Iranwire – Countries around the world, one after the other, are joining the list of areas known to have been struck by the Omicron variant of coronavirus. First detected and registered by doctors in South Africa, Omicron has now reached several American and European countries, Japan and even Iran’s neighbor, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE. Health officials in Iran have …

Iranwire – A head of state’s performance during their first 100 days in office is often considered pivotal. Not because this very short window is commensurate with the time needed to achieve their economic goals, but as an indicator of their overall approach. It’s been customary in Iranian political circles appraise a president’s first 100 days since the time of …

Iranwire – By now, any Iranian citizen who pens a critical open letter to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei knows to expect not a considered response, but harassment by the authorities, imprisonment or even death. IranWire has already published several articles documenting the fates of such writers over the decades. This one is different: the would-be correspondent wasn’t just anybody in Khamenei’s eyes, not …

Al-Monitor – Iran and world powers finally met last week in Vienna to continue the nuclear talks after a five-month delay due to the Iranian elections, which changed the administration in Tehran. The sixth round of talks, designed to bring the US back into the agreement and remove sanctions and bring Iran back into full compliance, did not go as …

RFL/RE – Germany’s Foreign Ministry has said that it does not consider Iran’s proposals regarding its nuclear program acceptable and expects Tehran to return to international negotiations with “realistic” bargaining positions. “We reviewed the proposals…carefully and thoroughly, and concluded that Iran violated almost all compromises found previously in months of hard negotiations,” a ministry spokeswoman said on December 6. The …

Iranwire – Antisemitism has compelled tens of thousands of Iranian Jews to leave their homes and move abroad over the past 42 years. Those who chose to remain in the Islamic Republic have had to endure continuous hatred, promoted and institutionalized by the state. Since the foundation of the Islamic Republic, Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, state-owned news agencies and …

Iranwire – “Having displaced over 400 #Bahai families from village of Kata & torched 100s of homes in the 80s, #Iran is now auctioning their irrigated farmlands during water shortages, taking away livelihoods & running counter to every norm of human decency,” said Simin Fahandej, Representative of the Baha’i International Community (BIC) to the United Nations in Geneva, on Twitter. Thirteen irrigated farmland …

VOA —The long-delayed resumption of nuclear talks with Iran has gotten off to a rough start — with Iran digging in and its negotiating partners openly voicing frustration and pessimism. After five days of talks in Vienna ended last week, the United States said Iran did not appear to be serious. European diplomats accused Iran of backtracking on previous promises. …

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO) – Prominent human rights defender, Narges Mohammadi who was arrested on November 16 has so far been denied phone calls to her family or access to her lawyer. She was arrested at the memorial service of Ebrahim Ketabdar who was killed during the November 2019 nationwide protests. According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, Narges …

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO) – November 2019 protester, Abbas Daris has been sentenced to death and his brother, Mohsen Dari sentenced to life imprisonment in a grossly unfair and untransparent legal process and trial. The Supreme Court is currently considering their case. According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, judicial authorities verbally informed Abbas Daris’ family that he has …