Social and Political

Iranwire – Nearly 16,000 people were left stranded on motorways across 26 Iranian provinces, as severe weather conditions left parts of the country’s transport infrastructure paralyzed. Heavy snowfall and rain forced the closure of roads in provinces such as Sistan and Baluchistan, Khorasan and Yazd, which usually experience little precipitation. The head of Yazd province’s traffic police confirmed that all …

Iranwire – The Islamic Republic of Iran has announced the launch of a domestically-developed remote sensing and imaging satellite into orbit from Russia’s far eastern Amur region. The Pars-I satellite was launched with the Russian Soyuz rocket launcher on February 29 from the Vostochny Cosmodrome, state-run Press TV reported. According to Telecommunications Minister Issa Zareppur, Iran has launched 12 satellites …

Iranwire – In the lead-up to Iran’s parliamentary polls on March 1, authorities have intensified their crackdown on supporters of an election boycott. On February 28, the police commander of West Azerbaijan province announced the arrest of 50 “social media page operators” accused of “disrupting public order and inciting non-participation in the elections.”  The police official warned that publishing “tension-inducing …

Al-Arabia – Operatives from Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah are on the ground in Yemen helping with Houthi attacks, a senior US diplomat said on Tuesday. “Credible public reports suggest a significant number of Iranian and Lebanese Hezbollah operatives are supporting Houthi attacks from inside Yemen,” US Special Envoy for Yemen Tim Lenderking told lawmakers. The Iran-backed Houthis have targeted commercial and international …

iranintl – One of the oddities in Iranian elections over the years is the dwindling presence of clerics in parliament, while the regime shifts towards greater ideological rigidity and less tolerance. When questioned about the absence of clerics on his candidate list for Tehran, Ali Motahhari, a former deputy speaker of the Majles (parliament) and current candidate, responded candidly. He explained, …

iranintl – Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s chief of staff requested a higher budget for organizations affiliated with his office and religious institutions in 2023, according to a leaked letter. The confidential correspondence from Mohammad Mohammadi-Golpaygani, Khamenei’s chief of staff, to Parliament Speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, dated January 31, 2023, reveals dissatisfaction with the stagnant budget allocation for Khamenei’s affiliated entities and …

iranintl – Iran continues to allow al-Qaeda to facilitate its terrorist activities, a key communication channel to transfer funds and fighters to South Asia, Syria, and elsewhere, the US State Department told Iran International.  The State Department said that “Iran continues to deny al-Qaeda’s presence in the country, despite their knowledge of al-Qaeda leadership figures’ activities there,” the relationship dating back to …

iranintl – The March 1 parliamentary election in Iran has effectively ended as two leading ultraconservative groups reached an agreement to share the list of 30 candidates for Tehran. The hardliner Paydari party, currently the strongest in parliament (Majles) and the Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf concluded the deal on Sunday, after most Reformists and moderates were banned from running in …

Iranwire – Iranian voters will head to the polls on March 1 to elect representatives for the 12th parliament since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.  It will be the first polls since the country was rocked by months of nationwide protests against the Islamic Republic’s political system.  The Woman, Life, Freedom movement protest movement was met with a bloody crackdown that …

Iranwire -Iranian authorities say one person was killed in the southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchistan as he and an accomplice attempted to plant a roadside bomb near a police station. Provincial prosecutor Mehdi Shamsabadi said that the act of “terrorism” occurred in the city of Bampur on February 28. According to IranWire sources, the target was the office of a …