Iranwire – “If the depreciation of resources continue, the National Development Fund will be completely annihilated,” Mehdi Ghazanfari, chairman of the fund’s board of directors, has warned. The sovereign wealth fund was established in 2011 to transform revenues from the sale of oil, gas, gas condensate and oil products into productive investments for future generations. The fund is a member of the International …

Iranwire – Amid a relentless wave of executions across Iran, the family of a 34-year-old protester sentenced to death fears he might be executed soon after being subjected to inhuman treatment such as mock executions, his sister tells IranWire. Mujahid Korkur’s arrest was reported in mid-December 2022 and handed capital punishment earlier this year for allegedly killing several individuals during protests in …

VOA – Iran’s oil minister Javad Owji said that the oil market is on the right track after decisions made by OPEC+, the semi-official Iranian news agency Tasnim reported on Wednesday. “Iran and Russia have the same views inside OPEC+,” Owji added on the sidelines of an Iranian-Russian conference of economic cooperation held in Tehran. OPEC and its allies led …

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO) – Families of protesters, Saleh Mirhashemi, Majid Kazemi and Saeed Yaghoubi have warned of their imminent executions in Isfahan Central Prison. In a video message received by Iran Human Rights, Saeed Yaghoubi’s mother says: “I beg you to support us to save them tonight. We’ve had our last visits with them.” At the same time, official …

Al-Monitor – Iran and Russia signed a major railway agreement on Wednesday. The deal is part of the International North–South Transport Corridor the two countries are developing with India to rival the Suez Canal. The $1.6 billion agreement is to build a 162-kilometer (100-mile) railway between the Iranian city of Rasht on the Caspian Sea and the Iranian city of Astara …

iranintl.com – British Iranian activist Vahid Beheshti has revealed that a fatwa calling for his death has been issued by a cleric in the Islamic Republic. Recovering in hospital from a hunger strike of more than two months, the campaigner posted a video Tuesday saying: “Through my contacts in Iran, I have been given this latest information that the religious …

RFL/RE – Several Iranian protesters who had been detained and then released under an amnesty granted by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in February have been summoned by Iran’s judiciary to face new charges. The Committee to Follow Up the Situation of Detainees, an informal network of activists inside Iran, said on May 15 that since the announcement of the amnesty, about …

Iranwire – Azerbaijan has announced the arrest of at least nine of its nationals accused of being linked to Iranian secret services and of plotting a coup and the assassination of prominent officials. A joint statement issued by the Ministry of Interior, the State Security Service, and the Prosecutor General’s Office on May 16 revealed that the suspects “were working for Iranian secret services.” They …

Iranwire – The United States says it has has charged a Chinese national with violating US sanctions by providing to Iran materials used to produce ballistic missiles. Federal prosecutors in Manhattan said in a statement on May 16 that Xiangjiang Qiao, 39, faces charges including sanctions evasion, bank fraud and money laundering. He is in China and has not been arrested. Between at least March 2019 and …

Iranwire – At least 883 people were executed across 20 countries in 2022, the highest highest number of executions recorded in five years, with Iran driving the spike, according to Amnesty International. The Islamic Republic of Iran is among the world’s top executioners, with at least 576 executions last year, an increase of 83 percent compared to 2021 when 314 executions were recorded, the …