Social and Political

Radiofarda – Iran’s Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh has refuted reports that allege the Oil Ministry has diverted flood water in Khuzestan province to protect oil wells in the area, causing damages to cities and villages. Meanwhile, a board member of the National Iranian oil company previously told the official news agency IRNA that production has come to a halt at …

Radiofarda – An Israeli air strike in central Syria wounded three combatants early Saturday, the official SANA news agency reported. A Britain-based war monitor said the strike killed several Iranian fighters and wounded 17 Syrian troops and their allies. An Israeli military spokesman declined to comment on the foreign media report. “Around 2:30 am (2330 GMT Friday)… the Israeli air …

Radiofarda – The enraged flood-stricken residents in Ain 2 district of Ahvaz, the capital city of the oil-rich Khuzestan province poured into the street on Friday, April 12, to protest government’s handling of floods and its failure to divert water into Hour Al-Azim marshes, reports on social media say. Protests in Ahvaz, capital of Iran’s oil-rich Khuzestan province. April 12, …

Radiofarda – The State of the Union Address is formally prescribed by U.S. Constitution in Article II, Section 3, Clause 1 stating that the President “shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.”Iran and Persia have been regularly …

Radiofarda – Although Iran’s leading political factions are outraged over Washington’s recent designation of its Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) as a “Foreign Terrorist Organization”, Europe has remained silent. Reformist MPs, along with their so-called Principlist or ultra-conservative counterparts, rushed to show their support for the IRGC by wearing the military force’s fatigues. Friday Prayer meetings nationwide voiced criticism of …

Al-Arabia – The Imam of Tehran Friday prayers, Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Movahedi-Kermani condemned on Friday the United States’ move of labelling the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a foreign terrorist organization. During his Friday prayer the cleric wore the military uniform of the IRGC in support of the Iranian force, condemning the US decision saying: “All the Iranian people …

VOA — Burning American and Israeli flags, Iranians rallied after Friday prayers against the U.S.’s decision to designate the country’s powerful Revolutionary Guards as a foreign terrorist organization. Protesters burn a mock U.S. flag during a rally against the U.S. decision to designate Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guards as a foreign terrorist organization, in Tehran, Iran, April 12, 2019. Thousands of …

gatestoneinstitute – The main purpose of the Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges (INSTEX) is to ensure that Europe — and potentially third countries — can continue doing business with the mullahs in Iran without risking US penalties for contravening US sanctions. EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini seems strongly committed to ensuring that Iran — and Europe — continue …

CHRI – The Iranian government and judiciary are intensifying a nationwide crackdown on civil society and beyond, as well as most forms of activism, to stifle any form of dissent, Abdolkarim Lahiji, a prominent Iranian human rights attorney now based in France, told the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI). In a wide-ranging interview conducted by phone on April …

CHRI – Agents of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRGC) Intelligence Organization arrested at least 11 Arab-Iranian volunteers as they were trying to help people in Iran’s flood-stricken village of Gurieh, Khuzestan Province, according to Karim Dahimi, a London-based minority rights activist. On April 7, 2019, nine of them were arrested as they arrived from the city of Mahshahr, said …