Social and Political

RFL/RE – Police in Tehran issued a stern warning to road users amid an increase in the number of people covering up the license plates of mopeds with face masks, plastic covers, and badges. It is a criminal offense to cover a registration that can carry a penalty of six months to a year in prison, according to a senior …

VOA – Iran struck back at Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Saturday, saying his accusation the Islamic republic is arming Russia was an attempt to gain the West’s military and financial support. The United States and the European Union have sanctioned Iran over its drone program, alleging it had supplied Moscow with unmanned aerial vehicles during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine …

Al-Arabia – The Taliban and Iran reportedly exchanged gunfire Saturday on the Islamic Republic’s border with Afghanistan, an advocacy group said, as tensions rise over water rights between the two nations. Neither Iranian state media nor Taliban-controlled media in Afghanistan acknowledged the fighting on the border of Iran’s Sistan and Baluchestan province and the Afghan province of Nimroz. The advocacy group HalVash, which reports …

RFL/RE – Iranian students are coming under increased pressure and disciplinary measures as authorities try to stamp out dissent over the mandatory hijab law. The Union Council of Iranian Students says students, who have been at the forefront of massive anti-government protests over the hijab law, are being threatened via text messages and through “motorcycle patrols for hijab warnings” to comply with …

Iranwire – Thousands of protesters descended to the streets of the south-eastern Iranian city of Zahedan amid heavy security presence, in the 34th consecutive Friday of demonstrations against the Islamic Republic. Haalvsh, a group that monitors rights violations in Sistan and Baluchistan province, said on May 26 that military personnel and plainclothes officers arrested at least 10 protesters in Towheed …

Iranwire – A Belgian aid worker incarcerated in Iran and an Iranian diplomat jailed in Belgium in connection with a foiled bomb plot have been released in a swap deal mediated by Oman. Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said in a statement on May 26 that Olivier Vandecasteele was transferred to Oman late on May 25, adding, “If all goes as …

gatestoneinstitute.org – Since 2021, the Biden Administration has been cozying up to Iran in a way that has often seemed agonizingly embarrassing to entice it back to the disastrous 2015 “JCPOA” nuclear deal of the Obama Administration. Mercifully those efforts did not succeed: the new deal would still most likely have enabled Iran, after a few years, legitimately to have …

CNN — The waters of the Caspian Sea appear deceptively calm. But this sea route – which provides a direct path between Iran and Russia – is increasingly busy with cargo traffic, including suspected weapons transfers from Tehran to Moscow. As cooperation between the two countries deepens, the Caspian Sea route is being used to move drones, bullets, and mortar shells that the Russian …

iranintl – The British Foreign Office warned that British and Iranian-British citizens are significantly at risk of arbitrary detention if they travel to Iran. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) in a notice on Thursday advised British nationals against all travel to Iran. It warned that the British passport can make Iranian authorities target travelers and they could spend months or …

Iranwire – The Yemeni Houthis, armed agents supported by the Islamic Republic, carried out an attack on a peaceful gathering of Baha’is in the city of Sana’a yesterday, detaining and disappearing 17 individuals including 5 women. The assault took place on June 4 and the detainees’ whereabouts and wellbeing remain unknown. The attack occurred as a group of Baha’is had gathered …