Social and Political

Radiofarda – Iranian community members and organizations in the United States have been holding protests outside the United Nations headquarters in New York to condemn the Islamic Republic’s internal and foreign policies. On September 24, President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani told a crowd of several hundred protesters outside the United Nations that he …

Reuters – Washington’s policy of applying “maximum pressure” on Iran with wide-ranging sanctions has shredded the country’s oil revenues, sent its economy into recession and devalued its national currency. By Parisa Hafezi Yet Iran remains defiant in the face of U.S. efforts to compel it to accept tougher restrictions on its nuclear program and scale back support for proxy wars …

Radiofarda – In the second court session of a major corruption trial in Iran on Tuesday the prosecutor announced that a total of $165 million was embezzled at two banks. The prosecutor’s office presenting its case regarding corruption at Bank Mellat and Bank Parsyan alleged that a unqualified manager was receiving 12 thousand euros ($13,300) salary monthly. This is an …

Radiofarda – As the newly crowned player of the year at FIFA’s The Best awards, U.S. women’s soccer star Megan Rapinoe, paid tribute on Monday, September 23, to Iranian Sahar Khodayari, dubbed as the “Blue Girl.” Best FIFA Men’s Player of 2019, Argentina and Barcelona forward Lionel Messi (L) and Best FIFA Women’s Player of 2019, US and Reign FC …

RFL/RE – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has urged President Hassan Rohani to secure the release of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and other dual nationals imprisoned in Iran during a meeting at the United Nations in New York on September 24. Johnson called on Rohani to make “progress” for their immediate release while saying that previous conversations between the two leaders had …

RFL/RE – Britain, France, Germany, and Japan have tried to get the leaders of the United States and Iran to revive diplomacy while attending the annual UN General Assembly in New York this week. Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan also said the United States and Saudi Arabia both asked him to mediate with Iran to defuse tensions. U.S.-Iranian relations have …

RFL/RE – U.S. President Donald Trump has defended his policy on Iran before the UN General Assembly and called on all nations to act against Tehran and not “subsidize Iran’s bloodlust.” “One of the greatest security threats facing peace-loving nations today is the repressive regime in Iran,” Trump told world leaders gathered at the UN headquarters in New York on …

VOA – A day after U.S. President Donald Trump called Iran one of the world’s “greatest threats,” Iranian President Hassan Rouhani gets his turn Wednesday to address the U.N. General Assembly. Other leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, have pushed for Trump and Rouhani to meet on the sidelines of the annual meeting in hopes …

Al-Monitor – A 90-minute meeting between President Hassan Rouhani of Iran and his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, in New York covered a wide range of topics from bilateral ties to political solutions over the 2015 Iran nuclear deal formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). The discussions held on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, however, appeared to have been overshadowed …

Al-Monitor -The growing visibility of a grand ayatollah in Iran’s holy city of Qom is arousing the anger of hard-liners who consider him dangerous because he promotes a secular and nonpolitical direction for the seminary there.  Last year, Ayatollah Sayyed Mohammad Javad Alavi Boroujerdi declared himself a marja — a title given to the highest level of Shiite authority. This didn’t sit well with ​Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi, the powerful …