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

fdd.org – The Treasury Department on January 6 issued a special license to authorize the South Korean government to pay $63 million that it owed to the Entekhab Group, an Iranian consumer electronics company. However, a closer look at the Iranian counterparty shows potential connections to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a military force that Washington has sanctioned due to its …

Al-Monitor – A group of former United Nations officials and experts have penned an open letter urging the United Nations human rights office to investigate Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi‘s involvement in the mass killing of political prisoners. “We believe it’s long overdue for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet to investigate the 1988 massacre,” read the …

AL-Monitor – Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani has said he will “never endorse direct negotiations with the United States,” according to the hard-line daily Kayhan. The paper reported Jan. 27 that the official had contacted its office to “explain” a controversial tweet he had posted on Tuesday. “Any exchange with the Americans, if needed, will be done through …

treasury.gov— Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is designating 15 actors across three countries in connection with serious human rights abuse and repressive acts targeting innocent civilians, political opponents, and peaceful protestors. As part of a whole-of-government commitment to democracy, Treasury is taking a number of actions aimed at promoting accountability for those …

RFL/RE – Mohammad Fazeli, a prominent Iranian sociologist, had taught at Tehran’s Shahid Beheshti university for seven years before he was dismissed in September. Fazeli’s dismissal only became public in recent days when reports emerged of two other academics being fired.The firings have raised fears of a new purge of dissenting academics in Iran, where the clerical establishment has dismissed …