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

RFL/RE – Omar Khayyam is considered a giant of Persian poetry. His poems have been part of Iran’s school curriculum for years. Yet students will reportedly no longer be able to read his rubaiyat in textbooks under a new plan. Omar Khayyam, the Persian mathematician, astronomer, and poet (left), may be replaced in Iranian textbooks by Mohsen Hojaji, a 25-year-old …

RFL/RE – Iranian President Hassan Rohani, in a thinly veiled appeal to hard-liners, says staying in a 2015 nuclear deal with world powers will allow Tehran to restart weapons sales and purchases abroad. In an address on November 11 in southwestern Iran, Rohani noted that “by continuing the nuclear deal, we will reach a huge political, defensive and security goal.” …

VOA – European Union foreign ministers on Monday debated ways to keep the Iran nuclear deal intact after the Islamic Republic began enrichment work at its Fordo site in a fresh act of defiance that seems likely to spell the end of the painstakingly crafted international agreement. At talks in Brussels, the EU powers that signed the 2015 Iran nuclear deal …

VOA – The United Nations Assistance Mission to Iraq warned Sunday of the need for timely, tangible results in the government’s response to protests that began in early October, and offered a roadmap to address some of the demonstrators’ demands. The U.N. office issued a statement saying that within a week the government should release all protesters who have been …

Iran Human Rights (IHR) – A man was hanged at the central prison of Shiraz city last Monday. According to IHR sources, on the morning of Monday, November 4, prisoner Hossein Asgari was hanged at Shiraz Central Prison (also known as Adelabad prison).  A human rights group, Nafad Dar Ghafas, has reported that Hossein Asgari was arrested three years ago …