RFL/RE – Iran helped the United States topple the Taliban’s brutal regime in Afghanistan in 2001.But more than 20 years later, after U.S. forces withdrew from Afghanistan and the Taliban regained power, the once sworn enemies have become allies.Differences remain between Afghanistan’s Sunni Taliban rulers and Iran’s Shi’ite clerical regime. Tehran, like the rest of the international community, has yet …

RFL/RE – Iranian police say they have arrested 17 people suspected of filming candid-camera pranks that boosted their social-media followings but incited panic in the streets of Tehran. Those arrested allegedly “amused themselves by playing on people’s nerves and the peace and security of the public by filming candid-camera footage of horror gags on the streets of the capital,” Tehran …

Iranwire – A second round of hearings in a landmark “people’s tribunal” examining potential crimes against humanity in the November 2019 protests will take place in London next weekend. The Aban Tribunal, an initiative led by by Iranian rights groups in the diaspora and international legal experts, held its first hearings in November 2021. A panel of distinguished lawyers heard evidence from tens …

Iranwire – Barry Rosen’s recent hunger strike in Vienna inspired a new campaign of activism. Among those inspired to show solidarity with the former American hostage was Iranian-British citizen Anousheh Ashouri, currently held in Evin Prison on charges of espionage. Rosen, who was one of 52 Americans held hostage in the United States embassy in Tehran in 1979, began his strike on January 18, protesting …

Iranwire – Civil rights activist Atena Daemi was released from Lakan Prison in Rasht on the evening of Monday, January 24, 2022. Daemi’s campaigning has focused largely on children’s rights, and particularly the rights of child laborers, but she also has a wide knowledge about and experience of working on other issues, including the rights of Baha’is, education, and justice for the mass …

VOA – With the United States warning that Iran is just weeks from developing the capacity to make a nuclear weapon, there is disagreement among Washington experts on the likelihood of Iran rushing to build such a weapon, and how the U.S. and its allies should deal with that risk. “[Iran] is getting to the point where its breakout time, …

Iran-HRM – Political prisoner Payam Shakiba has been denied access to proper medical treatment despite contracting Covid-19 at Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison. The activist was arrested on January 3, after apearing before the Implementation Unit of Evin Prison’s Court, and was transferred to the prison to start serving a 13-month prison sentence. In September 2021, Shakiba was sentenced by Branch …

Iran-HRM – In stark contrast to developed countries where athletes are honored, their situation in Iran is way below the minimum international standards. The Iranian regime ruling Iran mistreats, arrests, and executes Iranian athletes. In the regime’s dark record of human rights violations, there are numerous cases of executing athletes and national champions. No regime in human history has committed …

Al-Monitor – After Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian opened the door for the possibility of direct Iran-US talks if there is a “good deal,” Iranian and Western media outlets have been rife with speculation. The Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), Ali Shamkhani, even weighed in with a tweet on the possibility of direct Iran-US talks. However, shortly …

gatestoneinstitute.org – Following last week’s Abu Dhabi attack, Biden said he will consider reversing the decision. That would be the right move and he should do it immediately. Biden’s moves were a classic example of the failure of appeasement. Inevitably, the Iranian ayatollahs were not won over by these and other US placations. Instead they have become increasingly hard-nosed, demanding …