Social and Political

VOA — The U.S. decision to designate Iran’s Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization is a dangerous development that could lead to chaos, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Wednesday. Speaking at a joint news conference with Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, the Turkish minister also said that U.S. sanctions were harming the people of Iran.The United States re-imposed …

VOA — Iran’s lawmakers on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved a bill labeling U.S. forces in the Middle East as terrorist, a day after the U.S. terrorism designation for Iran’s Revolutionary Guard formally took effect, state TV reported. Defense Minister Gen. Amir Hatami introduced the bill authorizing the government to act firmly in response to “terrorist actions” by U.S. forces. It demands …

gatestoneinstitute.org – Supporting one-sided resolutions against Israel is not Germany’s only unfriendly act against the Jewish state. Chancellor Angela Merkel has put pressure on other European Union states so that they do not transfer their embassies to Israel’s capital. Stopping the murder of Israelis is also not on the German government’s agenda. Last year the Palestinian Authority (PA) allocated $330 …

Al-Monitor – Poor crisis management in the aftermath of the recent floods in Iran has highlighted the weaknesses of management in the country. In fact, deficiencies have become apparent on all levels — whether it’s crisis prevention and management, or lack of coordination and clarity of responsibilities among various state organs. But before discussing some of the shortcomings, it is …

Al-Monitor – Iran’s ambassador to Iraq confirmed on April 12 that hundreds of members of the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) entered Iran to help with flood relief. According to Ambassador Iraj Masjedi, the PMU, which was formed in response to a 2014 religious edict issued by Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani to defend Iraq against the Islamic State, entered the …

IRNA – Tehran City Council wants to name the Iranian capital’s streets after the contemporary artists who have won the hearts and minds of their nation. The Iranians believe he who dies only his body leaves this world, but his memory will remain alive and Tehran City Council is planning to take this belief to another level. The city councilors …

Radiofarda – An barrier by the army as well as a leisure and entertainment complex recently built by police in the city of Shiraz have been singled out as factors that intensified the recent deadly flash floods in the ancient city, southern Iran. In its report on the deadly flood, the fact-finding committee of the city council of Shiraz says, …

Reuters – Italy’s top bank UniCredit SpA and two subsidiaries have agreed to pay $1.3 billion to U.S. authorities to settle probes of violations of U.S. sanctions on Iran and other countries, U.S. authorities said on Monday. In addition, UniCredit Bank AG, the bank’s German unit, agreed to plead guilty to federal and New York state criminal charges for illegally …

Radiofarda – A member of Islamic Republic parliament’s social commission says one million more people have become slum dwellers in the past 12 months, because of rising cost of living. There are varying estimates about the population of Iran’s shanty towns; ranging from 13 million to 19 million. Ali Kord, the member of parliament who spoke to ILNA news agency …

Radiofarda – Egypt has prevented oil tankers heading to Syria to pass through the Suez Canal in past six months, Al Saudia Al-Aan news outlet cited Syrian Prime Minister Imad Khamis as saying last week. Syrian sources have not yet denied the report. Referring to Prime Minister Khamis’ comments, a number of Arabic media outlets have speculated on the reasons …