Social and Political

VOA – Analysts and experts are expressing skepticism after an Iranian official said this week that more than 1,000 soldiers deployed by Iran have been killed since 2012 while aiding the Syrian regime in its civil war. Mohammadali Shahidi Mahallati, head of Iran’s Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans’ Affairs, did not elaborate on comments to the state-controlled Tasnim News Agency …

RFL/RE – The United States has issued a second license to France’s Airbus to sell more than 100 commercial planes to Iran. Airbus in September received a license to sell 17 planes to Tehran. Officials said that the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control on November 21 gave the French manufacturer permission to sell 106 more planes to …

RFL/RE – More than 1,000 Iranian fighters have been killed in the war in Syria, the head of Iran’s Foundation of Martyrs said on November 22. “Now the number of Iran’s martyrs as defenders of shrines has exceeded 1,000,” Mohammadali Shahidi Mahallati, head of the Foundation of Martyrs, which supports the relatives of those killed fighting for Iran, was quoted …

AlAarabia – A dual citizen of Iran and the United States was found guilty on Tuesday on charges that he tried to help acquire surface-to-air missiles and aircraft components for the government of Iran in violation of US sanctions. Reza Olangian, 56, was convicted by a federal jury in Manhattan on all four counts he faced, including conspiring to acquire …

Iranhumanrights.org – Following the abrupt cancellation of his speech by a prosecutor, the Iranian Parliament’s Deputy Speaker Ali Motahhari has written to the president calling for an investigation into the incident, while comparing it to the tactics used by the Arab terrorist group the Islamic State, which Iranians refer to as Daesh. “I wonder whether these Daesh-type actions are carried …

Al-monitor – On Nov. 22, Jame-Jam daily published a photo on its front page of an Iranian warship along with the headline “Iranian destroyers enter Atlantic Ocean for first time.” Iranian Navy Commander Rear Adm. Habibollah Sayyari announced the news, detailing that the 44th fleet of the Iranian navy is now docked at the Port of Durban in South Africa. …

Al-monitor – Heated debate continues in Iran over the Guardian Council — the arbiter of candidates qualified to run in parliamentary elections — which appears to be seeking the power to determine who can continue serving in the legislature by supervising members throughout their time in office. AUTHOR Saeid Jafari Controversy first erupted in late March after the council disqualified …

VOA – Republicans and other long-time opponents of an international nuclear agreement with Iran have walked back calls to scrap the deal and are now urging the incoming Trump administration to stiffen it rather than unravel what President-elect Trump once termed as “the worst deal ever negotiated.” With Iran and European allies imploring the new administration to honor the accord …

Al-monotor – Religious singers, “maddahan,” occupy a unique place in Iran’s political landscape. They serve as eulogists and are called upon to perform at religious gatherings, such as those during the month of Muharram, when Shiite Muslims mourn the martyrdom of Hussein, their third imam and Prophet Muhammad’s grandson. Of interest, maddahan have increasingly become a powerful political class of …

PayvadNews – Nobody can confirm whether or not if it is a world record, but everybody in Burnaby is talking about it: The incredible run by Iran’s Mobina Nejad Katesari on Day 1 of the 2016 WTF World Taekwondo Junior Championships. Over a day of fighting that ended with her being crowned world champion in the female -42kg category, she …