Social and Political

Radiofarad – Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency is reporting that three border guards have been killed in a clash with a “terrorist group” in southeastern Iran.

RFL/RE – President Hassan Rohani has reassured Iranians that his government will offset the economic pressure of upcoming U.S. sanctions, a day after protests fueled by concern over a sharp fall in the value of the country’s currency. In a speech broadcast live on state television on June 26, Rohani said that government revenues had not decreased in recent months, …

RFL/RE – Iranian women have scored another victory as they publicly viewed a World Cup game for only the second time in 40 years, but their team was eliminated from the tournament partly as a result of controversial decisions by referees in a game against Portugal.

Al-Arabia – The world has been focusing on the flawed Iran nuclear deal and Tehran’s long slate of belligerence, including advancing its so-called defensive ballistic missile program and support for a conglomerate of terrorist/extremist groups.

Al-Monitor – Turbulent developments in the past few months on the foreign exchange and gold markets in Iran and the government’s failure to manage runaway prices has compelled some economists to start using the term “bubble economy.” The interrelationship among various markets within the country’s economy was explained in a June 14 Al-Monitor piece. In this article, however, we will …

AL-Monitor – As the unofficial exchange rate in Iran hit a record 90,000 rials to the dollar June 24, a second day of protests erupted in Iran. On June 24, shopkeepers selling cellphones and computer equipment at two main malls in Iran went on strike over the sudden increase in the unofficial rate — until recently, the black-market, unofficial exchange …

Radiofarda – Police in Tehran have fired tear-gas at a crowd of protesters who marched to the Iranian parliament on June 25 after swarming the city’s historic Grand Bazaar in anger over the country’s troubled economy. 

Radiofarda – The Iranian supreme leader’s top military adviser, Yahya Rahim Safavi, has threatened Saudi Arabia with “a barrage of missiles.”

Radiofarda – Store owners at Tehran’s Grand Bazaar closed their shops Monday morning, June 25, in protest to the dramatic rise in the rate of exchange of foreign currencies that have adversely affected the market and made prices unaffordable for buyers.

Radiofarda – Iran’s hardline Prosecutor-General Mohammad Jafar Montazeri denounced the presence of women in Tehran’s main football stadium Azadi saying he was “ashamed” of telling what has taken place there.