Social and Political

RFL/RE – Saudi Arabia’s crown prince struck a softer tone toward Iran in a television interview broadcast late on April 27 in which he also said that Saudi Arabia and the Biden administration agreed on most issues of mutual concern. “Iran is a neighboring country, and all we aspire for is a good and special relationship with Iran,” Saudi Crown …

Iranwire -Even by the standards of the eleventh parliament, Iran’s budget for 2021-22 is nothing short of a scandal: the first instance of its kind since the Islamic Revolution and indeed, since the Constitutionalist movement. There has been no record of individuals directly interfering in MPs’ approval of a budget law since 1907. There have also been no recorded cases …

Iranwire – A ground-breaking new study by the transparency initiative Iran Open Data has shed light on the role of bribery – otherwise known as “under-the-table”, “tea money”, “colleagues’ share” or “sweets” – in Iranian public life. The report, entitled Bribery Quotes in Iran, focuses on how commonplace bribery has become in Iranian political and administrative bodies. It also attempts to …

Iranwire – With the sharp decline in rainfall in Iran, officials in the country’s various water departments are reporting record-breaking low reserves and issuing warnings about the need to save water. Is this level of drought genuinely unexpected in Iran, or do officials bear a degree of responsibility for the ensuing water crisis? What overall impact will the decrease in …

VOA – Iran said Tuesday it was seeking the release of all Iranian prisoners held in the U.S. amid talks in Vienna meant to bring Tehran and Washington back into the nuclear deal between Iran and world powers. Cabinet spokesman Ali Rabiei also hinted that another exchange of prisoners between Iran and America was possible, saying that “the idea of …

gatestoneinstitute.org – In the Haidilao Hot Pot restaurant in… Vancouver, more than 60 surveillance cameras watch 30 tables and send feeds to China. The cameras, manager Ryan Pan explains, are there to “people track” and are “part of the social credit system in China.” In 2014, China’s State Council issued guidelines for the establishment of a national “social credit system” …

Al-Monitor – Iranian President Hassan Rouhani ordered an investigation April 27 into the leak of an audiotape containing containing confidential statements by Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. Government spokesman Ali Rabiee said Iran’s Intelligence Ministry has been assigned with identifying those behind the leak, which he said is being treated as a “conspiracy against national security.” Iranian officials have said the audio was part of an oral history …

realclearpolitics.com – Samantha Power, President Biden’s choice to head the U.S. Agency for International Development, literally wrote the book on America’s poor record of fighting genocides around the world even as the nation’s leaders have promised “never again” after the Holocaust. Power’s  “A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide” earned her a nonfiction book Pulitzer Prize in …

JPost – Leaked recordings are the latest twist in a strange saga that appears to pit Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif against the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.IRGC Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani was undermining him and the Iran deal while working with Russia, he supposedly said on the tapes.The tapes appear to show Zarif claiming that Russia wanted to sabotage the …

Al-Arabia – Iran was strengthening its nuclear arsenal in 2020 by bolstering its weapons production whilst misleading the world by claiming the nature of their activities were peaceful, a new German intelligence report found. Germany’s government security agency, the Bavarian Office for the Protection of the Constitution, issued the report, which has been translated from German by The Washington Free …