Al-Arabia – Iran warned France on Wednesday it would respond after “insulting” cartoons depicting Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei were published in the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. The weekly had published dozens of cartoons on the same day ridiculing the highest religious and political figure in the Islamic Republic. The magazine said the cartoons were part of a competition it …

RFL/RE – Iran’s top Sunni cleric, Molavi Abdolhamid, denounced the deadly government crackdown on months-long anti-establishment protests during a December 30 sermon in Sistan-Baluchistan Province. The outspoken cleric said Iranians want “freedom and justice,” saying demonstrators were protesting against “discrimination, corruption, and lack of freedom.” Abdolhamid also criticized the repression of Iran’s ethnic and religious minorities, including Baha’is, who have …

RFL/RE – An Islamic revolutionary court in Tehran has sentenced civil and labor activist Neda Naji to a prison term and flogging for attending a protest in support of Mahsa Amini, who died while in police custody in September. Naji’s mother, Mehraneh Ghasemi, wrote on her Instagram account on January 3 that her daughter was sentenced to eight months in prison, 60 …

Iranwire – The Islamic Republic of Iran is increasingly holding online trials for demonstrators arrested during the ongoing nationwide protests, according to a group that tracks detentions in the country, raising concern over the defendants’ rights in the absence of an independent judicial system. Online trials have been held in Iran since the peak of the coronavirus pandemic in November …

Iranwire – At least 70 Iranian protesters have been accused of “waging war against God” and “corruption on Earth,” charges that carry a death sentence, human rights activists say. According to the Committee to Follow-Up on the Situation of Detainees, 64 people are facing the charge of “waging war against God” and nine others are accused of “corruption on Earth.” …

VOA – Iran’s statistics agency reported last month that inflation in December hit 48.5% compared to the same time a year earlier. With that figure, the Statistical Center of Iran put inflation for the first nine months of the year at 45% overall. According to World Bank data, the last time Iran had an inflation rate that high was in …

Al-Monitor – In an auditorium-style conference room at US Central Command (CENTCOM) headquarters, the top general overseeing all American military forces in the Middle East was beaming. Flanked by executives from Microsoft, Google and Blue Origin, US Army Gen. Michael “Erik” Kurilla had just been presented with the best idea he had heard in long time — by a buck sergeant …

Al-Monitor – The Iranian judiciary said Tuesday that 94 US citizens were among over 150 people allegedly involved in the killing of Qassem Soleimani, Iran’s top general who was hit in a January 2020 US airstrike in Baghdad.   At a televised weekly presser, the spokesperson for Iran’s judiciary, Masoud Setayeshi, said legal proceedings have officially been launched and “summoning” letters have been …

Al-Arabia – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged to step up his efforts to derail a return to the Iran nuclear deal by airing his opposition openly and in public, in an apparent shift from a more circumspect approach taken by the previous government. “We will act powerfully and openly on the international level against the return to the nuclear …

Al-Arabia – Russia is planning to launch a long-term campaign of attacks against Ukraine using Iranian-made drones in an effort to demoralize and “exhaust” the war-weary country, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, citing intelligence reports. During his nightly address on Monday in Kyiv, the Ukrainian president said he received intelligence indicating that the attacks would be carried out using Iranian-made …