Social and Political

VOA – The United States on Friday accused Iran of close involvement in attacks on commercial ships by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, stepping up the tone as Washington considers tougher measures, including possible force. The White House publicly released U.S. intelligence as the Iranian-linked Yemeni insurgents persist with ship strikes they say are in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, …

gatestoneinstitute.org – If the Biden administration thought that by rescuing Iran’s economy, which had hit bottom, and removing the Houthis from the list of Foreign Terror Organizations would make both Iran into an ally, the generosity appears to have backfired. If the Iranian regime is allowed to advance to nuclear weapons capability, it will be on course finally to drive …

Iran-HRM – Urgent Call to Condemn Executions in Iran and Address the Human Rights Catastrophe in Delfan Yahya Ebrahimi, the representative of Delfan County in the regime’s parliament, stated in a video interview released on Wednesday, December 20, 2023: “Around one to two thousand young people from this county have been sentenced to death on charges of selling drugs,” and …

Amnesty – Reacting to alarming developments indicating that Swedish-Iranian academic Ahmadreza Djalali, who has been arbitrarily detained in Iran since April 2016, is at grave risk of imminent retaliatory execution in the country, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa Diana Eltahawy said: “Amid a sharp spike in executions in Iran since November, mounting evidence indicates …

iranintl – A member of the Energy Committee of the Iranian Parliament claimed that the cyber attack on Iran’s fuel supply system was carried out “from inside.” Parviz Mohammadnezhad Ghazimahalleh said on Thursday that the the attack which cut off 70% of the country’s petrol stations was a “physical” one. “They entered the system via a USB or a program from inside,” he added …

iranintl – As Iran’s domestic carmakers lose money due to sanctions, a technological gap and mismanagement, officials are promising to boost the electrical vehicle production. As Iran’s domestic carmakers lose money due to sanctions, a technological gap and mismanagement, officials are promising to boost the electrical vehicle production. The only avenue open to Iran is to make deals with Chinese …

RFL/RE – Ali Akbar Velayati, the senior adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has apparently criticized Russia’s position on the long-standing dispute over Iran’s sovereignty of three strategic islands in the Persian Gulf. Velayati, a former foreign minister of Iran and now a key international affairs adviser, expressed regret over the Russian Foreign Ministry’s stance, suggesting it undermines Moscow’s credibility …

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO) – In a video interview, Yahya Ebrahimi, the Delfan MP said: “Around 1000 to 2000 young people are on death row for selling drugs in this county” and “are about to be executed.” Delfan’s population is around 144,000 people. Iran Human Rights considers such high number of death penalty cases in a city of that size …

iranintl – Iran’s Supreme National Security Council ordered newspapers Tuesday night to stop writing about the recent $3.7 billion corruption case that has rattled public opinion. Nonetheless, three Iranian newspapers ignored the censorship order and ran editorials on the biggest corruption case in several decades in their Wednesday issues. The case involved a tea company receiving billion of dollars from the government …

iranintl – The IRGC was plotting to assassinate two Iran International television anchors in London in 2022 amid Iranian anti-government protests, UK’s ITV has revealed. The plan was foiled because the man hired to do the job turned out to be a ‘double-agent’ working for a western intelligence agency. He would relay all information to his handler and has now …