Social and Political

Radiofarda – Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) says it has seized a ship in the Persian Gulf, accusing it of smuggling diesel fuel to the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.). An IRGC commander said on September 16 that the vessel was carrying 250,000 liters of fuel when it was detained near Iran’s Greater Tunb island, according to official media. The …

CHRI – Australian academic Kylie Gilbert-Moore has been held for almost a year in Ward 2-A of Tehran’s Evin Prison, controlled by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRGC) intelligence organization, the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) has learned. “Little is known about the IRGC’s security ward except that detainees held there are cut off from the outside world and their …

Radiofarda – In another public gesture of sympathy for a 29-year old woman who killed herself for being prosecuted over her right to attend a men’s football game, players wore jerseys at a match inscribed with her name. Tehran’s Esteqlal football team wearing jerseys saying “The Blue Girl” before their match on September 15, 2019. Sahar Khodayari was arrested in …

Radiofarda – World oil prices have seen their biggest surge since 1991, with the highly destructive attack on Saudi oil installation two days ago, at one point climbing 19 percent. Right after the attack it was clear that more than five million barrels of Saudi Arabia’s daily oil output was lost, but Aramco, the state monopoly said it was working …

Al-Arabia – Britain on Monday said an attack on Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities was serious and outrageous. The attack “was a wanton violation of international law,” British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said, adding that the United Kingdom stood firmly behind Saudi Arabia. “This was a very serious attack on Saudi Arabia and the oil installations and it has implications for …

Al-Arabia – Iran said on Monday there would be no meeting between Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and his US counterpart Donald Trump at the United Nations, Iranian state television reported, after the White House on Sunday left open the possibility of a potential meeting. “Neither is such an event (Trump-Rouhani meeting in New York) on our agenda, nor will it …

Al-Arabia – Iran launched nearly a dozen cruise missiles and over 20 drones from its territory in the attacks that targeted two Saudi Aramco oil facilities in Abqaiq and Hijrat Khurais, a senior Trump administration official told ABC News on Sunday. The official said that US President Donald Trump is aware that Iran is responsible, but added that he was …

VOA – U.S. President Donald Trump says American forces are ‘locked and loaded’ to respond to the fiery attacks on one of Saudi Arabia’s largest oil fields and the world’s biggest crude oil stabilization facility. “There is reason to believe we know the culprit,” Trump tweeted late Sunday. He added he is waiting to hear from the Saudis as to …

Radiofarda – U.S. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham has said the United States should consider an attack on Iran’s oil refineries following a large drone attack on Saudi Arabian oil installations early on September 14. In a tweet later in the day, Graham wrote the attack “is yet another example of how Iran is wreaking havoc in the Middle East. The …

Radiofarda – Iran suffers from deep-rooted problems in its banking, including a phenomenon called “unidentified account holders” in Iranian banks. According to the Iranian semi-official Mehr News Agency, there are an estimated one million accounts with unknown holders only with Bank Melli Iran, one of the 41 Iranian banks. “Bank Melli Iran is one of the most credible banks in the country. …