Social and Political

Radiofarda – A member of the Iranian Parliament (Majles) has disclosed that the country’s Supreme National Security Council has banned the publication of news reports about water-related problems including shortage and misuse of resources.

Radiofarda – Iran’s parliament has passed legislation requiring charitable organizations under the control of the Supreme Leader and other state entities engaging in commercial activities to pay taxes.

Radiofarda – Union of Haft Tapeh Sugar Mill Workers say that their labor leader Esmail Bakhshi fainted during a meeting with his family in prison.

Radiofarda – Iran is to build 200,000 residential units in Syria based on a memorandum of understanding signed at a joint economic meeting in Damascus in late January, ISNA reported, quoting an official of Iran’s Mass Housing Association.

Al-Arabia – Saudi King Salman has called for a unified international effort to stop Iran’s support for armed militias, interference in the affairs of other countries, and its nuclear and ballistic programs.

RFL/RE – Prosecutors in Iran have filed a complaint against the minister of communications and information technology for alleged “Internet espionage,” state media report.

RFL/RE – Iranian authorities have released a French businesswoman detained for four months, according to local media.

RFL/RE – Landlocked Afghanistan has sent its first export shipment to India through Iran’s strategic Chabahar Port.

VOA —As Iran marked the 40th anniversary of its Islamic Revolution, a white-turbaned Shiite cleric at one commemoration targeted President Hassan Rouhani, a fellow clergyman, with this sign: “You who are the cause of inflation; we hope you won’t last until spring.”

Radiofarda – The exchange rate for the U.S. dollar rose on Sunday in Iran to almost 140,000 rials, reaching its highest point in the past three months.