Social and Political

Radiofarda – The Iranian government is continuing to cut off cash subsidies as the economic crunch resulting from U.S. sanctions become increasingly daunting. Based on estimates published by Mehr news agency and Eghtesad Online news website, some 24 million Iranians will no longer receive cash subsidies by the end of the current Iranian year on 20 March 2020. Officials have …

AP – Millions of pilgrims made their way on foot to the Iraqi city of Karbala on Saturday for the Shiite pilgrimage of Arbaeen, regarded as the largest annual public gathering in the world. The commemoration marks the 40th day following the death of a Shiite saint in the 7th century and included more than 2 million Iranians and other …

Radiofarda – Former British Ambassador to Tehran Richard Dalton says “the path of legal trade with Iran is open despite the U.S. sanctions on Iran.” Dalton, a well-known advocate of ties with Tehran who is the vice president of the British-Iranian Chamber of Commerce, made the comment while addressing a meeting in London on October 18. Speaking at a meeting …

Radiofarda – A serious and historic slowdown has gripped Iran’s residential real-estate market, with nationwide sales down 55 percent this month compared with the same period last year. Iran’s semi-official ISNA news agency says nationwide sales from September 21-October 6 were 16,400 units, a huge drop from the previous year when around 35,000 units were sold in the same period. The …

RFL/RE – A Syrian Kurdish militia leader has said his forces will withdraw from a border area in northeastern Syria to comply with a U.S.-brokered cease-fire deal if Turkish-led forces allow remaining Kurdish forces and civilians to leave an embattled city there. The statement came with some reports alleging violations of a fragile truce along Turkey’s border with Syria, two …

gatestoneinstitute.org – The end of First World War left the Kurds in an even worse situation than before. President Woodrow Wilson’s promise of “self-determination” was soon forgotten, leaving behind the dream of independence on the Kurdish side and the fear of Kurdish secession in the Ottoman camp as reconstituted as the Turkish Republic under Mustafa Kemal pasha (Ataturk). The best …

Radiofarda – A prominent Iraqi blogger resurfaced Friday a day after he was seized by masked gunmen, his father said, as Amnesty International denounced a “climate of fear” in the country after protests and deadly violence. Shujaa al-Khafaji’s family said armed men had snatched him from his home on Thursday without identifying themselves or showing an arrest warrant. Khafaji’s Facebook …

Radiofarda – A hard-line lawmaker in Tehran has taken back his comment about limiting IAEA inspectors’ access to Iranian nuclear establishments after British newspaper the Guardian quoted him as saying so on October 16. The speaker of the Iranian Parliament’s National Security Committee, Hossein Naqavi Hosseini, had said earlier that Iran was going to limit UN nuclear watchdog International Atomic Energy Organization’s …

Radiofarda – The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has denied the Iranian state-run TV report that it assisted the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps’ (IRGC) intelligence agents in arresting the Paris-based director of an “anti-Iranian” website, Ruhollah Zam. Speaking with Radio Farda on October 18, KRG spokesman Jutyar Adil said, “Zam has never been in Iraqi Kurdistan to be arrested there.” The …

Radiofarda – Hossein Fereidoun, the younger brother and confidant of President Hassan Rouhani was jailed on Wednesday October 16 after the Court of Appeal in Tehran sentenced him to five years in jail on the first of October. Fereidoun was no ordinary man. He was Rouhani’s special assistant. People still remember his pictures next to his brother during the election campaigns, and …