IRAN-HRM – More than 365 prisoners have been executed in 2021 in Iran, raising concern over the abysmal human rights condition which has worsened since Ebrahim Raisi became the regime’s president. This number does not include those prisoners who are secretly executed, and it is not possible to ascertain their names and places of execution. The actual number of executions …

CHRI – While commemorating the second anniversary of the killing of 176 people aboard Ukrainian International Airlines Flight PS752 by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) calls on the Iranian government to allow people to mourn their lost loved ones and to demand justice without interference. The passenger plane was shot down …

Al-Monitor – Quds Force commander for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Brig. Gen. Esmail Ghaani, who replaced the assassinated Qasem Soleimani, has vowed revenge for his killing. Speaking at an event commemorating the two-year anniversary of Soleimani’s assassination on Jan. 3, 2020, by a US drone strike ordered by former President Donald Trump, Ghaani said, “We will get revenge that you will …

RFL/RE – A rocket attacked has rocked an Iraqi military base that houses U.S. soldiers near the airport in Baghdad amid heightened tensions around the anniversary of the 2020 killing of a top Iranian general and a senior Iraqi militia leader in a U.S. drone strike. Iraqi military officials confirmed four Katyusha rockets landed near the Baghdad Diplomatic Support Center at the …

gatestoneinstitute.org – “If the Iranians think the world does not seriously intend to stop them, they will race towards the bomb. We must make it clear that the world will not allow this to happen. There needs to be a credible military threat on the table.” — Yair Lapid, Israeli Foreign Minister, interview with the author, December, 2021. Mr Lapid’s …

Iranwire – On Christmas Eve, President Ebrahim Raisi paid a heavily-publicized visit to the family of Vartan Aghakhanian, a Christian killed in the Iran-Iraq war. It was described as “unplanned”, though somehow reporters for state media were present . During the meeting, Raisi told the family and all those there to hear him: “Iranians are always ready to sacrifice their lives to defend their …

Iranwire – On January 2, Iranian Minister of Health Bahram Einollahi claimed that during the Rouhani administration, Covid-19 vaccines had been a political sticking-point. While just five million doses had been administered by the close of Hassan Rouhani’s tenure, he said, in the four months since Raisi took office, 180 million doses of vaccine had been acquired by Iran, and 115m doses …

Iranwire – General Ghasem Soleimani, commander of the Revolutionary Guards’ expeditionary Quds Force, was assassinated on January 3, 2020 by an US drone strike just outside Baghdad International Airport. Now the second anniversary of his death has acquired all the trappings of mourning for a Shia saint. News agencies report on “pilgrims” traveling to Kerman, Soleimani’s native city and his burial …

VOA – At least eight people have been killed in flash flooding in Iran’s south due to heavy rains expected to last until later this week, state media reported on Tuesday. “Following the floods and rains of the past few days in the southern regions of the country, we have seen an increase in casualties and deaths,” spokesman for the …

Al-Monitor- At least 10 people are confirmed dead and several other remain missing in Iran’s south and southeast as severe weather conditions and flash floods slam the impoverished region. Dramatic footage in the past six days has shown a trail of destruction with bridges collapsing and cars washed away by the unprecedented precipitation in Sistan-Baluchistan, Kerman, Fars and Hormozgan provinces.  According to Iran’s Emergency Organization, the massive blow to the already weak infrastructure cut off access …