Social and Political

Iranwire – Iranian intelligence forces have launched a wave of house searches against Baha’is in the southern city of Kerman in an apparent escalation of recent crackdowns by the authorities on the Baha’i community. Kerman Intelligence Department agents searched the homes of Nasrin Dowlat and Hedayat Hakimian on Thursday, seizing their electronic devices, including mobile phones, laptops, and tablets, without …

Iranwire – On April 9, while the Islamic Republic continued to harass and suppress Iranian women over their defiance of forced hijab, the Iranian parliament approved the general outlines of a draft bill called “Preventing harm to women and improving their safety against maltreatment.” The bill was initiated around 12 years ago and was repeatedly sent back and forth between …

VOA – Iran has seen renewed poisonings of schoolchildren around the country in the first seven school days of the new Persian year after a holiday hiatus, leaving many Iranians angered but no closer to knowing who is behind the poisonings and why. In the latest poisonings that have mostly affected Iranian girls’ schools, VOA’s Persian service observed credible reports of incidents …

Al-Monitor — Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian stressed regional cooperation in restoring peace to Afghanistan, as he met in Uzbekistan with counterparts from China, Russia and Pakistan for the latest security situation under the Taliban. During the four-way meeting with China’s Qin Gang, Russia’s Sergey Lavrov and Pakistan’s Hina Rabbani Khar on Thursday, Amir-Abdollahian said that what Afghanistan needs is “regional …

Al-Monitor — The Biden administration is racing to contain the diplomatic fallout from what’s shaping up to be one of the biggest intelligence breaches in recent memory. A trove of purported US intelligence materials has leaked online, shedding light on how the United States spies on friends and foes in the Middle East and exposing possible regional deals with Russia.  On Monday, …

Al-Monitor – Last month, at the Al-Khurais electronic warfare range in Saudi Arabia, US and Royal Saudi air defense units teamed up for live-fire drills to shoot down a series of training drones mimicking the speed and altitude of a variety of Iranian attack UAVs. In an exclusive interview with Al-Monitor, Army Gen. Michael “Erik” Kurilla, the top commander of US forces …

Telegraph – Now, for the first time, intelligence sources have revealed to Reuters that among the relief supplies, Iran also sent advanced communications equipment and radar batteries, as well as spare parts required for a planned upgrade of Syria’s air defence system. The aim was to strengthen Iran’s defences against Israel in Syria and to strengthen Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian …

RFL/RE – U.S. national-security adviser Jake Sullivan spoke with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on April 11 and discussed Iran and steps aimed at ending the war in Yemen, the White House said. The call comes after Beijing recently brokered a deal to restore relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran, the top regional powers in the Middle East, …

Iranwire – Student unions across Iran have called for mass protests against mandatory hijab rules as the authorities intensified threats toward violators of the Islamic Republic’s strict dress codes.   “We should respond to the government’s repressive measures by organizing protest rallies, protest performances or sit-ins and by writing slogans on Saturday,” the student organizations said in a joint statement on …

Iranwire – An Iranian-British labor activist who has been incarcerated for two years and a half has written a letter from Tehran’s Evin prison criticizing the treatment of dual nationals imprisoned in Iran. In his letter, which was published by the activist HRANA news agency on April 12, Mehran Raouf said that dual citizens are denied their rights while in custody, pointing …