Social and Political

Al-Arabia – Iran’s new president Ebrahim Raisi presented on Wednesday his list of cabinet choices to parliament, the official IRNA news agency reported. Raisi, elected in June, was sworn in last week before parliament as Iran’s eighth president. For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app. The parliament will is required to review and …

RFL/Re – Iran has asked Iraq to expel Iranian rebels from Iraqi Kurdistan or expect Tehran to take “preventative measures,” against the armed groups.“We call on the Iraqi government to take more serious action to expel these groups from Iraqi Kurdistan so that Iran does not have to take preventative measures against…these armed terrorists,” said Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of …

Iranwire – Iranian prosecutors have launched a fresh attack on labor activists across the country, turning their attention to teachers’ unions following their support for protests in Khuzestan and elsewhere.  From Rasht in Gilan province to Bushehr near the Persian Gulf and Iran’s Kurdistan province, at least 11 people with links to teachers’ and other unions have been summoned and arrested in the …

Iranwire – Widespread power outages are back with a vengeance across Iran, with officials of the Islamic Republic blaming the hot weather and people’s over-use of air conditioning for the latest blackouts. In a press conference on Monday, August 9, Mohammad-Hassan Motevalizadeh, managing director of Iran’s Power Generation, Distribution, and Transmission Company, known as Tavanir, said the issue had begun in …

VOA – The director of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, William Burns, is in Israel for talks that officials say will focus primarily on Iran. His arrival Tuesday comes amid rapidly rising tensions in the region and a drone strike on an Israeli-managed oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman, which Western governments blame on Tehran. Last week, there was …

Iran-HRM – A man was killed and over 40 locals were injured when security forces used pellet shots to disperse protesters in the northwest city of Naqadeh on August 7. According to Kurdish human rights websites, the man killed was identified as 27-year-old Mohammad Alizadeh. Protests started after locals had gathered outside the Police Station Number 11 building to demand …

Al-Monitor – Iran’s Supreme Court issued a ruling in full support of former prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi, overturning an earlier two-year jail sentence, which had found him guilty in connection with the death of a political detainee. His lawyer confirmed the acquittal on Tuesday. In 2017, the hard-line ex-prosecutor was convicted of “accessory to murder“, following a protracted trial in Tehran which ultimately …

realclearworld – The Biden administration and its advocates have never hidden their contempt for Trump’s policy of maximum pressure on Iran. According to Robert Malley, the lead U.S. negotiator at nuclear talks in Vienna, “we’ve seen the result of the maximum pressure campaign. It has failed.” A few days later the New York Times editorial board declared “‘Maximum Pressure’ on Iran Has Failed.” The administration’s plan …

thehill – The Iranians are thirsty. In the past few weeks, thousands have taken to the streets in cities and towns throughout the Islamic Republic to protest the country’s deepening hydrological crisis — and the Iranian regime’s chronic mishandling of it. Beginning in mid-July in the oil-rich province of Khuzestan, protests broke out over water shortages brought about by deepening …

Al-Arabia – Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan has made a phone call to his US counterpart Secretary of State Antony Blinken, according to the Saudi Press Agency. “During the call, the two diplomats reviewed the strategic relations between Saudi Arabia and the US and ways to enhance them in all fields, in addition to discussing the most …