Social and Political

PayvandNews – Iran says it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Schlumberger – the world’s largest oil field services company – over the development of several southern oil fields. The MOU was signed between Schlumberger and the National Iranian South Oil Company (NISOC) – a subsidiary of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) – which is mostly in …

PayvandNews – News reports say an Iranian helicopter based at a Caspian Sea oil platform crashed late on November 26, killing all five people onboard. The helicopter belonged to the Oil Ministry and was carrying an engineer with heart trouble to the hospital when it crashed, the German news agency dpa reported, citing Iranian media. The cause was not immediately …

PayvandNews – Germany has reportedly agreed to provide Iran with a 1.2 billion Euro ($1.27 billion) credit line to help finance a key rail project in what is seen as the biggest foreign financing the country has been able to secure after the removal of sanctions. Bloomberg has quoted an unnamed official from the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) as …

VOA – Iran’s chief of staff of the armed forces said Saturday that Tehran may be interested in setting up naval bases in both Syria and Yemen, the semi-official Tasnim reported. The report by Tasnim, close to military, quoted Gen. Mohammad Hossein Bagheri as saying, “Maybe, at some point we will need bases on the shores of Yemen and Syria.” …

FOX – Iran’s judiciary is saying authorities have detained three employees of the state railroad company over Friday’s train collision, which killed 45 people. Train collision in Iran leaves at least 36 dead, state TV says Iran state TV: Train collision kills 5; 20 reported injured The Saturday report by Mizanonline.ir, the judiciary news website, says authorities are continuing to …

aljazeera – The ultra right-wing team selected by the US President-elect Donald Trump will probably match the aspirations of the hardline leadership in Iran. The Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, his loyal array of hardline advisers, officials in the Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), his allies in the judiciary and in the security apparatus have all been waiting for this moment …

Al-monitor – The cancellation of speeches by Reformist figures is nothing new in Iran. In past years, hard-line groups have disrupted numerous Reformist gatherings. But now, other organizations are blocking these events before they lead to potential disturbances. The latest such incident is the cancellation of a speech by Deputy Parliament Speaker Ali Motahari. The outspoken speaker was due to …

PayvandNews – Iran says imports of cars from the United States are authorized as long as they are produced by non-American brands. Farhad Ehteshamzadeh, the president of Automobile Importers Union of Iran, was quoted by the domestic media as saying that he had made an inquiry to the same effect from the Ministry of Industry, Mine, and Trade. The Ministry, …

PayvandNews- Iranian lawmakers on Wednesday voted in favor of a motion under which minor drug offenders would face imprisonment instead of execution, IRNA reported. 147 out of 195 parliamentarians present in the Majlis voted “yes” on the single-urgency motion which would add an article to the law on drug offences. If the motion is ratified, the drug offenders who are …

RFL/RE – Iranian state TV reports that the death toll from a train collision in the country’s north-central Semnan Province has increased to 31, with dozens of others injured in the accident. “The bodies of 31 dead have been identified and more than 70 people hospitalized,” Semnan Governor Mohammad Reza Khabbaz told state television on November 25. The collision occurred …