Social and Political

Iranwire – Seven people died in the northern province of Tehran after drinking bootleg alcohol, officials say, amid a recent surge in cases of fatal alcohol poisoning in the country. Omid Ahmadi, district governor of Robat Karim, said on June 25 that the consumption of “counterfeit alcohol” had sickened at least 22 individuals in Robat Karim and Parand during the …

Iranwire – The European Union says it has imposed a ninth package of restrictive measures on an additional seven individuals accused of participation in “serious” human rights violations in Iran. “The new listings include the Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor of Isfahan province and the Deputy Judge of the Provincial Criminal Court of Isfahan province, who are responsible for the trials …

Iranwire – Independent sources told IranWire that fighting between the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and the East Kurdistan Defense Units (YRK), the military affiliate of the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK) in the highlands of Kusalan in the county of Marivan in Iranian Kurdistan has intensified. An IRGC member was killed and two others were severely injured following a …

VOA — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the thwarting of what he said Sunday was an Iranian attack against Israeli targets in Cyprus. A statement from Netanyahu’s office did not give any more details, but Israeli news website Ynet, without disclosing its sources, said an attack had been planned against Israelis staying in the city of Limassol. Cyprus declined …

iranintl – Iran’s regime has taken one more step to tighten its control over entertainment content in line with its policy of enforcing religious restrictions on the population. The state broadcaster last week gained full control over content shown by privately-owned streaming services based on a decision taken by Iran’s Supreme Cultural Revolution Council.  Some filmmakers and actors have warned …

telegraph – In recent years the Iranian Ayatollah regime’s hatred of Israel and the repeated calls by its leaders for the destruction of Israel, often accompanied by harsh antisemitic expressions and Holocaust denial, have received a lot of exposure in the international media. Yet, despite the coverage, this has not always been the case and so cannot be viewed as …

Iranwire – Yevgeny Prigozhin’s armed rebellion against President Vladimir Putin, which lasted for only a day when his Wagner mercenary group occupied Russian military facilities in Rostov-on-Don before a Belarus-brokered deal talked him down, can only be bad news for the leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Iran’s rulers have no enthusiasm for a potential further weakening of Russian …

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO) – Hemen Mostafayi, a Kurdish man sentenced to death for the murder of an IRGC officer, has been executed in Sanandaj Central Prison. According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a Kurdish man executed in Sanandaj Central Prison on 21 June. His identity has been established as 33-year-old Hemen Mostafayi from Marivan. He was sentenced …

gatestoneinstitute.org – The world isn’t running out of oil and alternative energies remain more of a promise…. The latest use of oil as a political weapon has come with the embargo imposed by Western powers on Russia. This time, too, the politicization of oil has led to unintended, but no less political, consequences. Russia is forced to sell its oil …

RFL/RE – A number of Iranian activists and rights group have come out in support of protesting students at Tehran’s University of Art, warning them against increasing enforcement of dress codes, especially head scarves for women, across the country. The activists said in a statement titled “The voice of society’s majority to the entire system of the Islamic republic” that …