Social and Political

Radiofarda – The Iranian Human Rights News Agency, HRANA, reported on Wednesday July 10 that outspoken political activist Mohammad Nourizad, has been jailed. Nourizad was one of the signatories of a statement by 14 Iranian activists who called on Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to resign in order to end the country’s political deadlock. Nourizad had said on Monday …

Radiofarda – Iranian media reported Thursday, July 11 that another clash has taken place between the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps, IRGC and a “terrorist team” in Western Iran. The exact date or time of the clash has not been disclosed, but it appears it must have occurred on Wednesday or Thursday. Media quotes an IRGC statement saying that a militant …

Radiofarda – Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says he has received no proposal to exchange a British-Iranian prisoner in Tehran, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe with Iran’s detained oil tanker in Gibraltar. Zarif called the seizure of the oil tanker an act of piracy, while adding that he has received no offer from the UK government to release the oil tanker Grace …

Radiofarda – During the latest court session concerning financial corruption in Iran’s banking sector, one of the accused admitted paying millions of dollars in bribes to the chief of staff of one of the former speakers of the Islamic Republic parliament. According to judicial authorities, the suspect, former deputy head of Sarmayeh (Capital) Bank, Yasser Ziyaee, has admitted paying the …

Al-Arabia – The US Ambassador to Saudi Arabia John Abizaid said that Iran meddles in nearly every country in the region via “various militias that are under Iranian control.” “The Iranians are always ready to have somebody else fight their fight … They’ve got to stop their meddling in nearly every country in the region,” US Ambassador to Saudi Arabia …

RFL/RE – British tanker in the strategic Strait of Hormuz but were driven off by a Royal Navy vessel.The CNN news channel, citing two U.S. officials, reported late on July 10 that the Iranians ordered the British Heritage oil tanker crossing the strait to change course and stop in Iranian territorial waters nearby. But the incident ended when the HMS …

CHRI – UN Press Release, GENEVA (10 July 2019) – UN human rights experts today expressed serious concern that Iran continues to deny appropriate healthcare to detainees, despite repeated calls. “Over several months we have communicated to the Iranian government our deep concerns about the physical and mental integrity of detainees,” the experts said.  “Despite Government assurances, we are frustrated to …

Al-Monitor – In a sign that Iran is sticking to its guns, one of the country’s top officials told a visiting French envoy that Tehran will adhere to the phased process of abandoning the obligations it assumed under the landmark 2015 nuclear deal until “its rights promised by the agreement are fully materialized.” The meeting with Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of Iran’s …

Al-Monitor – Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi issued a decree July 1 obliging the overwhelmingly pro-Iran Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) to fully integrate into the Iraqi armed forces. The move came amid growing concerns among Iraqi leaders that their country might turn into a battleground between Iran and the United States. Referring to the increasing tensions between Tehran and Washington, …

Radiofarda – Three members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) have been shot dead in the western city of Piranshahr, the IRGC said in a statement on July 9.The three died “when terrorists opened fire on their car,” the statement said, adding that an IRGC member had been wounded in the attack.The semiofficial Mehr news agency said Kurdish militants …