Social and Political

Newsweek – Iran will acquire whatever weapons it needs to keep out “invading powers” that seek to surround it the country’s President Hassan Rouhani said at a military showcase in Tehran.

Radiofarda – Israel released details on Tuesday about what it described as an Iranian “air force” deployed in neighboring Syria, including civilian planes suspected of transferring arms, a signal that these could be attacked should tensions with Tehran escalate.

Radiofarda – The United Nations has approved the accreditation of a U.S. based NGO focusing on human rights issues in Iran. The Economic and Social Council of the U.N granted accreditation to the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center with a vote of 22-7. Belarus, China, Russia, South Africa, Venezuela, Vietnam and Iran voted against. The Iran Human Rights Documentation Center …

Radiofarda – Nearly one quarter of Iranian adults suffer from a mental illness, according a new report issued by Iran’s Health Ministry.

Al-Arabia – At a time when relations between the traditional rivals of the US and Russia do not seem well with so many complicated files including the Syrian cause, Turkish President Recep Teyyip Erdogan has been trying to walk on the Russian and American tight ropes, in an attempt to achieve Ankara’s interests.

VOA – A senior Iranian environmental official whose activism and Western connections drew strong criticism from conservatives has revealed that he has left his post and departed the country.

VOA – Iranians say prices of foreign pharmaceuticals have surged in recent weeks because of the strengthening U.S. dollar, causing hardship for the sick and inciting anger toward people seen as profiting from the situation. In Tuesday’s edition of VOA Persian’s Straight Talk call-in show, callers from inside Iran accused the government of failing to deal with the problem. The …

CHRI – At Least 100 People Remain Detained After March 2018 Protests Lawmakers in Iran’s mostly Arab-populated Khuzestan Province have demanded a meeting with the head of the state-run Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) organization and its board of supervisors “regarding insults against Iran’s honorable ethnic peoples, namely the honorable Arabs of Khuzestan.”

CHRI – Education Ministry Bans Telegram on Campuses On the same day the secretary of Iran’s Supreme Cyberspace Council told a radio program that the widely used Telegram app could be blocked “at any moment,” the Education Ministry banned the app on campuses nationwide. “I use Telegram as well as Instagram but based on the commitment I have to domestic …

Al-Monitor — There seems to be no end in sight to the standoff between former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on the one hand and the hard-line judiciary as well as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRGC) Intelligence Organization on the other. Last month was particularly challenging for Ahmadinejad. He saw his former Vice President Hamid Baghaei sent to prison March …