Al-Monitor – Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said Tehran was hoping that talks with major world powers over the revival of the Iran nuclear deal “would reach the point of an agreement in a near future,” as he stood next to his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, at a joint press conference in Tehran June 23. The Iranian minister, however, conditioned such progress …

Al-Arabia – Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) appointed a new head for its intelligence arm on Thursday, following a series of assassinations and mysterious deaths of Iranian military personnel. Brig. Gen. Mohammad Kazemi is the new head of the IRGC’s Intelligence Organization, state media quoted the IRGC’s spokesman Ramezan Sharif as saying. Kazemi replaces Hossein Taeb, a powerful cleric …

The Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company Workers’ Union has warned that the health condition of Reza Shahabi, a jailed labor activist on his 10th day of a hunger strike, is deteriorating. The union said in a statement dated June 22 that authorities need to release Shahabi, claiming his “continued physical and psychological abuse” coupled with “further interrogations” will fail to …

RFL/RE – The last time Iran attempted to produce its own passenger planes to upgrade its aging commercial fleet, the effort barely got off the ground before it was doomed by a series of deadly crashes.Now, with nearly half of Iran’s passenger aircraft grounded due to the lack of spare parts, the idea has taken flight again.Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization …

Iranwire — Sergei Lavrov arrived in Iran on Wednesday as the head of a delegation from Russia, meeting with President Ebrahim Raisi and his counterpart Hossein Amir Abdollahian in what was billed as a trip to “strengthen bilateral relations”. The trip comes at a time when Russia is increasingly isolated on the world stage, buffeted by sanctions so extreme its …

Iranwire – Reporter and Telegram channel operator Amir Saeinia has been sentenced to six months in prison for “spreading lies via an electronic system” after penning an open letter of complaint to Hassan Morsali, Friday Imam for the city of Sufiyan in East Azerbaijan province. Saeinia runs the Deniz Sesi Telegram channel, an independent news provider sharing items of interest to local …

Iranwire – Two women have accused Shahram Gilabadi, an ex-senior official at the IRIB and former deputy to Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf when the latter was Mayor of Tehran, of rape. At the time of writing Gilabadi had not responded to the allegations. The stories, posted in a series of tweets shared by the Iran MeToo Twitter account, go back to the period …

HRW – On June 14, Iranian Ministry of Intelligence agents arrested Maryam Karimbeigi, a 34-year-old sociology student and civil rights activist, according to tweets by her mother, Shahnaz Akmali. According to the Human Rights Activists News Agency, Maryam is being held in Ward 209 at Evin Prison. Ward 209 is operated by Iran’s Intelligence Ministry and Human Rights Watch has documented the …

Iran-HRM – Political prisoner Ayyub Porkar was banished to the Sheiban Prison in Ahvaz, notorious for its horrible infrastructural conditions and torture of prisoners. Ayyub Porkar was arrested in January 2009. The Revolutionary Court of Tehran convicted him of Moharebeh (waging war on God) and sentenced him to death. Moharebeh is used for a wide range of offenses including on …

CHRI – For trying to sue Iranian leaders for their grossly negligent response to the COVID-19 pandemic, three lawyers and two civil rights activists have been sentenced to prison. “These individuals are being punished in order to send a message to the people of Iran: Seeking an accountable government in the Islamic Republic will land you in jail,” said Hadi …