Social and Political

gatestoneinstitute.org – The European Union has presented Iran with a new draft text that aims to revive the 2015 nuclear deal. The document, which has not been made public, presumably offers additional concessions to coax Tehran into rejoining the agreement. In May 2022, for instance, Iran reached a new dangerous and destabilizing threshold: its stockpile of uranium enriched to 60% …

amnesty.org – This research briefing documents how Iranian security forces used unlawful force, including live ammunition, birdshot, teargas and watercannon, to crush largely peaceful protests that erupted in the southwest of Iran in May 2022. The briefing reiterates the need for the UN Human Rights Council to establish an independent investigative and accountability mechanism to collect, consolidate, preserve, and analyze …

Al-Arabia – An Iranian whistleblower who published damaging revelations about the family of the speaker of parliament in April has been sentenced to two years’ jail for publishing false information, Iranian media reported Wednesday. In April, Vahid Ashtari revealed on Twitter that the family of conservative speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf had been stocking up on baby products abroad as millions …

RFL/RE – In a break with policy, Iranian officials have started talking publicly about the possibility of the country building a nuclear bomb. After Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued a fatwa, or religious ruling, against nuclear weapons in 2005, officials were adamant that Tehran’s nuclear program was strictly for civilian purposes. But the rhetoric has shifted in recent weeks. …

RFL/RE – Rights activist Maryam Karimbeigi has been sentenced to three years and seven months in prison for attending a concert by the popular Iranian singer Ebi in Turkey. Amir Raisian, Karimbeigi’s lawyer, told the Modara website on August 1 that the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Tehran recently handed down the sentence for the charge of “assembly and collusion with …

VOA – The head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency said Tuesday that Iran’s nuclear program is “growing in ambition and capacity” and his agency needs full access to verify all aspects of it. International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Grossi acknowledged that Tehran’s current nuclear program is very different from its 2015 program, when the deal with the …

Iran-HRM – Eleven months after the murder of a child bride by her cleric husband in Lorestan western Iran, Shargh state-run daily said the cleric is free while the journalist who exposed the cleric’s role in the murder has been sentenced to prison. According to the July 31 report, Ali Mojtahedzadeh, the lawyer of the journalist who exposed the murder …

Amnesty – The international community must hold the Iranian authorities to account for the torrent of violence which their security forces unleashed on protesters in the south-west of Iran in May 2022 with complete impunity, Amnesty International said today.  The organization’s new research briefing “They are shooting brazenly”: Iran’s militarized response to May 2022 protests documents how Iran’s security forces unlawfully fired …

Al-Monitor – Spokesperson for Iran’s Foreign Ministry Nasser Kanani criticized fresh American sanctions targeting his country’s economy, pledging “a decisive, firm and immediate response” from the Islamic Republic.   “Iran will adopt all necessary measures to neutralize those sanctions’ possible negative impacts on its trade,” Kanani said in a statement.   On Monday, the US Treasury announced new sanctions hitting some Chinese and Emirati companies facilitating …

Recently reports have emerged that Swedish-Iranian doctor Ahmadreza Djalali might be facing a release through prisoner exchange since Belgian parliament voted to sign a prisoner swap treaty with Iran (read more here https://english.shabtabnews.com/2022/07/04/iophr-urges-the-members-of-the-belgian-parliament-to-reconsider-and-prevent-a-judicial-cooperation-between-the-kingdom-of-belgium-and-the-islamic-republic-of-iran/). The prisoner swap agreement was signed by Belgium in the first place to secure the release of a Belgian aid worker, Olivier Vandecasteele, who was imprisoned in …