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Al-Monitor – Iran has granted a three-day medical release for internationally renowned human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, her husband said Friday.  “Nasrin came on medical leave for three days a few hours ago to continue her treatment,” Reza Khandan tweeted, along with a picture of him and Sotoudeh.  The 57-year-old Iranian attorney is serving a more than 30-year prison sentence after …

RFL/RE – Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says the country is in no hurry to see the United States return to an international nuclear deal with major powers after President-elect Joe Biden takes office this month. “We are in no rush and we are not insisting on their return,” Khamenei said in a televised speech on January 8, reiterating …

RFL/RE – Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has announced a ban on imports of U.S. and British coronavirus vaccines, saying he does not “trust” the two countries. “Imports of U.S. and British vaccines into the country are forbidden. I have told this to officials and I’m saying it publicly now,” Khamenei, who has the last say on all matters …

Radiofarda – In a letter to the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Sunni Friday Imam of Zahedan, Mawlana Abdul Hamid, his claiming that Sunni citizens in Iran are still considered “second-class citizens.” The letter published on Tuesday, January 5, on the high-ranking Sunni cleric’s official information site, is explicitly addressed to Khamenei. “Forty-two years after …

Radiofarda – Speaking to Radio Farda, Ukraine’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Yevhen Yenin, said on Wednesday, January 6, that Kyiv is waiting for the identification and punishment of the “real” Iranian officials responsible for shooting down Ukraine International Airline’s passenger plane last January. Yenin, who is in charge of following up on the tragic case, asked that Tehran announce the real …