Social and Political

iranintl – Amid threats, the US military thwarted an attack targeting its forces in Iraq early on Wednesday, intercepting two drones, Reuters quoted US officials as saying. The attempted attack was the first in more than a year and comes after Iran’s proxies in Iraq made threats following the Israeli bombing of Gaza in the wake of the October 7 …

RFL/RE – Some activists and opposition figures in Iran have drawn parallels between the recent killing of acclaimed Iranian director Dariush Mehrjui and his wife and similar killings in the past that were ultimately deemed political murders Mehrjui and his wife, Vahideh Mohammadifar, were stabbed to death over the weekend in their home about 30 kilometers west of Tehran, Iranian …

RFL/RE – Prominent Iranian singer Alireza Ghorbani has revealed that authorities in the city of Isfahan have declined to grant him a concert permit because his shows feature female musicians performing onstage. In an Instagram post dated October 16, Ghorbani expressed his frustration, highlighting the “Herculean efforts” made by his team to facilitate the Isfahan concert, only to have their permit application …

Iranwire – A senior Iranian military commander said on Tuesday that Tehran-backed militant groups will not stop targeting Israel until the country ceases to exist. Ali Fadavi, the second-in-command of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), likened Israel to a “cancerous tumor,” saying: “The resistance forces’ shocks against (Israel) will continue until this cancerous tumor disappears from the world map.” …

Iranwire – Iran has banned the teaching of all foreign languages, including English and Arabic, in kindergartens and primary schools, with immediate effect, state media reported Tuesday. “The teaching of foreign languages is prohibited in kindergartens, nursery schools and primary schools, because at this age, the Iranian identity of the child is being formed,” said Massoud Tehrani-Farjad, an education ministry …

Iranwire – Iran International has learned that parents of Armita Geravand, the teenage girl in coma after an encounter with hijab enforcers, were pressured not to file a lawsuit. Based on the information obtained by Iran International, Armita’s parents were recently taken to the office of Delavar Alghasi-Mehr, the police commander of eastern part of Tehran province. There, they were …

RFL/RE – Iranian leaders have called for an “immediate” halt to Israel’s offensive against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip and warned “other fronts will open up” in the conflict, fanning global concerns that the war could quickly escalate. Israel pounded southern Gaza for an 11th day on October 17 in response to a Hamas attack inside Israel that killed …

Iranwire – Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has implicitly defended the killing of civilians in southern Israel by the Iranian-backed Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.  In a speech on October 17, Khamenei sought to water down the atrocities committed by Hamas, saying that “those who are in the settlements are not civilians; they are all armed.” “Even assuming that they are civilians, …

Iranwire – After Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei denied any involvement of the Islamic Republic in the unprecedented attack by the Hamas terrorist group on Israel, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian threatened an “expansion of war fronts” if Israeli forces launch a ground assault in Gaza.  The question of whether the Islamic Republic is bluffing remains open to interpretation, and only time …

Iranwire – European Union member states have maintained restrictive measures against the Islamic Republic of Iran under the non-proliferation sanctions regime after an October 18 deadline set in the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers. The European Council “adopted legal acts to maintain the designations, that had initially been imposed by the United Nations for individuals and entities …