iranintl – President Ebrahim Raisi blamed foreign countries for waging a propaganda campaign against the Islamic Republic in his UN General Assembly speech Tuesday. He avoided the topic of the 2022 anti-regime protests almost entirely and referred to it only indirectly as the West’s worst media assault in history. Raisi was speaking only a few days after the first anniversary …

RFL/RE – Iranian lawmakers passed a bill on September 20 to toughen penalties for women who flout the Islamic dress code, with jail terms of up to 10 years, state media reported. The assembly approved “the ‘Support for the Culture of Hijab and Chastity’ bill for a trial period of three years,” IRNA reported. The bill requires Guardians Council approval. …

Iranwire – Mohsen Qeysari, a 32-year-old ethnic Kurd, returned to the western Iranian city of Ilam from Germany early last year to support his elderly parents and ensure they were not alone in their twilight years.  Qeysari was killed seven months later, on September 21, 2022, when he was hit by dozens of pellets shot by riot police while helping …

Iranwire – Security forces in the northwestern Iranian city of Zanjan have arrested Farhad Hosseini, an ethnic Turk student and civil rights activist. Agents from the Zanjan Intelligence Department apprehended Hosseini on September 19 without showing a legal warrant.  The activist, who is pursuing a master’s degree in management at the city’s Azad University, has not had any contact with …

Iranwire – The United States has announced sanctions on seven individuals and four companies in China, Russia and Türkiye alleged to be connected with Iran’s drone program. Kyiv and its Western backers accuse the Islamic Republic of supplying Russia with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) used to bomb military and civilian targets in Ukraine.  Tehran has acknowledged sending drones to Moscow, …

Iranwire – Two independent Iranian film associations have condemned the arrest of artists in Iran amid a broadening crackdown on critics of the Islamic Republic. The Independent Filmmakers Association (IIFMA) issued a statement demanding the unconditional release of all filmmakers, artists, and political prisoners incarcerated in the country. “Out of a fear that the women’s movement calling for freedom and …

Iranwire – Iranian security forces have both verbally and physically assaulted football fans who had gathered peacefully near the Tehran hotel housing Portuguese football star Cristiano Ronaldo and his Saudi team, Al-Nassr.  Ronaldo and his teammates arrived in Tehran on September 18 for an Asian Champions League match against Persepolis the next day, sparking scenes of chaos in the Iranian …

Iran-HRM – On the evening of Saturday, September 16, 2023, Yekta Dodangeh, a 14-year-old teenager residing in Tehran, was detained by government forces on the first anniversary of the passing of Mahsa (Jina) Amini. Currently, there is still no information available about her fate. According to the report received by Iran Human Rights Monitor (IranHRM), Yekta Dodangeh was detained in …

Al-Monitor — Iranian officials warned on Tuesday that they had no intention of extending a deadline for the disarming and evacuation of Kurdish opposition groups based in neighboring Iraqi Kurdistan, Iranian media outlets reported. The Sept. 19 deadline was set by an accord signed in March between Tehran and Baghdad. The Iraq-based Kurdish opposition is mostly formed by the Democratic Party of …

Al-Arabia – Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu will visit Tehran on Tuesday where he will meet with senior Iranian defense officials, Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported. Regional developments and defense ties will be subjects of discussion during the meetings between Shoigu and Iranian officials and commanders, Tasnim said. Over the past year, Russia and Iran, both subject to international sanctions, …