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

RFL/RE – Iran has shut down mobile Internet access to overseas sites in several provinces, a day before possible protests.Iran’s semi-official news agency, ILNA, reported that the shutdown on December 25 was ordered by “security authorities,” quoting a source at the country’s Communications and Information Technology Ministry.According to the source, the shutdown covered the Alborz, Kurdestan, and Zanjan provinces in …

Iran Human Rights (IHR) – A man was hanged at the prison of the Iranian city of Sirjan, Kerman province, this morning.  According to the Iranian website of Rokna, on the morning of Wednesday, December 25, a man was hanged at Sirjan prison for murder charges. The prisoner was arrested four years ago. His name has not yet been disclosed …

Al-Monitor – Afghanistan was the main focus of the second Regional Security Dialogue, held Dec. 18 in Tehran and attended by national security officials from Russia, China, India, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Many issues in Afghanistan pose threats to the entire region and therefore are of common concern to all the participating countries, including drug and arms trafficking, illegal immigration, …

Radiofarda – The U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has strongly denounced the arrest of parents of a young protester shot dead by security forces in Iran’s November protests. Pouya Bakhtiari, 27, died of a bullet wound to the head in his mother’s arms on November 16 in the Mehrshahr district of Karaj, west of the capital Tehran. His parents …

Radiofarda – Amid the talk of reduction in Iran’s nuclear commitments, the slaughtering of protesters, and sanctions, an important political development has gone underreported. The speaker of Iran’s parliament, Ali Larijani, won’t be running for reelection during the upcoming contests in February 2020. Larijani has been the longest-serving head of the legislative chamber since 1979—with a tenure that spans over …