Social and Political

Radiofarda – A team of American experts says it has uncovered a previously unknown Islamic Republic nuclear weapons development site in Iran. The Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) called on Tehran on April 8 to acknowledge the previously undisclosed site to international inspectors. Founded in 1993, the Institute for Science and International Security is led by former United …

Radiofarda – Central Bank of Iran (CBI) Governor says Luxembourg has unfrozen 1.6 billion dollars of Iran’s assets despite an attempt by victims of terror to get the funds as compensation. Abdolnasser Hemmati said on Wednesday, April 8, Tehran thwarted Washington’s efforts to seize and transfer the CBI’s funds out of Europe. However, the case mentioned by Hemmati is related …

Radiofarda – The head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization (IAEO), Ali Akbar Salehi, said on Wednesday that the Islamic Republic’s nuclear activities were continuing despite the novel coronavirus outbreak in the country. “A new generation of centrifuges would soon come online at the Natanz fuel enrichment plant”, Salehi said. Speaking to the monopolized state-run national television, Salehi once again maintained …

Radiofarda – In a press conference April 7 U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said with the measures that the United States has taken, Iran will have less and less money to spend on its proxies such as the Hezbollah of Lebanon and Kata’ib Hezbollah in Iraq. In response to a reporter who asked how he can counter the message …

Radiofarda – A newspaper close to the Rouhani administration says a large number of nurses in Iran have lost their jobs during February, March and April as the income of private hospitals have been declining. Oddly enough, this is happening while the coronavirus outbreak is escalating in Iran according to Health Ministry officials, and President Hassan Rouhani resists continued restrictions …

Radiofarda – The scientific basis of medicine can be traced to Hippocrates’ rejection of disease as having a divine origin. His work has been dismissed before – by the feudal kings of fourteenth century Europe – and is repudiated again today by elements of the Iranian regime. Long forgotten leaders of church and state once directed people toward prayer to …

Radiofarda – An official publication of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards on Tuesday called on authorities to take measures to placate China for the “irresponsible statements” of a health official who has questioned China’s honesty about the dimensions of its coronavirus epidemic. Kianush Jahanpur, Spokesman of Iran’s Health Ministry on April 5 called China’s reports of the coronavirus epidemic “a bitter joke” …

Al-Arabia – Medical personnel in a hospital in Iran were seen kissing a religious piece of cloth to protect them against coronavirus, according to a video circulating on social media. https://vid.alarabiya.net/2020/04/08/iran0e093c22/iran0e093c22___iran0e093c22_video.mp4 The cloth is from the Imam Reza shrine in Iran’s Shia holy city of Mashhad. Medical staff were seen lining up in the video to kiss the cloth one …

Iran-HRM – A number of prisoners including 50 political prisoners held at Urmia Central Prison have been infected with the coronavirus. The 50 political prisoners were held at ward 15 of the prison. The names of 11 of these prisoners are as follows:1. Behnam Foruzandedel2. Mohammad Hossein Irajnia3. Akbar Kamel4. Omid Afrasiabi5. Ahmad Manuchehri6. Karim Ashrafi7. Hojjat Nouri8. Hamid Moazzam9. …

RFL/RE – Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says the United States will lead the world in providing foreign assistance to fight the spread of the novel coronavirus, even as some allies have expressed concerns over Washington’s tactics to acquire equipment for its own needs and its failure to ease sanctions during the pandemic. Pompeo’s comments also come a day after …