Social and Political

Al-Monitor – The normally closed world of Iran’s Shiite seminary has been stunned by a scandal after a grand ayatollah was threatened about his personal meetings with those deemed not supportive of the Islamic Republic.

PayvandNews – Iran’s national wushu team has been crowned world’s champions for the first time in the 9th Sanda World Cup.

Radiofarda – Forty conservative MPs have sent a letter to the Expediency Council (EDC), urging it to reject a package of bills making Iran a party to several international agreements on combating terrorism financing and money laundering.

Radiofarda – Shortly after U.S. President Donald Trump announced in May he would reimpose sanctions on Iran, the State Department began telling countries around the world the clock was ticking for them to cut oil purchases from the Islamic Republic to zero.

Reuters – Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called on Sunday for the stepping up of efforts to fight enemy “infiltration” in a speech to officials in charge of cyber defense, state television reported.

Radiofarda – South Korea’s Hyundai Engineering & Construction said on Monday that it scrapped a 595 billion won ($521 million) deal to build a petrochemicals complex in Iran, saying the Iranian customer’s ability to fund it had been hit by the prospect of U.S. economic sanctions against Tehran.

Radiofarda – Iran began selling crude oil to private companies for export on Sunday, part of a strategy to counter U.S. sanctions which come into effect on Nov. 4 and aim to stop the country’s key crude exports, the oil ministry’s news website SHANA reported.

Al-Arabia – Crippling US sanctions are set to kick in early next month against Iran’s regime, targeting its oil and banking sectors.

Iran-HRM – Fifteen employees of the Heavy Equipment Production Company (HEPCO), were sentenced to prison and flogging for attending peaceful protests.

Iran-HRM – With a capacity now detaining 15,000 people, the Evin Prison has built a reputation of Iran’s rampant political repression.