Social and Political

iranintl – The fundamental policy of the Islamic Republic has traditionally been to avoid direct confrontation with Israel, instead strategically maneuvering its proxy groups across the Middle East like pieces on a chessboard. This time, spurred by revolutionary slogans and the demands of his supporters, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei shifted his strategy and accepted the risk of direct confrontation, launching …

VOA – Israel carried out a predawn aerial strike inside Iran on Friday, local time, U.S. media cited unnamed Israeli and U.S. officials as saying. The overnight incident was the latest of recent retaliatory strikes between the two regional adversaries, but Tehran Friday played the incident down and indicated it had no plans to respond. The New York Times and The Washington …

Al-Arabia – A senior commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) hinted on Thursday at the possibility of Tehran reassessing its stance on nuclear weapons amid escalating tensions with Israel. Ahmad Haghtalab, the commander of the IRGC unit responsible for safeguarding Iran’s nuclear sites, said that Israeli threats against Iran’s nuclear facilities could prompt a review and potential shift …

iranintl – The United States could get into war with Iran if Tehran launches a major attack on Israel, Joe Biden has said, amid a cacophony of threats and counter-threats from officials in Tehran and Jerusalem. In an op-ed for Wall Street Journal Wednesday, President Biden called on the US Congress to pass military aid for Israel to ensure that it’s “fully …

iranintl – The finance ministers of the Group of Seven (G-7) condemned Iran’s “unprecedented attack” against Israeli territory, vowing close cooperation to impose new sanctions on Tehran. “We will ensure close coordination of any future measure to diminish Iran’s ability to acquire, produce, or transfer weapons to support its destabilizing regional activities,” read the statement released Wednesday by G-7 finance …

iranintl – After a meeting with the British and German foreign ministers, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that Israel will make its own decisions regarding its response to Iran’s missile and drone attacks. “I thank our friends for their support for Israel’s defense, both in words and in deeds. They also have various proposals and advice, which I appreciate, …

Iranwire – Following heavy rains and flooding on Sunday evening in southeastern Sistan and Baluchistan province, the bodies of three railway workers were recovered. According to Iranian news agencies citing a labor source, the workers were attempting to reopen a path for flood victims when they were caught in the floodwaters. Their bodies were found about 5 kilometers downstream from …

Iranwire – In a historic departure from protocol, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has, for the first time, summoned a foreign country’s ambassador outside official government channels.  According to an advisor to Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi, Iran’s Minister of Interior, the IRGC bypassed the Foreign Ministry and summoned the Swiss ambassador in Tehran to relay a message to the …

Iranwire – Last week, a historic ruling by the Federal Criminal Court of Argentina confirmed that both the attack on the Israeli Embassy in 1992 and the AMIA bombing in 1994 were carried out by Iran-back Hezbollah militant group and responded to a “political and strategic design” of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The court concluded that the attacks were …

RFL/RE – Iranian journalist Dina Ghalibaf was arrested after she published a personal narrative about her previous detention by Iran’s morality police for not adhering to the mandatory hijab law. Ghalibaf, a journalist and student of political science at Tehran’s Beheshti University, disclosed details of her arrest by law enforcement on April 15 for defying the compulsory hijab law, including that she …