RFL/RE – The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN’s nuclear watchdog, says Iran has informed it that it will move the production of centrifuge parts to the central city of Isfahan from a workshop in Karaj. The move, which comes a month after a standoff between the agency and Tehran over reinstalling cameras at a centrifuge-parts workshop that was …

Iranwire – The verdict in a massive corruption case involving the Iran Petrochemical Commercial Company (PCC) was announced on September 5, 2021. But nearly three years after proceedings first got under way, the details remained shrouded in mystery. We were told at the time that 15 named defendants had been sentenced to a total of 180 years in prison, linked to the embezzlement of …

Iranwire – The number of new daily coronavirus infections in Iran is likely to pass 100,000 again in the next few weeks, health officials have warned. The rapid spread of the Omicron variant combined with low nationwide testing capacity means even this figure is likely to be an understatement. Ebrahim Ghaderi, head of patient care at the Ministry of Health’s …

VOA—Indirect talks between the United States and Iran on returning to the 2015 nuclear agreement are entering the “final stretch,” with all sides having to make tough political decisions, a senior U.S. State Department official said on Monday. The latest talks in Vienna were “among the most intensive that we had to date” on returning to the deal formally known …

CHRI – In a letter from Iran’s notoriously harsh Gharchak Prison, translated into English below by the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI), renowned rights defender Narges Mohammadi decried her 8.2-year prison sentence after a “five-minute trial” and “without the presence of my lawyer.” In calling for her release, the European Union’s External Action Service (EEAS), the EU’s diplomatic service, condemned the sentence—issued a little over a …

CHRI – “People’s tolerance level has decreased in recent years, given the increasing economic pressures,” said Iran’s deputy interior minister in charge of the Social Services Organization, Taghi Rostamvandi, at a conference focused on tackling social malaise on January 16, 2022. “If we get a sense that, due to our inabilities, the people are tilting towards thinking that the religious government can’t …

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO) – Brothers Yasser and Younes Nourizadeh have been sentenced to death on drug-related charges by the Yazd Revolutionary Court. According to information obtained by iran Human Rights, 27-year-old Yasser Nourizadeh and 39-year-old Younes Nourizadeh were notified of their death sentences in the last week. The brothers who are detained in Yazd Central Prison were arrested on …

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO) – 68-year-old Mirsoltan Amiri was executed on drug-related charges in Urmia Central Prison. His son was executed at the prison last summer. According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was executed in Urmia Central Prison on the morning of January 27. His identity has been established as 68-year-old Mirsoltan Amiri from Ashnavieh who was …

Al-Monitor – President Joe Biden met Monday with the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani, following reports that Iran asked for the Persian Gulf country’s help on a possible prisoner exchange with the United States. Qatar’s ruling emir is the first ​​Gulf leader to visit the White House since Biden took office last year. On Monday, he …

Al-Monitor – In a highly symbolic move, the Iranian Council of Ministers recently approved the opening of a Chinese consulate at Bandar Abbas, Iran’s main trading port and the capital of the coastal province of Hormozgan. While Tehran currently has three consulates in China, this will be the first for Beijing in Iran. This development is likely linked to the …