Iranwire – The owner of a store in Iran who was offering discounts to women customers “without religious hijab” has been arrested, local media reported on May 3, as the authorities step up enforcement of the mandatory headscarf rule. The shop in the north-western city of Qazvin was closed, according to the semi-official Fars news agency. On April 30, a …

Iranwire – According to Azerbaijani media reports, two individuals named Tohid Ebrahim Beigli and Orkhan Mamedov, the leaders of a group called “Hosseiniun, the Islamic Resistance Movement of Azerbaijan,” were arrested in the north-eastern Iranian city of Qom nearly a week ago. While some in Iran, such as member of parliament Ahmad Naderi, protested the reported arrest of the two …

VOA – Iran seized a Panama-flagged oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, the second-such capture by Tehran in recent days, the U.S. Navy said. The Navy’s Mideast-based 5th Fleet identified the vessel as the Niovi. It said Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard seized the ship. The Navy published pictures of a dozen Guard vessels surrounding the tanker. Those …

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO) – Aminollah Karimi Ghaljayi, a Baluch man sentenced to death for drug-related charges, has been executed in Mashhad Central Prison. According to Hal Vash, a Baluch man was sentenced to death for drug-related charge sin Mashhad Central Prison (Vakil Abad) on 1 May. His identity has been reported as 40-year-old Aminollah Karimi Ghaljayi who was sentenced to …

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO) – Mohammad Chahargoosheh, a man sentenced to qisas(retribution-in-kind) for murder, was executed in Rajai Shahr (Gohardasht) Prison. Another prisoner has been transferred for execution. According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was executed in Rajai Shahr Prison (Gohardasht) on 26 April. His identity has been established as 32-year-old Mohammad Chahargoosheh who was sentenced to qisas for …

Al-Monitor — Iran and India signed a joint statement of cooperation on Monday covering multiple areas, including trade and transport, as Indian national security adviser Ajit Doval sat down with his Iranian counterpart, Ali Shamkhani, in Tehran.     Shamkhani requested that a rial-rupee mechanism be activated in trade ties between the two countries, according to a report by Nour News, the official outlet …

Iranwire – Tehran police say legal cases have been filed against prominent Iranian cinema and television actresses for appearing at a public event without wearing a hijab. The Tehran Police Information Center announced the cases on May 2, after earlier reporting that legal cases had been filed against actresses Katayoun Riahi and Pantea Bahram for similar offenses. The center cited “unveiling the hijab in …

Iranwire – The name of Khavaran, a cemetery southwest of Tehran, has long been associated with the criminal history of the Islamic Republic. Many victims of the 1988 massacre of political prisoners, whose bodies were never identified or returned to their families, are buried here in unmarked, mass graves. Also resting there are Baha’is who are buried in a plot …

Iranwire – Workers and retirees took to the streets of cities across Iran on International Workers’ Day to protest the Islamic Republic’s failure to meet their demands. According to information obtained by IranWire, retirees gathered outside labor and social security departments on May 1 in Ahvaz, Shush, Dezful, Kermanshah, Kerman, Sanandaj, Sari, and Rasht. Meanwhile, workers at more than 110 …

Iranwire – Two and a half years after the passage of the “Rejuvenation of the Population and Protection of the Family” law and a multitude of directives issued by various department of the executive branch, efforts to carry out the wishes of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who for years has been obsessed with increasing Iran’s population, has continued. In recent …