Social and Political

iranintl – Twenty years since a 6.6-magnitude earthquake shook Bam city in southeast Iran, killing 34,000, fears of a repeat loom large amid Iran’s dire corruption.  Earthquake mortality has been found to be higher in countries where corruption is high and in the past 30 years, 83% of all earthquake-related deaths have occurred in anomalously corrupt countries, according to a 2011 report. …

iranintl – Iran’s Supreme Leader has told an all female audience “you can play an important role in the elections” with voter turnout expected to be as low as 15 percent. In a direct appeal for the upcoming March elections, Ali Khamenei said, “In the home, you play the most important role. Mothers can play a role in educating their children and spouses …

RFL/RE – The death sentence for murder given to an Iranian man detained while taking part in last year’s anti-regime protests is “illegal,” a lawyer for victims’ families has said. Mujahed Korkor (also known as Abbas Korkori) was sentenced to death for the murder of Kian Pirfalak, a 9-year-old boy, and several other people killed in the southwestern city of …

VOA – Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei led prayers on Thursday at the funeral of Sayyed Razi Mousavi, a senior Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) adviser killed in what Iran said was an Israeli air strike in Syria. State television said Khamenei paid tribute “to this martyr’s tireless struggle and called for his companionship with the guardians of God.” Mousavi was one …

VOA – Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps warned Israel on Wednesday that it or its allied groups would take direct action to avenge the killing of senior commander Razi Mousavi. The general was killed Monday in an Israeli missile strike near the Syrian capital, according to state media, at a time of heightened regional tension around the Israel-Hamas war raging …

gatestoneinstitute.org – Many of the protests that now demand a unilateral ceasefire — including the attempts to shut down Christmas celebrations — are orchestrated by some of the same radical groups that organized the pro-Hamas demonstrations before Israel went into Gaza. Demonstrations and protests by groups such as the Students for Justice in Palestine, Jewish Voice for Peace or the …

Al-Arabia – The spokesman for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Wednesday that Hamas’ October 7 attacks against Israel were revenge for slain Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani, a claim that was quickly denied by the Palestinian group. “The Al-Aqsa Flood was one of the acts of revenge for the assassination of General Soleimani by the US and …

iranintl – The US fleet in the Red Sea intercepted 17 drones and missiles on Tuesday, as Iranian officials promised to hit back at Israel for the killing of Iran’s ‘top man’ in Syria. Escalation was palpable during the day, as destroyers and fighter jets from the USS Eisenhower were forced to shoot down “twelve one-way attack drones, three anti-ship …

iranintl – Unit 400 of the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is recruiting Afghans for suicide attacks and working with Al Qaeda to target Israelis. The Quds Force team responsible for recruiting Afghans includes Hossein Rahmani, Hossein Rahban, Hamed Abdollahi, and Alireza Tajik who was implicated in a plot to assassinate an Israeli businessman in Tbilisi, …

iranintl – Albania’s Parliament has reported a cyberattack in which Iran-based hackers attempted access to its data server, seeking to erase critical information.  A statement said Monday’s cyberattack, which temporarily halted parliament’s operations, had not “touched the data of the system.” The Associated Press cited local media as reporting that a cellphone provider and an air flight company were also targeted by cyberattacks Monday from “Iranian-based hackers …