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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 …

RFL/RE – U.S. attorneys offered closing arguments on June 26 in a case where the government is attempting to seize a Manhattan office tower from an Iranian charitable foundation because it allegedly violated U.S. sanctions. After a monthlong trial, the government argued that the Alavi Foundation, the building’s majority owner, knew its minority partner, Assa Corp, was a front for …

RFL/RE – The U.S. State Department said on June 26 that it will start carrying out President Donald Trump’s temporary ban on travelers from six predominantly Muslim countries 72 hours after it was partly reinstated by the Supreme Court. That means the measure will go into effect the morning of June 29. Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said the U.S. government …