Social and Political

Al-Arabia – Iranian authorities have whipped a woman 74 times for “violating public morals” and fined her for not covering her head, the judiciary said. “The convicted, Roya Heshmati, encouraged permissiveness (by appearing) disgracefully in busy public places in Tehran,” the judiciary’s Mizan Online website said late on Saturday. “Her penalty of 74 strokes of the lash was carried out …

iranintl – Iran’s clerical watchdog, the Guardian Council, has rejected the qualifications of one in every ten current lawmakers to run in the March parliamentary elections. A report on the Etemad Online website said that out of the 290 lawmakers, 275 had registered their candidacy for the upcoming elections but the qualifications of only 26 have been rejected. Etemad Online has …

iranintl – A former intelligence minister has revealed Iran’s strategy of pursuing and repatriating dissidents through elaborate operations. “Our strategy was to bring anti-security elements back into the country, using intricate intelligence tactics, to the extent possible,” Mahmoud Alavi, a cleric who served as intelligence minister under President Hassan Rouhani, told the official new agency IRNA on Saturday. Alavi mentioned …

iranintl – A high-ranking commander from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said the latest assassination of a senior Hamas figure reflects Israel’s ‘ongoing defeat’. According to Al-Mayadeen, Esmail Qaani (Ghaani), the commander of Iran’s extraterritorial Quds Force wrote to political leader of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, that Israel ‘seeks to mitigate its heavy defeat in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. However, …

iranintl – ISIS has claimed responsibility for the twin bombings in Kerman, but Iranian politicians and officials continue their allegations about Israel’s involvement. Ahmad Bakhshayesh, a former member of the parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee told Rouydad 24 news website Saturday that “seven or eight missiles must be fired” towards Syria or Iraq, if terrorists came from there, …

gatestoneinstitute.org – The usual suspects in the Middle East peacemaking industry are already beginning to recycle their old and discredited ideas. President Joe Biden, sounding like a dummy for the ventriloquist Barack Obama, is talking of “a two-state solution: one for the Israelis and one for the Palestinians.” The optimists forget that what turned Gaza into the hell-hole it has …

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO) – State media reported the execution of an unnamed man for links with foreign services including Mossad” in Zahedan Central Prison on 16 December 2023. Iran Human Rights has established his identity as Mohsen Saravani, an IRGC member. According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, the unnamed man whose execution was reported by state media on 16 …

iranintl – Iran’s government uses public resources to repress dissidents and to enforce hijab rather than ensuring the safety of borders and citizens, critical voices say. Those responsible for defending the country and its borders “have strayed from their main responsibility” which has created suitable grounds for terrorists, Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh, the conservative former head of the parliament’s National Security and …

iranintl – The Islamic Republic of Iran has launched a targeted campaign on X (formerly Twitter), with cyber agents revealing the identities of anonymous dissident users. As part of the online campaign, several people were arrested in what appears to be a broader intimidation effort against those critical of the regime. Despite widespread reporting and warnings about the severity of …

VOA – Iranian authorities said on Friday that security forces had arrested 11 people suspected of involvement in two bomb blasts that killed nearly 90 people at a memorial service for a slain military commander. The Islamic State militant group has claimed responsibility for the attacks in Kerman, southeastern Iran, on Wednesday. Iran’s intelligence ministry said in a statement that …