iranintl – Each year as Iranian officials extoll IRGC commander Qassem Soleimani on the anniversary of his death, they inadvertently affirm the reasons behind the US decision to assassinate him.  Lawmaker Mohammad Esmail Kosari — who is a former Revolutionary Guards commander – said this week that it was Soleimani who convinced Russian President Vladimir Putin to join Iran-backed forces in …

iranintl – A politician in Iran says Reformists have offered ways out of the current political impasse to the President, such as delaying the upcoming parliamentary elections. The managing editor of one of Iran’s leading reformist newspapers, Elias Hazrati revealed on Wednesday that in their meeting with President Ebrahim Raisi on Monday the Reformists urged him to delay the elections and renew …

RFL/RE – A shop owner in Iran has been sentenced to two years in prison after publishing photos without a hijab, or head scarf, the U.S.-based human rights network HRANA said on January 5. According to the activists, Zeinab Khenyabpour had already been sentenced to three months in prison in early December in another case for “propaganda against the state.” …

VOA – The Islamic State terrorist group claimed responsibility Thursday for two suicide bombings that killed 84 people in Iran who had gathered for a memorial at the grave of Revolutionary Guards General Qassem Soleimani, who was killed four years ago by a U.S. drone strike. In a statement on social media, Islamic State said two “martyr brothers” headed to …

VOA – The leader of an Iranian-backed militia tied to repeated attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq is dead, killed in what American officials are describing as a precision airstrike in the heart of Baghdad. U.S. defense officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss details of the operation, said the midday strike targeted a vehicle outside …

Amnesty – Iranian Kurdish man Reza (Gholamreza) Rasaei is at imminent risk of execution in relation to the September-December 2022 nationwide protests. On 16 December 2023, Branch 17 of the Supreme Court upheld his conviction and death sentence for “murder”, which were issued by a criminal court following a grossly unfair trial that admitted his torture-tainted forced “confessions” as “evidence”. …

Al-Arabia – Russia is planning to buy short-range ballistic missiles from Iran, a step that would enhance Moscow’s ability to target Ukraine’s infrastructure, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing US officials. Last year, the White House said it was seeing more indications that Russia and Iran were expanding an unprecedented defense partnership that would help Moscow prolong its …

iranintl – The Red Sea got closer to war Wednesday, as the UN Security Council asked Houthis to halt attacks on ships and the Iran-backed group exchanged threats with the US military. Hours before the UNSC met, 12 countries led by the United States issued a joint statement to warn the Houthis of what awaits them if they continue their …

iranintl – Iranians, predominantly dependent on mobile data, are outraged by the government’s recent approval of price hikes, with many alleging corruption. “Where there is monopoly, collusion takes shape between [operators] and the government, and they scam the people in any way that they wish, same as in the case of car manufacturers, internet taxis, pharmaceutical import companies, and many …

iranintl – To curb increasing Iranian emigration, the Islamic Republic now withholds university degrees until substantial payments are made. Iranian education authorities have hiked the costs of releasing academic degrees more than 30 times under the pretext of preventing brain drain. Iran is demanding exorbitant fees from the graduates of the so-called governmental universities who already went through the corruption-struck national admission exam to …