Al-Arabia – Oil prices dropped to their lowest in almost three weeks on Tuesday as Russia indicated it is in favor of the Iran nuclear deal resuming as soon as possible.Ceasefire talks between Russia and Ukraine further eased fears of supply disruptions and surging COVID-19 cases in China fueled concerns about slower demand. Brent futures were down $8.90, or 8.3 percent, to $98 …

Iranwire – IranWire recently fielded a questionnaire that asked its readers a series of key questions about discrimination against religious minorities in the Islamic Republic. The following report is based on the findings of this questionnaire – which recorded anecdotal rather than scientific findings. The Diversity of Respondents The respondents were followers of many minority religious faiths. Among the respondents, there were also non-believers, …

Iranwire – On September 24, 2017, Golnar Vakil Gilani, the then-37-year-old president of Iran’s Polo Federation and the youngest person to hold down such a role in history, was fired after 17 months in the job. Within 24 hours rumors began to circulate that she was being pressured, and the sacking had little to do with sports. Later, Gilani herself told the news …

Iranwire – For complicated reasons going back years, the Islamic Republic has sought to paint Iraqi Kurdistan, an autonomous zone of Iraq, as a security threat to itself and the region. In the knowledge that many opponents of the regime have ended up living there, Iranian state narratives have long tried to align the Kurdistan Regional Government to Israel, Tehran’s …

Iranwire – The lawyer of detained dual national Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe said he was tentatively hopeful of a breakthrough as it emerged her British passport has been returned to her. Nazanin has been held hostage in Iran on fabricated spying charges since mid-2016, between Evin Prison and house arrest with an ankle tag. She recently completed a second one-year sentence – officially for …

Al-Monitor – Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Saeed Khatibzadeh addressed the latest developments in the stalled talks that seek to revive the 2015 nuclear deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. Khatibzadeh said that that the reason nuclear negotiators returned to their capitals was “for a short break.” He added that while some have described the talks as being at a “dead …

Al-Arabia – US Secretary of State Antony Blinken condemned an Iranian missile attack near Erbil in Iraq in a phone call with Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi on Sunday, according to a US State Department press release. Blinken condemned the attacks that “violated Iraq’s sovereignty and expressed solidarity with the Iraqi people,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price said in the …

RFL/RE – Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian will head to Moscow on March 15 for discussions on the Iran nuclear deal, the Iranian Foreign Ministry said. The announcement comes days after France, Britain, and Germany warned of a risk that talks on an almost-completed revived nuclear deal could collapse over Russia’s demands to have its trade with Iran guaranteed amid …

Iranwir – Iranian health and industry officials have long boasted about Iran’s vaccine production capabilities, claiming the country is making six brands of Covid-19 jab. Several of these are owned and being developed by security bodies, in line with the “securitization” of public health observed in Iran since the beginning of the pandemic.  In recent weeks and to great fanfare, the Noora …

Iranwire – On March 10, Swedish deputy chief prosecutor Hans Ihrman confirmed that two Iranians suspected of plotting acts of terror, who had entered the country using fake identities, had been returned to Iran. The US had wanted the pair extradited, but the request did not arrive in time. The release was unexpected, and may have come about in part because of …