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RFL/RE – Iran threatened to reciprocate after Kuwait on July 20 expelled most of its diplomats, saying Kuwait’s accusations that Tehran was behind a terror cell in the country were “baseless.” “Iran’s strong objection has been communicated to Kuwait’s charge d’affaires. It was reiterated that Iran reserves the right to a reciprocal measure,” foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi said on Telegram. …

Al-Arabia – The United States slapped new economic sanctions against Iran on Tuesday over its ballistic missile program and said Tehran’s “malign activities” in the Middle East undercut any “positive contributions” coming from the 2015 Iran nuclear accord. The measures signaled that the administration of President Donald Trump was seeking to put more pressure on Iran while keeping in place an …

Al-Arabia – Two Iranians were indicted Monday in the United States with hacking a defense contractor and stealing sensitive software used to design bullets and warheads, according to the Justice Department. According to the newly unsealed indictment businessman Mohammed Saeed Ajily, 35, recruited Mohammed Reza Rezakhah, 39, to break into companies’ computers to steal their software for resale to Iranian universities, …

RFL/RE – Iran has sent thousands of Afghan Shi’a to the battlefields of Syria, catapulting them to the front lines of President Bashar al-Assad and his allies’ brutal six-year war against armed rebels, some of them foreign-backed, and Islamist extremists. As the first line of attack, the poorly trained proxy force made up of mainly Afghan migrants and refugees known as …

RFL/RE – Iranian judicial officials say security forces have arrested 21 alleged Islamic State (IS) extremists in the northeastern city of Mashhad. Mashhad’s Deputy Prosecutor-General Hassan Heidari says some of those arrested are Iranians and others are Afghans who entered Iran with “fake documents.” Heidari was quoted by Iranian media on July 7 as saying that some detainees participated in “terrorist …

Al-Arabia – A Canadian Court of Appeal upheld a $1.7 billion judgment against the government of Iran in favor of American victims of terrorism on Tuesday. The ruling rejected the state’s immunity and accused Tehran of trying to derail Canada’s Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act. The victims hold Iran accountable for its support of Hamas and Hezbollah during terror campaigns …

RFL/RE – Iranian President Hassan Rohani has criticized major dam projects by Turkey on the Euphrates and Tigris rivers. Rohani is demanding that Turkey halt construction of both dams, saying that they were “dangerous” for the entire Middle East. Rohani made the comments during a conference on sandstorms in Tehran on July 3. He did not name Turkey but said that …

VOA — The United Nations said Thursday that Tehran is in compliance with its obligations under an international nuclear deal, but U.S. envoy Nikki Haley disputed that. “Today’s meeting of the Security Council on the implementation of resolution 2231 is taking place against a backdrop of steady implementation, cooperation and progress,” U.N. political chief Jeffrey Feltman said in his semi-annual briefing …

RFL/RE – The U.S administration has set new rules for visa applicants from six mainly Muslim countries and all refugees, requiring them to have a “close” relative in the United States or a “formal” relationship to a U.S. organization. The guidelines are due to come into effect at 8 p.m. Washington time on June 29. They were issued after the …

RFL/RE – The United Nations envoy for Syria says violence is down in the war-torn country despite repeated clashes recently between U.S., Syrian, and Iranian-backed forces there. “Violence is clearly down…and many towns have returned to some degree of normalcy,” but in some areas fighting has continued and intensified, Staffan de Mistura told reporters in New York on June 27. Mistura …