Social and Political

iranwire.com – The Supreme Leader has come out of quarantine to put an end to speculation that Iran could re-enter negotiations with the United States following the election of Joe Biden as the country’s 46th president. A day later, President Hassan Rouhani appeared to take a different view.  On Wednesday, November 25, speaking at a Supreme Economic Coordination Council meeting with the …

Al-Arabia – The Iranian-backed Houthi militia in Yemen has given long-awaited approval for a United Nations plan to visit and assess a deteriorating oil tanker off Yemen’s coast that is threatening to spill 1.1 million barrels of crude oil into the Red Sea. Staff and equipment could be expected to arrive at the tanker by late January or early February, …

Radiofarda – While blasting the European governments for their critical comments on Iran’s missile program, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei made a statement on Joe Biden’s victory in the recent U.S. presidential election, claiming, “The aliens could not be relied on and it is not possible to pin hopes on them.” In comments on Tuesday, Khamenei claimed, without referencing …

RFL/RE – As U.S. President Donald Trump’s time in office comes to a close, his outgoing administration intends to put further pressure on Iran by introducing new punitive sanctions against the U.S. adversary.On November 25, the top U.S. envoy on Iran, Elliott Abrams, announced that Trump’s sanctions strategy would continue “for another couple of months, right until the end” of …

Iran-HRM – Inmates in a northwest Iran prison staged riot on Wednesday over fears of contamination amid a coronavirus outbreak. Inmates in wards 1,2,3 and 4 of Urmia Prison started to protest when a prisoner identified as Hojjat Kazemzadeh set himself ablaze to protest the authorities’ prevention of his release despite his one-year sentence. Prison guards beat and brutalized the …

Iran Human Rights (IHR) – In a joint letter to the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, ten international rights organisations demand immediate action to save the life of Ahmadreza Djalali. The full text of the letter and list of signatories are as follows: H. E. Josep Borrell High Representative of the Union for Foreign …

Shabtabnews – In an open letter IOPHR requests “Urgent External Action to stop the Imminent Execution of Dr Ahmad Reza Djalali.” The letter draws attention the fact that Dr Djalali, was sentenced to death because he refused to cooperate with the Iranian intelligence services, by refusing to spy on crisis control centres in Europe. As result the letter urges EU …

Al-Arabia – Iran registered on Wednesday a daily record high of 13,843 new coronavirus cases, the health ministry said, pushing the national tally to 894,385 in the Middle East’s worst-hit country. Ministry’s spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari told state TV that the death toll rose by 469 in the past 24 hours to 46,207. For more on coronavirus, visit our dedicated …

RFL/RE – A British-based group monitoring the Syrian conflict says eight pro-Iranian militiamen have been killed in alleged overnight Israeli air strikes. The strikes targeted an arms depot and a position held by Iranian forces and the allied Lebanon-based Shi’ite militant group Hizballah in the southern countryside of the Syrian capital, Damascus, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on …

iranwire.com – Following the resignations of two senior health ministry officials, the ministry has admitted that it funded research into “alternative” or “traditional” medicine to treat people with Covid-19. The ministry has also conceded that its strategy to combat the coronavirus crisis has been inefficient and lacked transparency. “There is such a thing as traditional medicine and it even has its own …