Al-Monitor – US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday that Iran’s nuclear weapons program is one area where the United States and Russia can work together and that the two countries are on a “clearer path” to understanding each other’s concerns.  The top US diplomat met with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, in Geneva on Friday for talks focused …

RFL/RE – U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on January 20 that talks to revive the Iran nuclear deal have reached an “urgent” point following “modest progress” in negotiations in Vienna. However, Blinken told reporters after meeting with European allies in Berlin that reviving the landmark agreement was still possible. “My own assessment, talking to all of our colleagues, …

RFL/RE – A group of Iranian shareholders who have suffered losses in recent months have held a protest outside the parliament building in Tehran saying that government policies led to a decline in stock prices. Some of the protesters on January 20 chanted slogans against Iran’s president, Ebrahim Raisi, calling him a liar, according to amateur videos posted online. Stock market investors …

RFL/RE – Mohammad Taghi Fallahi, the secretary-general of the Iranian Teachers Trade Association in Tehran, has been taken to Evin Prison to serve a six-month prison sentence. Taghi Fallahi was arrested in February 2020 and held in Tehran’s Evin Prison for his participation in a peaceful teachers’ protest. He was later released on bail. Last year, a court in Tehran sentenced him …

Iranwire – Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi arrived in Moscow on Wednesday, January 19, 2022. He has prayed in the Russian capital, spoken to Vladimir Putin, and is expected to put in an appearance at the State Duma. Though Iranian state media made much of the visit in the run-up, no outlet reported on how Putin officially received his Iranian counterpart …

Iranwire – Benjamin Briere, a French tourist who was arrested by security agents in Iran in May 2020, was due to appear before the Revolutionary Court on Thursday charged with “espionage and acting against national security”, his lawyer Saeed Dehghan told Reuters.   The young man was traveling through Iran by van that spring when he was arrested near the …

Iranwire – Ali Akbar Velayati served as Iran’s foreign minister for 15 years, from December 1981 to August 1997, and today remains a special advisor to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on international affairs. On the eve of President Ebrahim Raisi’s first state visit to Russia, Velayati gave an interview with the ultraconservative daily newspaper Kayhan, whose editor is also appointed by Khamenei. In …

Iranwire – On December 27, 1981, eight Baha’i leaders in Iran were executed by the Iranian authorities. Six more were executed on January 4, 1982. Saleem Vaillancourt, a UK-based journalist and IranWire editor, and a member of the Baha’i community, looks back at this history. Forty years ago today, the Islamic Republic of Iran told the world that it had executed my great-uncle. He was 65 …

Iran-HRM – Saeed Afkari, the outspoken brother to executed wrestling champion Navid Afkari said that the regime has told his brothers that they must speak out against Navid in order to be released. Marking Vahid and Habib’s 500 days in solitary confinement, Saeed Afkari tweeted that “The Islamic Republic has told Vahid and Habib that you must speak out against …

VOA —Iran, Russia and China on Friday began a joint naval drill in the Indian Ocean aimed at boosting marine security, state media reported. Iran’s state TV said 11 of its vessels were joined by three Russian ships including a destroyer, and two Chinese vessels. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard will also participate with smaller ships and helicopters. The report said the …