Social and Political

Al-Arabia – An Iranian fighter plane crashed near the central city of Isfahan on Saturday after its engine failed, but both pilots survived, media reported. The pilots were taken to a local hospital, the official IRNA news agency said. It said there was a technical failure in the engine of the Grumman F-14 Tomcat that led to the crash. A …

Al-Arabia – The United Arab Emirates urged Iran on Friday to provide reassurances on the peaceful nature of its nuclear program after the International Atomic Energy Agency denounced Tehran’s lack of cooperation. “There are concerns,” said the permanent representative of the UAE to the IAEA, Hamad al-Kaabi. In response to an AFP question during a press conference on the Emirates’ …

RFL/RE – Hard-liners have gained a foothold in Iranian politics during the past year, taking control of the presidency and parliament. But there has been mounting evidence of divisions in the political camp. In the latest sign of an internal power struggle, authorities arrested the administrators of three hard-line Telegram channels believed to have links to the clerical establishment.SEE ALSO:Iran’s …

Iranwire – Vahid Bagheri was one of the countless ordinary Iranian civilians arrested in the November 2019 protests. He was charged with “gathering and collusion against national security” and was sentenced to six years in prison. He has been on a dry hunger strike for 40 days and his friends and family report that he is now in a serious physical …

Iranwire -The brother of former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has cast doubt on a recent, wild claim by Iranian state TV that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei lived in a storage container for the first few years of his leadership. Mohammad Hashemi, a revolution-era politician and member of the Expediency Council from 2007 until 2012, made the remarks to IranWatch on Friday. It …

RFL/RE – Local media in Iran say public institutions such as hospital, prisons, and child-care centers are facing possible food shortages due to skyrocketing prices. The Tehran-based Etemad newspaper reported on June 15 that the impending “problem” could hit in “the coming weeks” and that “food supplies will be disrupted not only in hospitals but also in other government facilities such as …

Iranwire – On Thursday media outlets close to the IRGC reported that Ali Gholhaki, a hardline journalist and operator of a number of pro-deep state, pro-IRGC  Telegram channels, had abruptly been arrested by the IRGC itself along with several of his colleagues. The MP for Tehran, Malik Shariati, later confirmed the news, including who conducted the arrests: “It [the story] …

Iran-HRM – Disabled Iranians have turned to garbage scavenging and selling their wheelchairs to make ends meet in Iran. In a June 9 report, the Roydad 24 website cited the problems and hardships of disabled Iranians; Problems that have increased unprecedentedly with the skyrocketing prices of various goods and services. According to the report, a disabled woman identified by her …

Al-Monitor – Thousands of teachers rallied across Iran on Thursday to demand a decent life and call for the release of their colleagues, who are languishing in state-run prisons. In most of the protests in the capital, Tehran, as well as in major cities including Ahvaz, Sari, Rasht, Sanandaj and Kermanshah, the teachers were surrounded by a palpable presence of …

Al-Monitor – If Iran and world powers fail to salvage the landmark nuclear agreement, the Biden administration warned Thursday that it will continue to use its sanctions authorities to crack down on Iran’s petroleum exports.  The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control unveiled sanctions on a network of Iranian petrochemical producers as well as front companies in China and the United Arab …