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

gatestoneinstitute.org – First, last week’s election, the fifth in Iraq’s history since liberation in 2003, shows that despite many ups and downs caused by historic and cultural bumps on the road, the process of democratization is still well on its course. The use of biometric cards also helped with ensuring the process against organized fraud. We have not completed a …

VOA – A court sentenced the former governor of Iran’s central bank to 10 years in prison for violating the country’s currency system, a judiciary spokesperson said Saturday. Besides violating the currency system, Valliollah Seif also had a role in smuggling foreign currency, judiciary spokesman Zabihollah Khodaeian told state TV. Ahmad Araghchi, a then-deputy to Seif, was sentenced to eight …

VOA – An Iranian appeals court has upheld a verdict sentencing an Iranian-British woman long held in Tehran to another year in prison, her lawyer said Saturday. Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has already served a five-year prison sentence in the Islamic Republic. Her lawyer, Hojjat Kermani, told the Associated Press that the appeals court upheld a verdict issued earlier this year sentencing …

gatestoneinstitute.org – In another blow to the US, after many years of Iran trying to be a full member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), SCO members finally agreed in September to elevate Iran’s status from “observer” to “full member,” even though the global financial watchdog, the Financial Action Task Force, had placed the Islamic Republic on its terrorism financing …

Al-Arabia – Saudi Arabia’s top diplomat said Friday that Iran’s nuclear activities put the region in a dangerous place. Iran’s accelerating nuclear activities were very concerning, Prince Faisal bin Farhan told reporters during a briefing in Washington. “We think we’re entering a dangerous phase,” he said, a day after meeting with his US counterpart Antony Blinken on Thursday. As for talks between …