Social and Political

freebeacon – Congressional foreign policy leaders are investigating the Biden administration’s private negotiations with Iran, which could waive sanctions on the country and provide its hardline regime with cash assets. Republican lawmakers in a letter sent Thursday to the State and Treasury Departments requested that those departments “hand over all records of any communications” with Iranian leaders that discuss agreements to unwind …

nufdiran— On Tuesday, August 3rd the National Union for Democracy in Iran (NUFDI) hosted a briefing with congressional staffers, leading think tank experts, and journalists from prominent international media outlets including The Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Bloomberg, and Agence France-Presse, among others. The briefing was held to discuss the ongoing protest movement in Iran and the continuing campaign for a secular …

Al-Arabia – A senior European Union diplomat’s arrival in Tehran to attend the inauguration ceremony of Iran’s newly elected president Ebrahim Raisi on Thursday drew criticism from rights groups and activists due to Raisi’s human rights record. For all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app. The inauguration ceremony of Raisi, whose presidency was endorsed by …

Al-Arabia – Protesters marching on the anniversary of the Beirut port blast on Wednesday demanded an end to Iranian influence in Lebanon. For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app. Demonstrators headed towards the capital’s Martyr’s Square at around 7 p.m. local time waving Lebanese flags and chanting “Iran out, Iran out,” according to …

VOA – Ebrahim Raisi is set to be sworn in Thursday as Iran’s new president. The ultraconservative won a landslide election in June in a vote that drew record low turnout. A number of prominent candidates were disqualified from running. Raisi takes office at a time when Iran faces big economic challenges, including the effects of U.S. sanctions. Raisi said …

Iran-HRM – Immediately after Ebrahim Raisi was announced as Iran’s next president, Amnesty International’s Secretary General, Agnès Callamard, said on 19 June 2021: “That Ebrahim Raisi has risen to the presidency instead of being investigated for the crimes against humanity of murder, enforced disappearance and torture, is a grim reminder that impunity reigns supreme in Iran. In 2018, our organization documented …

CHRI —The upcoming trial of a former assistant prosecutor in Iran, Hamid Nouri, in a Swedish court on charges of committing war crimes and murder for the executions of thousands of prisoners in Iran during the 1980s, is a historic opportunity for Iranian families who have been seeking justice for more than 30 years, the Center for Human Rights in Iran …

Al-Monitor – Hot Take: Don’t rule out an Iran nuclear deal just yet (four reasons why) Hard-liner Ebrahim Raisi took office as president of Iran on Aug. 3, and the conventional wisdom is that a return to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), or Iran nuclear deal, just got a lot harder. Here come the Hezbollahis. With Raisi comes a cadre of more revolutionary …

Al-Monitor – The United States believes a group of Iranians boarded the Panama-flagged Asphalt Princess tanker off the coast of the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday, an apparent hijacking that occurred less than a week after Iran was blamed for a deadly drone attack on another ship.  “We can confirm that personnel have left the Panama-flagged Asphalt Princess, this commercial …

Al-Monitor – After Israel, the United States and the UK blamed Iran for an attack on an Israeli-linked ship in the Persian Gulf and vowed a “coordinated response,” the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has threatened to respond to any retaliatory strike. IRGC Commander Hossein Salami said, “The enemy should remove false thoughts and ideas from their head.” Speaking on a TV …