Social and Political

Al-monitor — Before the July 2015 nuclear deal, most banking and finance headlines about Iran concerned individuals or banks being fined or coming under investigation for allegedly violating US sanctions. These days, news of banks and financial institutions working with Iran no longer necessarily raise eyebrows. However, an Iranian minister’s recent inference that MasterCard services will become available to Iranians has caused a stir. …

Al-monitor – According to an Iranian news outlets, Tehran’s City Council is caught up in a corruption scandal involvingTehran real estate. Memari News reported Aug. 27 that it had acquired documents showing that 1,100,000 square meters of government-owned property, including apartments and villas, had ended up in the possession of various individuals, including government officials, sometimes sold at a 50% discount. AUTHOR: Arash Karami According to …

VOA – The Iranian government’s launch of a “United Shia Liberation Army” is sending signals that Tehran wants to expand its political and military role in Middle East conflicts along sectarian lines, analysts say. “Using a sectarian Shi’ite identifier with the title of the new army will inflame sectarian tensions in the region,” Talha Abdulrazaq, a researcher at the University …

Retuers – Iran’s military detected a U.S. drone entering Iranian airspace on Monday and issued a warning for it to leave, which it subsequently did, Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported. “Iran’s army air defence detected and warned an American drone in the eastern airspace of the country. It was coming from Afghanistan. The drone left the area,” Tasnim quoted the …

RFL/RE – Iranian officials say they have deployed a new Russian-made long-range missile system to protect its Fordo nuclear facility. General Farzad Esmaili, the commander of Iran’s air defenses, told the state IRIB channel on August 28 that protecting the country’s nuclear facilities is paramount “in all circumstances.” He added that “today, Iran’s sky is one of the most secure …

Radiozamaneh – Figures at various levels of the Islamic Republic continue to react to the release of audio files involving conversations between the late dissident cleric Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri and top government figures regarding the “death committee” in charge of the mass execution of political prisoners in Iran in 1988. by Mohammadreza Sardari Hassan Khomeini a reformist political figure …

RFE/RL – French Environment Minister Segolene Royal has announced plans for a series of joint projects with Tehran that are aimed at dealing with energy, water shortages, and pollution. Royal said on August 28 after talks with the head of Iran’s Environmental Protection Organization, Massoumeh Ebtekar, that they had discussed the creation of several key partnerships by February 2017. photos by …

VOA – Iran has arrested a member of a team that played a role in negotiating a milestone nuclear agreement with world powers. According to IRNA, Iran’s state media, judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei said Sunday that a “spy who had infiltrated the nuclear team” was released on bail after being held in jail for a few days. The negotiator’s …

Al-monitor – At present, Iran has both an official exchange rate and an unofficial market rate that is used in exchange houses. The rial trades at above 35,000 per US dollar on the open market, compared to the official rate of around 31,000. AUTHOR Navid Kalhor To help boost economic growth, Central Bank of Iran (CBI) Governor Valiollah Seif has …

RFL/RE – Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said Iran will work with other OPEC members to support oil prices, but it will not back down from its goal of restoring output lost due to years of economic sanctions. “Iran will cooperate with OPEC on improving prices and the state of the crude market, but we expect our right to restore …