Social and Political

RFL/RE – Afghanistan’s Foreign Ministry says that authorities in Iran’s Yazd Province have accepted that their police forces shot a vehicle carrying Afghan migrants earlier this week, killing three people. The ministry said on June 6 that four others were wounded as the vehicle caught fire after it was shot. A video showing an Afghan boy escaping from a blazing …

VOA – As the U.S. and Iran welcome the latest freeing of each other’s citizens and call for more such releases, the next deal between the longtime foes could be complicated by who is involved and who isn’t. U.S. President Donald Trump and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted their approval of this week’s Swiss-mediated agreement. It saw Iran …

gatestoneinstitute.org – The trend we witness in world politics is away from the initial forms of globalization and toward a reassertion of the nation-state as one of the two key players in international economic and business relations, the other player being transnational businesses. The disastrous performance of the World Health Organization (WHO) during the current Covid-19 pandemic is just one …

Radiofarda – In an unprecedented move, the Iranian Judiciary has explained for the first time how it has spent the interest earned on the bonds deposited into its accounts by those implicated in criminal and political cases. However, analysts, political figures and social media users in Iran are still sceptical about these accounts and their transactions. Mizan News, the official …

AP – U.S. Ambassador Kelly Craft said Friday she has shared a draft U.N. Security Council resolution with Russia that would extend the arms embargo against Iran indefinitely. Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said last month that Moscow will oppose any U.S. attempts to extend the arms embargo, which expires on Oct. 18, and reimpose U.N. sanctions on Iran. Craft …

Radiofarda – The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says airstrikes attributed to Israel has killed at least nine “Iranian-backed” forces in the Syrian province of Hama. The airstrikes were conducted on Thursday evening, June 4, during which missiles were fired at workshops linked to the Syrian army’s Military Industries Complex. “Anti-aircraft defense systems have been activated in Hama, responding to …

Reuters – Iran confirmed on Friday that Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif had discussed prisoner releases with former U.S. ambassador Bill Richardson, a day after the two countries each released one detainee. A ministry official had said in December that Richardson, a former U.S. envoy to the United Nations, had held talks with Zarif but played down their significance. On …

President Hassan Rouhani warned Iranians Saturday to prepare to live with the novel coronavirus “for a long time,” as the country gradually rolls back restrictions imposed to curb the outbreak. People should not assume that “this disease will be eliminated in 15 days or a month: we must therefore follow the instructions for a long time,” Rouhani said during the …

Al-Arabia – Former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will run in the next presidential elections in Iran, the state-affiliated news website Entekhab reported on Saturday. Ahmadinejad was president of Iran from 2005 to 2013, having served as mayor of Tehran between 2003 and 2005. In 2017, Ahmadinejad announced he would run in the Iranian presidential elections, but his nomination was rejected …

RFL/RE – The United Nations’ atomic watchdog said on June 5 that Iran has continued to increase its stockpiles of enriched uranium far beyond the limits set in the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. Separately, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) raised “serious concerns” over Iran’s refusal to let international inspectors investigate possible past nuclear activities at two locations. …