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

Iranwire – Twenty years ago, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic infamously called parts of the Iranian press a “base for the enemy”. Days later, mass bans and wide-ranging closures were imposed on Iranian newspapers, leading in turn to an exodus of journalists. Now Ayatollah Khamenei has described the internet in the same terms, once again raising the spectre …

telegraph.co.uk – Iran is deliberately concealing key components of its nuclear programme from UN inspectors that can be used for producing nuclear weapons, according to the latest reports received by Western intelligence officials. The equipment being hidden from UN inspectors includes machinery, pumps and spare parts for centrifuges, the machines used to enrich uranium to weapons grade. In addition, materials …

newsweek.com – The Iranian regime is shutting down the internet yet again this month—this time in response to the desperate protests in the Baluchistan and Sistan provinces. Tehran is methodically implementing a repressive playbook, imported at great expense from Beijing: first, label protesters as criminals; second, shut down the internet to prevent information from getting in or out; third, detain, …

politico.com – The United States and its allies in Canada, Britain and the European Union on Monday announced sanctions on several Chinese officials alleged to have links to what U.S. officials say is a genocidal campaign against Uyghur Muslims. The international, coordinated sanctions, first reported by POLITICO, drew condemnation and some immediate retaliatory sanctions from Beijing. The moves offered a …

(Reuters) – The European Union imposed sanctions on Monday on four Chinese officials, including a top security director, for human rights abuses in Xinjiang, to which Beijing responded with its own sanctions on Europeans.on Monday for human rights abuses  Unlike the United States, the EU has sought to avoid confrontation with Beijing, but a decision to impose the first significant …