Social and Political

Al-monitor – After a two-year delay, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s administration is preparing to implement its social housing program. The scheme aims to provide 570,000 residential units to households on low incomes or with special needs by the end of Iranian year 1400 (March 20, 2022). The proposal was approved Dec. 11 by the Infrastructure Commission, and it is now …

RFL/RE – President Hassan Rohani says that the exchange rates of the rial against foreign currencies “will not remain at current levels.” President Hassan Rohani has told Iranians the government will work to protect the country’s market stability amid a downfall in the Iranian currency to record lows. “I am optimistic about the country’s economic situation and…I want to reassure …

RFL/RE – Turkmenistan has “suddenly” halted gas supplies to Iran in a dispute between the two countries over arrears, the Iranian National Gas Company says. “The gas company of Turkmenistan has cut gas exports to Iran, contrary to the agreement reached, by demanding immediate payment of arrears,” the Iranian National Gas Company said in a January 1 statement. The statement …

RFL/RE – An Iranian official has called for the sterilization of female sex workers and homeless drug addicts in Tehran to prevent “social harm.” Siavash Shahrivar, head of the Social and Cultural Affairs Department in the Tehran Governorate, said those women should be “convinced” to undergo sterilization. “There is a reality, a view, agreed on by many NGOs and the …

Al-Arabia – Iran has announced a new ambassador to Syria after three months of the role going unfilled due to reports of disagreements on who should fill the role. Javad Turk Abadi was named to the role after the previous ambassador completed his mission three months ago. The office remained vacant due to reports of disagreements between Iran’s foreign ministry …

PayvandNews – The number of automobiles manufactured in Iran during the first nine months of the current Iranian calendar year (ending December 20) registered a 39.1 percent increase compared to the same period last year, Tasnim news agency reported. Some 949, 497 vehicles of various types have been produced by the Iranian auto makers in the said time. From the …

Iranhumanrights.org – Tehran’s hardline prosecutor general has announced that people caught at mixed-gender parties, especially celebrity artists and athletes, along with those caught consuming alcohol, or participating in other “indecent” activities should face stiffer penalties. “As role models you should be more careful because youths can pick up bad lessons from these actions,” said Abbas Jafari Dowlatabadi on December 27, …

Al-Monitor – Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Ayatollah Mohammad-Taghi Mesbah Yazdi are two of the most prominent faces in Iranian politics. The former directs the moderation camp, while the latter is the godfather of the hard-liners. President Hassan Rouhani has been a longtime companion of Rafsanjani, while Mesbah Yazdi supported hard-line former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili in the 2013 …

PayvandNews – Although it is unclear what will happen to the Iran nuclear deal (the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA) once President-elect Donald Trump assumes office, President Barack Obama still has a few weeks left to try to reinforce his signature foreign policy achievement by sending Secretary of State John Kerry to the capital of one of the …

VOA – The images are morbid: homeless men, women, and children so desperate for shelter that they would resort to living in open graves. Yet that is what some 50 Iranians have reportedly been doing for years, holing themselves up in concrete dugouts at a graveyard outside Tehran. Images and video of the men living in squalor have sparked shock …