Social and Political

Amnesty – An investigation by Amnesty International has uncovered evidence that at least 23 children were killed by Iranian security forces in the nationwide protests in November last year. At least 22 of the children were shot dead by Iranian security forces unlawfully firing live ammunition at unarmed protesters and bystanders, according to the findings. The children killed include 22 …

gatestoneinstitute.org – The new head of the Quds Force, Gen. Esmail Qaani, is someone who not only desires to kill Americans but also boasts about killing Americans. According to the U.S. Treasury Department Qaani covered “financial disbursements to IRGC-QF elements, including elements in Africa, as well as to various terrorist groups, including Hezbollah.” It is incumbent on the international community …

Al-Monitor – The hard-liners’ victory in Iran’s parliamentary election Feb. 21 seemed clearly predictable, but this did not stop them from celebrating and bragging about how they delivered a big blow to the Reformists. Perhaps they still felt the sting of previous elections. In 2013, after Reformist-backed Hassan Rouhani’s presidential victory, the Reformists and moderates set their sights on also taking over …

Radiofarda – Iran’s Judiciary Spokesman on Tuesday denied reports that some political prisoners including British-Iranian aid worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe have contracted coronavirus (COVID-19) in prison and said all of them are in “perfect health”. ّIn a live interview on the state-run television on Tuesday Gholam-Hossein Esmaili said Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliff and other political prisoners including Neda Naji, Hengaeh Shahidi and Zia …

Radiofarda -Iran’s Minister of Health has lambasted authorities at the Ministry of Industry, Mines, and Trade (MIMT) for “deceitful” remarks regarding promises of producing large quantities of protective masks to prevent the spread of coronavirus. In a letter to his counterpart at the MIMT, Saee Namaki has rejected the claim that Iran was capable of manufacturing millions of medical masks …

Radiofarda – A joint statement published by the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and Department for International Development (DID) on Monday says Britain, France and Germany are offering Iran a comprehensive package of material and financial support to combat the rapid spread of coronavirus (COVID-19). “France, Germany and the United Kingdom express their full solidarity with all impacted by …

Iran says there are 77 dead amid 2,336 cases of the new coronavirus in the Islamic Republic. That’s according to Ali Reza Raisi, a Health Ministry official, who gave a news conference Tuesday in Tehran. Iran’s supreme leader earlier on Tuesday ordered the Islamic Republic’s armed forces to assist its Health Ministry in combating the spread of the new coronavirus. The decision …

The coronavirus, which originated in China and was declared a public health emergency of international concern by the World Health Organization on January 30, has since infected over 90,000 people worldwide, spreading across every continent except Antarctica, and claimed the lives of more than 3,000 so far. Click here for our dedicated coronavirus site. The Gulf region has recently seen …

Al-Arabia – The coronavirus outbreak in Iran is “not that big of a deal,” Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Tuesday, urging citizens to pray against the virus. “This calamity is not that big of a deal, and that there have been bigger ones in the past,” Khamenei was quoted as saying by the semi-official Mehr news agency on …

VOA – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu led on Tuesday in a cliffhanger election in Israel, but was still short of a governing majority in a third national ballot in less than a year, exit polls showed. On the basis of initial projections by Israel’s three main television channels, Netanyahu, head of the right-wing Likud party, claimed victory in Monday’s vote …