VOA – Iran has moved all its machines that make centrifuge parts from its mothballed workshop at Karaj to its sprawling Natanz site just six weeks after it set up another site at Isfahan to make the same parts, the U.N. nuclear watchdog said on Wednesday. Iran granted International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors access to Karaj in December to re-install …

Iran-HRM – The state security forces launch a plan to deal with those who eat or drink in public during the Ramadan fasting month in Iran. During the first days of Ramadan, the state-run media also publish numerous photos of police dealing with people eating, drinking, or smoking in public. Every year, many citizens are convicted of “breaking the fast” in sharia …

Iranhr.net – The Iranian authorities are violating the absolute prohibition of torture or other ill-treatment through the harassment of witnesses who testified at the “people’s tribunal” in relation the authorities’ deadly crackdown on the November 2019 nationwide protests, as well as their families, said 15 undersigned organizations. In response to public calls for truth, justice and reparation for crimes under …

Al-Monitor – The United States and Iran have never been closer to an agreement to revive the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), or Iran nuclear deal, even as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said today that he is “not overly optimistic” it will get done. But whether the parties to the agreement can reach a signing ceremony in Vienna may …

RFL/Re – Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has ordered the Intelligence Ministry to investigate a knife attack on three clergymen in the Imam Reza shrine in the northeastern city of Mashhad that left at least one dead. Raisi said on April 6 that the ministry should identify and prosecute all perpetrators of the incident, which took place the day before. Raisi …

RFL/RE – Three clerics were stabbed by an unknown attacker at a religious shrine in the northeastern Iranian city of Mashhad, killing two, media reported on April 5. The semiofficial Tasnim news agency said one of the clerics had died following the attack. Tasnim identified him as Mohammad Aslani. Meanwhile, the semiofficial Mehr news agency said a second clergyman, identified …

Iranwire – Iranian artists, sports stars and relatives of people killed in street protests have signed a joint letter to the Iranian national football team calling on players to boycott the 2022 Qatar World Cup if women are still not being allowed to attend matches in stadiums at home. The missive is the latest public reaction to events in Mashhad …

Iranwire – A former student of Oscar-winning Iranian film director Asghar Farhadi says Farhadi has now been summoned to court in Tehran over a case of alleged plagiarism. Azadeh Masihzadeh has accused the director of lifting a storyline she developed for use in his 2022 Oscar entry, A Hero. Her own documentary, All Winners, All Losers, was researched and created at a 2014 …

Breitbart News – In light of Voice of America News’ (VOA) failure to respond to dozens of FOIA requests over alleged pro-Islamic bias in its Persian reporting, the American Accountability Foundation (AAF) filed a lawsuit last week accusing VOA of withholding communications that demonstrate the broadcasting service’s role in disseminating “messages opposed to American interest.”The American Accountability Foundation (AAF), a political watchdog …

Al-Monitor – Members of the Iranian parliament submitted a letter to the country’s President Ebrahim Raisi on April 5, calling on him to take a tougher stand in the currently paused indirect talks with the United States over the revival of the 2015 nuclear deal. Drafted by hard-line lawmaker Mahmoud Nabavian, the letter received signatures from 190 members, more than two thirds …