Social and Political

Al-Monitor – The highest-ranking and most popular Sunni cleric in Iran, Mawlawi Abdul-Hamid, expressed concern for the overall situation of minorities in Iran under the Islamic Republic, saying the same ethnicities in neighboring countries and the Persian Gulf region “are better off.” “When comparing their lives to people in Kuwait and other Persian Gulf nations, our fellow Arab countrymen clearly find themselves …

Al-Monitor – A ship linked to a prominent Israeli tycoon reportedly was targeted off the coast of Oman in an attack that killed two crew members, the company that manages the vessel said Friday. Zodiac Maritime said in a statement that a “suspected piracy incident” had targeted the Japanese-owned, Liberian-flagged oil tanker M/T Mercer Street, which was traveling to the …

RFL/RE – Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called on Iranian authorities to “immediately and unconditionally” release those detained during protests against water shortages and economic hardships in Khuzestan and other provinces and to investigate the abusive use of lethal force.Demonstrations than began on July 15 in dozens of towns and cities in Khuzestan, a province with a large ethnic Arab …

Iranwire – The residents of a small town in Mashahr County, Khuzestan have reported having just one hour of running water a day. Protests broke out in Khuzestan mid-July over severe water shortages across the province. In the dilapidated town of Taleghani, families told Asr-e Iran newspaper they have been under severe water stress for 15 years. The report, published on Thursday, July 29, …

Iranwire – Protests in Khuzestan over chronic water shortages began in mid-July this year. People have since taken to the streets in other Iranian cities in solidarity with their cause, chanting anti-government slogans and even tearing down banners of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Elsewhere in Iran, tensions have also flared up over the widespread power outages that have now plagued the country for months. When the …

Iranwire – On Wednesday, July 28, Iran’s conservative-dominated parliament voted to implement a new law that could further restrict Iranians’ access to the internet and social media. The hugely controversial and surreally-named “Bill for the Protection of Cyberspace Users” allows the Iranian armed forces to more stringently monitor internet traffic into and out of Iran. It also states that foreign …

Iran Human Rights (IHR) – Esmail Fatehi, Mansour Mohammadi and Mozafar (surname unknown) have been executed on drug-related charges in Qazvin Central Prison. At least 55 prisoners, including a woman, have been executed on drug-related charges in Iranian prisons in 2021. According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, three men were executed on drug-related charges on the morning of July …

Al-Monitor – Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Thursday that negotiations to revive the Iranian nuclear agreement “cannot go on indefinitely.” Blinken made the remarks during a news conference in Kuwait City with the Kuwaiti foreign minister, Sheikh Ahmed Nasser Al Mohammed Al Sabah. The top US diplomat met with senior officials in the Gulf country ​​for talks focused on …

Iranwire – This week the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran delivered a startling reproach to the outgoing Rouhani administration in its final weeks of office. During his last meeting with Hassan Rouhani’s cabinet on Wednesday, July 28, Ali Khamenei criticized the group’s past confidence in “the West”, stating: “The next government must use this experience.” The remarks fell in …

Iranwire – For the last two weeks, a single word has dominated headlines in Iran: “Khuzestan”. Nightly street protests in this deprived province, prompted by the water crisis and inflamed by brutal state violence, have since spilled over into other Iranian cities. Rallies have now been held from Tehran to Isfahan to Lorestan, with participants chanting slogans against the Islamic …