political activist inside Iran and the daughter of former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, has hit back against an incendiary video clip recently posted online by the Office of the Supreme Leader. The video showed Ayatollah Khamenei and Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani disagreeing over the future of US-Iran relations at a meeting of the Supreme National Security Council in …