iranintl – Senior scholars held an event in Canada, discussing pressing global security concerns with a focus on the alliance by China, Russia, Iran and North Korea (CRINK). About 300 influential Western figures, including military leaders, lawmakers, diplomats, scholars, and activists wrapped up the 2023 Halifax International Security Forum (HISF) Sunday, after three days of expert panels covering a wide range of topics. The discussions …

iranintl – The Islamic Republic enlists foreign students, training them as ideological emissaries for deployment in other nations, according to an audio file leaked on Sunday.  The speaker, purported to be Hamidreza Haddadpour, head of the International Affairs Center for Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s university representatives network, reveals that recruiting foreign students establishes an ideological foothold for the Islamic Republic …

iranintl – As Iran’s ruler Ali Khamenei has remained cautious over direct involvement in the Gaza war, lower ranking officials continue to speak with bluster about defeating Israel. Mohsen Rezaei, a former Revolutionary Guard commander and a power insider in Tehran, threatened on Sunday that “New fronts will be opened in the Gaza war, and if the situation in remains grave, it …

Iranwire – Iranian human rights activist and Nobel Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi, who is incarcerated in Tehran’s Evin prison, has been taken for a third time in two weeks to a hospital without a mandatory headscarf. According to a post on Mohammadi’s Instagram account, which is run by her family, the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize winner was “wearing a coat …

Iranwire – Three teachers’ union activists have been arrested in Iran to serve their prison sentences, as the authorities continue their crackdown on organized labor. The Coordinating Council of Teachers Unions in Iran reported that Mohammad Ali Zahmatkesh, Afshin Razmjooei and Mojgan Bagheri were apprehended at their homes on November 20. Zahmatkesh and Razmjooei were sentenced to five years in …

Iranwire – Sepideh Rashnu, a writer and artist who became known in Iran for her vocal opposition to compulsory hijab rules, is in the BBC’s 2023 list of 100 inspiring and influential women from around the world. Twenty-eight “climate pioneers,” attorney and former US First Lady Michelle Obama, human rights lawyer Amal Clooney and Ballon d’Or-winning footballer Aitana Bonmatí were …

Iranwire – Iranian actress Azadeh Samadi was at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Airport on November 20 to catch a flight and attend a film festival in Goa, India, when her passport was confiscated. Samadi, a versatile actress in film, theater, and television, was told by Iranian authorities she was not allowed to leave the country. No reason was given for the …

Iranwire – The UN General Assembly’s committee on social, humanitarian and cultural issues approved a Canada-drafted resolution earlier this week that condemns the widespread and serious human rights violations being committed by the Islamic Republic of Iran. The resolution highlighted the plight of Iranian women who face systematic discrimination and oppression.  One of the most egregious examples of this oppression …

Iranwire –Mahvash Shahriari Sabet, a Baha’i woman serving a 10-year prison sentence at Tehran’s Evin Prison, wrote a poignant letter from the confines of her cell in which she calls on Iranians to not ostracize members of the country’s most persecuted religious minority.  “If the [Iranian] government has ostracized the Baha’is, please do not follow their lead. We, like everyone …

gatestoneinstitute.org – More bad news for Malley emerged recently when a large cache of Iranian government correspondence and emails was revealed by Semafor and Iran International. In email exchanges between Iranian Foreign Ministry officials working under the supposedly moderate then President Hassan Rouhani, they congratulate each other for the public success of what they called the “Iran Experts Initiative (IEI),” …