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RFL/RE – Hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets of Tehran and other Iranian cities to take part in state-sponsored anti-Israeli rallies marking the annual Quds Day, state media report. Some protesters set Israeli and U.S. flags on fire, reports said on June 23, while others chanted “Death to America” and “Death to Israel.” The demonstrators also …

CHRI – Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s recent declaration that security forces should “fire at will” against presumed enemies of the state is an established policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Nobel Peace laureate Shirin Ebadi told the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI). “Iran’s leader spoke about firing at will only recently, but as a matter of fact, …

RFL/RE – Tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran — already running high — could worsen with King Salman’s designation of his aggressive and ambitious son, Muhammad bin Salman, as the next ruler, analysts say. The crown prince said last month on Saudi TV that he was not open to trying to improve relations with Tehran, which he accused of trying …

RFL/RE – Pakistani officials say an air force jet has shot down an unmanned Iranian drone that was “deep inside the Pakistani airspace.” Pakistani media quoted two unnamed officials on June 20 as saying the unmanned aircraft was shot down in the Panjgur district of southwestern Balochistan Province over the weekend. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they …

RFL/RE – Iran has fired missiles into eastern Syria targeting the Islamic State (IS) militant group which claimed the attack on the Iranian parliament and a shrine in Tehran. The powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) military organization said in a statement on June 18 that it launched mid-range ground-to-ground missiles from western Iran into the Deir al-Zour region of …

RFL/RE  – Iranian forces have killed two suspected members of an armed Sunni Muslim group in southeastern Iran and arrested five others, a minister said, accusing Saudi Arabia of “sponsoring terrorists” in the country. “A group of seven terrorists who wanted to attack a barracks in Chabahar (in Sistan Baluchistan province) was dismantled,”Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi said late on June …

RFL/RE – Iranian media are reporting that police have killed four gunmen linked to the extremist group Islamic State (IS). Azizollah Maleki, the police chief in the southern province of Hormozgan, was quoted as saying on June 12 that his forces killed the “armed terrorists” the day before in a shoot-out near the southern town of Roudan. Maleki said that …

Reuters – Iran has arrested almost 50 people in connection with twin attacks on Tehran that killed 17 people last week, officials said, as security forces stepped up efforts to crack down on suspected militants.   Islamic State claimed responsibility for the suicide bombings and gun attacks on parliament and the mausoleum of the Islamic Republic’s founder, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, …

Al-Arabia – Iran’s intelligence minister said the mastermind behind Wednesday’s attacks in Tehran, which killed 17 people, had himself been killed on Saturday by security forces. “The mastermind and main commander of terrorist attacks on the parliament and Mausoleum of Ayatollah Khomeini was killed today by the security forces,” Mahmoud Alavi was quoted as saying by Tasnim news agency. ISIS …

RFL/RE – Iranian police have arrested two more suspects allegedly linked to twin attacks in Tehran that killed 17 people earlier this week, Iranian media reported. State TV reported on June 9 that the two suspects were arrested in the western province on Kermanshah and that “some terrorist cells also have been dismantled” in police raids there. Funerals for the …