Al-Monitor -During a speech to Iranian university students Wednesday, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei spoke about a number of global developments. Khamenei said, “Today, the world is on the threshold of a new world order.” He said that the era of a bipolar or mono-polar world is coming to an end and that under this new order, “the US …

Al-Arabia – US Special Envoy for Yemen Tim Lenderking voiced cautious optimism for efforts to end the seven-year-long war on Tuesday but warned that “there’s more that needs to be done.” Lenderking, one of US President Joe Biden’s first appointments, recently returned from a three-week trip to the region. Since last year, he has been involved in shuttle diplomacy as the Biden …

Iranwire – Wei Fenghe, the Chinese defense minister, arrived in Tehran today for meetings with senior offiicers in the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic. The visit comes three months after the two governments announced that a widely-decried 25-year cooperation agreement had reached its “implementation phase” – despite having not been ratified by the Iranian parliament as it should have been. The …

Iranwire – Saeed Heleichi, a poet and translator from Ahvaz, announced on Thursday that he had received a threatening call from an unknown number for posting pictures of the depleted Karun River in Ahvaz, Khuzestan province. The pictures posted by Heleichi were meant to raise awareness of environmental degradation in the border province, which last year was rocked by weeks-long mass …

Iranwire – Within the nexus of unaccountable bodies that make up the Iranian state, the Revolutionary Guards, the Foreign Ministry, Religious Endowments Organization and a number of others are also supporters of a virulent antisemitic supposed think-tank by the name of the Jewish Studies Center. Since its inception in 2016, the site has published more than 1,000 antisemitic articles, reports, comment …

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO) – Behnam Mousivand, a civil activist on hunger strike in Rajai Shahr Prison, was transferred to the quarantine ward of Evin Prison yesterday. He has been on hunger strike since April 19 and his health is reported to be in a deteriorating condition. According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, Behnam Mousivand was transferred to …

Al-Monitor – Iran has confirmed allowing Taliban diplomats at Afghanistan’s Embassy in Tehran, insisting, however, that the decision is not meant to pave the way for official recognition of the Taliban as a government.   “We will not hand over the embassy to a government that we have not recognized,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh at a Tehran presser April 26.   Khatibzadeh …

Shabtabnews – Yesterday USCIRF published its annual report on religious freedom. The report highlighted the sharp decline in religious freedom conditions witnessed in Afghanistan and many other countries like Iran. For full USCIRF report see below document: 2022-USCIRF-Annual-Report_1Download

Iranwire – An American software developer is in court this week accused of being a military-trained “sleeper agent” for Hezbollah that scoped out targets for terror attacks. Alexei Saab, 45, from New Jersey, is standing trial after a nine-count indictment was unsealed against him in Manhattan in September 2019. He was initially arrested that July and underwent 11 sessions of …

Iranwire- After a period of relative circumspection, some Iranian officials and political figure have again recently become more overt in their speculation about Tehran some day making a nuclear weapon. Ostensibly the fatwa by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei rules out this possibility, but it has also been pointed out that Khamenei could declare this null and void if he wanted to.   …