Social and Political

Radiofarda – Only four months after his Islamic revolution in Iran in 1979, the revolution’s leader Ayatollah Rouhollah Khomeini took the first step to set up a “special clerical court” to deal with those whom he called “corrupt clerics.”

Reuters – Iran will keep military forces in Syria, the head of the elite Revolutionary Guards said on Wednesday, defying Israeli threats that they might be targeted if they do not leave the country.

Radiofarda – A Grand Ayatollah has argued that the government is indebted to Qom a city where tens of thousands of young religious students are trained to become clergymen and has demanded more money in the midst of an economic crisis.

Al-Arabia – Following an official visit to Lebanon by the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs David Hale, the Iranian embassy in Beirut released an aggressive statement calling the US an “ISIS incubator which burned the green and the rotten through American financial, logistical and regional support.”

Iran-HRM – Kurdish rights activists say Iranian security forces opened fire on a group of Iranian Kurdish men – working as porters importing goods from neighboring Iraq – killing one and injuring two others.

Iran-HRM – Parvaneh Salahshouri, head of the women’s faction in the regime’s parliament, spoke about child marriages in Iran stating Six per cent of Iranian girls get married between 10 and 14.

RFL/RE – U.S. authorities have detained a journalist and television presenter working for Iran’s English-language Press TV on unspecified charges, the state-run broadcaster reported on January 16.

VOA – The United States is criticizing Iran’s failed attempt Tuesday to launch a satellite into orbit.

Radiozamaneh – The controversy surrounding the death of a young woman who had filed sexual assault charges against an Iranian MP has forced the Iranian parliament to respond.

CHRI – Jeremy Hunt Summons Ambassador to Tehran Following Revelations Iran Pressured Dual National to Spy