Iranwire – Retirees from the telecommunications sector again gathered in multiple cities across 12 Iranian provinces on May 29 to protest the government’s failure to improve their living conditions amid soaring inflation. Pensioners have taken to the streets every Monday in recent weeks. Videos released by the Free Workers’ Union show pensioners shouting slogans in the provinces of Khuzestan, Lorestan, …

Iranwire – The lawyer of an Iranian journalist who went on trial behind closed doors on May 29 on charges resulting from her coverage of Mahsa Amini’s death says he was denied the chance to present a defense. The September death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while in police custody unleashed months of nationwide protests demanding fundamental economic, social and political …

Iranwire – The Iranian judiciary has announced that the trials of Elahe Mohammadi and Niloofar Hamedi, two women journalists who are being prosecuted for covering the events surrounding Mahsa Amini’s death in police custody, will start on May 29 and 30, respectively.  These two journalists have been behind bars for more than eight months. According to sources close to them, their court …

Iranwire – Psychological warfare, known by a number of names including psychological operations and “psy ops,” is one of the oldest tactics employed in wars. Such tactics are aimed at undermining the enemy’s morale and its will to fight or resist and, sometimes, at persuading the enemy to change its position. Another kind of psy-ops is propaganda aimed at strengthening …

VOA – Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency have resolved questions about one of three sites where inspectors found previously undeclared nuclear material, Iranian state media said Tuesday. The IAEA has for years sought answers from Iran about what inspectors said was the presence of “uranium particles of anthropogenic origin.” A series of meetings, including a March visit to …

Amnesty – The horrific misuse of tear gas by security forces during brutal crackdowns on protests in Iran, Peru and Sri Lanka last year are among many new incidents detailed in Amnesty International’s updated Tear Gas: An Investigation. The interactive website now includes details of 30 new incidents in 13 countries where police and security forces caused harm by inappropriately using …

Al-Monitor – Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), resigned from his post last week in a tussle that would empower conservatives in the country.  Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi appointed Ali Akbar Ahmadaian, a prominent commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), in his place. Shamkhani, 67, appeared in Beijing two months ago at the …

Al-Arabia – Fourteen members of a “terrorist team” linked to Israel have been arrested in northwestern Iran, an official from Iran’s Judiciary said on Monday according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency. “14 members linked to Israel have been arrested as they were seeking to identify and assassinate various individuals,” Tasnim reported.

RFL/RE – An Iranian Foreign Ministry official has said following the outbreak of border clashes between Iranian border guards and Taliban fighters that any conflict between the two countries is detrimental to both of them. The May 28 comments on Twitter by Seyyed Rasool Musavi, director of the Iranian Foreign Ministry’s South Asia Department, came a day after deadly gunfire …

RFL/RE – Sepideh Rashno, a 28-year-old Iranian writer and student arrested last year for refusing to wear the mandatory hijab, has said she has been summoned to appear before the Tehran Prosecutor’s Office in relation to a supposed new case against her. Rashno announced the development by publishing a photograph of the official judicial notice on her Instagram page. “A new case has …