Social and Political

Radiofarda – Ahead of his meeting on Tuesday, July 9, with the Emir of Qatar at the White House, President Donald Trump once again warned Tehran. “Iran’s doing a lot of bad things,” Trump told reporters, adding, “Iran better be careful.” Trump had issued similar warnings in recent days after Tehran declared that it was enriching uranium up to 4.5%., …

Al-Arabia – The US special representative for Iran, Brian Hook, told Al Arabiya that imposed oil sanctions on Iran alone will deny the regime 50 billion dollars in revenue annually, adding that the pressure is going to continue. “The oil sanctions alone are going to deny the Iranian regime 50 billion dollars in revenue annually. We’ve also sanctioned the petrol …

Al-Arabia – US senator Ted Cruz called on the Trump administration Tuesday to revoke the civil-nuclear waivers issued by the State Department allowing Iran to build up its nuclear program. “As for the civilian nuclear waivers, there are a total of seven. We had partial success, they revoked two of the seven that was a step in the right direction. …

RFL/RE – Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi says any disruption to oil exports through the Strait of Hormuz will be a “major obstacle” for his country and that Baghdad is looking for potential alternative routes for crude shipments.“Iraq has too few export outlets,” Abdul Mahdi told reporters on July 9 in response to questions about the raised tensions between …

VOA – The United States hopes to enlist allies over the next two weeks or so in a military coalition to safeguard strategic waters off Iran and Yemen, where Washington blames Iran and Iran-aligned fighters for attacks, the top U.S. general said Tuesday. Under the plan, which has only been finalized in recent days, the United States would provide command …

Al-Monitor – Calls are growing from Iran’s hard-liners for reciprocal action against the United Kingdom’s seizure of an Iranian oil tanker. Last week, British marines off the coast of Gibraltar detained the supertanker — which was carrying 2 million barrels of crude to Syria — after it was found in breach of EU sanctions on exports of oil to the …

Radiofarda – In its latest report the Statistical Center of Iran (SCI) says that the “misery index” in the country reached 39% last winter, whereas a year earlier it stood at 19.4%. Misery index is an informal measure of the state of an economy generated by adding together its rate of inflation and its rate of unemployment. Based on the …

Radiofarda – Presidential Adviser Hessamodin Ashna and Foreign Ministry Spokesman Abbas Mousavi have criticized Iran’s state TV for airing a controversial series that has allegedly showed President Hassan Rouhani and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in a bad light. A scene from the controversial television series Gando, which is an Iranian alligator species. Meanwhile, outspoken ultraconservative MP Javad Karimi Ghoddousi …

Radiofarda – For a second day in a row, a top Iranian military commander has threatened retaliation for the seizure of a super-tanker at Gibraltar by Britain on July 4. Chief of Iran’s armed forces General Mohammad Hossein Baqeri (Bagheri) in a speech on Tuesday said that Britain’s action “will not go unanswered and if necessary, a response to this …

Radiofarda – An official at Iran’s Ministry of Education says there are 8 million illiterate people in the country, or 10 percent of the population, but a lower figure than other official estimates. Earlier last April, Iranian parliament’s research center had reported that nearly nine million Iranians are suffering from “absolute illiteracy.” Nonetheless, the Ministry of Education’s director of literacy, …