Iranwire – A viral video appearing to show an Iranian man attacking two unveiled women in a shop in the holy city of Mashhad has provoked widespread anger. Video footage posted on March 31 purportedly shows the man assaulting the two female customers, who were not wearing the mandatory hijab, or Islamic head scarf, following a verbal altercation. The man …

RFL/RE – The Taliban government is compiling a list of Iranian nationals imprisoned in Afghanistan for possible release following Tehran’s recent handover of hundreds of Afghan prisoners. Taliban Prosecutor-General Shamsuddin Pahlawan met with Iran’s deputy ambassador to Afghanistan, Hasan Mortazavi, in Kabul on April 3 to discuss the ongoing prisoner-release efforts.The development comes amid increased diplomatic activity between the Taliban government and …

Iranwire – Amnesty International is calling on Iran’s authorities to immediately release a German-Iranian political dissident who has been sentenced to death following a “grossly unfair” trial, or at least reveal his fate and whereabouts and give him adequate medical care. The London-based human rights watchdog said on April 3 that the authorities have subjected Jamshid Sharmahd to an enforced …

Iranwire – A new coalition of five exiled Iranian opposition parties have launched a charter setting out their vision for a secular democratic system of government in Iran after the downfall of the Islamic Republic. The 10-point document, presented at a press conference in London on April 3, states that such a regime would allow the foundation of a “nation-state” …

Iranwire – Iran’s ministries of education and science have warned that they will no longer provide educational services to students who do not abide to the Islamic Republic’s dress codes. As classes re-opened after the Persian New Year, the Ministry of Education said on April 3 that women and girls who fail to comply with the compulsory hijab will not …

Iranwire – Azerbaijan has arrested four people in connection with last week’s attempted killing of a member of parliament with strong anti-Iranian views, an Interior Ministry spokesman said on April 3. The spokesman declined to give details of the suspects who an Azerbaijani news site claimed were working on the order of Iranian security forces. Fazil Mustafa, a lawmaker known …

Iranwire – Ebrahim Vahedian Burjeni was born in Isfahan in 1935 to a Baha’i family and completed his primary education in the same city. After finishing the eighth grade, and receiving his middle school certificate, his uncle told him: “If you want God to be happy with you, become a teacher.” Following his advice, Ebrahim continued his education by going …

gatestoneinstitute.org – US President Joe Biden appears more worried about the Israeli government’s plan for judicial reform than the growing support among Palestinians for terrorism against Israel. He seems more concerned about a plan to fix the deeply broken judicial system in Israel than about Palestinian threats to destroy Israel and kill as many Jews as possible. We did not …

Al-Monitor – Syrian state media reported suspected Israeli strikes early Tuesday morning local time in the capital Damascus, as tensions between Iran and Israel continue to play out in the country.  Syria’s official news outlet SANA reported that the “Israeli enemy” fired missiles from the Golan Heights at unspecified targets near Damascus at 12:15 a.m. local time (5:15 p.m. ET on Monday). …

RFL/RE – A military adviser to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) died of his injuries after an Israeli air strike near Syria’s capital, the Iranian semiofficial Mehr news agency reported on April 2. Israel has for years carried out attacks against what it has described as Iran-linked targets in Syria, where Tehran’s influence has grown since it began supporting …