Some weeks ago Iran arrested some high level officials and senior members of the political and defense establishments on charges of spying for Israel according to the New York Times. Brig. Gen. Ali Nasiri of the information unit in the IRGC and Hossein Taeb IRGC’s intelligence chief of 12 years, were among the senior officials sacked, which sparked an outrage …

Shabtabnews – The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) today condemned the Iranian government’s increased crackdown on religious minorities in the country. In recent weeks, Iran has arrested scores of Baha’is and raided their homes and destroyed Baha’i houses in Mazandaran province. In addition, Iranian authorities have escalated their targeting of women who do not conform to the government’s endorsed version of …

Iranwire – IranWire understands that 113 Baha’is in Iran have suffered specific acts of persecution in the past 10 days, up from 52 last week, in a clear sign that the recent crackdown is still underway and is getting worse. They have been variously imprisoned, arrested, endured raids on their residences or businesses, and yet again been denied access to …

Iranwire – Iran’s so-called Headquarters for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice has asserted that some 3,000 to 4,000 children of Islamic Republic officials currently reside abroad. Headquarters secretary-general Mohammad Saleh Hashemi Golpayegani wrote to the Iranian parliament about the matter on Saturday, saying he was waiting for MPs to intervene. A report by ILNA News Agency quoted …

Iranwire – On Saturday, August 6 the Iranian president’s special representative on Afghan affairs, Hassan Kazemi Qomi, announced that the Taliban had finally released waters held behind a dam on the Helmand river into Iran’s Sistan and Baluchistan province. The remarks have been met with incredulity by the MP for Zabul, Habibollah Dehmardeh. In an interview with Rokna News, Deh …

Iranwire – Ex-prime minister Mir Hossein Mousavi has issued a new missive from house arrest accusing Iran’s ruling elite of conspiring to create a hereditary leadership model. In comments published by the news website Kaleme on Tuesday, Mousavi, who was confined to his home more than a decade ago after the pro-democracy Green Movement, demanded to know: “Have the dynasties of the …

RFL/RE – A senior commander says Iran’s navy repelled an attack on an Iranian vessel in the Red Sea overnight on August 9-10, but he didn’t identify the type of ship or its attackers. Rear Admiral Mustafa Tajeddini said a destroyer-led flotilla responded to a distress call “and engaged with the attacking boats.” He said the attackers “made off.” The …

CHRI —Prioritizing human rights represents the most effective means for the U.S. to influence Iranian state behavior and address the Islamic Republic’s destabilizing activities, the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) said in a new Q&A, “PrioritizingHuman Rights in Iran:A New U.S. Foreign Policy Approach:  Q&A on Recommendations for the U.S. Government” published today. Read the New Policy Q&A  …

CHRI – The Center for Human Rights in Iran’s (CHRI) new briefing, Human Rights in Iran and U.S. National Security Interests: A Path Forward for U.S. Foreign Policy Toward the Islamic Republic, lays out a U.S. foreign policy approach to Iran that affords human rights a central role, equal in importance to and pursued on par with other political, economic and …

Al-Monitor – The Biden administration has notified Congress that it renewed a sanctions waiver allowing international cooperation on some of Iran’s civilian nuclear projects, a State Department spokesperson confirmed to Al-Monitor. The waiver, which was set to expire this month, permits foreign companies to conduct certain non-proliferation work at Iranian nuclear sites without incurring US sanctions. Its renewal was expected, and …