Social and Political

VOA – Britain on Saturday denounced Iran’s seizure of a British-flagged oil tanker in the Gulf as a “hostile act” and rejected Tehran’s explanation that it seized the vessel because it had been involved in an accident. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards posted a video online showing speedboats pulling alongside the Stena Impero tanker, its name clearly visible. Troops wearing ski masks and carrying …

gatestoneinstitute.org – Although some of the groups involved have exclusively Iraqi roots, the “mobilization” as a whole could be regarded as Iran’s Trojan army in Iraq. From its first days, the Khomeinist regime in Tehran regarded most Arab nations as artificial states created by colonial powers around an army of natives they had created as a means of controlling the …

Shabtabnews – Iranians living in the United States gathered in front of the office of the National Iranian American Council (NIAC) in Washington, D.C., on July 19. A statement read out by protesters at the event described the NIAC as “the representative of the corrupt and brutal Islamic Republic regime.” According to the statement, the protest was aimed at informing …

Radiofarda – British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt says his country is focusing on diplomacy and not “military options” following Iran’s seizure of a British oil tanker in the strategic Strait of Hormuz.“We will respond in a way that is considered but robust and we are absolutely clear that if this situation is not resolved quickly, there will be serious consequences,” …

Al-Arabia – Everywhere the US goes, it “fosters extremism and terrorism,” Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Saturday upon his arrival to Venezuela, where he is set to attend the Ministerial Meeting of the Coordinating Bureau of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), the semi-official Mehr news agency reported. “Anywhere the US sets foot in, it creates instability. Today, through …

Iran-HRM – The Iranian political prisoners, held on horrific condition have no choice but going on hunger strike and risk their own health to convey their voice to the outside world. These hunger strikes highlight the fact that Iranian regime has remained indifferent to human suffering as it ever has been. There is desperate need for international inquiries into the …

RFL/RE – Saudi Arabia’s King Salman has approved the hosting of U.S. troops for the first time since Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was toppled in 2003, as the two allies bolster cooperation amid rising tensions with Iran.“Based on mutual cooperation between Saudi Arabia and the United States of America, and their desire to enhance everything that could preserve the security …

VOA — Iran has taken a British-flagged oil tanker it seized in the Strait of Hormuz to Bandar Abbas port, where it and its crew will remain while an investigation into the vessel’s conduct is carried out, Iran’s Fars news agency said Saturday. The Stena Impero was in an accident with an Iranian fishing boat whose distress call it ignored, the agency …

VOA — Iran is “nothing but trouble,” U.S. President Donald Trump said after the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps seized two British-owned oil tankers Friday in the Strait of Hormuz. “We heard it was one, we heard it was two. We’ll be working with the U.K.,” Trump said on the White House South Lawn in response to a question from VOA. …

gatestoneinstitute.org – Yet, while Iran shows no sign of scaling down its aggressive stance towards the US and its allies in the region, Europe continues to cling to the wreckage of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), to give the nuclear deal its proper name, in the misguided belief that the deal remains the best means of preventing Iran …