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Al-monitor – The recurring debate in Iran over reviving the position of prime minister has been resumed. This time, however, the discussion appears to be taking a somewhat more serious turn, with a number of parliamentarians preparing to obtain the backing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to proceed from talk to action. For a decade after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, …

Al-monitor – Iran devoted enormous energy to try to prevent Iraqi Kurds from holding their Sept. 25 independence referendum, accusing the Kurdish leadership of recklessness and endangering the stability of the region. Having failed in that endeavor, officials in Tehran are now at a loss as to what punitive measures they can realistically take to punish the Kurds without causing further instability …

PayvandNews – The Islamic Republic’s Interior Minister has expressed concern about unemployment; especially in those cities where he says about 60% of the workforce is unemployed.   In an interview with Iran Students News Agency, ISNA, the minister noted, “Social harms are more acute in areas where the unemployment rate is high”. Read related report (in Persian) by Ghanoon daily In the interview he …

PayvandNews – Census reports indicate that the number of persons, aged 60 years or older, has increased by 1.5-fold over the past decade (2006-2016) in Iran.  In 2006, some 5.1 million people were 60 or older, but the number rose to 6.1 million in 2011 and to 7.4 million in 2016, ISNA reported. Currently, the country’s total population stands at about …

PayvandNews – Iran and Qatar have underlined the need for peaceful solutions to regional crises, as Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif visits Doha. Zarif on Tuesday sat down with Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani in the Qatari capital. During the meeting, Zarif highlighted the Iranian government’s principled policy to have the best relations with all its neighbors …