Social and Political

Al-Monitor – Iran’s United Nations envoy said Tehran is not seeking to instigate any regional wars and would only get involved in the Israel-Hamas conflict if its national security interest is threatened, but he warned that an increased US presence in the region leaves it more exposed to an attack. Iran’s permanent representative to the UN, Saeid Iravani, told Al-Monitor that a beefed …

Al-Arabia – Iranian lawmakers have approved legislation raising the retirement age for men to 62 and increasing the years of employment required to qualify for a full pension, state media reported. The bill, which still requires approval by conservative-dominated vetting body the Guardian Council, aims “to reduce pension fund shortfalls,” according to the official IRNA news agency. In Sunday’s vote …

iranintl – Senior scholars held an event in Canada, discussing pressing global security concerns with a focus on the alliance by China, Russia, Iran and North Korea (CRINK). About 300 influential Western figures, including military leaders, lawmakers, diplomats, scholars, and activists wrapped up the 2023 Halifax International Security Forum (HISF) Sunday, after three days of expert panels covering a wide range of topics. The discussions …

iranintl – As Iran’s ruler Ali Khamenei has remained cautious over direct involvement in the Gaza war, lower ranking officials continue to speak with bluster about defeating Israel. Mohsen Rezaei, a former Revolutionary Guard commander and a power insider in Tehran, threatened on Sunday that “New fronts will be opened in the Gaza war, and if the situation in remains grave, it …

Iranwire – Iranian human rights activist and Nobel Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi, who is incarcerated in Tehran’s Evin prison, has been taken for a third time in two weeks to a hospital without a mandatory headscarf. According to a post on Mohammadi’s Instagram account, which is run by her family, the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize winner was “wearing a coat …

gatestoneinstitute.org – More bad news for Malley emerged recently when a large cache of Iranian government correspondence and emails was revealed by Semafor and Iran International. In email exchanges between Iranian Foreign Ministry officials working under the supposedly moderate then President Hassan Rouhani, they congratulate each other for the public success of what they called the “Iran Experts Initiative (IEI),” …

iranintl – Iran’s exiled prince Reza Pahlavi has revealed that his father Mohammad-Reza planned to pass the throne to him just before the monarchy fell in the 1979 revolution. In a three-hour interview with entrepreneur and best-selling author Patrick Bet-David — himself of Iranian Assyrian and Armenian origin — Pahlavi said when his father, the last shah of Iran, knew …

iranintl – The chancellor of a university on Iran’s Kish Island has reportedly resigned following a graduation ceremony where female students appeared without head-coverings, defying hijab rules. Photos and videos published on social media showed the majority of girls at a small graduation ceremony on Kish Island’s international campus of Sharif University of Technology wearing graduation hats with their hair …

Iranwire – Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has warned that the Islamic Republic of Iran is intensifying its attacks against his country, saying that Lebanon’s Tehran-backed Hezbollah group has fired 1,000 munitions at Israel since the start of the Gaza war on October 7. “In recent days, the defense establishment has identified a growing trend of Iran working to intensify …

gatestoneinstitute.org – A public opinion poll published on November 14 showed that 75% of Palestinians support Hamas’s murder spree, including rape and beheadings, as opposed to only 13% who disapprove. Surprisingly, the poll found that support for Hamas and its “military operation” is even higher in the West Bank, where Abbas’s Palestinian Authority is based, than in the Gaza Strip. …