Social and Political

VOA — China said Saturday it would begin implementing a strategic agreement with Iran, strengthening economic and political cooperation between the two countries as Beijing blasted Washington’s sanctions on Tehran. China and Iran signed the agreement last year after years of talks, with the wide-ranging partnership set to span areas including energy, security, infrastructure and communications. Chinese foreign minister Wang …

(Reuters) – President Vladimir Putin will host his Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi for talks in Moscow next week as Russia tries to help salvage a nuclear deal between world powers and Tehran, state television channel Rossiya-1 reported on Sunday. Rossiya-1 did not disclose when precisely the meeting between the two leaders would take place, nor the issues they would discuss. …

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO) – Political prisoners, Sadegh Omidi, Hamid Haj Jafar Kashani, Mahmoud Ali Naghi, Peyman Pourdad, Ali Asghar Hassanirad and Mehdi Darini are on a dry hunger strike in Ward 8 of Evin Prison in protest to “the role of prison officials in Baktash Abtin’s death.” According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, six political prisoners in Ward …

Al-Arabia – Chief negotiators from Iran and Europe returned home for consultations as talks to revive the 2015 nuclear deal reached a critical stage, state media in the Islamic republic said Saturday. “The negotiators will return to Vienna in two days” but expert-level discussions at the eighth round of talks would continue on Saturday and Sunday, IRNA news agency said. …

Al-Arabia – The Arab Coalition conducted 33 military operations in 24 hours targeting Iran-backed Houthi’s in the Yemeni province of Marib, killing more than 190 militia members, according to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA).

RFL/RE – China has repeated its opposition to U.S. sanctions against Iran while announcing that Beijing and Tehran have launched a 25-year cooperation deal aimed at bolstering economic and political ties. In a meeting on January 14 in the city of Wuxi, in Jiangsu Province, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi also backed efforts to revive a 2015 nuclear deal between …

Iranwire – At least 10 teachers were arrested for taking part in nationwide protests on January 13, including Pirooz Nami, the secretary of the Khuzestan Teachers’ Union. IranWire sources reported that the teachers had been arrested — many of them by plainclothes security agents — in Tehran, Shiraz and Ahvaz. This follows more than 100 teachers being summoned by security forces after four protests over …

Iranwire – “I’ve always said and I’ll say again, we justice-seekers and freedom-seekers shouldn’t make imprisonment a red line, and mustn’t be afraid of the detention of others. We shouldn’t make it a rule to protect workers’ rights only up until the point where we are not harmed. Do we wait for benefits without spending spending money? Whoever wants a …

Iran-HRM – Political prisoner Mehdi Salehi Ghaleh Shahrokhi suffered a stroke after he was wrongly injected in prison. Prison authorities delayed his transfere to the hospital, putting him at grave risk of death. He went to the prison health center on Tuesday, December 11, 2021, due to heart and head problems. He suffered a stroke the same day after being …

Al-Monitor – The buzz around the nuclear talks in Vienna among the parties to the Joint Comprehensive of Action (JCPOA), or Iran nuclear agreement, is around “progress.” The parties negotiating the agreement, which provides sanctions relief in return for constraints on Iran’s nuclear program, are the UK, France, Germany, the EU, Russia, China and Iran. US President Donald Trump withdrew from the deal in May 2018. But the road to a deal definitely runs through Tehran and Washington, with perhaps a …