iranintl- Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Tuesday that 20 to 30 million liters of fuel are smuggled out of the country daily, calling it a catastrophe amid the country’s energy crisis. “This level of smuggling when [fuel] production and distribution are in our own hands is absolutely unacceptable,” he said. “With this amount of fuel smuggling, will the public …

iranintl – The last United Nations (UN) Security Council for 2024 warned Iran about any further escalation by Tehran’s allied armed group in Yemen, the Houthis. The meeting was requested by Israel to discuss the Houthis’ ongoing targeting of the country. Israeli UN ambassador Danny Danon demanded the Iran-backed militants halt their missile attacks or face consequences. “This is not …

iranintl – One of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian’s aides has called for direct negotiations with US President-elect Donald Trump, emphasizing the need for a new foreign policy to strengthen international relations. “We must negotiate with Mr. Trump. The country’s issues cannot be left unresolved, and the entire establishment has also reached the conclusion that direct negotiations are necessary,” state-media quoted …

iranintl- The investigation into the case of Parastoo Ahmadi, a 27-year-old singer whose online concert defied Iran’s strict dress codes, has been expanded to include its organizers, the judiciary spokesman said Tuesday. Asghar Jahangir announced that a case was initially opened in a Tehran court at the instruction of the city’s prosecutor. However, after determining that the alleged offense occurred …

iranintl – US officials raised the need to prevent Iran’s resurgence in Syria during talks with interim authorities in Damascus, according to the US Embassy in Syria. The discussions also addressed maintaining the fight against ISIS, protecting US citizens, and investigating the fate of disappeared Americans, while emphasizing an inclusive political process that represents all Syrians. Syria’s new de-facto leader, …

iranintl – Iran’s judiciary spokesman on Tuesday said he had no information about the arrest of Italian journalist Cecilia Sala in Tehran, suggesting that she has not been formally charged and was detained by an agency outside the judiciary’s purview. While judiciary spokesman Asghar Jahangir provided updates on various judicial cases during a press conference on Tuesday, questions remain as …

iranintl – Israel has announced the arrest of a 29-year-old man suspected of spying for Iran, the latest in a string of cases of Iran-backed plots being carried out by Israeli citizens. A joint statement from Israel’s security services and the police, said that Alexander Granovsky, a resident of Petah Tikva, was arrested this month after being suspected of spying …

iranintl – A member of Iran’s Guardian Council has cautioned that if popular demands for certain freedoms, which he described as aligned with plans by adversaries, are overlooked, the country risks facing a scenario similar to Syria. “Negligence by officials and certain groups in society could bring us to a situation like we saw in Syria,” said Mehdi Shabzandehdar, drawing …

VOA – The British Committee for Iran Freedom (BCFIF) has announced that over 250 members of the U.K. Parliament, including former government ministers, have condemned “the Iranian regime’s systematic use of the death penalty to target dissidents and detained demonstrators.” In their statement, the cross-party signatories emphasize that these executions are politically motivated, aimed at suppressing dissent and deterring future …

VOA – The economic protests in Iran continued Monday with ongoing gatherings of telecommunications retirees in several provinces. As part of their weekly protests, retirees gathered this time in at least five provinces: Isfahan, Ilam, Khuzestan, Kermanshah and Kurdistan. This came after business owners and employees of Tehran’s historic bazaar staged a rare strike on Sunday to protest inflation and …