Social and Political

Al-Arabia – Israel working with the region and creating a path to a Palestinian state is the best way to isolate Iran, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday.Blinken was speaking before boarding a plane leaving Cairo where he met Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.“There’s a path that brings Israel’s needs and desires for integration,” he said at the close …

Al-Arabia – An oil tanker caught up in a dispute last year between the United States and Iran was boarded by armed individuals off the coast of Oman on Thursday and appeared to have changed course toward Iran, according to UK maritime sources. The Marshall Islands-flagged tanker St Nikolas was boarded by armed intruders as it sailed close to the …

iranintl – Expecting low voter turnout, Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi has called on state officials to make sure that the parliamentary elections on March 1 will be “spectacular.”  On the same day, two former Interior Ministry officials warned about possible election manipulation. Despite his government’s inability to address the country’s multiple crises since he assumed office in August 2021, Raisi …

iranintl – The UN Security Council passed a resolution on Wednesday, calling on Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis to stop attacks on shipping in the Red Sea immediately. The Houthis, armed by Iran, have been targeting commercial vessels since mid November, after Israel began its onslaught on Gaza following the October 7 Hamas attack, effectively closing down a major maritime route and …

iranintl – A prominent conservative newspaper editor and politician argues that Iran is grappling with a governance crisis, yet desperate pleas are falling on deaf ears. Masih Mohajeri’s comments to a news website in Tehran appear as an indirect message to the country’s 84-year-old ruler Ali Khamenei, although he mentions President Ebrahim Raisi’s embattled government. Mohajeri, a cleric, was a regime insider …

Iranwire – Iranian authorities say they have arrested 35 people in six provinces in relation to the twin suicide bombings in the southeastern city of Kerman last week that claimed the lives of nearly 100 people. The Intelligence Ministry said on January 11 that the main suspect who planned the bombing was a national of Tajikistan known by his alias Abdollah …

Iranwire – A 35-year-old Iranian man died in custody due to torture following his arrest eight days ago, a human rights organization says. Peyman Abdi was apprehended on January 2 by the intelligence department in the predominantly Kurdish city of Kermanshah, and later fell into a coma, the Norway-based group Hengaw reported on January 10.  It said Abdi passed away …

Iranwire – Thick smoke billowed over the Iranian port city of Chabahar on January 10, with reports saying that a refinery was mistakenly hit by at least one rocket apparently fired during military exercises. Sources in Chabahar, in southeastern Sistan and Baluchestan province, reported hearing explosions and seeing rockets fired from the eastern side of the city. They said that …

gatestoneinstitute.org – If the ruler of Qatar really wanted to end the hostage saga, all he has to do is issue an ultimatum to Hamas that if the hostages are not released within, say, 48 hours, he will expel all the Hamas leaders who are still in Qatar and stop funding and providing political support to the group. Arab dictators …

Al-Arabia – US and UK forces have shot down more than 20 drones and missiles over the Red Sea launched by Yemen’s Houthis, in what London branded Wednesday the “largest attack” yet by the Iran-backed militia. The Western allies’ warships and planes took out 18 drones and three missiles in their latest Red Sea military intervention on Tuesday, the US military …