Al-Arabia – Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei refrained on Wednesday from commenting on ongoing protests in his first public appearance since anti-regime demonstrations sparked by the death of a young woman in police custody escalated. Khamenei addressed a gathering in Tehran that included senior military commanders ahead of the anniversary of the start of the eight-year-long Iran-Iraq war in 1980. …

gatestoneinstitute.org – The land grant will ostensibly be used to grow staple crops… allowing water-starved Iran to better feed its population… Iran’s current use of Venezuela, however… combined with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), raise the possibility that Iran and its surrogate terrorist groups, such as Hezbollah and Hamas, might be using the vast acreage for military and terrorist …

RFL/RE – At least three people have been killed in Iran during protests over the death of a 22-year-old woman who was taken into custody by the country’s morality police. Human rights groups said Mahsa Amini was detained for breaking Iran’s strict religious laws requiring Muslim women to wear a head scarf. Protests continued across the country on September 20 …

Iranwire – The U.S. Treasury Department has given tacit approval to an expansion of Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite internet service to cover Iran at a time of mass protests and internet shutdowns. The SpaceX CEO was petitioned by Iranians on social media over the weekend to offer the same improved coverage to Iran as to other countries. Since last Friday, when demonstrations …

Iranwire – Cities across Kurdistan faced an all-out assault from security forces today in the wake of mass protests on Monday over the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old from Saqqez. Local sources in Mahabad told IranWire that after crowds thronged the streets yesterday calling for an end to dictatorship in their country, large numbers of uniformed and plainclothes agents were dispatched …

VOA – Iranians have intensified their protests against last week’s death of a young woman detained by police enforcing Iran’s strict hijab rules, spreading their demonstrations to more parts of the country and engaging in bolder acts of defiance toward their Islamist rulers. Citizen journalist videos posted to social media appeared to show Iran’s latest anti-government protests reaching at least …

CHRI – In an interview with Rouydad24 (“Event24”), a semi-independent reformist news site in Iran, the father of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who died in Iranian state custody, strongly contradicted the authorities’ narrative about his daughter’s death and demanded justice. “What makes me sad is that the authorities are spreading lies about my daughter every day,” said Amjad Amini in the Persian-language …

Iranhr.net – Acting UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Nada Al-Nashif today expressed alarm at the death in custody of Mahsa Amini – detained by Iran’s “morality police” enforcing strict hijab rules – and the violent response by security forces to ensuing protests. Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian woman from the Kurdish minority, was with her brother in Tehran when she …

Al-Monitor – Iranians held anti-government rallies for a fourth consecutive day after 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died following her arrest by the hijab-implementing Morality Police.  The protests that began in the Kurdish city of Saqqez — Mahsa’s birthplace — spread to Tehran and over a dozen cities, including Sanandaj, Isfahan, Ilam, Ghazvin, Tabriz, Rahst and even the conservative city of Mashhad.  At least …

Al-Monitor — Not since Vienna served as the venue for negotiations early last month have the key players to the Iranian nuclear agreement been in the same city. This week, many of them will be in New York, where any signs of contact will be closely watched for hints of progress in the stalled talks. A day after his arrival to attend …