Social and Political

VOA — Azerbaijan on Thursday denounced what it called “slanderous” comments by a senior Iranian military commander, the latest sign of fractious relations between the oil-rich Caspian Sea neighbors. Baku made the remarks a day after Azeri security services said they were investigating an attack in which a lawmaker with strong anti-Iranian views was shot and wounded at his home. The …

Al-Monitor – The US military said on Thursday that its retaliatory strikes killed eight Iran-backed fighters in Syria last week, adding that several additional US soldiers suffered brain injuries.  Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder said that the March 24 US airstrikes near Deir ez-Zor in northeast Syria targeted two facilities used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Eight fighters were killed, according …

Al-Monitor — Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian was in Moscow on Wednesday for a visit he said covered military cooperation among a host of other bilateral and regional issues.   “Obviously, defense cooperation is one of the subjects topping the joint agenda of Iran and Russia,” he declared when leaving for Moscow, where he stood next to his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov at …

Iranwire – The Economist has published a chart showing that in February, Iran’s currency had lost 94 percent of its value against the US dollar over the past decade. The rial plummeted to an all-time low of around 580,000 to the dollar that month, leaving it 55 percent weaker than a year before, the British weekly newspaper said in an Instagram …

Iranwire – The recent publication by six exiled Iranian opposition figures of a joint “Charter of Solidarity and Alliance for Freedom” has led to a major negative reaction from the main Kurdish parties opposed to the Islamic Republic. The document, dubbed the “Mahsa Charter,” sets out proposals for the establishment of a “free and democratic Iran” after the Islamic Republic …

VOA – The International Court of Justice is due to rule Thursday in a dispute between Iran and the United States about nearly $2 billion in frozen assets. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2016 that the assets seized by U.S. courts should be turned over to victims of a 1983 bombing at a U.S. Marine Corps barracks in Beirut and other …

Al-Monitor — The Pentagon’s top general publicly advocated a more forceful US response targeting the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps after a spate of attacks on US bases in Syria last week. US Army Gen. Mark Milley told members of Congress on Tuesday that the US should target the Quds Force “harshly” in order to deter future rocket and …

RFL/RE – A high-ranking commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) has warned protesters in the southeastern Iranian province of Sistan and Baluchistan against crossing the regime’s “red lines” in anti-government rallies that have been taking place weekly after Friday Prayers. According to the Tasnim news agency, which is affiliated with the IRGC, Mohammad Pakpor, the commander of the …

RFL/RE – Prominent activist Masih Alinejad says the West’s continued support for Iranians is vital both for achieving regime change in Iran and reaching the goals Western nations have in their relationship with Tehran. Speaking in an interview with RFE/RL’s Radio Farda, Alinejad said she has tried to persuade leaders such as Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte that the months of unrest …

Iranwire – Iranian teachers held protest rallies in several cities on March 28 to draw attention to their low salaries and poor livelihood conditions. Teachers took to the streets of Tabriz, Bojnord, Zanjan, Malayer, Ardabil, Kermanshah and Hamadan as schools remained closed during the holiday period marking Nowruz, the Persian New Year. There were conflicting reports on whether teachers had …