Shabtabnews In this dark night, I have lost my way – Arise from a corner, oh you the star of guidance.

iranintl – After self-congratulatory Norouz messages by top leaders this week, relatively independent media in Tehran published sharp criticism by pundits who sounded dire warnings about the coming year. The fact that in Iran’s government-controlled media landscape the criticisms have been published immediately after Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and President Ebrahim Raisi’s New Year messages, indicates that compared with even …

iranintl – The backlash by Iranians to a US State Department post on Instagram continued Saturday with 80 Iranian-American activists and citizens urging the Secretary of State to have it removed. “It is deeply concerning that the US State Department would endorse and promote an individual with such tainted history and character as a defender of Iranian women,” the signatories …

iranintl – Alireza Khari is not the only political prisoner in Iran who committed suicide under continuous psychological pressure and torture, even after release from prison. Khari, a young protester in his late twenties from Bandar Gaz in northern Iran, ended his life earlier this week. Rights activists say he was repeatedly called in and threatened by the Revolutionary Guards …

VOA – Iran’s currency fell to a record low on Sunday, plunging to 613,500 to the dollar, as its people celebrated the Persian New Year. On Sunday, people were trying to exchange rials for foreign currency at Tehran’s main hub of exchange shops in Ferdowsi Street, but most were closed due to the Nowruz holidays, which are run from March …

gatestoneinstitute.org – British and European Union leaders say the time has come to formally accept the creation of a Palestinian state. Meanwhile, Major-General Ismail Qaani, chief of the Quds Force of the Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, promises to “rebuild Gaza stronger than before as an advance post against world Zionism.” Claiming to be a “freedom fighter” shouldn’t mean a …