Al-Monitor – Iran’s outgoing Health Minister Saied Namaki wrote an open letter yesterday, Aug. 1, to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urging him and the Supreme National Security Council to directly intervene to stop the spread of COVID-19 in Iran. One of the requests Namaki made was for a two-week lockdown enforced by the military and the police. He said that the citizens of Tehran did not obey most …

Al-Monitor – The United States is “confident” that Iran is responsible for an attack on an Israeli-linked oil tanker that killed two crew members off the coast of Oman last week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Monday.  “I want to condemn again the attack on Friday against the commercial ship. … We’ve conducted a thorough review and we’re confident that …

AL-Arabia – Britain on Monday summoned Iran’s ambassador to London in response to what it claims was a Tehran-ordered attack on a merchant vessel off the coast of Oman that killed a British and Romanian national. For all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app. “The Iranian ambassador to the UK, Mohsen Baharvand, was …

Al-Arabia – Iran’s daily COVID-19 caseload crossed 37,000 mark for the first time on Monday, the health ministry said, as the Islamic republic also recorded its highest daily fatalities in three months. In the past 24 hours, Iran registered a record 37,189 positive cases, bringing the total number of infections since the start of the pandemic to 3,940,708. The record caseload is …

RFL/RE – Iranians are warning of public anger and drawing parallels with the world’s most oppressive regimes as legislation makes its way through the country’s parliament that could intensify online censorship and further restrict Internet access. Iranian authorities already block tens of thousands of websites and regularly throttle or cut Internet connectivity during crucial periods, including a near-total shutdown for …

Iranwire – In recent weeks, protests over the water crisis in Khuzestan and the Iranian state’s bloody crackdown on dissent have dominated the news. But Khuzestan is far from the only region facing severe and potentially disastrous droughts. Kermanshah, also in western Iran, is in similarly dire straits. On Monday, July 26, a number of citizens in the provincial capital blocked streets leading to …

VOA – The United States and Britain on Sunday blamed Iran for a drone attack last week on an oil tanker off the coast of Oman that killed two people. “We are confident that Iran conducted this attack,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement, while accusing Tehran of increasingly deploying the armed drones throughout the region. …

Iran Human Rights (IHR) – Three prisoners named Eskandar Zare, Sepehr Abbasnejad and Hamzeh Rezaei who were on death row for drug-related charges, have been executed in Urmia Central Prison. At least 58 people have now been executed on drug charges in 2021. According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, three men were transferred to solitary confinement in preparation …

Iran Human Rights (IHR) – Three prisoners named Eskandar Zare, Sepehr Abbasnejad and Hamzeh Rezaei who are on death row for drug-related charges, were transferred to solitary confinement in preparation for their executions in Urmia Central Prison. According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, three men were transferred to solitary confinement in preparation for their executions from Ward 4 …

timesofisrael — Iran’s outgoing president on Sunday acknowledged his nation at times “did not tell part of the truth” to its people during his eight-year tenure, as he prepares to leave office with his signature nuclear deal with world powers in tatters and tensions high with the West. President Hassan Rouhani’s comments, aired on state television, came as officials in …