Social and Political

Al-Monitor – Ali Rabei, spokesman for the Hassan Rouhani administration, said the crisis involving the oil tankers belonging to the United Kingdom and Iran could be solved diplomatically.  The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) recently seized the British oil tanker the Stena Impero in the Persian Gulf. The IRGC not only released video of the seizure, in which men dropped from a helicopter onto the …

Al-Monitor – Home prices in Tehran more than doubled in the quarter that ended June 21 compared with a year earlier, after a prolonged period of relative price stability in the properties market. Extreme fluctuations in the markets for alternative assets like gold coins and currency also caused residential property prices to skyrocket, as investors looked to hedge their capital against …

Radiofarda – The Rouhani Administration’s Economic Commission has legalized cryptocurrency mining, Iranian media reported on Tuesday July 23, quoting Economy Minister Farhad Dejpasand. Dejpasand told reporters that the administration recognizes cryptocurrency mining and allows the import of bitcoin mining machines. However, the matter needs to be discussed at a cabinet meeting, he said. Earlier in July, the Iranian Judiciary had …

Reuters- Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China will meet Iran in Vienna on July 28 to discuss how to save the 2015 nuclear deal, the EU’s foreign policy service said in a statement on Tuesday. “The meeting has been convened at the request of France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Iran, and will examine issues linked to the implementation of …

Radiofarda – Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has appointed chief paymasters for the key parts of his $90 billion financial conglomerate, namely the Mostazafan Foundation and the Relief Committee. Both organizations were meant to be charities for the underprivileged, but they are known to be Khamenei’s treasury, where cash is channeled to militant groups in the region or spent …

Al-Arabia – “Arrogant powers” will be defeated as Iran is “connected to a divine power,” Rear-Admiral Ali Fadavi, the deputy commander-in-chief of the IRGC, said on Tuesday, the semi-official news site Tasnim reported. “If all of the arrogant [powers] wanted to become one to face us, they would be defeated and humiliation and disgrace will befall them because we are …

Al-Arabia – Iran observes all US ships in the Gulf region and has an archive of images of their daily movements, the head of Iran’s navy, Rear Admiral Hossein Khanzadi, said on Tuesday, according to the Young Journalists Club news site.Iran and the United States came to the brink of war last month after the Islamic Republic shot down a …

RFL/RE – Anything Iran says should be taken “with a grain of salt,” U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in an interview to WFTV 9 on July 22 while on a work visit to Orlando, Florida.Asked to address Tehran’s claim of having busted a CIA-affiliated spy ring, Pompeo said “everyone should be deeply skeptical.”Pompeo continued: “They’ve [Iran] lied about so many …

Radiofarda – The United States has imposed sanctions on a Chinese company for transporting Iranian oil, a move that violates U.S. sanctions on Tehran.U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on July 22 that Chinese company Zhuhai Zhenrong and one of its executives knowingly violated U.S. sanctions banning the import of Iranian oil.“As part of that maximum pressure campaign, I …

VOA — The United States and Iran pushed full steam ahead, each country launching a new round of verbal volleys, as military tensions between Tehran and the West rose to new heights Monday. U.S. President Donald Trump did his part to ramp up the rhetoric, telling reporters at the White House that Washington was ready for “the absolute worst” from …