Social and Political

Iran-HRM – Seventy-two political prisoners who have been detained for partaking in the November 2019 protests, are participating in a hunger strike over coronavirus fears at the Greater Tehran Penitentiary. The prisoners announced in a letter today that they started a hunger strike to protest against being denied leave during the Coronavirus pandemic and poor prison conditions. The strikers refused meals …

Radiofarda – Iran’s foreign ministry announced on Sunday that Saeed Khatibzadeh, a diplomat, will be its new spokesman, after former spokesperson Abbas Mousavi was appointed as ambassador to Azerbaijan. Media in Tehran reports that his formal introduction as spokesman took place on August 16, in the presence of foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. Mr. Khatibzadeh is not a well-known figure …

Radiofarda – The European Union announced Sunday that the United States is not entitled to force the reinstatement of international sanctions on Iran via the so-called “snapback” mechanism stipulated in the 2015 nuclear deal. A day earlier, President Donald Trump told reporters that Washington will pursue the “snapback” option in the coming week, after the U.S. lost a bid at …

Radiofarda – The United States’ State Department is claiming that the United Nations Security Council has failed to “hold Iran accountable” following the Security Council’s rejection on Friday of the U.S.-proposed resolution to extend an arms embargo on Iran set to expire on October 18. In a statement, the State Department criticized the Security Council for proving unable to “[uphold] …

Radiofarda – In the early morning hours of August 16, 1953, Colonel Nematollah Nassiri, the commander of the Imperial Guard, delivered a decree hand-signed by Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi to the office of the Prime Minister, Mohammad Mosaddegh. It was an order for the Prime Minister’s dismissal. Hours earlier, Nassiri had handed over another signed order from the Shah to …

Radiofarda – Following the United Nations Security Council’s rejection on Friday of the United States-led resolution to extend an arms embargo on Iran, the three European members of the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran — Britain, France and Germany — explained their reasons for abstaining from the vote, while Iran’s allies, China and Russia, called the proposed U.S. resolution “futile” …

VOA – U.S. President Donald Trump said Saturday he will try a controversial “snapback” to force a return of U.N. sanctions against Iran, after the Security Council rejected Washington’s bid to extend the arms embargo against the Islamic republic.“We’ll be doing a snapback,” the president said, referring to the contested argument that the U.S. remains a participant in the 2015 …

Iran Human Rights (IHR) – Concern for the condition of Farhad Salmanpour, a civil activist locked up with prisoners convicted of serious violent crimes while having a lung infection amidst the spread of COVID-19 at Fashafuye Prison (Greater Tehran Penitentiary). According to Iran Human Rights, Farhad Salmanpour Zahir, a civil activist who was recently transferred to the Greater Tehran Penitentiary, …

gatestoneinstitute.org – What Ails the Islamic Republic in Iran?… one may suggest another, in my opinion more pertinent, ailment: Anti-Americanism or, to coin a word, Americanitis. It consists of a mixture of professed hatred of the United States, as reflected in the regime’s uber-slogan “Death to America”, on the one hand, and sadomasochistic fascination with all things American on the …

Radiofarda – An Iran-backed Afghan militant group called the Fatemiyoun Brigade vowed on August 14 to carry out its fight until the “annihilation of Israel” and creating the “new Islamic civilization. The Fatemiyoun is made up of Afghans deployed in Syria by Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps’ (IRGC) extraterritorial military and intelligence arm, the Qods Force. They have been on …