Social and Political

Al-Arabia – If the US had not pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal, Iran would be a stronger aggressor today because the restrictions on its nuclear program would have been lifted eventually, US Special Representative for Iran Brian hook told Al Arabiya English on the sidelines of the ‘Peace to Prosperity’ workshop in Bahrain. “We have put in place …

Al-Arabia – Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday that the Iranian nation will not retreat in the face of “cruel” US sanctions and “insults,” days after Washington imposed sanctions on him and other top officials in the country. “The most vicious officials of the (US) government accuse Iran and insult it. The Iranian nation will not give …

Radiofarda – Iran says it will not “retreat” and will speed up its enrichment of uranium from June 27 as it continues to back away from its commitments to a nuclear deal amid escalating tensions with the United States.“The most vicious officials of the [U.S.] government accuse Iran and insult it. The Iranian nation will not give in and retreat …

RFL/RE — NATO defense ministers will gather in Brussels on June 26 for two days of talks that will include defense spending within the alliance, its mission in Afghanistan, and Russia’s alleged violation of a Cold War-era nuclear-arms-control agreement, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said.Meanwhile, acting U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said he planned to bring up Iran in the talks, hoping …

RFL/RE – Iran and the United States have traded insults, with Tehran accusing Washington of “lying” about its willingness to hold talks to steer the two nations away from military conflict, a statement President Donald Trump called “very ignorant and insulting.”Speaking on June 25, a day after Trump signed an order imposing “hard-hitting” sanctions on Iran, President Hassan Rohani dismissed …

gatestoneinstitute.org – Iran’s actions are clear; there has been virtually no attempt on its part to disguise hostile intentions. Why is there no international outrage? The mainstream media continue to fail to report adequately Iran’s attacks. There has been no focus placed on the increase over the past two months of these attacks. On several occasions, the Trump administration invited …

Amnesty – The Iranian authorities are systematically violating the absolute prohibition of torture and other ill-treatment by cruel practices targeting family members of the thousands of prisoners who were forcibly disappeared and extrajudicially executed in prisons across Iran in 1988, said Amnesty International on the occasion of the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. Three decades on from …

CHRI – Prominent political prisoner Narges Mohammadi has written a letter thanking Richard Ratcliffe for highlighting the suffering of mothers who’ve been imprisoned in Iran for their peaceful actions. “It is most unfortunate that my country’s government has treated women and mothers like this for 40 years [since Iran’s 1979 revolution],” wrote Mohammadi, who is serving a 16-year prison sentence (of which …

Al-Monitor – Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe arrived in Tehran June 12 for a two-day state visit that was widely seen as a mission to alleviate tensions between Iran and the United States. Little came out of Abe’s meeting with Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani, and their joint presser offered nothing beyond typical diplomatic exchanges. Between the lines, however, it could …

Al-Monitor – “The White House is suffering from mental disability,” said enraged Iranian President Hassan Rouhani June 25 in response to new US sanctions targeting the Islamic Republic’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and several other senior Iranian officials. The punitive measures were approved by President Donald Trump as “a strong and proportionate response” to what he called “Iran’s increasingly provocative actions.” Last week, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) shot …