iranintl – Faced with an apparent financial crunch to subsidize bread, the Iran is gradually raising prices, a move that can have both political and inflationary repercussion. To avoid public blame and anger the government is trying to redirect the responsibility to provincial officials, although the central government would remain the main decision maker. Iran’s economy minister Ehsan Khanzoudi said …

RFL/RE – Iran’s judiciary has sentenced Rahmatollah Nouruzof, a Tajik national, to death over an attack on the Shah Cheragh mausoleum in the city of Shiraz last month that killed two people. The head of the judiciary in Fars Province, Kazem Mousavi, said Nouruzof was the main suspect in the attack and that he had admitted to ties with Islamic State (IS).Nouruzof, …

RFL/RE – Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi said on September 20 that relations with the United States can move forward if the Biden administration demonstrates it wants to return to the 2015 nuclear deal, and a first step should be easing sanctions. He told a news conference that the Americans have reached out through several channels “saying they wish to have …

Iranwire – It has been almost six months since Iran’s nationwide protests began, triggered by the death of Mahsa Amini, who died while in the custody of the country’s morality policy. IranWire has in that time identified more than 50 protesters who have suffered serious injuries to their eyes – and in many cases, blinded – because of the violent tactics …

Iranwire – A resident of the northeastern Iranian city of Mashhad who was arrested during last year’s nationwide protests has been sentenced to 16 years and 4 months in prison. Human rights sources say Judge Hossein Yazdankhah from Branch 5 of the Mashhad Revolutionary Court handed down the sentence to Azam Gholami Zahab on August 23. The presiding judge, Hassan …

Iranwire – Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old Iranian woman who died in Tehran a year ago while in custody for an alleged hijab infraction, has been nominated for this year’s Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, the European Union’s top rights prize. Amini’s death sparked months of women-led protests across Iran demanding fundamental changes in the country, including gender equality and …

Iranwire – FIFA President Gianni Infantino says “it was great to meet” with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in New York, as the Islamic Republic is facing wide criticism over its ban on women attending stadiums, the arrest of football players deemed as critics of the government and the interference of its security institutions in sports matters. After the September 20 …

Iranwire – Iranian authorities canceled all flights to neighboring Azerbaijan and Armenia until further notice on the second day of a major flare-up in fighting over the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. Mohammad Mohammadi, the head of Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization, told ISNA news agency on September 20 that the measure was taken to “ensure passenger safety.”  As a result, passenger flights …

VOA – Two days after the U.S. and Iran began a prisoner exchange, VOA has learned that two of the three Iranians who remained in the U.S. after being granted clemency had conditions attached to their clemencies. The legal status of the third individual was unclear. Court filings seen by VOA show Kambiz Attar Kashani was released from a federal …

VOA – Relations between Russia and Iran have reached a new level despite opposition from much of the Western world, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Wednesday during his visit to Tehran. “We are aiming at an entire range of planned activities, despite opposition from the United States and its Western allies,” the Interfax news agency cited Shoigu as saying. …