Social and Political

iranintl – During a televised interview on December 16, Melanie Joly, Canada’s Global Affairs minister, did not rule out designating Iran’s IRGC as a terrorist organization. A month ago, Prime Minister Trudeau would not even entertainthe possibility of designating IRGC. Joly’s comments thus signal a shift in Canada’s attitude towards the Islamic Republic of Iran and its revolutionary praetorian guard, the …

iranintl – The world is worried and determined to stop Iran from developing a nuclear weapon but has no way to reverse or even monitor its nuclear advances.  At the UN Security Council, the UK, France and Germany released a statement in which they stated they “remain determined that Iran must never develop a nuclear weapon and must reverse its nuclear …

RFL/RE – Filmmakers and movie festival organizers from around the world have called on Iranian authorities to drop all charges against two Iranian film directors and lift their travel ban. Maryam Moghadam and Behtash Sanaeeha had planned to travel to Paris in September for post-production on their new film, My Favorite Cake, but authorities confiscated their passports and informed them …

RFL/RE – The United States has charged two foreign nationals with supplying microelectronics to Iran for use in the drone program run by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. The two men, Hossein Hatefi Ardakani of Iran and Gary Lam of China, are accused in an indictment unsealed on December 19 with conspiring to illegally export U.S.-made dual-use microelectronics to Iran. …

Iranwire – Germany’s Foreign Ministry protested to the Iranian government after a court ruling implicated the Islamic Republic in a plot to attack a synagogue last year. The ministry wrote on the social platform X on December 19 that it had summoned the Iranian charge d’affaires in Berlin to discuss the matter. “It is intolerable that Jewish life was to …

Iranwire – An explosion caused by a suspected landmine hit a police car in the southeastern Iranian city of Zahedan, according to local independent media, four days after a deadly attack on a police station in the same province of Sistan and Baluchistan. The December 19 blast in the Galogah area caused casualties, the reports said, without providing further details. …

CHRI – The recent affirmation of the life sentence against former Islamic Republic of Iran official Hamid Nouri by a Swedish appeals court signifies a crucial step towards justice and should serve as a precedent for holding more Iranian officials accountable for their human rights violations through the principle of universal jurisdiction. “This verdict deserves global commendation, serving as a beacon of …

alarabiya – US defense and military officials have been deliberating over a response to Iran-backed attacks across the Middle East as they await the green light from the Biden administration, according to officials and sources familiar with the matter. US forces in Iraq and Syria have been targeted over 100 times since October 17, which was just 10 days after the deadly …

iranintl – Iran-backed Houthis threatened on Tuesday to ‘sink’ US warships, hours after Washington launched a multinational force to protect vessels transiting the Red Sea. “We have capabilities to sink your fleet, your submarines, your warships,” a top Houthi official said, according to the IRGC-affiliated Tasnim news agency. “The Red Sea will be your graveyard.” The new maritime coalition includes Britain, Canada, …

iranintl – Jordan’s army foiled a plot on Monday by dozens of infiltrators from Syria linked to pro-Iranian militias, who crossed its border with rocket launchers and explosives. Jordan’s State broadcaster said the army blew up a vehicle laden with explosives as it resisted the biggest armed cross-border operation to smuggle weapons and drugs in recent years. The army earlier …