Al-Monitor – Top Iranian nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani was in Oman, one of the very few allies of the Islamic Republic in the Arab world and which has a history of pushing for rapprochement between Tehran and Washington.   Bagheri Kani sat down in Muscat with Omani Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr bin Hammad bin Hamoud al-Busaidi. Noting “historical mutual trust” between their …

Al-Arabia – Poland confirmed on Thursday that a Polish scientist had been arrested in Iran and said it was working to secure his return home, after Tehran announced the arrest of several foreigners that it accused of spying. Iranian state television reported on Wednesday that its Revolutionary Guards had arrested the foreigners for acts that included taking soil samples in restricted areas. …

RFL/RE – Britain’s ambassador to Iran said a diplomat whom Tehran claimed it had detained on spying charges had in fact left the country late last year. Simon Shercliff’s remarks, in a post to Twitter on July 7, followed contradictory reports about the status and whereabouts of Giles Whitaker, Britain’s deputy chief of mission in Tehran, and several other foreigners. …

RFL/RE – Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) has filed a lawsuit against the Islamic republic over the 2020 shooting down of a Ukrainian passenger jet by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). The lawsuit, seen by Radio Farda, filed in a court in Ontario, is dated January 2022. It lists the Islamic Republic of Iran and the IRGC as the two defendants …

Iran-HRM – Nearly two months after being arrested, labor activists Asadollahi and Keyvan Mohtadi remain in detention in Ward 209 of Evin Prison controlled by Iran’s Intelligence Ministry. According to an informed source, “the labor activist couple has been denied the right to make phone calls with their families since almost 2 weeks ago.” Their families went to Evin prison …

Iran-HRM – Teachers’ rights activist Masoud Nikkhah is still in detention since May 1, when he was arrested for taking part in a peaceful teachers’ protest in the western city of Marivan. He has been taken to Ward 209 of Evin Prison in Tehran, controlled by Iran’s Intelligence Ministry. Mr. Nikkhah has not had any contact with his family. Masoud …

Al-Monitor – The Biden administration on Wednesday issued a new round of sanctions targeting an international network it says facilitated the sale of hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of Iranian oil and petrochemical products to East Asia.  Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement that the State and Treasury departments designated 15 individuals and entities located in …

RFL/RE – Belgian lawmakers have given initial clearance to a prisoner-exchange treaty with Iran that could pave the way for the release of an Iranian diplomat convicted of planning to bomb the rally of an exiled opposition group outside Paris. The Foreign Relations Committee of Belgium’s lower house of parliament debated the treaty over two days before finally approving it …

RFL/RE – Jailed Iranian civil activist Zartosht Ahmadi Ragheb has said in a message that he rejected a proposal by prison officials to seek a pardon. In a message published online on July 4, Ragheb, who is imprisoned in Rajaeeshahr prison, west of Tehran, said that a delegation from the prosecutor’s office visited him twice last week and asked him if he …

RFL/RE – U.S. special envoy for Iran Robert Malley says Iran has added demands unrelated to discussions on its nuclear program during the latest talks in Doha aimed at breaking an impasse in negotiations to revive the 2015 nuclear deal. “They have, including in Doha, added demands that I think anyone looking at this would be viewed as having nothing …