RFL/RE – U.S. President Joe Biden is setting off on his first Middle East trip since taking office, with Iran high on the agenda in his visits with U.S. allies Israel and Saudi Arabia, both bitter rivals of the Islamic republic. The journey starts on July 13 with a three-day stop in Israel to discuss Western powers’ negotiations with Iran …

Iranwire – More than 2,700 Iranian public figures and civil society actors have penned a joint open letter to Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, the current chief justice of Iran, asking him to reconsider the case against a group of environmental activists who were first arrested in 2018. Morad Tahbaz, Hooman Jokar, Sepideh Kashani, Nilofar Bayani, Taher Ghadirian, Sam Rajabi, Amir Hossein Khaleghi and …

Iranwire – Iranian women and girls were seen removing their hijabs in public on Tuesday in defiance against the government’s “Hijab and Chastity Day”, which aimed to promote the misogynist mandatory veiling policy. Over the past week activists and rights activists at home and in the diaspora had called for the state-enforced day to be turned on its head and converted into a day …

VOA – France’s new foreign minister said on Tuesday there were only a few weeks before the window of opportunity to revive Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers would close. Speaking to lawmakers, Catherine Colonna said the situation was no longer tenable and accused Iran of using delaying tactics and going back on previously agreed positions during talks in …

Iran-HRM – In what appears to be a fearful reaction to growing social protests, the clerical regime has resorted to widespread arrests in Tehran and other cities. Among those arrested are three mothers of the victims of the November 2019 Iran protests. Mahboubeh Ramezani, the mother of Pejman Qolipour, 18; Rahimeh Yousefzadeh, the mother of Navid Behboudi, 23; and Sakineh Ahmadi, the …

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO) – “We urge the Belgian Parliament to say no to a treaty which may result in impunity for human rights violators, and put lives of Europeans and dual nationals in danger”, 11 human rights and civil society organizations, including Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO), said today in a joint statement. The announcement on 29 June 2022 that Belgian lawmakers …

Iranwire – Recently, Iran applied to join BRICS, a group consisting of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. On a global level, this forum represents 40% of the world population and 26% of the world economy. According to IMF data, China has the largest economy in this grouping and accounts for more than 70% of the BRICS total worth of around …

Al-Monitor – Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian leader Vladimir Putin are set to meet in Tehran next week, with Ukrainian grain exports and a potential Turkish operation in Syria likely to top the agenda.  Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said today that Putin would visit Iran on July 19 to attend a three-way summit between the Turkish, Iranian and Russian leaders and …

Al-Monitor – Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi accused Western powers of playing into the destruction of environment by tapping into the Middle East’s natural resources. Raisi was addressing a regional summit in Tehran that brought together environment chiefs from 11 countries, including Iraq, Syria and Turkey. The conference is focused on delivering solutions for regional environmental crises, particularly severe dust storms, with which the region …

RFL/RE – Hossein-Ali Nayeri, the former deputy chief justice of Iran’s Supreme Court, claims that mass executions carried out in 1988 were necessary to eliminate conspirators plotting against the government. Nayeri made the statement in an interview with Iran’s Islamic Revolution Document Center, a website that collects documents related to the 1979 revolution. Nayeri was named as the head of …