Social and Political

Al-Monitor – The London-based Persian television network Manoto announced in a surprise statement on Monday that it will terminate operations in Iran in about two months due to financial circumstances.  The statement cited its shrinking ad revenue, yet suggested that it could be back on air if it acquired new sponsors.  In its 14-year history, the news channel has also earned popularity …

iranintl – Iran’s fast-declining population growth rate has not improved despite massive budget allocations to a regeneration scheme, a prominent commentator has pointed out. “The current administration and parliament have spent a minimum of 250 trillion rials ($500m) a year to increase the birth rate, but 25,000 fewer babies have been born each year. [Consequently], every fewer birth has cost …

iranintl – As one group of hardliners in Iran is purging rivals from the March parliamentary elections, former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also finds himself at odds with them. The former governor-general of Tehran Province, a key figure in Ahmadinejad’s camp, has emphasized the former president’s divergences with the ultraconservative Paydari Party and its affiliated group, the Strategic Network of Friends …

RFL/RE – Iran’s education minister has announced plans for a fundamental transformation of the country’s educational system with the introduction of gender-specific textbooks for male and female students, suggesting a deeper ideological shift in the Islamic leadership’s governance. Rezamorad Sahraei, speaking at the Behindokht festival’s closing ceremony on November 12, said the initiative signifies a significant change in Iran’s approach …

Iranwire – Prominent Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh was among dozens of people arrested during the October 29 funeral of Armita Garavand, a 16-year-old girl who was fatally assaulted at a Tehran metro station for not wearing a headscarf. In a letter written from behind the walls of Qarchak prison on October 30, Sotoudeh described her violent arrest at …

Iranwire – Security officials in Iran detained on Monday a Baha’i citizen, Masoud Mahmoudi, in the northeastern city of Shirvan.  Officials from the Intelligence Department reportedly entered Mahmoudi’s house and confiscated electronic devices, including mobile phones and laptops, belonging to him and to his family members.  Mahmoudi was then arrested and taken to an undisclosed location. The reason for Mahmoudi’s …

Iranwire – Satellite imagery shows progress in the construction of a factory in Russia that will mass produce Iranian-designed Shahed-136 kamikaze drones to be used in the Kremlin’swar in Ukraine, according to a Washington-based research institute. The plant is located at the Alabuga Special Economic Zone, 800 kilometers east of Moscow in Russia’s Republic of Tatarstan. The factory belongs to …

CHRI – Imprisoned Nobel laureate Narges Mohammadi faces new charges that underscore the draconian tactics employed by Islamic Republic of Iran officials to silence dissent and punish peaceful activists. The international community must quickly respond with strong collective action to end her imprisonment, said the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI). “Narges Mohammadi’s imprisonment in Iran is the price …

iranintl – In a shock cabinet reshuffle, former PM David Cameron has been brought back into politics as the Conservative party’s foreign secretary. It came following the firing of home secretary Suella Braverman, as she was the most outspoken member of government to condemn the increasing Islamic extremism plaguing the UK’s streets under the guise of pro-Palestine demonstrations amidst the Gaza …

iranintl – Former US national security adviser John Bolton has called on President Joe Biden to be more forceful with Iran over its plots to kidnap or kill Americans. Speaking to CBS Sunday, Bolton, who served under the Trump administration, told how the IRGC attempted to hire a hitman to kill him “either in the US or abroad.” He and …