Social and Political

Radiofarda – A top UN expert has urged countries to repeal laws infringing on minorities’ rights to worship and hold beliefs, singling out Afghanistan, Iran, Tajikistan, Moldova, and Russia among countries of concern. Ahmed Shaheed, the UN special investigator on religious freedom, warned in a report seen by AP on November 4 that “the failure to eliminate discrimination, combined with …

RFL/RE – Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has arrived in Venezuela at the start of a Latin American tour that will also take him to Cuba and Bolivia. “Every high-level visit deepens our strategic alliance, our brotherhood,” Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza tweeted on November 4 after welcoming his Iranian counterpart upon his arrival in the South American country. “Venezuela and …

Al-Monitor – Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) unveiled a new missile system Wednesday capable of consecutively launching multiple, long-range ballistic missiles. The automated launcher was said to be a smart, entirely homemade product. The IRGC commander, Hossein Salami, introduced the new system with his signature scathing rhetoric against Iran’s “enemies” and a message of defiance to the United States and European countries that …

Radiofarda – Criticizing proposed plans to increase Iran’s population, the representative of Mahabad to the Majlis Iranian parliament, Jalal Mahmoudzadeh, says that young Iranians have no choice other than leaving the country in the absence of jobs. “Still, some people are after increasing the population,” Mahmoudzadeh said. Speaking at Majlis’s public session on Monday, Mahmoudzadeh opposed a parliamentary motion for …

Al-monitor – Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei defended his country’s overall stance toward the United States as a “calculated” policy that will not change based on “who enters or leaves” the Oval Office. While admitting that “things may happen” under certain US presidents, Khamenei said, “This does not concern the Islamic Republic.” The Iranian supreme leader made the televised comments on the anniversary …

Ppyvand.com – About 70 percent of prisoners in Iran are directly and indirectly involved in drug-related crimes, Eskandar Momeni, the director of headquarters for the fight against narcotics, has said.  Some 40 percent of the inmates in prisons are convicted of drug smuggling directly and 30 percent indirectly, he stated. According to Momeni, many social harms such as divorce, violent …

Al-Arabia – Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Tuesday that the result of the US presidential election will not in any way impact Tehran’s policy toward the US. “Our policy toward the US is clear and calculated and does not change with the movement of individuals. Who becomes president has no effect on our politics,” Khamenei said in …

Radiofarda – Reza Zarrab, the Turkey-based ringleader of Iran’s sanctions-evasion network who laundered over $20 billion in the biggest sanctions-evasion scheme in recent history, continues to make headlines.A series of deeply researched exposés published in September by a global network of investigative journalists showthat Tehran’s Turkish operations “started earlier, lasted longer, extended further, and involved more people and countries” than previously known. Zarrab, …

Radiofarda – Following the resignation of Mohammad Yazdi from the powerful Guardian Council, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei replaced him with another member of the clergy, Ahmad Khatami, on Sunday. Yazdi had earlier stepped down for “old age and physical complications.” In his decree, Khamenei praised Yazdi’s service as “valuable,” reiterating that he resigned from his influential position for …

Radiozamaneh – About 1,000 Zamaneh Media audience members took part in a poll, expressing their views on the upcoming United States presidential election as it relates to Iranian domestic and foreign policies. Despite the Trump administration’s maximum pressure campaign, which has systematic corruption and mismanagement, leading to a recession in Iran, most of the respondents to this Zamaneh Media poll …