Social and Political

RFL/RE – Two Iranian Air Force pilots were killed when their F-7 fighter jet crashed during a training mission near the city of Naeen in central Iran. The state news agency IRNA said the crash occurred in the morning on May 24. The state ISNA news agency quoted a military official as saying that it appeared a “technical issue” caused the accident, …

RFL/RE – Last year saw a “worrying rise” in global executions in 2021 amid an easing in pandemic restrictions, Amnesty International has said, with Iran recording its highest number of state-sanctioned killings since 2017. The global number of executions saw a 20 percent increase over 2020, with Iran accounting for most of the rise. The global totals do not include …

Iranwire – At least 10 people have been killed and 55 injured after a 10-storey commercial building in Abadan, Khuzestan province, collapsed during construction on Monday. The planned Metropol Complex was located on Amiri Street, one of the busiest roads in the city.  The head of the fire department reported on Monday that 100 to 150 people were at the …

Iranwire – On Sunday, May 22, an IRGC colonel by the name of Hassan Sayyad Khodaei was shot dead in Tehran by two unidentified gunmen on a motorbike. Earlier today IRGC spokesman Ramezan Sharif blamed elements in “the global domination system and Zionism” for the assassination. Insiders said the assassinated colonel’s nom de guerre was “Hunter”, a pseudonym that matched his mission – which, according to Haaretz, was …

Iranwire – For the last nine days, Tehran residents wanting to get somewhere by bus were presented not with the usual service run by Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company, but minibuses with license plates belonging to the IRGC and the police. Drivers with the TSBC and also the high-speed Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) service were on strike over the municipality’s …

VOA – Iran’s hardline president vowed revenge on Monday over the killing of a senior Revolutionary Guard member gunned down in the heart of Tehran the day before, a still-mysterious attack on the country’s powerful paramilitary force. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi hailed Col. Hassan Sayyad Khodaei as a martyr and blamed “the hand of global arrogance,” a reference to the …

Al-Monitor – At a time when tensions between Iran and the West are elevated and the fate of the 2015 nuclear deal hangs in the balance, a forthcoming athletic encounter resembling what pundits call “ping-pong diplomacy” is revitalizing hopes that there are still opportunities for narrowing gaps between the two sides.  The draw for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in …

Al-Arabia – Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi arrived in Oman on Monday with trade deals on the agenda and as international talks on Tehran’s nuclear program hang in the balance. Raisi, on his second Gulf visit since taking office in August, was greeted by Sultan Haitham bin Tariq Al Said at the airport and received a 21-gun salute at the royal …

RFL/RE – Iranian activist Farhad Meysami has been taken to the hospital following a two-week hunger strike protesting the threatened execution of Swedish-Iranian doctor Ahmedreza Djalali, according to Meysami’s lawyer. Lawyer Mohammad Moghimi wrote on Twitter on May 21 that Meysami’s condition was worsening and that his life was in danger.SEE ALSO:Amnesty Says Swedish-Iranian ‘Hostage’ At Risk Of Retaliatory Execution By Tehran …

Iranwire – Over the last 20 years, there have been multiple incidents of serial killings in Iran that were striking not just for the horrific nature of the crimes involved, but for how they were received by the Iranian public. Among them have been Gholamreza Khoshroo, 32, known as the “Night Bat”, who raped and murdered nine women before finally being …