Social and Political

RFL/RE – Following an announcement that Tehran had won approval from the United States to use foreign-currency reserves to buy coronavirus vaccines, Iran’s president has claimed that Washington is now demanding that such a transaction go through a U.S. bank. President Hassan Rohani told a meeting of the government’s coronavirus-response team on December 26 that Iran sought to transfer money …

Iran-HRM – A second death sentence has been issued for political prisoner Shaker Behrouz based on a new cased filed against him. Mr. Behrouzi is presently detained in the Central Prison of Urmia. The First Branch of the Penal Court of Urmia issued the second death sentence on Saturday, December 26, for political prisoner Shaker Behrouzi on the charge of murdering Mamel …

VOA – At least 10 climbers have died and several more are missing in mountains north of Iran’s capital, Tehran, after heavy snowfall, state media reported Saturday, and the seven crew members of a ship are also missing after storms in the Persian Gulf. Heavy snow and winds in several parts of Iran in the past few days have closed …

Iran Human Rights (IHR) – Political Prisoner, Abdulhamid Mir-Balouchzehi’s lawyer, Mostafa Nili has announced news of his client’s execution on his Twitter page. Iran Human Rights condemns his execution in the strongest terms. IHR Director, Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam said: “In addition to the death penalty being a cruel and inhumane punishment, all evidence suggest that Abdulhamid Mir-Balouchzehi was denied the right …

RFL/RE- Ruhollah Zam’s father, a cleric who served as the head of Iran’s state propaganda agency in the 1980s, named him after the leader of the 1979 revolution and the founder of the Islamic republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.But as an adult, Zam turned against the clerical establishment that was created by his infamous namesake.Zam’s opposition activities — including his popular …

VOA – Two climbers were killed and two others injured Friday on a mountain outside Iran’s capital, Tehran, during heavy snowfall and a blizzard, the country’s emergency unit said. Mojtaba Khaledi, spokesman for the state emergency services, told state television the incident occurred on the summit of Kolakchal. One media report said the climbers fell to their deaths. Earlier, the …

Iran Human Rights (IHR) – In a recent interview, Ali Akbar Salehi, the current head of the Atomic Energy Organisation and former Foreign Minister of Iran states that it is better for the nuclear issue to be the challenge between Iran and the West, and not issues like human rights.  Ali Akbar Salehi discussed the challenges between Iran and the …

RFL/RE – A British-based group monitoring the Syrian conflict says least six Iran-backed fighters have been killed in an Israeli rocket attack in central Syria.The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on December 25 that the Israeli attack launched in the province of Hama also destroyed depots and rocket-manufacturing facilities belonging to pro-Iranian militias.Earlier, the official Syrian news agency SANA …

Iranwire.com – The question of acquiring a coronavirus vaccine continued to dominate the news on Wednesday, December 23. Iranian officials continued to make promises without mentioning any specifics, and the hashtag #Buy_the_Vaccine continues to trend on social media. “Despite all the pressures and difficulties, we will buy the vaccine from the best and most trustworthy sources in the world,” said Health Minister …

gatestoneinstitute.org – It is worth remembering that, when President Trump took office, the region was still reeling from the dire consequences of former US President Barack Obama’s inept and naive handling of the region. By early January 2017, when Mr Trump took office, Iran was squandering the tens of billions of dollars it received for signing the nuclear deal, which …