Iranwire – Iran’s new Chief Justice Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei has urged Iranians currently living abroad to come back home, even suggesting that they will return to a warm welcome if they do. This echoed comments made by Ebrahim Raisi, Iran’s new president, during his own time as chief justice. Raisi had spoken of “laying the groundwork” for the repatriation of Iranians. Try telling that to Kianoosh …

Iranwire – The Iranian provinces of South Khorasan, Sistan and Baluchistan and Razavi Khorasan have been ordered by Iranian officials to turn back fleeing Afghans on the border. The move was announced Hossein Ghasemi, the Interior Ministry’s Director General of Border Affairs. He told the Iranian judiciary’s official news agency Mizan it was a health measure: “Because of the coronavirus pandemic, border crossings between …

Iranwire – “Journalism is not a crime. But crimes against the people of Iran and Afghanistan are.” So wrote the global organization Reporters without Borders (RSF) in a public rebuke of Kianoush Jahanpour, the brash spokesman of Iran’s Drug and Food Administration. The day before, Jahanpour had posted a cryptic tweet interpreted by many as a threat toward an Afghan journalist. On …

VOA – The leader of the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group said Thursday that an Iranian fuel tanker will sail toward Lebanon “within hours,” warning Israel and the United States not to intercept it.  The delivery organized by Lebanon-based Hezbollah, would be an apparent violation of U.S. sanctions imposed on Tehran after former U.S. President Donald Trump pulled his country out …

Al-Monitor – Mohammad Reza Naghdi, a senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) official who formerly headed the Basij Organization in Iran, says the US exit from Afghanistan has brought the era of America as the sole superpower to an end. Naghdi told Sepah News on Aug. 18 that the US withdrawal from Afghanistan “does not require complex analysis, just as we saw …

Al-Monitor – After two decades with a US-backed government and American military presence on its northern border, Iran is not unhappy about the return of the Taliban-led government in Afghanistan. Tehran has cultivated relations with the “Emirate” in recent years, even as it maintained proper ties with the outgoing Afghan government. Interests. Iran shares a 572-mile border with Afghanistan and is host to 3 million …

gatestoneinstitute.org – [T]he leaders of various Palestinian factions are seeking Iran’s support for their jihad (holy war) against Israel. This means that Iran under Raisi will continue to provide the Palestinian terrorist groups in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip with financial and military aid. Iran did not promise to contribute to the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip in the aftermath of …

RFL/RE – Iran has accelerated enrichment of nearly weapons-grade uranium, the UN atomic watchdog has said.The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in a report to member states on August 17 that Iran was enriching uranium to 60 percent purity using a second cascade of centrifuges at its Natanz nuclear facility.In May, the Vienna-based IAEA said Iran was using only …

iranwire – By the time Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei announced his approval for Iran to import British and American coronavirus vaccines, it was too late for thousands of families. For those whose loved ones died waiting for a vaccine — people held prisoners to the stubborn arrogance of Khamenei’s misguided policies —  it was a bitter moment. The Supreme Leader made his …

Iranwire – A group of traditional Muharram mourners, who mark the 7th century deaths of the Imams Ali and Husayn each year during the Islamic month of Muharram, has set up tents in Tehran’s Armenian Square and near a sanctuary of Armenian Christian monasteries. The Armenian monastery of Doulab is one of these – it is nearly 200 years old and …