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

RFL/RE – The president of the Iranian Wrestling Federation, Rasoul Khadem, says authorities should reverse their policy of not allowing Iranian athletes to compete against Israelis. The Islamic Republic does not recognize the state of Israel, and has an unwritten rule that Iranian athletes should not compete against Israelis in international sporting events. In practice, this means Iranian athletes feign …

RFL/RE – Tehran Police Chief Hassan Rahimi has warned Iranian women protesting the Islamic Republic’s compulsory hijab rule of a zero-tolerance policy against protesters.

RFL/RE – A conservative member of Iran’s parliament has accused a faction of the Gonabadi dervishes of espionage and collaboration with U.S. and Israeli intelligence services. Without presenting any evidence, the deputy chairman of Iranian parliament’s influential National Security and Foreign Affairs Committee, Abolfazl Hasan Beigi, says there are two breakaway sects of the Sufi Muslim religious order that believe …

RFL/RE – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said that Moscow will continue to help Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government to defeat what he called the “terrorist threat.”

RFL/RE – Demonstrators gathered outside the UN in Geneva and some diplomats left in protest over an address given by Iran’s justice minister, who has been sanctioned by the EU over human rights violations.