Al-Arabia – The Arab Coalition said on Saturday that Iran-back Houthi militia in Yemen deliberately targeted the civilian communications infrastructure in southern Saudi Arabia on Friday evening. According to an Al Arabiya/AlHadath correspondent, the Houthi militia tried for the third time to target civilian communications with explosive-laden drones. The Houthis attempts coincide with strikes by the Arab Coalition that inflicted …

RFL/RE – Jailed Iranian poet and filmmaker Baktash Abtin has died in a hospital in Tehran, the Iranian Writers Association has reported. Abtin’s death, which was announced on January 8, came after the 48-year-old was recently placed in a medically induced coma while attempting to recover from a severe case of COVID-19. Abtin suffered from coronary heart disease, and after …

Iranwire – On January 6, a deadline set by four foreign nations for Tehran to join talks over reparations for the Flight 752 disaster officially passed. Prior to this, it has emerged, the Islamic Republic had already stated its unwillingness to engage. In a joint statement issued on Thursday, the countries that make up the International Coordination and Response Group for Flight 752 – Canada, Ukraine, …

gatestoneinstitute.org – No amount of appeasement and no deal is going to change the core pillars of the Iranian mullahs’ revolutionary principles, which include anti-Americanism, antisemitism, supporting terror groups, and brutally repressing their own population. The theocratic establishment uses international and regional agreements, such as its election last April to the UN Commission on the Status of Women, to advance its revolutionary ideals. …

RFL/RE – Iran said on January 7 that it is prepared to meet bilaterally with countries whose nationals died in Iran’s accidental downing of a Ukrainian passenger jet two years ago, but it couched the offer in defiant terms that echoed days of denials after the tragedy played out in the skies over Tehran. The statement by the Iranian Foreign …

VOA – Ukraine is sharpening its accusation that Iran played a sinister role in the 2020 shootdown of a Ukrainian passenger plane over Tehran as the world marks the second anniversary of the tragedy. “What happened on January 8th, 2020, was a terrorist act committed against a civilian aircraft,” Oleksiy Danilov, Ukraine’s National Defense and Security Council secretary, said Wednesday …

Al–Arabia – Iran put three ballistic missiles on display at an outdoor prayer esplanade in central Tehran on Friday, as talks in Vienna aimed at reviving Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers flounder. The missiles, known as Dezful, Qiam and Zolfaghar and with official ranges of up to 1000-km (620 miles), were already-known models, the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said. For …

RFL/RE – French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian has expressed optimism over an eventual return to a hobbled nuclear deal with Iran but warned that “time is running out” on those international negotiations. “I remain convinced we can reach a deal. Bits of progress have been made in the last few days,” Le Drian told BFM TV and RMC Radio …

Iranwire – Two years ago, on January 8, 2020, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps fired two missiles at a civilian passenger plane, knocking it out of the skies over Tehran. All 176 people onboard were killed, including 29 children. To this day, their families and loved ones continue to seek justice and accountability from the Islamic Republic of Iran. The …

Iranwire – The Writers’ Association of Iran has condemned the ongoing incarceration of four of its members, all four of whom recently came down with Covid-19, alleging medical negligence by the authorities and calling their treatment a continuation of the chain murders. On Thursday, January 6, the Association once again called for the immediate release of Baktash Abtin, Keyvan Bajan, Reza Khandan Mahabadi, …