Social and Political

Radiofarda – The top foreign policy aide to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has criticized UK, France and Germany for voting against Iran at the latest meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Kamal Kharrazi who is known for furthering Khamenei’s policy on Europe, also accused IAEA Chief Rafael Grossi of behaving “suspiciously.” Kharrazi’s remarks appeared as an identical …

RFL/RE – Iran’s top security body has said the cause of an incident at one of the country’s nuclear facilities has been determined, but it declined to release details, citing security reasons. A building at the Natanz uranium-enrichment plant was damaged in what appeared to be an explosion or fire in the early hours of July 2, fueling speculation of …

VOA – Iran will retaliate against any country that carries out cyberattacks on its nuclear sites, the head of civilian defense said, after a fire at its Natanz plant that some Iranian officials said may have been caused by cyber sabotage. The Natanz uranium-enrichment site, much of which is underground, is one of several Iranian facilities monitored by inspectors of …

CHRI – UN human rights experts have strongly condemned the Iranian judiciary’s secret execution of 27-year-old Kurdish-Iranian political prisoner Hedayatollah (Hedayat) Abdollahpour, who was on death row based on false charges since 2018. Following is the UN’s press release. UN human rights experts today expressed outrage at reports of Iran’s secret execution of Hedayat Abdollahpour, a member of the Kurdish minority in the country. The execution reportedly took place on …

Iran Human Rights (IHR) – In a speech prior to the Friday prayer sermons, Isfahan’s Chief Justice announced eight protestors arrested in the city had been convicted of “corruption on earth”. Iran Human Rights calls for an immediate response from the international community to the intensification of suppression and death penalty for protesters in Iran. Mahmoud Amiry-Moghaddam, director of the …

Radiofarda – A mysterious explosion and fire in one of Iran’s nuclear facilities has opened the flood gates to speculations and analysis as to whether it was an accident, sabotage or foreign attack. A spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) announced on Thursday, July 2, that an “accident” had occurred at the Natanz nuclear enrichment facility in …

Radiofarda – A mysterious group calling itself “Homeland Panthers” on Thursday claimed responsibility for the explosion at Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility hours before its announcement by sending emails to a number of BBC Persian journalists. According to the website of BBC Persian, in the emails which were sent to the BBC journalists hours before any news of the incident had …

Radiofarda – The rate of exchange for the U.S. dollar has risen 2,700 times during the past 41 years since the start of clerical rule in Iran under the Islamic Republic system. During the past two weeks the rate has been nearing 210,000 rials per dollar due to an extremely sharp devaluation of Iran’s national currency. The decline has been …

RFL/RE – U.S. prosecutors have filed a lawsuit to seize the gasoline aboard four tankers that Iran is currently shipping to Venezuela, the latest attempt to increase pressure on the two sanctioned anti-American allies. The civil-forfeiture complaint filed in the District of Columbia federal court late on July 1 claims the sale was arranged by an Iranian businessman with ties …

RFL/RE – Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde says Iran has agreed that it will compensate the families of foreign victims who died when a Ukrainian airliner was shot down after taking off from Tehran’s main airport in January, killing all 176 people on board. “We have signed an agreement of mutual understanding that we will now negotiate with Iran about …